Timeline Sunday 5 July 1840

Events on Sunday 5 July 1840 1

• 1840 British forces capture Chusan Early action of the First Opium War On 5 July 1840, a British fleet bombarded and captured the island of Chusan (Zhoushan) off the Chinese coast, one of the first major engagements of the First Opium War. The seizure gave Britain a strategic base for pressuring Qing China. The war continued until 1842 and ended with the Treaty of Nanking.