Queens Road, Hong Kong - Public domain image. Dry plate negative.

In the 19th century, British trade of Chinese commodities like tea, silk, and porcelain was high but Chinese interest in European manufactured goods was insignificant so that Chinese goods could only be bought with precious metals. To reduce the trade imbalance, the British sold large amounts of Indian opium to China. In 1839, the Daoguang Emperor rejected proposals to legalize and tax opium and ordered imperial commissioner Lin Zexu to eradicate the opium trade. The commissioner destroyed opium stockpiles and halted all foreign trade, triggering a British military response and the First Opium War. The Qing surrendered early in the war and ceded Hong Kong Island to the United Kingdom in 1842. Piracy, disease, and hostile Qing policies initially prevented the government from attracting commerce. Conditions on the island improved during the Taiping Rebellion in the 1850s, when many Chinese refugees, including wealthy merchants, fled mainland turbulence and settled in the colony. Further tensions between the British and Qing over the opium trade escalated into the Second Opium War. The Qing were again defeated, and forced to give up the Kowloon Peninsula and Stonecutter's Island in the Convention of Peking. By the end of this war, Hong Kong had evolved from a transient colonial outpost into a major port. The colony was further expanded in 1898 when Britain obtained a 99-year lease of the New Territories. Hong Kong was transferred to China on 1 July 1997, after 156 years of British rule.

William Henry Jackson (1843-1942) was an American painter, photographer, and explorer who is best known for his pioneering work in documenting the American West. He was born in Keeseville, New York, and after serving in the Union Army during the American Civil War, he became interested in photography. Jackson worked as a photographer for the United States Geological Survey, and he was a member of several expeditions to the West, including the Hayden Geological Survey of 1871. During these expeditions, he produced a large number of photographs that helped to document the landscape and the Native American cultures of the region. Jackson's photographs were instrumental in promoting the idea of creating national parks in the United States. He was also one of the founding members of the Detroit Photographic Company, which produced a large number of postcards and other commercial products based on his photographs.

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