Britain annexed Hong Kong as a result of which war?

Britain annexed Hong Kong as a result of the First Opium War, commonly shortened in older references to the Opium War. The conflict was fought between Britain and Qing China from 1839 to 1842.

The war grew out of Britain’s opium trade with China. Qing officials attempted to suppress the trade, confiscating and destroying British merchants’ opium stocks at Humen in 1839. Britain responded with military force, using its naval and technological advantages to attack Chinese positions along the coast and major waterways.

The war ended with the Treaty of Nanking in 1842. Under its terms, the Qing government ceded Hong Kong Island to Britain, opened additional treaty ports, and paid an indemnity. Britain later acquired other parts of the territory through separate agreements, including Kowloon and the New Territories.

The main historical distinction is that Hong Kong Island was ceded after the First Opium War; the Second Opium War led to further British territorial gains but was not the original annexation.