Canton

Canton
[[Image:|250px| ]]
Presidency:
Coordinates:
Altitude:
Present Day Details
Place Name:	Guangzhou
State/Province:	Guangdong
Country:	China
Transport links

Canton, now known as Guangzhou, is an important city in Southern China, situated on the Pearl River. Whampoa (a transliteration of Huangpu) is the district within the city where the docks were situated.

During the 18th and 19th century this important trading port was used extensively by the East India Company. China supplied the company with various commodities which were in high demand by the British – particularly tea. As a counterbalance, the East India Company supplied, amongst other goods, a large amount of Indian grown opium to China and this supply would eventually lead to the Opium Wars of the mid nineteenth century.

Spelling Variants

Modern name: Guangzhou
Variants: Canton, Whampoa

History

Battle of Canton 1841
Siege of Canton 1857

Records

Ecclesiastical Returns: Baptisms, Marriages and Burials at the British Library. Macao and Whampoa [Canton] 1820-1833, IOR N/9.