No, and 'Britain' wasn't importing it into China. It was imported by merchants that were British, American, Indian, and Chinese. Neither the Royal Navy nor the East India Company imported opium into China before the Opium War, because it was technically illegal, despite usage being commonplace. Independent traders imported it, and handed it off to Chinese smugglers before it reached China, because foreigners, outside of some very small enclaves, were not allowed into China.

[removed]

So do you believe that the issue was entirely a moral one for the British? Or was it just for the international PR?

Cloth, especially cheap-made cloth used by the working class, would probably fall apart and rot, I guess.

[deleted]

I will - Thank you!

I mean fabric doesn't hold up as well as metal. Same reason why all old manuscripts are written on stone or clay. Cause the manuscripts that were written on less durable materials, like papyrus, just deteriorate over time.

And people don't really see the need to hold on to old, worn clothing. If you find it 20 years after people stop wearing it, it's just old clothes. It doesn't become interesting for a couple hundred years. At that point most of it will have been thrown out, repurchased, or just disintegrated.

Similar to the jeans that were worn by original gold miners out west in the US. There are people who search through old mine shafts just searching for denim. It's valuable because there aren't many that have made it.

I mean, extant complete or near-complete textiles are rare. They don’t last long without being cared for

[deleted]

[deleted]

Not just wrestling check out how many duels

[removed]

[removed]

[removed]

[removed]

In a way it’s always exponentially advancing, it’s just when you’re in the middle of exponential growth nearly all of the absolute growth has occurred recently.

To be pedantic - it wasn't the wheel which had to be invented. That IS obvious. It's the axel which was the big invention. Civilizations without the axel still used log rollers etc. to move big heavy things.

1000th kill congratulations you have unlocked Peter Griffin Ungulate

[removed]

[removed]

Funny you mention kangaroos, it's likely that only the tree kangaroos of PNG have been hunted with bows.

Indigenous Australians never developed bow hunting technology - instead using spears and Woomera (spear throwers), along with boomerangs to hunt large game like Australian kangaroos.

[removed]

It's crazy looking at this with military tech.

A Roman Army from 250 BCE could very possibly defeat a Celtic Army from 1000 years in the future.

But...an Army from 1960 would be absolutely decimated by a modern military.

[deleted]

[removed]