The Company That Owned Nations

Question 4: Draw together and explain the roles of cotton, tea and opium in the business and success of the British East India Company.

The idea of a company ruling country (or a few) is somewhat ridiculous in the modern world. Sure, Apple has the world at it's beck and call every time a new product is released but they certainly can't claim ownership of China or the United States. But The British East India Company actually acted as an agent of British imperialism in India. That's right, they were the governing body for India and held a monopoly on trade in most of Southeast Asia. They first ventured into the eastern part of the world for spices and ultimately ended up controlling the cotton, tea, and opium trade. In fact, The British East India accounted for more than 50% of global trade at one point during its powerful reign. 

Cotton and Tea: British Necessities The British East India Company (which I will now refer to as EIC) took control of India, taking advantage of their cheap labor and good soil for cotton cultivation and importing the cotton back to the English cotton mills. Additionally, EIC attempted to penetrate China's trade barriers in search of tea and other unique goods. At this time, China barred westerners from trading in their country. However, England was addicted to tea so they made it work. When EIC finally managed to set up trade for tea, China only accepted silver and gold as payment which was rather inconvenient. As a result, EIC had a significant trade deficit with China. What was their solution?

Tea Clippers were extremely fast ships designed to carry tea from India and China to England.

Opium: A Substitute for Silver 
Well as history has proved time and time again, addictive substances are the most lucrative goods to trade. It was certainly true for tobacco and so England got China hooked on opium. It all began when Warren Hastings - an EIC leader in India - established a colonial monopoly over Bengalese opium. Because it was questionable for EIC to trade opium directly, they sold copious amounts of the addictive drug to "legitimate merchants" in order to wash their hands of the illegal activity. Not so mysteriously the opium ended up in China and EIC ended up with silver coins in their pockets once again to exchange for tea. In some ways, it was a brilliant trading scheme but overall it was entirely immoral and resulted in mass drug addiction for China. By 1906, 13.1 million people or 27% of the Chinese population was addicted to opium. 

To get a feel for the British East India Company's tea and opium trade, try playing this computer game. You can actually be an opium trader on a tea clipper! Talk about getting engaged with history! (Credit goes to Olivia for the recommendation). 

Photo links:
Photo 1: http://az-teas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/tea-cup1.jpg
Photo 2: http://www.bathandwells.org.uk/assets/images/communications/Connect/Poppies%20(2).jpg
Photo 3: http://www.bathandwells.org.uk/assets/images/communications/Connect/Poppies%20(2).jpg