The Opium Trade
Western nations, mainly Britain, transported opium grown in India
to China in the 18th and 19th centuries—despite the Chinese government's
ban on its sale and use. The East India Company developed a method of
cultivating the product cheaply and abundantly, and soon established a
trade monopoly in the eastern province of Bengal. The Company subcontracted
with small country traders, who shipped the contraband to smugglers along
the Chinese coast, collected payment, and returned the gold and silver
to the Company representative in Canton. Profits from opium sales went
towards the purchase of items desired in the West, such as tea and silk.
The illegal opium trade finally led to the outbreak of two trade wars—the
Opium Wars.
Walter S. Sherwill. Illustrations of the Mode of Preparing the Indian
Opium Intended for the Chinese Market. From drawings by Captain Walter
S. Sherwill. London: J. Madden, 1851. Gift of Charles Wason
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