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Opium Inc.: How a Global Drug Trade Funded the British Empire
This is the story of the world's biggest drug deal.
In the 19th century, the British East India Company operated a triangle of trade that straddled the globe, running from India to China to Britain. From India to China, they took opium. From China to Britain, they took tea. From Britain to India, they brought empire. It was a machine that consumed cheap Indian land and labor and spat out money.
The British had two problems, though. They were importing enormous amounts of tea from China, but the Celestial Empire looked down on British goods and only wanted silver in return. Simultaneously, the expanding colony in India was proving far too expensive to maintain. The British solved both problems with opium, which became the source of income on which they built their empire.
For more than a century, the British knew that the drug was dangerous and continued to trade in it anyway. Its legacy in India, whether the poverty of Bihar or the wealth of Bombay, is still not acknowledged. Like many colonial institutions in India, the story of opium is one of immense pain for many and huge privileges for a few.
In the 19th century, the British East India Company operated a triangle of trade that straddled the globe, running from India to China to Britain. From India to China, they took opium. From China to Britain, they took tea. From Britain to India, they brought empire. It was a machine that consumed cheap Indian land and labor and spat out money.
The British had two problems, though. They were importing enormous amounts of tea from China, but the Celestial Empire looked down on British goods and only wanted silver in return. Simultaneously, the expanding colony in India was proving far too expensive to maintain. The British solved both problems with opium, which became the source of income on which they built their empire.
For more than a century, the British knew that the drug was dangerous and continued to trade in it anyway. Its legacy in India, whether the poverty of Bihar or the wealth of Bombay, is still not acknowledged. Like many colonial institutions in India, the story of opium is one of immense pain for many and huge privileges for a few.
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Published September 1, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
November 22, 2021
It all boils down to three Greek alphabets – mu, kappa and delta.
At the risk of sounding pedantic: These are G-protein coupled opioid receptors responsible for the various effects of opioids. Mu receptors in distinct brain regions such as the nucleus accumbens and basolateral amygdala trigger euphoria and the incentive properties of rewarding stimuli, playing an important role in goal-directed behaviour. As addictive behaviour develops, poor decision making and cognition impairment shift the goal directed behaviours to habitual behaviours, and lead to compulsive drug use. Kappa opioid receptors can trigger anti-reward effects and produce dysphoric effects. Delta opioid receptors can induce anxiolytic effects. So at the root of addiction behaviour lies the mu opioid receptor. End of pomposity!
The book exposes the hypocrisy of the British, the affluent Parsi community, Singapore and surprisingly, the Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore, the fortunes of all these were based on the reprehensible opium trade. Christian missionaries are indicted for their active and indirect roles in the odious trade of opioids. That some of them vehemently opposed the government policies of their governments does not excuse the community of collusion to poison and denude two nations of their self-respect and natural resources.
The writing style is very engaging and the book is not at all like an academic tome.
At the risk of sounding pedantic: These are G-protein coupled opioid receptors responsible for the various effects of opioids. Mu receptors in distinct brain regions such as the nucleus accumbens and basolateral amygdala trigger euphoria and the incentive properties of rewarding stimuli, playing an important role in goal-directed behaviour. As addictive behaviour develops, poor decision making and cognition impairment shift the goal directed behaviours to habitual behaviours, and lead to compulsive drug use. Kappa opioid receptors can trigger anti-reward effects and produce dysphoric effects. Delta opioid receptors can induce anxiolytic effects. So at the root of addiction behaviour lies the mu opioid receptor. End of pomposity!
The book exposes the hypocrisy of the British, the affluent Parsi community, Singapore and surprisingly, the Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore, the fortunes of all these were based on the reprehensible opium trade. Christian missionaries are indicted for their active and indirect roles in the odious trade of opioids. That some of them vehemently opposed the government policies of their governments does not excuse the community of collusion to poison and denude two nations of their self-respect and natural resources.
In fact, the history of missionary activity in China is inextricable from the commercial activities of the colonial powers. The Qing administration expressly prohibited Christian missionaries from entering their lands. But, of course, just as the opium ban didn’t stop merchants, this didn’t stop the missionaries. They simply joined trading companies as employees and entered the empire under that guise…For many missionaries, the opening of trade was integral to the spread of religion…Chinese restrictions on trade went against the will of God who wanted all countries of the world to share their wealth with each other. This acted as a neat justification for him to use the full extent of his powers to aid the colonial project.Whereas this is an scholarly review of the opium trade, Amitav Ghosh's Ibis Trilogy Sea of PoppiesRiver of SmokeFlood of Fire gives a wonderfully graphic and in-depth account of this whole sordid affair. The author pays a glowing tribute to the trilogy. It is chilling to learn of the way tea, chocolate, coffee, sugar, and opium were interlinked with each other and depended on slavery – slaves from Africa, China and India!
The writing style is very engaging and the book is not at all like an academic tome.
October 11, 2021
I heard this as an audiobook. The narration by Jehaan Dhalla could have been better, but the author, Thomas Manuel's well researched content and writing more than made up for the lapses in the narration. I especially liked the way the author kept referring to the British Empire as a narco state.
A must read for all who are interested in Indian history.
A must read for all who are interested in Indian history.
November 6, 2021
Superbly researched, immensely readable. Really enjoyed reading this.
January 1, 2023
What a book to read at the very start of the new year. Thomas Manuel had analysed opium as no one before and brought forth hard facts most of us are not familiar with.
Consider this
1. Indian economy was dependant for 200 years on opium growth, export and smuggling.
2. At it's peak, opium was the 3rd largest revenue generator for British India after land and salt.
3. The author calls, rightly so, East India company as a drug cartel and British Raj in the 19th century as a narco state sustained by an illegal drug.
The swamis and sanyasis in India were early users of opium but in the 1600s it was the Portugese and English who began trading in opium for the first time.
Britain got addicted to tea from china but had no money to pay for the excess imports. So they got the Chinese addicted to opium, despite the local laws of prohibiting its use. When the Chinese emperor resisted, using strict officers, opium wars were forced on it, the first in 1842. China was always a reluctant recipient and grower of opium.
What is absolutely eye opening is the role of Indians in the opium trade. Here are a few nuggets
1. Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy, a prolific parsee philanthropist founder of the JJ hospital and JJ school of arts, was a partner in a firm which did massive trading in opium. Despite his public persona he lobbied for compensation for destroyed drugs after the first opium war.
2. Sassoon. Were Jewish family who came from Baghdad in 1832. David Sassoon exported opium to Canton and sent his son as an agent there. He set up branches in Hong Kong and Shanghai and went into the Malwa opium trade. He was a banker to the opium trade. His future generations went on to make Sassoon docks, become founder member of HSBC Bank, even finance the construction of gateway of India.
3. Dadabhai Naoroji. First Indian member of the British parliament. Said ' cannot believe in the sincerity of those who questioned the curse of opium trade '. His firm traded in both alcohol and opium though he personally refused to take profits derived from these, leaving them for his partner.
4. Indian National Congress. When anti opium commission was set in 1893, it's members interviewed people in India and Britain. The official congress stand was that the revenue loss after stopping opium trade will place revenue burden on people of India.
It was only in 1924 that the Congress passed the first resolution against opium, 40 years after it was founded.
5. Rabindranath Tagore. The great man said at age of 20 years that opium was being forced down the Chinese throats.
However his grandfather dwarkanath Tagore traded in opium. He owned half of an opium clipper, completing the journey from Calcutta to Canton in just 25 days. During the first opium war he also provided coal to the ships.
It was only the repeated requests by China and the intervention by human rights bodies and, ultimately the USA which put an end to the legal opium trade.
The last shipment of opium from India to China was in 1913.
In the last few chapters the author outlines the current state of legal opium trade for medicine and the state in Punjab.
A fine book for a hard look at history.
Consider this
1. Indian economy was dependant for 200 years on opium growth, export and smuggling.
2. At it's peak, opium was the 3rd largest revenue generator for British India after land and salt.
3. The author calls, rightly so, East India company as a drug cartel and British Raj in the 19th century as a narco state sustained by an illegal drug.
The swamis and sanyasis in India were early users of opium but in the 1600s it was the Portugese and English who began trading in opium for the first time.
Britain got addicted to tea from china but had no money to pay for the excess imports. So they got the Chinese addicted to opium, despite the local laws of prohibiting its use. When the Chinese emperor resisted, using strict officers, opium wars were forced on it, the first in 1842. China was always a reluctant recipient and grower of opium.
What is absolutely eye opening is the role of Indians in the opium trade. Here are a few nuggets
1. Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy, a prolific parsee philanthropist founder of the JJ hospital and JJ school of arts, was a partner in a firm which did massive trading in opium. Despite his public persona he lobbied for compensation for destroyed drugs after the first opium war.
2. Sassoon. Were Jewish family who came from Baghdad in 1832. David Sassoon exported opium to Canton and sent his son as an agent there. He set up branches in Hong Kong and Shanghai and went into the Malwa opium trade. He was a banker to the opium trade. His future generations went on to make Sassoon docks, become founder member of HSBC Bank, even finance the construction of gateway of India.
3. Dadabhai Naoroji. First Indian member of the British parliament. Said ' cannot believe in the sincerity of those who questioned the curse of opium trade '. His firm traded in both alcohol and opium though he personally refused to take profits derived from these, leaving them for his partner.
4. Indian National Congress. When anti opium commission was set in 1893, it's members interviewed people in India and Britain. The official congress stand was that the revenue loss after stopping opium trade will place revenue burden on people of India.
It was only in 1924 that the Congress passed the first resolution against opium, 40 years after it was founded.
5. Rabindranath Tagore. The great man said at age of 20 years that opium was being forced down the Chinese throats.
However his grandfather dwarkanath Tagore traded in opium. He owned half of an opium clipper, completing the journey from Calcutta to Canton in just 25 days. During the first opium war he also provided coal to the ships.
It was only the repeated requests by China and the intervention by human rights bodies and, ultimately the USA which put an end to the legal opium trade.
The last shipment of opium from India to China was in 1913.
In the last few chapters the author outlines the current state of legal opium trade for medicine and the state in Punjab.
A fine book for a hard look at history.
March 10, 2024
The opium wars was a subject I had come across as a backdrop event to various threads - Establishment of British Raj in India, Sun Yet Sen's revolution in China, development of HK etc but I had never really read anything about the opium wars themselves. I picked up this book hoping to learn about opium but it ended up connecting so many dots for me!
-- why are sasson docks called so?
-- what business was jamshetjee jeejeebhoy engaged in?
-- what are tax farms that invariably appear in any history / novel of early colonial Singapore / Straits Settlements / Malaya?
-- how did "coolie trade" develop or why are there so many ethnic Indians in the carribbean?
The book does not do a very deep dive of the opium wars but the above and so many other interesting tidbits got addressed when I read this book.
This book is like an academic treatise on the opium trade focusing on British India. It covers the entire history of how Opium production contributed to :
- significant revenues for the Raj
- growth of Bombay (due to Malwa opium trade and Raj's subsequent embrace of it)
- the opium wars
- Indian freedom movement's fraught track record of addressing opium trade and temperance movement.
It also traces opium's impact on literature and arts and the interplay of the opium trade with the slave trade, sugar trade and other key economic endeavours of the past 300 yrs.
-- why are sasson docks called so?
-- what business was jamshetjee jeejeebhoy engaged in?
-- what are tax farms that invariably appear in any history / novel of early colonial Singapore / Straits Settlements / Malaya?
-- how did "coolie trade" develop or why are there so many ethnic Indians in the carribbean?
The book does not do a very deep dive of the opium wars but the above and so many other interesting tidbits got addressed when I read this book.
This book is like an academic treatise on the opium trade focusing on British India. It covers the entire history of how Opium production contributed to :
- significant revenues for the Raj
- growth of Bombay (due to Malwa opium trade and Raj's subsequent embrace of it)
- the opium wars
- Indian freedom movement's fraught track record of addressing opium trade and temperance movement.
It also traces opium's impact on literature and arts and the interplay of the opium trade with the slave trade, sugar trade and other key economic endeavours of the past 300 yrs.
March 28, 2023
I was not very impressed by the book. Despite how interesting this topic is, the writing felt relatively unfocused. It delves into the timeline of the opium war well but feels like it explores the topic in a very surface-level manner. This is especially true for the last 2 chapters which provide very brief overviews of opium's references in literature and the war on drugs respectively.
March 13, 2024
Just finished this book. Enjoyed it despite my aversion to historical non-fiction. It's both informative and witty. Appreciated its exploration of topics beyond the opium trade, like Demerara sugar's ties to slavery. The author's analogy of history as a tapestry was remarkable. One of the best lines I have ever read in a book-"Humidity kills paper, time wears away rock, colonialism warps even memory."
November 29, 2022
Couldn't I be more oblivious about Imperialism. It is so funny to think of British Raj as money hoarders now. Rather, that was a brilliant business idea which thrived for centuries. The trinity of Labour-Opium-Tea dumbfounded me.
Thank You Thomas Manuel for writing such a truthful account of British Raj. Opium Inc.: How a Global Drug Trade Funded the British Empire
I found Opium an eye-opener, rich with facts, and thoroughly interesting. I wish we had access to such books in childhood. Our understanding of History would have been pronounced.
A must read for everyone :)
Thank You Thomas Manuel for writing such a truthful account of British Raj. Opium Inc.: How a Global Drug Trade Funded the British Empire
I found Opium an eye-opener, rich with facts, and thoroughly interesting. I wish we had access to such books in childhood. Our understanding of History would have been pronounced.
A must read for everyone :)
November 12, 2021
A sweeping account of the role of opium in shaping the history of colonialism. Recommended read for history buffs
October 29, 2021
Audible has been a useful addition to my 'reading'..Opium inc talks about the brutal narcotics trade that fed the British empire..China was the intoxicated country and India was the supplier of Opium..Many famous names of Bombay made their initial wealth on this trade..Interesting and easy to listen on Audible..After 7 to 8 chapters, the book deviated from Opium trade of the British to narcotics trade of all kinds. Looks like the author wanted to say a lot more about drug trade in general beyond just the British empire and the Opium trade
October 22, 2021
The narrative was not cohesive. It jumped from one theme to another. The main parts were not fleshed out. Disappointed as the marketing of the book made me believe it was more than what it delivers.
August 18, 2022
How many people have suffered at the hands of those who monetised the poppy? And what are the historical ramifications of that suffering? Thomas Manuel has answers, and they are damning.
To formulate a more informed understanding of China's "century of humiliation," and the current geopolitical effects it has is bred, I knew I'd need to read a book examining the Opium Wars for context. Yet this rich, uncovered story of opium contained so much more. Manuel takes a narrative approach, bringing the reader from the earliest stages of poppy cultivation to opium's eventual delegitimisation as a widespread cash crop. We leave with a deeper understanding of the social, health, political and economic ramifications the gentle poppy has left in the wake of her own exploitation.
4 stars. Brief and succinct, this history is highly readable and accessible. From harvesting and production processes to the failure of the War on Drugs, this work clearly assesses the incredible impacts the cultivation of the poppy plant has had upon humankind. An important historical context to consider.
To formulate a more informed understanding of China's "century of humiliation," and the current geopolitical effects it has is bred, I knew I'd need to read a book examining the Opium Wars for context. Yet this rich, uncovered story of opium contained so much more. Manuel takes a narrative approach, bringing the reader from the earliest stages of poppy cultivation to opium's eventual delegitimisation as a widespread cash crop. We leave with a deeper understanding of the social, health, political and economic ramifications the gentle poppy has left in the wake of her own exploitation.
4 stars. Brief and succinct, this history is highly readable and accessible. From harvesting and production processes to the failure of the War on Drugs, this work clearly assesses the incredible impacts the cultivation of the poppy plant has had upon humankind. An important historical context to consider.
December 26, 2021
An amazing read that gives insight into how even small episodes in history shapes up a lot of things that are taken for granted or trivial in present.
"Opium is an evil, but national bankruptcy is a greater evil" - Read to know the consequences of choosing one and how the worlds biggest narcotics network operated. How the decisions made in 19th century had cascading effects till date.
"Opium is an evil, but national bankruptcy is a greater evil" - Read to know the consequences of choosing one and how the worlds biggest narcotics network operated. How the decisions made in 19th century had cascading effects till date.
October 10, 2022
Was an absolute treat to learn about how endemic Opium was to the Indian economy for more than two hundred years. Never knew how cities like Mumbai emerged from the profits of the opium trade & how the first Parsee businessmen profited from this product. Was absolutely surprised to know how Opium licences are still given to farmers in India who grow this drug for the pharmaceutical industry.
May 27, 2024
While Stephen Platt's book Imperial Twilight focuses more on Sino-English politics, this book talks about opium cultivation in India, particularly in the states of Behar and Malwa. I found the chapter on opium processing rather fascinating. But I did not like the author's snarky comments at all.
January 13, 2022
that's a good book
April 22, 2022
The book could have been better in narration.
The events are all mixed up without an order.
The events are all mixed up without an order.
June 4, 2023
Superb book India Vice
There are very few books that can take you through such a spectrum of activities over past three hundred years and relevant even now
There are very few books that can take you through such a spectrum of activities over past three hundred years and relevant even now
June 12, 2023
A great read! Very well researched. Really showed some of the hypocrisies of imperialism.
August 11, 2023
Fascinating account of history
February 20, 2024
Skip it, if you are an avid history reader.
December 10, 2021
Very surprised at the extent of Indians parsee and bengalis involvement in the opium trade. Dwarkanath Tagore was an eye opener
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews