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 British East India Company (BEIC) is one of the few non-state entities to ever rule a country, employ a standing army, and to cause vast suffering for hundreds of thousands of people all while producing and moving millions of pounds of goods all across the world. In a time before modern globalization had begun, the BEIC conducted business in at least 5 continents and encompassed all of the world's oceans all on the back of three natural products, tea, cotton, and opium.
Initially the BEIC gained financial power by trading in cotton. Through skillful financial and political maneuvering the BEIC gained complete control of the Indian subcontinent. With its own private army, the BEIC kept the traditional Indian rulers under control and maintained favorable trading conditions.
The profits from the cotton trade, allowed the BEIC to expand its operations into spices which brought the company to Chinese shores. While they did not find spices in China, they discovered tea. However, severe restrictions were placed on european traders by the Emperor of China. This sparked the BEIC's involvement in the opium trade.
Because the Chinese government required vast quantities of raw silver as payment for the tea, the BEIC was forced to procure silver in dubious ways. The major one being the production and sale of opium. In India, they had the perfect eco-system for growing poppies (and opium) which they sold both directly and indirectly to the Chinese. The increases in opium imported into China from 1775 to 1839 is simply staggering. The BEIC exports of Indian opium rose from 75 metric tons in 1975 to more than 2500 metric tons in 1839 (more than a 33 fold increase!).
After dealing with China’s extremely restrictive and xenophobic trade policies, and growing so much opium, the British engaged in a slight bit of biological piracy. The BEIC managed to bring tea plants to India. Because the cotton trade gave control of India the BEIC, they created huge plantations in which the indigenous Indians toiled in virtual slavery producing vast quantities of tea well into the 19 century. This circumvention of Chinese tea allowed the BEIC to reap huge financial gains.
Sources:
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http://toanewdawn.blogspot.dk/2013/12/gorkhaland-movement-history-flaws.html
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