The Opium Wars and the Invention of the Drug-Trade Empire

Failed to add items

Sorry, we are unable to add the item because your shopping cart is already at capacity.

Add to basket failed.

Please try again later

Add to wishlist failed.

Please try again later

Remove from wishlist failed.

Please try again later

Adding to library failed

Please try again

Follow podcast failed

Unfollow podcast failed

The Opium Wars and the Invention of the Drug-Trade Empire

Listen for free

View show details

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore how the British East India Company's monopoly on opium production in Bengal created a state-sponsored narcotics empire that flooded China. They trace the opium supply chain from the poppy fields of Bihar to the clandestine warehouses on Lintin Island, and examine the Company's elaborate auction system in Calcutta that turned raw opium into silver. The conversation covers the role of Parsees and Jewish merchants as middlemen, the corruption of Qing officials, and the moral debates within British Parliament. They also discuss how the Chinese emperor Daoguang's bans on opium smoking only drove the trade further underground, and how the Company's profit margin of over 1,000 percent made the drug trade irresistible. The episode reveals how the Opium Wars were not just a military conflict but the culmination of decades of systemic drug trafficking that the British government refused to police. #OpiumWars #BritishEastIndiaCompany #DaoguangEmperor #LintinIsland #BengalOpium #CalcuttaAuctions #Parsees #OpiumTrade #ChineseHistory #DrugEmpire #19thCentury #QingDynasty #Colonialism #Narcotics #SilverTrade #History #FexingoHistory #EastAsia Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

No reviews yet