Opium trade with China
Topic: Colonial Economy: Land Revenue, Drain, Deindustrialisation · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 3 "The Making of a Global World"; Class 10, Ch 4 "The Age of Industrialisation"
Meaning
From the late 18th century, the British grew opium in India and sold it to China. The silver they earned paid for the tea Britain bought from China. This three-way trade between India, China and Britain was one of the most profitable in the colonial economy. Indian merchants took part in it too and became rich. Much of the money later used to start Indian industries came from this China trade.
Example
When China tried to stop opium imports, Britain fought the Opium War of 1839–42 to keep the trade open. In India, businessmen such as Dwarkanath Tagore in Bengal, and Dinshaw Petit and Jamsetji Tata in Bombay, built up capital from the China trade and later invested it in companies and mills.
Related concepts
- Bombay cotton mills
- Dwarkanath Tagore
- Jamsetji Tata
- Tata Iron and Steel Company
- Managing agency
- Jobber
- Cotton excise duty 1896
- Discriminating protection