Opium, a derivative of the poppy, has been used for medicinal and recreational purposes for much of human history. Cultivated from the bulb at the center of the poppy flower, the sap inside the bulb contains a concentration of morphine. Once refined, the resulting drug induces pain relief and a sense of relaxation, detachment, and euphoria.
Where Does Opium Come From?
Traces of this powerful narcotic have been found in Neolithic archaeological sites around Europe. The Sumarians referred to it at the “joy plant.” Greeks wrote it into their mythology. Several ancient cultures used opium in religious ceremonies. Romans used it both for pleasure and for assassination. While perennially popular in the Middle East, India, China, and the Far East, usage in Europe dropped off after the Crusades, only to be re-embraced as a medicine beginning in the mid-1500s.
The most potent poppy plants grew best in regions that enjoyed long, sunny days for much of the year. Harvesting was time-consuming. Workers would carefully pierce the poppy bulbs by hand and leave them out in the sun to extrude their morphine-rich resin. The sticky resin was then shaped into a ball or cylinder and packed in trunks for shipment. Opium was durable and portable, two attributes that made it well-suited for trade.
For centuries, opium moved over ancient overland trade routes like the Silk Road and the pilgrimage trails to the Middle East. As demand grew in the 18th and 19th centuries, particularly in the West, trading grew more complex. The Ottoman Empire and India became the main source of increasing amounts of opium flowing around the world.
Opium Trade in the 18th and 19th Centuries
By the 18th and 19th centuries, the opium trade had evolved into a sophisticated global business. Like wine experts, opium experts could grade different varieties by look and smell, and these rankings could affect the price shipments drew at auctions and sales. As time went on, traders needed a consistent year-round supply of product. For decades, supply was more or less seasonal, as heavy trading ships needed favorable winds to travel from East to West. By 1830, the clipper ship — sleeker and faster than the big transport ships — was the vehicle of choice for opium shipments.
Until the mid-19th century, opium use was uncontroversial. Everyone from poets and artists to workingmen and housewives turned to it for relaxation, often mixing it with tobacco to unwind from the day’s travails. It was a key ingredient in commercially available “soothing syrups” for babies suffering colis. It was used by adults as a general cure-all for ailments ranging from toothaches to cholera. Although people were aware of its addictive potential, there was little appetite to limit its use.
Chinese Opium Trade
Opium arrived in China thanks to Arab traders in the 7th Century. For the next several millennia, the Chinese enjoyed opium in the same way other cultures did, finding both medicinal and recreational uses for the drug. While China did grow some poppies domestically, the resulting product was considered inferior to Indian opium. This preference opened an opportunity for the British East India Company in the late 17th Century.
The British public had fallen in love with Chinese tea, but the East India Company was having trouble making a profit off it due to the Chinese government’s insistence that they pay for tea in silver. The Company, which had access to a massive supply of Indian opium, set up a system where they would smuggle opium into Canton, which Chinese middlemen would then sell for silver. The Company could then use that silver to pay for tea.
The Opium Wars
By the early 1800s, Chinese leaders were increasingly concerned about the recreational use of opium by its citizens and began taking steps to limit the importation of the drug. In 1839, the Emperor’s High Commissioner, Lin Tse-hsu, ordered the seizure of all opium held in the warehouses of Canton. This resulted in a standoff with the British trade representative Charles Elliott, who eventually relented and allowed Lin to seize and destroy 1,300 metric tons of opium. Elliott then wrote London to recommend military action.
In May 1840, the Royal Navy arrived off the Chinese coast and defeated the Chinese within a matter of weeks. The end of this First Opium War ended in the Treaty of Nanking (Nanjing), which won the British $21 million in reparations, access to five major trading ports, most favored nation trading status, and control of the island of Hong Kong in perpetuity.
The treaty did not legalize the opium trade, however, and by 1853, a new Imperial Commissioner, Ye Mingchen, started cracking down on trade in and out of Canton. In October 1856, government officials seized the Arrow, a British-flagged ship, and imprisoned the crew for piracy. The British governor of Hong Kong quickly dispatched the Royal Navy, marking the start of the Second Opium War.
For the next four years, the British and French, along with the informal help of the Russians and Americans, fought sporadically against Chinese forces before finally forcing the Emperor to flee Beijing (then Peking). The Convention of Peking won the British and Russians more territory, freedom of religion for Chinese citizens, and the legalization of the opium trade.
Decline of the Opium Trade
The use of opium and opiate-based products like patent medicines slowly became more stigmatized in both the East and the West. Increasingly, nations began to crack down on cultivation, transport, and usage of opium. In January 1912, the First International Opium Convention in The Hague resulted in the first international treaty to outlaw the drug trade. These provisions were included in the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 and went into force that same year. This was later reinforced by later treaties, and today, any trade in opium is illegal.
FURTHER READING:
Booth, Martin. Opium: A History. St. Martin’s Press, 1999.
Halpern, John H., and Blistein, David. Opium: How an Ancient Flower Shaped and Poisoned Our World. Hachette Books, 2019.
Inglis, Lucy. Milk of Paradise: A History of Opium. Pegasus Books, 2019.
Janin, Hunt. The India-China opium trade in the nineteenth century. McFarland, 1999.
Lovell, Julia. The Opium War: Drugs, Dreams, and the Making of Modern China. Harry N. Abrams, 2015.