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Opium Trade Case Study

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The custom of drinking tea has inherently been identified as the representation of British culture in the modern-day. The popularity of this tradition among the British cannot be separated from the fact that tea had been commercialized by the East India Company in the 18th century. Tea had been transformed from its state of being a luxury good into a major commodity through the trade of the British Empire in Asia. Another significant commodity that had been exchanged along with tea in this trading system was opium. The strong interplay between tea and opium trade in Asia illustrated how the British built an empire in the region by asserting its influence gradually through trade. Therefore, I would analyze and trace the sequence of events associated …show more content…

They began their operation by setting up factories and trading ports within the region to ease the circulation of goods. In 1602, the British set up a trading post in Banten which became the center of exchange for goods from the Spice Islands. Nevertheless, the British trade in Banten encountered various contestations starting from other European rivals who had previously established their control there to the limited English goods that could be received for barter with the local merchants in Banten. With these disadvantages, the presence of British in Banten was under increasing pressure and threats, especially when the rivalries between the British East India Company (EIC) and the Dutch East India Company (VOC) to gain trade monopoly in Banten culminated in wars. As involvement and sustenance of wars required a large amount of material and human resources, the benefits of trade in the Spice Islands were deemed to be undermined by all the expenditures and risks that had to be borne by the British. The British began to diminish its commercial activities in Banten to alleviate the tension between the two nations. Nevertheless, the British were then being forced to leave Banten completely with the continuous Dutch provocation and had to retreat to its Indian base which later became the focal point of its Asian trade. Since then, the British started to expand its trading networks by seeking for more lucrative commodities and establishing more deals with the local rulers by means of negotiation or

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The event I researched is, Tea Act. It happened on, May 10, 1773. This topic talks about that the Tea had to be sent directly to the colonies and that there they had to sell it to a good price. The event was about, because they did not have how to increase the income in the American colonies. As a result of this event, It turned out that the colonies of Philadelphia and New York returned the tea boats to Great Britain, And in Charleston the load of Tea was rotting on the docks.

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1194 Words | 5 Pages

(107-110) After Walpole’s idea to subsidize Georgie, in order to get power on the trade system back, the War of Jenkin’s Ear between Spain and Britain took place Spain opposed to the expansion British is making since British smuggling was eminent already and Spain wanted trade rights European wars were mostly caused by claim of land: France wanted the sugar islands of the Britain Britain restrains the colonies to trade with other countries Colonists continued trading with French and bought cheap molasses from them Britain resulted in passing tax on imported goods called the Molasses Act which made the colonists gain less

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590 Words | 3 Pages

After the French and Indian war, Britain was in heavy debt and needed to acquire as much revenue as possible. Britain was so desperate for money, they did not care how they received the money and whose rights they violated in the process. Because of this unjust mindset, Britain was not merciful when creating ways to collect revenue. The British methods for acquiring money were purposeful but not just.

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The British men gathered full control of the trading center present in the Americas, and created the Navigation Acts to help aid them in their tactics to take control over all trade within the Americas. The Navigation Acts were passed under a mercantilist system, and was used to regulate trade in a way that only benefitted the British economy. These acts restricted trade between England and its colonies to English or colonial ships, required certain colonial goods to pass through England before export, provided subsidies for the production of certain raw goods in the colonies, and banned colonial competition in large-scale manufacturing. This lowered the competition in the trading world for the British and caused the British to have a major surge in power, that greatly attributed to the growth of their rising empire. The British’s ambitious motives in the trading world help portray a way that the British took control of an important piece in the economy of all of the other nations present in the colonies in the time period, and shows another leading factor in the growth of the British empire.

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1055 Words | 5 Pages

They were able to trade with basically whoever they wanted to, participating lucratively in the Triangular Trade. With this, many merchants lined the coast of the Americas, patiently awaiting the incoming slaves from Africa or the goods from England, while greedily exporting their tobacco. Many established a life off of this competitive economic system, trying to soak up the finite wealth of the world. After the French and Indian War, which was a war fought for control of more land against the French, the English realized that they needed to tighten their strings in

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467 Words | 2 Pages

On May 10, 1773, Parliament passed the Tea Act, the primary objective of which was to save the British East India Company from bankruptcy. It also eliminated all tea tax except the three pence Townshend tax. A third goal of the Tea Act was to offer Americans tea at a lower price than that of the colonial smugglers [1]. However what happened was the average American colonist became angry with this latest act in a long line of unpopular policies, laws, and taxes imposed on him by Britain [2].

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1558 Words | 7 Pages

However, in 1773, the East India Company noticed that there was an overproduction of tea and its prices surely would decline (“The Third Imperial Crisis”). Tea was one of the, if not the, most valuable asset to many members in Parliament. Britain was forced to impose a new Tea tax on the colonists, which was aimed to keep the price of tea high. Even this act was reasonable in the eyes of the British, but to the colonists, this was just a British way of assuring dominance considering it was now for profit rather than to pay off debts. The response to the Tea Acts was the Boston Tea Party of 1773 (“The Third Imperial Crisis”).

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763 Words | 4 Pages

The British Empire was a collection of countries around the world ruled by Britain, and each of the countries had valuable resources that could be traded with Britain such as wheat from Canada and tea from India. Also, like the slave trade, many ships were needed to transport these goods, which benefited the shipbuilding industry. Furthermore, many young people from other countries in the empire such as India came to Britain to find work, sometimes on-board ships. This gave Britain many new strong workers to do important jobs such as build railway lines or work in mines. Overall, the British Empire was an important factor in the development of the British economy in the 18th century.

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216 Words | 1 Pages

(Doc.1) Along with all the diverse raw materials, Britain would have a large market to sell finished goods, fueling Imperialism. (Doc. 1) The island had obstruct waterways so it was well protected. (Doc.4) Great Britain had good ports and access to the Atlantic Ocean.

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Fostering many new colonies throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, Britain enacted several strict laws intended to restrict colonial manufacturing and benefit their economy. As these acts eventually only led to illegal smuggling and unregulated trade, the British finally gave in and practiced the policy of salutary neglect for a majority of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Under this policy, laws regarding trade regulations were loosely enforced, and colonists favored this relationship for many years. However, this all came to an end with the French and Indian War, which caused Britain to accumulate enormous debt. Throughout the course of the war, the political, economic, and ideological relationship between the British and its colonies

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Much of the population became farmers which provided imports to England. This helped to build a strong bond between Britain and America. The British relied strongly on colonial imports. Macmillan Learning states, “Despite the many differences among the colonists, the consumption of British exports built a certain material uniformity across region, religion,

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1978 Words | 8 Pages

The Dutch grabbed rich territories in Asia to gain control over the profitable spice trade. They also set up colonies in South Africa and North America. The French acquired colonies too, including present day Canada, which was particularly valuable for it’s fur. The British in the 1600’s took over the Dutch territory in North America and in 1763 they took Canada from the French. Despite their loss of the 13 American colonies after the Revolutionary War in 1783, the British continued to acquire new territories.

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1404 Words | 6 Pages

Modern imperialism resulted in an economic shift towards more possible imports. Increased trade massively expanded what European countries could consume. For example, increased access to Indian trade provided Britain with new silk and spices. As a whole, European powers secured access to goods like silver, rubber, gold, diamonds, and tea. This also applied to natural resources and agriculture; for instance, imperialism allowed Britain to replace their rainforests with tea plantations.

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625 Words | 3 Pages

This was costly for the american colonist because the british sold their tea at a low rate however they would tax them as

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