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Opium poppy - history
The Opium poppy reached South Asia in medieval times. It soon became heavily used for its medicinal and narcotic properties. Large quantities were exported to China by British merchants. British efforts to increase opium consumption in China led to war.
Origins
The Opium poppy was first grown in the western Mediterranean, in the region of southern France and Italy. There are archaeological finds in that area dating to about 4000 BC. The Opium poppy was probably first grown for food. The seed is rich in edible oil - always a precious resource. Poppy cultivation spread to central Europe and to the Aegean by 1000 BC.The Opium poppy was not known in ancient Mesopotamia, and was probably not known in ancient Egypt. However, by Roman times opium poppy had spread to Egypt. Both Roman and Greek physicians did much to spread knowledge of opium's medical uses.
The Islamic world
Opium flourished in the Arab world, as in Islam opiates were not proscribed in the same way as alcohol. In the 7th century, the Islamic cultures of western Asia had discovered that the most powerful narcotic and medicinal effects could be obtained by igniting and smoking the poppy's congealed juices.The history of opium poppy use is relatively recent in South Asia. Arab trade and the expanding world of Islam are assumed to have introduced knowledge of the opium drug to the Indian subcontinent by the 12th century. The first records of its cultivation appear in the 15th century and refer to Malwa as a centre of production. The Sanskrit words ahiphena and the Hindi afin are derived from the Arabic word ofyun to denote opium.
European impact
The advent of the Europeans had a significant impact on the future of the opium poppy in India. By the 16th century the Portuguese noted that opium was an article of trade from India. Portuguese merchants carried Indian opium through Macao into China. The Dutch now introduced smoking opium in a tobacco pipe to the Chinese. |
| Fleet of Opium ships sailing up the Ganges in the 19th century. |
The Opium Wars
In the late 18th century the British East India Company was expanding its sphere of influence in India and also looking to redress Britain's unfavourable balance of trade with China. The Chinese had become addicted to opium consumption; the Imperial court had banned its use and import, but large quantities were still being smuggled into the country. India was an economy rich with cotton and raw silk and agricultural products for exports such as sugar cane, indigo and opium. The Mughal Empire had given it a stable framework for trade, and after their decline the British began to profit from its circumstances. To facilitate profitable export to China and cheap import to Britain, vast tracts of land were given over to poppy cultivation and by the 1790s the East India Company had the monopoly of the opium trade. The poppy growing was mostly confined to three centres: Patna Opium from Bihar, Benaras Opium from Uttar Pradesh and Malwa Opium from central India.The Chinese authorities attempted to suppress the smuggling of opium which was debilitating the country and reversing its formerly favourable balance of trade. Their confiscation and destruction of illegal opium sparked the First Opium War in 1839. British warships defeated the Chinese who signed the Treaty of Nanking paying a huge indemnity and ceding Hong Kong to the British. A second Opium War was fought in 1856 when the French and British combined to bring the Chinese to heel and opium import in China was thus legalised. Not until 1910 did the opium trade between China and India cease.
