The World That Trade Created

ECONOMIC CULTURE OF DRUGS

ECONOMIC CULTURE OF DRUGS

WHAT IS A “DRUG”• A “drug”, broadly

speaking, is any substance that, when absorbed into the body of a living organism, alters normal bodily function

• Drugs are viewed as an embarrassment to capitalism, a throwback to primitive times

THE AUTHORS

• Kenneth Pomeranz was trained as a historian of China

• Steven Topik as a historian of Latin America

• Dr. Pomeranz and Dr. Topik both currently teach at the University of California-Irvine, with Dr. Topik serving as the Chairperson of the History Department

FROM CACAO TO CHOCOLATE

• Cacao was considered to be a stimulant, intoxicant, hallucinogen, and aphrodisiac

• Chocolate was commonly drunk with water and chile peppers, black pepper, bitter almonds and lime water

BREWING UP A STORM

• Tea found such a welcome abroad that it soon became a strategic good in which the Chinese state took an interest

• The Chinese government tried at times to organize a state monopoly to produce and transport tea

MOCCA IS NOT CHOCOLATE

• The coffee beverage was probably developed in Yemen, and by 1500 the drink became popular on the Arabian Peninsula

• Muslims adopted it in their worship and spread the beverage as far as India and Indonesia

THE BREW OF BUSINESS

• Coffee would change modern life even more in the industrial age

• Thanks to the age of factories, coffee would represent not only leisure, but also labor as it became the alarm clock that marked industrial time

AMERICA & THE COFFEE BEAN

• Coffee became profitable enough to where production soon exceeded local demand

• American merchants came to the rescue, as New England and Chesapeake traders had long carried on trade with the island

SWEET REVOLUTIONS

• To meet the demands of the fast-developing global sweet tooth, the Portuguese decided to expand production further by bringing sugar to Brazil

• America became the fourth continent to be pulled into the world sugar market

WHERE THERE’S SMOKE…

• Writing in 1603, England’s King James I reminded his subjects that Indians had started this smoking business

• 25-year-old James Rolfe expanded tobacco to Virginia

HOW OPIUM MADE THE WORLD GO ROUND

• Opium traffic grew 20 fold by 1800, but the trade imbalance was not reversed

• When somebody developed the more potent Patna opium circa 1818, the number of addicts in China skyrocketed

CHEWING IS GOOD, SNORTING ISN’T

• Coca’s social meaning began to change when the Spanish quest for silver created a market economy

• The Spanish king thought the plant the work of the devil, and originally had his viceroy outlaw its use

TOP WORLD COMMODITIES

1)OIL

2)COFFEE

3)GRAINS

4)ANIMAL MEAT

5)FRUITS