p. 793-806

The sheer size of the 19th century British Empire and the lengths the British were willing to go to solidify their hold on territories is astonishing. To protect their economic interests, they went to war with whomever they pleased, and often won. The opium trade is a significant example, as it was manipulated to reinforce British interests in two separate countries with two different relationships with Great Britain: India was directly colonized, while China suffered from it indirectly. By bringing three countries together, Britain strengthened their empire by creating a dependency on what became a British product. Their monopoly showed a British talent for systematic industrialization, as northeast India was converted into a opium-producing machine where thousands were employed either growing poppy or curing and rolling the opium. Britain's empire essentially was built on drug money; the book states that "opium provided British India with more revenues than any other source except taxes on land" (799). Opium sustained the East India Company and British control in India, but it also closely tied it to China in a way other countries could only envy. The power of opium was, of course, in its addictive qualities; nothing creates an economic bond quite like something people can't get enough of, and the British knew this. It provided an entrance into China that no one else had, a connection with a market that the Chinese government could do little to stifle, so the British had a more direct route to the Chinese customers, rather than an official trade agreement. An addictive product and a market open to smuggling were a winning combination for British revenue.