How the British East India Company Invented the International Drug Trade
Published in
8 min readMar 18
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Strangely, an English corporation, the British East India Company, launched the international drug trade in the late 18th century.
The British East India Company began as a trading venture. Queen Elizabeth I chartered the company on 31 December 1600. The original business plan was to import spices from Indonesia. However, the powerful Dutch East India Company (VOC) seized control of the Spice Islands.
Consequently, the Company shifted its operations to India where it had access to…
