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
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