What Does This Primary Source Tell Us About the Dynamics of Global Trade and Empire?

What Does This Primary Source Tell Us About the Dynamics of Global Trade and Empire?

Tea is a commodity that’s use has in the past expanded vastly due to global trade and empire. The origins of tea is a very intriguing due to the fact that the creation of Tea was apparently a mistake, where some tea leaves blew into a cup of hot water which belonged to the second emperor of China in 2737 B.C. From then on, the production and expansion of Tea spread though all parts of Asia, and by 1835, India became a central part in the transport of Tea from an area called Assam through the British East India Company due to the fact that India was part of the British Empire.1
Using sources provided and independently found, I will try to explain what these sources tell us about the dynamics of global trade and empire.
In 1880, the Tea Industry in India was booming where growth from the area of Assam, allowed the British to expand its interests in Tea but spreading more plantations around other areas of India. From Clarke Hyde's source, we can depict that there are six main hill stations that are compared to Assam; Darjeeling, Kumaon, Dehra Dhoon, Simla, Kangra and Neilgherrys. Using the statistics from a table on page 547, we can see that the acres under tea increase for all the areas, however, specifically Darjeeling increases at a greater rate than the other areas of which still increase but at a slower rate. These statistics give a great insight of the influence the British had over the many areas across India during the 19th Century. Take Assam for example, from 1875-1878, the number of plantations increased from 38 to 69 which is an increase of 55% in three years. The number of Acres covered by Tea increased from 87,307 to 147,840 which is an increase of a staggering 59%, which roughly means every year the number of acres increased by 20%. This is a good analysis that shows us the influence and power of the British Empire upon India produce of Tea by the sheer increase in the Tea production.2
Due to the influx of Tea produced, The East India Trading...

Similar Essays