Cocaine in a Chain

Cocaine in a Chain

Cocaine in a Chain
Since it’s introduction in 1860, cocaine has travelled across numerous borders as part of a historical and global commodity chain, connecting Peruvian peasants, German scientists and Brooklyn based coke dealers in ways that would otherwise not be possible. This essay analyzes the evolution of the multifaceted cocaine trade by establishing a global perspective beginning in the 19th century and moving to how it incorporates and affects countries all over the world (those who produce, distribute, and consume), making it a part of a dynamic global network.
Cocaine’s global history began in the 19th century, linking together countries and cultures from the very onset of the industry. Tracing the movement of coca leaves, which travelled from the Andes Mountains (where they had been cultivated and chewed by indigenous peoples for centuries) all the way to Europe, where a German chemist by the name of Albert Niemann isolated the cocaine alkaloid from the coca leaf in 1859 and published his findings in 1860. Word of his discovery journeyed west, and the medical community marveled at cocaine’s powerful anesthetic properties, applying it in difficult surgeries and using its stimulant effects to ease the pain of mental exhaustion among working class individuals. Clearly a desirable product, demand for cocaine skyrocketed in North Atlantic markets. At around the same time of this “cocaine frenzy,” Alfredo Bignon, a French immigrant taking residence in Peru, invented a new process for extracting cocaine in 1884 that was considerably quicker and cheaper than the processes used by German scientists in European laboratories. This discovery gave Peru the power to produce cocaine right at the source of coca leaf cultivation, which decreased transport costs and gave way to the birth of a new and “heroic” export commodity that Peru could take advantage of to boost its economy. In 1890, a German immigrant named Arnaldo Kitz utilized Bignon’s methods and set up...

Similar Essays