“Western Civ As We Know It” Blog
After reading The History of the World in 6 Glasses it is evident that tea effected both the imperialism and commerce effected numerous countries. With the accidental invention of tea, China created a beverage that would essentially change Europe. Tea became extreme popular among the citizens of China especially due to the fact of the benefits that came along with drinking tea. As the popularity for tea began to rise, the demand for tea also began to rise. One reason for this besides the benefits was that ” Tea could be prepared easily and quickly from dried leaves and did not spoil like beer. Also, that dramatically reduced the prevalence of waterborne diseases, reducing infant mortality and increasing longevity” (Standage 179).With tea in such high demand, the China produced much income as a result boosting their economy. When the Europeans arrived in China, they discovered this wonderful drink called tea. As a result the British East India Company was eventually formed. This is where we notice the imperialist aspect in regards to tea. ” What had started pit as a simple trading company ended up as the manifestation of British power in the East, wielding more power than any other commercial organization in history” ( Standage 190). The British East India Company was constantly looking to expand their trading powers to increase their economic position. As a result, in 1784 the British defeated the Dutch in a battle of wars resulting the the collapse of the Dutch East India Company. This in turn gave ” its British counterpart almost total control of the global tea trade” ( Standage 192). With this total access of tea trade, the British looked to expanded their productions to other countries with better resources. Being successful with this, for the British Empire, tea was extremely important for the advancement in their economic and imperial power.
