City View, Benares, India
1 2019-11-18T17:22:55-05:00 Kate McDonald 306bb1134bc892ab2ada669bed7aecb100ef7d5f 35 1 "City View, Benares, India," Photograph, 1922 plain 2019-11-18T17:22:55-05:00 25.31764, 82.97391 Benares (Varanasi), India 1922 Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Benares_(Varanasi,_India)_-_1922.jpg Peter Thilly Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA Public Domain Peter Thilly PDT-0013 Kate McDonald 306bb1134bc892ab2ada669bed7aecb100ef7d5fThis page is referenced by:
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Benares (Varanasi)
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Benares (Varanasi) was one of the primary opium growing regions supplying the Calcutta opium market.
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Peter D. Thilly
"The Benares is still their favorite ... the Amoy men run on the Patna when 5-10 difference, the Chimmo men run on the Benares."
John Rees in Chimmo Bay to William Jardine in Canton, October 19, 1834.*
Benares (Varanasi) was one of the two opium growing regions in Bengal, supplying the auctions in Calcutta (the other was Patna). The value of each year's crop of opium varied year to year, place to place, depending on slight differences in taste, weight, etc. As the quote above illustrates, Chinese buyers in Shenhu Bay (Chimmo) were in 1834 more inclined to purchase Benares, while their competitors in Xiamen (Amoy) were that year buying up a great deal of Patna (when the markup from Lintin prices was under ten taels). These market differences could be very significant to Jardine-Matheson's profit margins, and opium captains like John Rees were constantly working to take advantage of this for their firm.
*Source: JM:B2 7 [R. 495, No. 23] Rees, Quanzhou, 10.19.1834
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