Smuggling conjures up images of romance and rebellion. Moving beyond this popular conception, Smuggling: Seven Centuries of Contraband presents the bigger picture of this clandestine trade. It focuses on the involvement of powerful political, economic, scientific and cultural interests in smuggling, and how these have affected the history and politics of the world.
The story is told through contraband that played a part in changing the world throughout history. From silk, spice and silver in the Age of Exploration to gold guineas, opium, tea and rubber in times of empire to cocaine, heroin and African diamonds in the modern world. Other commodities, as diverse as guns and art, have been smuggled throughout the ages, as has the priceless merchandise of commercial and military secrets.
Central to all this have been a succession of infamous and influential 'legitimate' forces, such as the Dutch and British East India Companies and the luminaries of the Spanish Empire. Later we encounter Napoleon Bonaparte organizing English smugglers, Nazis, Soviet trophy brigades and the CIA - all have at some point made smuggling their business.On a smaller scale we see the spread of all-pervasive micro-economies of smuggling in everyday goods, precious objects and people. By representing such black market circulations beside these great smuggling projects we can begin to talk about a world that at all levels is crossed by smugglers' paths. This is in large part a story of globalization, but one told, for the first time, through smuggling.
