Status of opium in the foreign trade of Iran during the Qajar Period (1210-1334A.H)

During the 19th century European developments changed conventionalities in all of society. These developments influenced the economiy of Iran and based on the mentioned situation it changed from endogenous to exogenous. During half a century, in the new condition, it became close to classical colonialism and became one of the important producers of crude materials in the world market. Opium as a crude material in traditional economy of Iran was regarded as a non-commercial good and consumed correspondingly in its economical character at the family and local level. The second half of the nineteen century Iran’s economy changed to dependent economy and opium became as commercial merchandise.The results of this research show that from the 1860s opium became one of Iran's exports with a huge impact on Iran's foreign trade. This raw material as a trend swinger year (1880/1297 AH. G.) which was Iran's opium production peak.Opium exports in the eighties was fixed and slightly sloping downward.Iran's opium exports in the late 19th and the early 20th centuries, had a steep fall and lost its strategic position and was replaced by carpets. China was the largest importer of opium from Iran, Britain, was in the second place, followedly Egypt, Ottoman Empire, Itali and some Arab and other European countries.