The Golden Triangle

Narrated by Richard C. Hottelet

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The Golden Triangle

Thailand, Laos and Burma have been known as the "Golden Triangle" because of their historically prominent role in the drug trade. For centuries, these countries have produced the opium that has attracted traders from Europe and elsewhere. Economics, religion, and politics combine to make this area not only important but also (to the western mind) exotic.

• 7^th-8^th Century-Arab traders bring opium (a medicine) from the Middle East to China.
• Ca. 1000-Thai and Lao peoples migrate from China's Yangtzekiang River Valley to what is now Burma (Shan States), Thailand, Laos, etc.
• 17^th Century-Smoking spreads to China from Spain's colony in the Philippines (having originated in Spanish South America). The Dutch in Formosa smoke mixed opium and tobacco to combat malaria; opium smoking spreads to mainland China.
• 17^th-18^th Century-Britain colonizes India, expands trade in silver for Chinese tea.
• 1720-China outlaw opium smoking.
• 1800-China outlaws cultivating and importing opium; edicts ignored by Western merchants. Ching dynasty is too weak to enforce edicts.
• 19^th Century-British India's opium trade expands with China, reversing silver surplus from China to India.
• 1839-1842-First Opium War. British merchants refuse to stop opium shipments; China bans all trade with British, who bombard South Chinese ports and defeat China. China cedes Hong Kong.
• 1852-After twice banning opium (1811 & 1839), Thailand establishes royal opium franchise. Opium taxes soon provide 40%-50% of government revenues.
• 1856-1858-Second Opium War. Anglo-French forces defeat China; British gain Kowloon Peninsula. China is forced to legalize opium imports.
• Mid-late 18^th Century-France colonizes Vietnam, Cambodia, and Lao (French Indochina). Conquest financed by drug monopoly (Regie de l'Opium) after 1869.
• 1885-Britain completes conquest of Burma.
• 1898-Britain obtains a 90 year lease on New Territories (mostly Hong Kong), expired in 1997.
• 1906-American Medical Association approves heroin for general use.
• 1910-Britain Opium Act tightly controls opium production and trade; Opium Rules added, 1938.
• 1925-Geneva Convention internationally restricts production and sale of heroin.
• 1939-Siam, the only independent nation in Southeast Asia, changes name to Thailand ("Land of the Free").
• 1947-Panglong Agreement grants independence to united Burmans and Shan States.
• 1949-After China's civil war (1927-1949), the Kuomintang flee to Formosa and S.E. Asian hills. Drug trade surges, now involving Western government intelligence agencies (e.g. CIA).
• 1954-Viet Minh guerrillas defeat French forces, ending French Indochina.
• 1962-Coup in Burma under Ne Win. Shan States re-emerge in rebellion, financed by opium.
• 1975-Pro-western regimes fall in Cambodia, South Vietnam, and Laos (Vietnam War). Turmoil and ideological conflict are accompanied by continued corruption, poverty, opportunism, and economic reliance on drugs.