Merchants, Sailors, and Smuggling: The Illicit Opium Traffic between Istanbul and Marseille in the Early 1930s
In the early 20th century, the long-running opium trade between the cities of Istanbul and Marseille was reshaped by the gradual spread of narcotics restrictions across the Mediterranean. The article investigates how Istanbul-based opium merchants and the sailors of the Messageries Maritimes shippin...
Guardado en:
| Publicado en: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/bchmc, |
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| Autor principal: | |
| Formato: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Lenguaje: | Anglais |
| Publicado: |
Bulletin de correspondance hellénique moderne et contemporain
2026
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| Acceso en línea: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Sumario: | In the early 20th century, the long-running opium trade between the cities of Istanbul and Marseille was reshaped by the gradual spread of narcotics restrictions across the Mediterranean. The article investigates how Istanbul-based opium merchants and the sailors of the Messageries Maritimes shipping company co‑operated in the smuggling of Turkish opium and opiates to Marseille, and the efforts of the authorities to disrupt and punish these networks in a period that marked the birth of the “war on drugs”. Using French, Turkish, American, and British archives, the article challenges prevailing assumptions of narcotics smuggling as led by notorious gangsters of the era, and in its place shows how a series of ad hoc alliances between licensed merchants and sailors furnished the black market for narcotics created by prohibition. |
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