Baltic drugs traffic, 1650-1850. Sound toll registers online as a source for the import of exotic medicines in the baltic Sea area

Abstract

The analysis of the shipping of five key Asian, African and American drugs through the Danish Sound in the period 1650-1850 suggests that the Baltic Sea area absorbed exotic medicinal drugs in significant quantities only from the second half of the eighteenth century-at least about a century later than northwest Europe. This may be an indication that the area differed significantly from northwest Europe in the development of medical services. We have analysed the shipping of five medicinal drugs: China root, sarsaparilla, rhubarb, senna and Benjamin. The main source for this analysis is the Danish Sound Toll Registers (STRs), accessed via Sound Toll Registers Online, the STRs electronic database at www.soundtoll.nl.