Is it true that a Jew named Sasson in India had a monopoly on the English/Indian opium trade with China?

Question

Is it true that a Jew named Sasson in India had a monopoly on the English/Indian opium trade with China?

Answer 1

No.  Although this is widely reported (even erroneously in the Jewish Encyclopedia, and especially on neo-n**i sites), David Sassoon never had an Asia-wide opium monopoly: that was only held by the British East India Company. The British government did later grant opium monopolies (the 'opium farmer') in Hong Kong, and it's very possible that a Sassoon business may have held it at some stage, but a "monopoly" by him as you are suggesting is incorrect.