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Spice trade, usually done along one of many historic '''spice routes,''' was one of the most important commercial activities from the period of Classical Antiquity up to the Modern Times . The importance placed on spices is reflected by economic developments that began early in many Ancient Civilizations , where spices found applications in Food Preservation , Cooking and Traditional Medicine . ANCIENT SPICE TRADE The traded along the Incense Route included Indian spices, Ebony , Silk and fine Textiles .1, and subsequently the Roman Empire .]] The , the Romans Further Developed the already existing trade. According to the ''The Cambridge History of Africa (1975)'':Fage 1975: 164
The trade between India and the ,Ball 2000: 131 bypassing silk and other commodities.Ball 2000: 137 Pre-Islamic Meccans continued to use the old Incense Route to benefit from the heavy Roman demand for luxury goods.Crone 2004: 10 The Meccan involvement saw the export of the same goods: Arabian Frankincense , East African ivory and gold, Indian spices, Chinese silk etc. SPICE TRADE DURING THE MIDDLE AGES In The Indian commercial connection with South East Asia proved vital to the merchants of Arabia and Persia during the Seventh Century and the Eighth Century . The Greek document Periplus Maris Erythraei names three Indian ports from where large ships sailed towards east to ''Khruse''.Donkin 2003: 64 The earliest illustrations of Indian merchant ships, two masted and square rigged, are found on the . Hsuan Tsang mentions the town of Puri where "merchants depart for distant countries." The , Camphor , Ambergris and sandalwood to Ibn Ziyad , the Sultan of Yemen . and Southern Philippines , commonly called the Spice Islands .]] ), Ishak bin Imaran (907) and Al Kalkashandi ( Fourteenth Century ). After reaching either the Indian or the Sri Lankan ports were sometimes shipped to East Africa , where they would be used for many purposes, including burial rites. heading for the first time to India (black) as well as the trips of Pero Da Covilha (orange) and Afonso De Paiva (blue). The path common to both is the green line.]] The islands of [where Sandalwood is found] are the islands of ''Bandam'' and they are the islands where nutmeg and mace are found. The islands of Cloves are called ''Maluku'' ....." On the orders of Manuel I Of Portugal , four vessels under the command of navigator Vasco Da Gama rounded the Cape Of Good Hope , continuing to the eastern coast of Africa to Malindi to sail across the Indian Ocean to Calicut .Gama, Vasco da. The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Columbia University Press. The wealth of the Indies was now open for the Europeans to explore; the Portuguese Empire was one of the early European empires to grow from spice trade. SPICE TRADE DURING THE MODERN TIMES Early modern period The first and returned one year later with 600, 000 pounds of spices and other East Indian products. The United East India Company forged alliance with the principal producers of cloves and nutmeg. The British East India Company shipped substantial quantities of spices during the early Seventeenth Century ., with the Dutch East India Company possessions marked in a paler green, surrounding the Indian Ocean plus Saint Helena in the mid- Atlantic .]] The growing competition led to rival nations resorting to military means for control of the spice trade. In 1641 , Portuguese Molucca was captured by the Dutch. The capture saw concentrated plantation on cloves and nutmegs and then - using the Treaty of Batavia ( 1652 ) - an attempt to destroy trees on all other islands. This was done to keep the supply in check in order to control the important markets of spices. This attempt disrupted the ancient patterns of trade and even led to depopulation of entire islands, notably Banda . British traveler John Fryer ( 1672 - 1681 ) observed that "the Dutch will leave nothing unattempted, to engross; for none has escaped them but this pepper [of Malabar ]: cinnamon, cloves, mace and nutmegs being wholly theirs...." Furthermore, a report by the British East India Company ( London , 1614 ) mentions of the Dutch as "worse enemies than the ''Portingals'' in matters of trade." The Moluccas became the principal entry ports for the spice trade, and according to Robin A. Donkin (2003):Donkin 2003: 170
Penang , a British Colony , was established as a pepper port in 1786 .Corn 1999: 217 Later modern times By 1815 , the first shipment of nutmegs from Sumatra had arrived in Europe. Furthermore, islands of the West Indies , like Grenada , also became involved in spice trade. Sandalwood from Timor was prized as "a commodity in China" during the early displayed a general interest in sandalwood products, which were used to make images of the historic Buddha and other valuable artifacts. Despite the late entry of became a powerful entity in the South Eastern spice trade, the Acehnese resisted Dutch invasions and forged trading relationships with the traders from Salem.Corn 1999: 252 Recent Trends As of the early 2000s , Saffron is the world's most expensive spice. Spain , India, and Iran are the chief producers of saffron. One pound of saffron may require upto 35,000–100,000 Flower s. The table below shows total global spice production in 2004 ( Food And Agriculture Organization Of The United Nations statistics): SEE ALSO NOTES REFERENCES |
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