Spice Trade

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Spice Origins

  • Arabian peninsula
    • myrrh and frankincense
      • oils derived for medicinal and aromatic purposes that were highly valued
    • sugar << get dates when was
  • China
    • silk
    • black tea
  • India
    • pepper
      • see [pepper] for more
    • sugar
    • cotton
  • Spice Islands
    • ginger, pepper, cloves, saffron, cinnamon, cardomom
    • nutmeg
      • see Nutmeg
      • Banda islands were the sole sources of nutmeg
      • nutmeg is traditionally used in Europe as a spice for vegetables, eggnog, mulled cider and in meat stews
      • In India and Indonesia nutmeg is traditionally used in soups and deserts

Trade Commodities

  • Gems
    • highly valuable
    • standard value across regions (portable)
  • See also [Money] << to do

Price of Spices in Europe

  • 15th century (1400s)
    • pepper sold in Venice (to northern European markets) at 27 times or 2700% of cost in India
    • nutmeg sold in London or Paris at 600 times, or 6,000% the original cost in the Banda Islands, one of the spice island groups
  • The Portuguese broke into the Indian market by circumnavigating Africa and sailing to India
    • the Portuguese secured trade concessions in Calika << to confirm sp
    • they then forcibly seized control of trade with Malaka (in modern Malaysia) a major spice-trade center
    • this allowed them to by-pass Indian markets and purchase spices at their origins at much lower prices
      • the Portuguese and Indian relationship was both trade- and war-based
        • < to source
      • the Italian monopoly on the pepper market collapsed from Portuguese competition
      • by 1588 profits from pepper trade accounted for half of Portuguese government revenue
    • the Portuguese King Manuel I was known as the "Grocer King"
      • "grocer" etymology:
        • c. 15th century dervied from "gross" or bulk
      • >> to find Manuel letter to european kings bragging about the discovery
  • Sources: