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An exotic saga with the tang of drama in every voyage, The Spice Route transports the reader from the dawn of history to the ends of the earth The Spice Route is one of history's great anomalies. Shrouded in mystery, it existed long before anyone knew of its extent or alignment. Spices came from lands unseen, possibly uninhabitable, and almost by definition unattainable; that was what made them so desirable. Yet more livelihoods depended on this pungent traffic, more nations participated in it, more wars were fought over it, and more discoveries resulted from it than from any other global exchange. In a bid to discover and exploit the spice route, mankind first passed beyond his known horizons to probe the limits of our planet. Epic was the quest, and in this major new study, epic is the treatment as John Keay pieces together a historical process that spans three millennia and a geographical progression that encircles the world.
Stories of the spice trade of the East Indies have long held the imagination. Cloves, nutmeg, pepper, and cinnamon - indigenous to only 15 of the 13,000 islands forming the Indonesian archipelago - were to bring to the Indies a trade that existed for over 2,000 years, and were to change the course of history as nations battled for control of these precious commodities for use as preservatives, flavourings, fumigants, medicines, and perfumes. Carried by outrigger canoes to the East African coast and by camels along the Silk Road from China in the first and second centuries BC, spices led to the rise of the powerful maritime kingdoms of Srivijaya and Majapahit in the archipelago and, in the sixteenth century onwards, to the establishment of trading monopolies and colonial empires as first the Portuguese, followed by the Spanish, Dutch, and English, broke into the lucrative spice trade.
In this brilliant, engrossing work, Jack Turner explores an era—from ancient times through the Renaissance—when what we now consider common condiments were valued in gold and blood. Spices made sour medieval wines palatable, camouflaged the smell of corpses, and served as wedding night aphrodisiacs. Indispensible for cooking, medicine, worship, and the arts of love, they were thought to have magical properties and were so valuable that they were often kept under lock and key. For some, spices represented Paradise, for others, the road to perdition, but they were potent symbols of wealth and power, and the wish to possess them drove explorers to circumnavigate the globe—and even to savagery. Following spices across continents and through literature and mythology, Spice is a beguiling narrative about the surprisingly vast influence spices have had on human desire. Includes eight pages of color photographs. One of the Best Books of the Year: Discover Magazine, The Christian Science Monitor, San Francisco Chronicle
Spices, scents and silks were at the centre of world trade for millennia. Through their international trade, humans were pushed to explore and then travel to the far corners of the earth. Almost from their inception, the earliest great civilizations - Egypt, Sumer and Harappa - became addicted to the luxury products of far-off lands and established long-reaching trade networks. Over time, great powers fought mightily for the kingdoms where silk, spices and scents were produced. The New World was accidentally discovered by Columbus in his quest for spices. In this book, eminent horticulturist and author James Hancock examines the origins and early domestication and culture of spices, scents and silks and the central role these exotic luxuries played in the lives of the ancients. The book also traces the development of the great international trade networks and explores how struggles for trade dominance and demand for such luxuries shaped the world.
The smell of sweet cinnamon on your morning oatmeal, the gentle heat of gingerbread, the sharp piquant bite from your everyday peppermill. The tales these spices could tell: of lavish Renaissance banquets perfumed with cloves, and flimsy sailing ships sent around the world to secure a scented prize; of cinnamon-dusted custard tarts and nutmeg-induced genocide; of pungent elixirs and the quest for the pepper groves of paradise. The Taste of Conquest offers up a riveting, globe-trotting tale of unquenchable desire, fanatical religion, raw greed, fickle fashion, and mouthwatering cuisine–in short, the very stuff of which our world is made. In this engaging, enlightening, and anecdote-filled history, Michael Krondl, a noted chef turned writer and food historian, tells the story of three legendary cities–Venice, Lisbon, and Amsterdam–and how their single-minded pursuit of spice helped to make (and remake) the Western diet and set in motion the first great wave of globalization. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the world’s peoples were irrevocably brought together as a result of the spice trade. Before the great voyages of discovery, Venice controlled the business in Eastern seasonings and thereby became medieval Europe’s most cosmopolitan urban center. Driven to dominate this trade, Portugal’s mariners pioneered sea routes to the New World and around the Cape of Good Hope to India to unseat Venice as Europe’s chief pepper dealer. Then, in the 1600s, the savvy businessmen of Amsterdam “invented” the modern corporation–the Dutch East India Company–and took over as spice merchants to the world. Sharing meals and stories with Indian pepper planters, Portuguese sailors, and Venetian foodies, Krondl takes every opportunity to explore the world of long ago and sample its many flavors. The spice trade and its cultural exchanges didn’t merely lend kick to the traditional Venetian cookies called peverini, or add flavor to Portuguese sausages of every description, or even make the Indonesian rice table more popular than Chinese takeout in trendy Amsterdam. No, the taste for spice of a few wealthy Europeans led to great crusades, astonishing feats of bravery, and even wholesale slaughter. As stimulating as it is pleasurable, and filled with surprising insights, The Taste of Conquest offers a fascinating perspective on how, in search of a tastier dish, the world has been transformed.
The trade in spices is one of the oldest and, at one time, one of the most important forms of commerce. While taken for granted today, spices have been coveted, plundered, fought over, and hoarded throughout history. The Age of Exploration was fueled in part by the desire to find direct routes to the spice-growing regions of Asia. Fortunes were made, battles fought, and countries conquered to satisfy the Western spice trade. This book is the first comprehensive bibliography on the economic and historical aspects of the spice trade. Arranged in broad chronological categories, the bibliography lists monographs, periodical articles, and other miscellaneous sources, including pamphlets and maps. The first chapter includes sources covering more than one time period or the entire history of the spice trade. Chapter two covers the period from Biblical times through the fall of the Roman Empire, c. 400 A.D., including ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, and the Holy Land. The Dark Ages and Middle Ages, from c. 400 to 1500, are covered in chapter three. Chapter four covers the Age of Exploration and Colonialism, including the European voyages and the colonization of Africa, Asia, and the Americas. The final chapter provides selective coverage of the post-World War II era. Sources listed in all chapters are in Western languages and available in U.S. libraries.
This is the engrossing story of Mauritius, the exotic Indian Ocean island port of call at the heart of the fabled "Spice Route". Although first discovered and visited by the Arabs and the Portuguese, and subsequently colonised by the Dutch, the French and the English, it is the French influence that is most keenly felt in Mauritius today, thanks to France's nearly century-long rule over Mauritius from 1715 to 1810. Combining rich historical detail, rare archival documents, antique lithographs paintings, and portraits, and fascinating stories of well-known figures of the period - like the founder of the colony Governor Mahé de La Bourdonnais, the explorer and botanist Pierre Poivre, and the celebrated explorer Jean- François de Lapérouse - Mauritius on the Spice Route is an invitation to step back in time and discover the fascinating history of this exotic paradise.
Make a voyage to the ancient spice islands and discover how empires were made from the growth and sale of spices. This amazing new book examines the hidden history and geography behind those tiny bottles in the kitchen. Exciting text and historic images explain to children how spices inspired explorers to seek new trade routes in earlier centuries, and how spices have been used to cure the sick, flavor foods, and make perfume.