Everything about Spice Trade totally explained
Spice trade is a commercial activity of ancient origin which involves the merchandising of
spices and
herbs. and the
Roman-India routes.
Overland routes helped the spice trade initially, but maritime trade routes led to tremendous growth in commercial activities. The route from Europe to the Indian Ocean via the Cape of Good Hope was pioneered by European navigators, such as
Vasco Da Gama, resulting in new maritime routes for trade. These spices found their way into the
Middle East before the beginning of the
Common Era, where the true sources of these spices was withheld by the traders, and associated with fantastic tales.
Luxury goods traded along the
Incense Route included
Indian spices,
ebony,
silk and fine
textiles.
The spice trade was associated with overland routes early on but maritime routes proved to be the factor which helped this trade grow. With the establishment of
Roman Egypt, the
Romans further developed the already existing trade. but through various systems eastern spices were brought to the major spice trading port of
Calicut in India.
According to the
The Cambridge History of Africa (1975):
Greco-Roman world kept on increasing; within this trade spices were the main import from India to the
Western world, bypassing silk and other commodities.
In
Java and
Borneo, the introduction of Indian culture created a demand for aromatics. The Greek document
Periplus Maris Erythraei names several Indian ports from where large ships sailed towards east to
Khruse.
Pre-Islamic Meccans continued to use the old Incense Route to benefit from the heavy Roman demand for luxury goods. The Meccan involvement saw the export of the same goods: Arabian
frankincense, East African ivory and gold, Indian spices, Chinese silk etc. Merchants arriving from India in the port city of Aden paid tribute in form of
musk,
camphor,
ambergris and
sandalwood to
Ibn Ziyad, the
sultan of
Yemen. After reaching either the Indian or the Sri Lankan ports were sometimes shipped to
East Africa, where they'd be used for many purposes, including burial rites.
The islands of
Molucca also find mention in several records:
Meluza or
Melucha is mentioned by a member of the
Brazil-India expedition under
Cabral;
Amerigo Vespucci mentions
Maluche in a letter to
Lorenzo de Medici (
1501); and navigational works of the
fourteenth century and the
fifteenth century contain the first unequivocal Arab reference to Moluccas. Just nine years later in 1497 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. 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. Just eight years later in 1500, the Portuguese navigator,
Pedro Álvares Cabral while attempting to reproduce Vasco da Gama’s route to India was blown westwards to what is today
Brazil. After taking possession of the new land, Cabral resumed his voyage to India, finally arriving there in September 1500 and returning to Portugal by 1501.
By now the Portuguese had complete control of the African sea route and as such, the Spanish, if they were to have any hope of competing with Portugal for the lucrative trade, had to find an alternate route. Their first, early, attempt was with Christopher Columbus, but he ended up finding a continent in between Europe and Asia. The Spanish finally succeeded with the voyage of
Ferdinand Magellan . On October 21, 1520 his expedition crossed what is now known as the
Strait of Magellan, opening the west coast of the Americas for exploration. On March 16, 1521 the ships reached the
Philippines and soon after the
Spice Islands, effectively establishing the first westward spice trade route to Asia. Upon returning to Spain in 1522 aboard the last remaining ship of the expedition, the survivors of the expedition became the first humans to circumnavigate the globe.
Trade under colonialism
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica 2002: "
Ferdinand Magellan took up the quest for Spain in 1519. Of the five vessels under his command, only one,
the Victoria, returned to Spain, but triumphantly, laden with cloves." Another Dutch convoy sailed in
1598 and returned one year later with 600, 000 pounds of spices and other
East Indian products.
Penang, a
British colony, was established as a pepper port in
1786. During the Eighteenth century, French possessions in India were seized by the British, who then moved on to aggressively check
Holland in the Far East.
In 1585, ships from the West Indies arrived in Europe with a cargo of
Jamaican ginger, a root originating in India and South China, which became the first Asian spice to grow successfully in the New World. Rumpf's theory was discredited by a series of successful transplantation experiments carried out in Europe and the Malay Peninsula during the early Eighteenth century.
By
1815, the first shipment of nutmegs from
Sumatra had arrived in Europe.
East Asia displayed a general interest in sandalwood products, which were used to make images of the
Buddha and other valuable artifacts. The kingdom of
Aceh became a powerful entity in the South Eastern spice trade, with the Acehnese resisted Dutch invasions and forged trading relationships with the traders from Salem. In 1818, a number of uneventful voyages were made to Sumatra from Salem. This trend continued until a series of
pirate attacks caused widespread alarm throughout the trading community, further spread by stories of Indian and European sailors meeting terrible fate at the hands of the pirates.
Cultural exchanges
Hindu and
Buddhist religious establishments of Southeast Asia came to be associated with economic activity and commerce as patrons entrusted large funds which would later be used to benefit local economy by estate management, craftsmanship and promotion of trading activities.
Buddhism, in particular, traveled alongside the maritime trade, promoting coinage, art and literacy.
Islam spread throughout the East, reaching the Malay Archipelago in the 10th century; Muslim merchants played a crucial part in the trade. Christians missionaries, such as,
Saint Francis Xavier, were instrumental in the spread of
Christianity in the East.
The Portuguese colonial settlements saw traders such as the Gujarati
banias, South Indian Chettis,
Syrian Christians, Chinese from
Fujian province, and Arabs from
Aden involved in the spice trade. Epics, languages, and cultural customs were borrowed by Southeast Asia from India, and later China. Knowledge of
Portuguese language became essential for merchants involved in the trade.
Indian merchants involved in spice trade took Indian cuisine to Southeast Asia, notable present day
Malaysia and
Indonesia, where spice mixtures and curries became popular. European people intermarried with the Indians, and popularized valuable culinary skills, such as
baking, in India. The Portuguese also introduced vinegar to India, and Franciscan priests manufactured it from coconut toddy. Indian food, adapted to European palate, became visible in England by 1811 as exclusive establishments began catering to the tastes of both the curious and those returning from India.
Recent Trends
The table below shows total global spice production in
2004 (
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations statistics):
| World Spice Production in tons, 2003–2004, data from FAOSTAT |
| India |
1 600 000 |
86% |
| China |
66 000 |
4% |
| Bangladesh |
48 000 |
3% |
| Pakistan |
45 300 |
2% |
| Turkey |
33 000 |
2% |
| Nepal |
15 500 |
1% |
| Other countries |
60 900 |
3% |
| Total |
1 868 700 |
100% |
Further Information
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