Spice trade

The spice trade has been of major economic importance throughout human history and it particularly helped spur the Age of Exploration. The word spice derives from the Latin 'species', which in its later history came to mean goods or products, often of small volume and high value http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,1291548,00.html. Spices brought to Europe from distant lands were some of the most valuable commodities for their weight, sometimes rivaling gold.

References

• Braudel, Fernand. The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II (originally published in French, 1949, as La Méditerranée et le Monde Méditerranéan à l'Epuque de Philippe II, and in a revised edition of 1966). New York: Harper & Row, 2 vols. ISBN 0-06-090566-2.
• Casson, Lionel. 1989. The Periplus Maris Erythraei. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-04060-5.
• Chami, Felix A. 2002. The Graeco-Romans and Paanchea/Azania: sailing in the Erythraean Sea.
• Miller, J. Innes. 1969. The Spice Trade of The Roman Empire: 29 B.C. to A.D. 641. Oxford University Press. Special edition for Sandpiper Books. 1998. ISBN 0-19-814264-1.
• Turner, Jack. Spice: the history of a temptation. HarperCollins. 2004.