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.

Spice Islands

In 1519, the Spanish Crown sponsored the expedition of Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese. The goal of the mission was to find the Spice Islands by traveling west, and thus placing them in the Spanish sphere. The expedition was a success and became the first to circumnavigate the world upon its return three years later.

Related Topics:
1519 - Crown - Ferdinand Magellan - Spice Islands

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"Spice Islands" most commonly refers to the Maluku Islands (formerly the Moluccas), which lie on the equator, between Sulawesi (Celebes) and the New Guinea islands in what is now Indonesia. The term has also been used in reference to other islands known for their spice production, notably the Tanzanian group off East Africa consisting of Zanzibar, Mafia Island and Pemba.

Related Topics:
Maluku Islands - Equator - Sulawesi - New Guinea - Indonesia - Tanzanian - Zanzibar - Mafia Island - Pemba

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Until the late 18th century, the Moluccas were the only source of economically significant spices, including clove, nutmeg and mace. Archaeological and linguistic evidence places Spice Island traders within a trading circuit reaching as far as mainland India around 200 BC. Pliny, the Roman author, described cloves not long afterwards. Javanese and Chinese merchants were heavily involved in the spice trade, and spices reached Europe only after passing through many foreign hands, with the main western terminus of the trade at Alexandria in Egypt.

Related Topics:
Spices - Clove - Nutmeg - Mace - Archaeological - Linguistic - Pliny - Javanese - Chinese - Alexandria - Egypt

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For this reason, spices appeared in the European imagination as a miraculously expensive natural commodity. Their location was probably unknown to the Muslim traders of Alexandria, but wild stories were invented about the exotic conditions necessary for their cultivation, and the extreme hazards endured to harvest and transport them. This heady mixture of myth, romance and fabulous riches was the El Dorado of Europe's pre-Columbian consciousness.

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Venice came to monopolize the spice trade in Europe between 1200 and 1500, through its dominance over Mediterranean seaways to ports such as Alexandria, after traditional land connections were disrupted by Mongols and Turks. The financial incentive to discover an alternative to Venice's monopoly control of this lucrative business was perhaps the single most important factor precipitating Europe's Age of Exploration.

Related Topics:
Venice - Mediterranean - Monopoly - Age of Exploration

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Portugal took an early lead charting the route around the southern tip of Africa, securing various bases en route, even accidentally discovering the coast of Brazil in the search for favourable Southerly currents. Portugal's eventual success -- see Ferdinand Magellan -- and the establishment of its own absolutist monopoly provoked the other maritime powers in Europe, Spain and France, England and the Netherlands to challenge the Portuguese position.

Related Topics:
Portugal - Ferdinand Magellan

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South-East Asian countries collectively known as the Malay Archipelago (currently known as Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia) were also one of the destinations of spice traders, due to exploration efforts by Portuguese explorers. Ports such as Malacca and Singapore bloomed out of the necessity of spice export by parties such as the Portuguese. However, due to conflict between the people in the Sultanate of Malacca and the Portuguese traders, the Portuguese Viceroy Alfonso d'Albuquerque ordered an invasion of Malacca in 1511; thus strengthening their foothold by monopolizing spice trade in the Malay Archipelago.

Related Topics:
Asian - Malay Archipelago - Malaysia - Singapore - Indonesia - Malacca - Portuguese - Sultanate of Malacca - Viceroy - Alfonso d'Albuquerque - Monopolizing

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The ideal of the Spice Islands, eventually to be enveloped by the Netherlands' Dutch East Indies empire, had led to the accidental discovery of the West Indies, and lit the fuse of centuries of rivalry between European maritime powers for control of lucrative global markets and resources. The tattered mystique of the Spice Islands finally died when France and Britain successfully smuggled seeds and plants to their own dominions on Mauritius, Grenada and elsewhere, making spices a more commonplace and much less expensive commodity.

Related Topics:
Netherlands - Dutch East Indies - West Indies - France - Britain - Seeds - Plants - Mauritius - Grenada

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