What were the major problems with the spice trade from the Portuguese point of view?
Portugal had little to no control over the areas where pepper was grown. There were many instances of “illegal” trading. Cargoes were hijacked inland and taken to the Red Sea by coolies or bullocks over the mainland.
Where pepper & cinnamon came from the Spice Trail absolute history?
Kate Humble retraces the steps of 15th-century explorers, setting out on a trail that takes her to India and Sri Lanka, the birthplaces of pepper and cinnamon.
What was the spice trail called?
Maritime Silk Roads
The Spice Routes, also known as Maritime Silk Roads, is the name given to the network of sea routes that link the East with the West. They stretch from the west coast of Japan, through the islands of Indonesia, around India to the lands of the Middle East – and from there, across the Mediterranean to Europe.
What is the oldest spice known to man?
Cinnamon
ONE OF THE OLDEST SPICES KNOWN TO MAN. Cinnamon has been traded around the entire world since before the 1500s. Indonesian sailors began trading cinnamon to Madagascar and the east coast of Africa in the first century AD.
How did the Portuguese control the spice trade?
How did the Portuguese control the spice trade? They did it by using their sea power to set up colonies, setting up the Dutch East India Company, and establishing permanent ties with locals. They were not interested in any European trade items.
Why were cloves and nutmeg so sought after in the Indian Ocean trade?
Europe used brutal tactics in India and Southeast Asia in efforts to get in on the spice trade. Pepper, along with other spices such as cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg, was such a hot commodity five centuries ago that it drove nations to sail across vast oceans searching for new routes to the spice-rich Orient.
Who controlled the spice trade before the Portuguese?
In subsequent struggles to gain control of the trade, Portugal was eventually eclipsed, after more than a century as the dominant power. By the 19th century, British interests were firmly rooted in India and Ceylon, while the Dutch were in control of the greater part of the East Indies.
How did the spice trade end?
The trade in spices lessened after the fall of the Roman Empire, but demand for ginger, black pepper, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg revived the trade in later centuries.
What blocked land routes for spice traders?
The economically important Silk Road (red) and spice trade routes (blue) were blocked by the Seljuk Empire c. 1090, triggering the Crusades, and by the Ottoman Empire c. 1453, which spurred the Age of Discovery and European Colonialism.
What’s the queen of spices?
Cardamom
Cardamom or Elettaria Cardamomum Maton is one of the most highly prized and exotic spices and rightly deserves the name “queen of spices”. It is also commonly referred to as the “green cardamom” or the “true cardamom”, and belongs to the family of ginger.