| |
|
 |
 |
|
 |
|
| The epic journey of spices |
|
|
|
|
| Spices, it’s life! |
|
|
| A prestigious and animated past |
|
Spices have a long history and their trade shaped the World.
In Mesopotamia, a clove dating from 1.700 before J.C., has been found in the antique city of Terqa, attesting the very remote origins of the spices trade.
The Ancient Egypt, via the ports of the Red Sea, had commercial relations with India. At this time, Cinnamon, cardamome and pepper were the main spices sought after.
The Greek and Roman world used and improved the routes opened by the Egyptians. |
Alexandria, junction point between the eastern and the western worlds, became an important center for the spice trade.
Their price was similar to the one of gold and many legends, exaggerating the difficulty of their supply, were propagated by the merchants.
|
| At the beginning of the Middle Ages, the muslim traders were controlling the spices trade from India to the Mediterranean. Calicut in the Malabar coast of India was then regarded as the world city of spices. Zhang He, the famous Chinese explorer, anchored many times in its port. Within the western world, the rich Venice secured the monopoly of the commerce of spices. |
|
|
The war between the city of the Doges and the new Ottoman Empire, increased dramatically the price of spices. To avoid the middlemen and thus reduce the acquisition price of these luxury items, the Portuguese started to research a direct route to the Indies. It was the objective of the expedition of Vasco de Gama in 1497. Whereas Christophe Colomb failed to sail to the Indies through the Atlantic, the Portuguese navigator reached successfully the land of spices, by rounding the Cape of Good Hope discovered by the first Europeans in 1488.
During nearly 100 years, the Portuguese controlled the sea route towards India and in particular its prestigious Malabar Coast. Lisbon became in its turn the richest city in the world. |
|
This quasi monopoly on the supply was called into question by the Dutchmen who drove out the Portuguese of some of their Indian trading posts. The Dutchmen also consolidated their settlements in Indonesia, another famous land of spices (producing nutmeg and clove in particular). |
|
|
To organize this new trade, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) was created in 1602 with private capital. She was considered as one of the most powerful capitalist companies of the XVII and XVIII century.
In order to settle its Asian headquarters, she founded the city of Batavia (current Jakarta).
The English, with the East India Company, then the French, with the French East India Company, and finally the Americans started to challenge the Dutch hegemony.
|
|
|
|
| This fierce competition ends up generating at the XIX century a sharp price decrease and a democratization of the use of spices. |
| Modern times, spices good for our health |
|
For a long time, spices have been used for their medicinal, gustatory and olfactory properties.
Today, the modern tools of science confirm the immense virtues of spices, whose price has become relatively cheap. From now on, all is in favour of their wider use in our daily food.
For example do you know that:
- Clove is the food with the world highest content of antioxidants (for example 2g of clove provide as much antioxidants than 250g of broccolis or 1 kg of salad).
- Cinamon would reduce the glycemia of people having a type 2 diabetes.
Moreover, many studies have largely demonstrated the antimicrobial properties of the essential oils contained in many spices.
For more information one can recommend the site:
Vitaspice offers other products, coffee and cocoa, certainly more recent than spices in world trade history, but whose virtues are not less.
More and more studies show the benefits of cocoa and coffee consumption on human health.
One can suggest the following information sources:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
© 2009 . All rights reserved to Vitaspice, Exporter of Spices, Cocoa and Coffee.
Forbidden the copy of any part of this web site without authorization. |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
