Impact Of Spice Trade

In the Arabian peninsula, Islam had started. After Muhammad died, the Muslim community embarked on a series of military conquests that extended their control over much of Eurasia and north Africa. Muslim merchants also became a prominent figure in trade during this time. The Islamic empire extended to the Arabian Peninsula and many areas around it. These places were central in the Mediterranean sea, Indian Ocean, and silk road trade routes. The Muslim merchants became a very big part of trade because of their location at the center of many trade routes from Eurasia to Africa. They were also a prominent part of trade because the camel saddle started to be used frequently in 600 CE. Camels were more equipped to walk through the desert, and so the ability to control them made the Muslims a major part of silk road trade. In addition to this, the Muslim agricultural revolution occurred around 600 CE. This caused more crops like cotton to be cultivated and traded, causing a greater income and virtually more trade between Africa and Eurasia. In the Indian Ocean basin, the Gupta empire had declined and there was no centralized rule in India. However, there were still major trading cities and new technologies caused trade to increase. An example of the new technologies would be the dhows and junks that were used at around 800 CE.

The Dutch may have very well looked for spices in Portuguese land as a form of retribution for embargoing the Dutch. The Dutch may have also looked in Portuguese land because they thought it was not as well as defended or it had easier shipping routes. All three of these reasons were the potential thought process going through minds of the Dutch rulers at the time. Nearly seven years after the Spanish had embargoed trade between the Dutch and the Portuguese, Steven van der Hagen conquered the fortress Victoria at Amboyna. This fortress had previously been a trade center for the Portuguese spice trade, but after it was captured by Steven van der Hagen in 1605, the spice trade once again resumed. Once the Dutch had captured fort Victoria, they began to attempt to set up a local monopsony. To set up a monopsony, all trade competitors had to be removed and there could only be one buyer for all of the spice sellers. It was quite evident when the Dutch East India Company captured the fort that setting up a monopsony would be quite difficult especially when considering other major competitors such as the East India Company. The only way this would be possible was by force which is where the rift and future rivalry began between the two companies. At this same very time the East India Company had just been formed in 1600 after multiple

The Silk Road was a network of trade routes that extended from the Mediterranean to China. These trade routes nurtured the spread in religion, diseases, wealth, culture, and products. Buddhism became the dominant faith

If there was ever an important period historians, and people could put a finger on, this would be it. This is the important period where the world’s countries, kingdoms, and dynasties established trade routes. This is the period where countries were made and countries were destroyed because of the importance of trade and the importance of building a fundamental, religious, and economical way of life. This paper will discuss the goals and functions of trades, and traders, and a historical analysis of world trade. This paper will also get into world trade patterns, of The Americas, Sub-Saharan Africa, The Indian Ocean, The Silk routes, China and The South China Sea, Europe and The Mediterranean, and The Atlantic Exploration.

As stated in Paul Freedman’s, Out of the East: Spices and the Medieval Imagination, “The passion for spices underlies the beginning of the European colonial enterprise, a force that remade the demography, politics, culture, economy, and ecology of the entire globe” (Freedman 3). By the mid- fifteenth century, the Silk Road was deteriorating, leaving the world with the solid grasp on trading, as well as supply and demand. Every country and area had developed their “trade mark” and had adequate understanding on the process of trading. At this time, European’s still had many mysteries they were trying to solve, regarding demography, politics, culture, economy, and ecology, as Freedman mentioned. Spices gave European’s the gateway they needed to unlock many new ideas. This new desired commodity enabled European’s to think “outside the box,” which resulted in a multitude of uses for spices, which made them an even more luxurious item. According to Freedman, “Of all the world’s commodities, spices most dramatically affected history because they launched Europe on the path to eventual overseas conquest, a conquest whose success and failure affects every aspect of contemporary world politics” (3). Freedman exhibits here that spices not only affected Europe, but the whole world as well. Spices intertwined Europe with the rest of the world. Because spices were a undiscovered product by most of the world, it was a mystery on how they should be used, and what they should be used with.

Trade was a large part in why Islam spread so quickly. Mecca had several trading routes. “By the middle of the sixth century… Mecca was … prosperous and important (Doc A).” They were trading through the two main empires: Byzantine and Persian. East Africa, Spain, India, and China also traded with them. Mecca being at the center of the trading system, they brought in many tourists to see the famous holy shrine. With the help of communication people interested in Islam were also drawn because goods were not just traded, but the Islamic culture as well.

In the 17th Century the Netherlands took control of the Banda Islands, successfully gaining monopoly of the spice trade. The Dutch were engaged in competition with the English and Portuguese for control of the Spice Islands, and decided to forcefully establish their control through their Dutch East Indies trading company. At this point the Portuguese presence was decreasing in the Bandas, and the British and British East India trading company were the Dutch’s primary competitors in the East Indies (Milton, 1999).

When studying trade and commodities of Empires in any period of time, it is important to look at the changes that the trade created within the involved nations. What crops were popular enough to grow commercially in the empire, what the increase of trade did to the population demographics, and how the global system influenced the interactions of the countries involved can be found through close reading primary sources. Through sources like Trade and Travel in the Far East by G.F. Davidson and Tearful Conversation over the Mulberry Fields and the Sea by Nguyen Thuong Hien, scholars can determine the impact these factors had on the lives of those who experienced empirical trade. In comparing these two documents, the most prominent focus is on

1. Long-distance commerce acted as a motor of change in pre-modern world history by altering consumption and daily life. Essential food and useful tools such as salt were traded from the Sahara desert all the way to West Africa and salt was used as a food preserver. Some incenses essential to religious ceremonies were traded across the world because there was a huge demand for them. Trade diminished economic self-sufficiency by creating a reliance on traded goods and encouraged people to specialize and trade a particular skill. Trade motivated the creation of a state due to the wealth accumulated from controlling and taxing trade. Trade posed the problem of if the government or private

21. In their attempt to control the spice trade in the Indian Ocean, the Europeans during the period between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries

Between the era circa 600 BCE to 1500 CE trading systems expanded with the introduction of new trade routes, some of which being the Silk Road that connected Europe and Asia, the Mediterranean sea trade routes connecting the Mediterranean basin, and the Indian ocean trade connecting India with east Africa. The emergence of these new trade routes led to the rapid accumulation of wealth by the merchants who traded. Religious responses contrasted with state responses to wealth accumulation in Eurasia during roughly 600 BCE to 1500 CE in the sense that religious responses resulted in both punishment and the absence of blessings in an individual. Whereas state responses resulted in taxation, inspection of sales reports and weights and measures,

Trade helped diffused literary, artistic, and cultural practices. Languages like Swahili formed in Africa. Islamic leverage in Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa changed the views and traditions that took place. Religious beliefs of Buddhism and Hinduism also impacted Southeast Asia, while Buddhism and Neo-Confucianism brought changes in East Asia. Mesoamerican and Andean American formed ideas that were based around Incan and Toltecan traditions.

In South Asia and Southeast Asia changes occurred due to the Indian Ocean trade network between 500 CE to 1450 CE economically, culturally, and politically. Some similarity the South Asia and the Southeast Asia contained was a strong economy by specialization as trade became more prominent. Once the Indian Ocean trade basin became more notable, culturally, religions Buddhism, and Islam, as well as adapting to some of Indian political tradition became a gradual change. Some difference is how the Southeastern Asia used their advantage with their dependency on maritime trade. As well as establishing Hindu temples as a center of economic and social means in addition to developing a more flexible caste system from India.

Production of silver and spices varied significantly as silver was mined while spices were grown. Silver was mined almost exclusively in the Western Hemisphere. Silver mining required many hands and slaves were transported to the Americas just to work in silver mines. In contrast, spices were grown and cultivated mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. The location of where the spice was cultivated differed with each spice. Salt was cultivated on the Mediterranean or Southern Europe, while pepper and nutmeg were cultivated further east, pepper predominantly in India and nutmeg in Indonesia. The spices were grown by local farmers, who then handed them off to merchants.The merchants spread the spices across Europe and Asia, blending each spice in multiple cultures. Silver and spices originated in very different places. Silver objects have been dated from before 4,000 B.C. in Greece and are even mentioned in the Book of Genesis, but the silver trade took off after the discovery of Silver in the Americas. Salt was originally discovered well before the common era around 4,500 B.C, by following animals around, who eventually led the humans to locations of salt. Salt was located on or near seashores, and most of the salt coming from seashores off the Mediterranean Sea. Pepper originated from Southeast India and is over 4,000 years old. The Indians first used it for cooking around 2,000 BC and even before and it quickly made its way across Asia and even down to the Nile in Egypt. Nutmeg was found in Indonesia, specifically the Banda Islands, but the date of discovery is unknown. The Banda Islands, also known as the Spice Islands, were the location of origin of many spices and was the only location of Nutmeg around the world.

The Origins of the Modern World by Robert B. Marks is a book about the historical changes that has happened in the period of 1400-1850. He shows that how Asia is the center of trade prior to the 1800s not the standard Eurocentric and it is a polycentric world in term of the world trade. He learned from recent scholarships on East Asia, India, Africa, and the Middle East that has raised significant doubts about Eurocentric explanations. In the Origins, he focuses on the economic history of China, India, and England.They were also the cultural, and intellectual centers before 1500, the world revolved around China and the Indian Ocean. In which, China and India were the most productive corner of the world. China and India were the world’s retail store. If you needed a product you would go to these areas.