Spice Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==History== {{Seealso|Spice use in antiquity}} ===Early history=== The [[spice trade]] developed throughout the [[Indian subcontinent]]<ref name="Sidebotham2019">{{cite book|author=Steven E. Sidebotham|title=Berenike and the Ancient Maritime Spice Route|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tw6LDwAAQBAJ|date=May 7, 2019|publisher=Univ of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-30338-6|access-date=April 13, 2019|archive-date=June 30, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230630115408/https://books.google.com/books?id=Tw6LDwAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> and [[Middle East]] by 2000 BCE with [[cinnamon]] and [[black pepper]], and in [[East Asia]] with herbs and pepper. The Egyptians used herbs for [[ancient Egyptian cuisine|cuisine]] and [[Ancient Egyptian funerary practices|mummification]]. Their demand for exotic spices and herbs helped stimulate world trade. [[Clove]]s were used in [[Mesopotamia]] by 1700 BCE.{{refn |group=note |A team of archaeologists led by [[Giorgio Buccellati]] excavating the ruins of a burned-down house at the site of [[Terqa]], in modern-day [[Syria]], found a ceramic pot containing a handful of cloves. The house had burned down around 1720 BC and this was the first evidence of cloves being used in the west before Roman times.<ref>Daniel T. Potts (1997), [https://books.google.com/books?id=O_aFGKPsWwcC&pg=PA269 Mesopotamian Civilization: The Material Foundations.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326164819/https://books.google.com/books?id=O_aFGKPsWwcC&pg=PA269 |date=March 26, 2023 }} A&C Black publishers, p. 269</ref><ref>Buccellati, G., M. Kelly-Buccellati, Terqa: The First Eight Seasons, Les Annales Archeologiques Arabes Syriennes 33(2), 1983, 47-67</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=O'Connell |first=John |title=The Book of Spice: From Anise to Zedoary |publisher=Pegasus Books |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-68177-152-6|url= }}</ref>}} The earliest written records of spices come from ancient Egyptian, Chinese, and Indian cultures. The [[Ebers Papyrus]] from early Egypt dating from 1550 BCE describes some eight hundred different [[Herbal medicine|herbal medicinal]] remedies and numerous medicinal procedures.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Encyclopedia of Food and Culture|last=Woodward|first=Penny|publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons|year=2003|editor-last=Katz|volume=2|pages=187β195|chapter=Herbs and Spices}}</ref> By 1000 BCE, medical systems based upon herbs could be found in [[China]], [[Korea]], and [[India]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}} Early uses were associated with magic, medicine, religion, tradition, and preservation.<ref name=ABCp14>{{cite book |last=Murdock |first=Linda | title=A Busy Cook's Guide to Spices: How to Introduce New Flavors to Everyday Meals | publisher=Bellwether Books | year=2001 | isbn=978-0-9704285-0-9 | page=14}}</ref> Indonesian merchants traveled around China, India, the Middle East, and the east coast of Africa. [[Arab]] merchants facilitated the routes through the Middle East and India. This resulted in the Egyptian [[Port of Alexandria|port city of Alexandria]] being the main trading center for spices. The most important discovery prior to the European spice trade was the [[monsoon]] winds (40 CE). Sailing from Eastern spice cultivators to Western European consumers gradually replaced the land-locked spice routes once facilitated by the Middle East Arab caravans.<ref name=ABCp14/> Spices were prominent enough in the ancient world that they are mentioned in the [[Old Testament]]. In [[Genesis (Old Testament)|Genesis]], [[Joseph (Hebrew Bible)|Joseph]] was sold into slavery by his brothers to spice merchants. In [[Book of Exodus|Exodus]], [[manna]] is described as being similar to coriander in appearance. In the [[Song of Solomon]], the male narrator compares his beloved to many saffron, cinnamon, and other spices. The ancient Indian [[Indian epic poetry|epic]] [[Ramayana]] mentions cloves. Historians believe that [[nutmeg]], which originates from the [[Banda Islands]] in [[Southeast Asia]], was introduced to Europe in the 6th century BCE.<ref>{{cite book |last=Burkill |first=I.H. |title=A Dictionary of the Economic Products of the Malay Peninsula |publisher=Ministry of Agriculture and Co-Operatives |location=Kuala Lumpur |year=1966}}</ref> The [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] had cloves in the 1st century CE, as [[Pliny the Elder]] wrote about them.<ref name="Duke 2002 p. 7">{{cite book |last=Duke |first=J.A. |title=CRC Handbook of Medicinal Spices |publisher=CRC Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-1-4200-4048-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vPTLBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA7 |access-date=May 9, 2017 |page=7 |archive-date=June 30, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230630115408/https://books.google.com/books?id=vPTLBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA7 |url-status=live }}</ref> ===Middle Ages=== [[File:Le livre des merveilles de Marco Polo-pepper.jpg|thumb|"The Mullus" harvesting pepper. Illustration from a French edition of ''[[The Travels of Marco Polo]]''.]] Spices were among the most demanded and expensive products available in Europe in the [[Middle Ages]],<sup>[[Spice#cite note-5|[5]]]</sup> the most common being [[black pepper]], [[cinnamon]] (and the cheaper alternative [[Cinnamomum aromaticum|cassia]]), [[cumin]], [[nutmeg]], ginger, and [[cloves]]. Given medieval medicine's main theory of [[humorism]], spices and herbs were indispensable to balance "humors" in food,<sup>[[Spice#cite note-6|[6]]]</sup> on a daily basis for good health at a time of recurrent [[pandemic]]s. In addition to being desired by those using [[Medieval medicine of Western Europe|medieval medicine]], the European elite also craved spices in the Middle Ages, believing spices to be from and a connection to "paradise".<ref>{{Cite book |author=Schivelbusch, Wolfgang |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/24702170 |title=Tastes of paradise : a social history of spices, stimulants, and intoxicants |date=1992 |publisher=Pantheon Books |isbn=0-394-57984-4 |oclc=24702170 |access-date=December 4, 2022 |archive-date=June 30, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230630115421/https://worldcat.org/title/24702170 |url-status=live }}</ref> An example of the European aristocracy's demand for spice comes from the [[King of Aragon]], who invested substantial resources into importing spices to [[Spain]] in the 12th century. He was specifically looking for spices to put in [[wine]] and was not alone among [[European Monarchs|European monarchs]] at the time to have such a desire for spice.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Freedman|first=Paul|date=June 5, 2015|title=Health, wellness and the allure of spices in the Middle Ages|journal=Journal of Ethnopharmacology|series=Potent Substances: On the Boundaries of Food and Medicine|volume=167|pages=47β53|doi=10.1016/j.jep.2014.10.065|pmid=25450779}}</ref> Spices were all imported from plantations in Asia and Africa, which made them expensive. From the 8th until the 15th century, the [[Republic of Venice]] held a monopoly on spice trade with the Middle East, using this position to dominate the neighboring Italian [[maritime republics]] and city-states. The trade made the region rich. It has been estimated that around 1,000 tons of pepper and 1,000 tons of other common spices were imported into Western Europe each year during the [[Late Middle Ages]]. The value of these goods was the equivalent of a yearly supply of grain for 1.5 million people.<ref>{{cite book |author=Adamson, Melitta Weiss|title=Food in Medieval Times|url=https://archive.org/details/foodmedievaltime00adam_218|url-access=limited|publisher=Greenwood Press|location=Westport, Conn|year=2004|isbn=978-0-313-32147-4|page= [https://archive.org/details/foodmedievaltime00adam_218/page/n89 65]}}</ref> The most exclusive was [[saffron]], used as much for its vivid yellow-red color as for its flavor. Spices that have now fallen into obscurity in European cuisine include [[Aframomum melegueta|grains of paradise]], a relative of [[cardamom]] which mostly replaced pepper in late medieval north French cooking, [[long pepper]], [[nutmeg|mace]], [[spikenard]], [[galangal]], and [[cubeb]].<ref name="freedman" /> ===Early modern period=== Voyagers from [[Spain]] and [[Portugal]] were interested in seeking new routes to trade in spices and other valuable products from Asia. The control of trade routes and the spice-producing regions were the main reasons that [[Portugal|Portuguese]] navigator [[Vasco da Gama]] sailed to [[India]] in 1499.<sup>[[Spice#cite note-8|[8]]]</sup> When da Gama discovered the pepper market in India, he was able to secure peppers for a much cheaper price than the ones demanded by [[Venice]].<ref name=":0" /> At around the same time, [[Christopher Columbus]] returned from the [[New World]]. He described to [[investor]]s the new spices available there.<ref>Turner, 2004, p. 11</ref>{{Efn|The word "ajΓ" is still used in South American Spanish for chili peppers.}} Another source of competition in the spice trade during the 15th and 16th centuries was the [[Republic of Ragusa|Ragusans]] from the maritime republic of [[Dubrovnik]] in southern Croatia.<ref>Encyclopedia of Jewish Food, p. 453, Gil Marks, John Wiley & Sons, 2010. {{ISBN|978-0-470-39130-3}}</ref> The military prowess of [[Afonso de Albuquerque]] (1453β1515) allowed the Portuguese to take control of the sea routes to India. In 1506, he took the island of [[Socotra]] in the mouth of the [[Red Sea]] and, in 1507, [[Ormuz]] in the [[Persian Gulf]]. Since becoming the [[viceroy]] of the [[Indies]], he took [[Goa]] in India in 1510, and [[Malacca]] on the [[Malay Peninsula]] in 1511. The Portuguese could now trade directly with [[Thailand|Siam]], [[China]], and the [[Maluku Islands]]. With the discovery of the New World came new spices, including [[allspice]], [[chili pepper]]s, [[vanilla]], and [[chocolate]]. This development kept the spice trade, with America as a latecomer with its new seasonings, profitable well into the 19th century.{{Citation needed|date=December 2009}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page