Spicing Things Up: European Exploration and the Spice Trade

 Spicing Things Up:
How European Conquest of the Spice Trade Changed World History

http://www.goturkey.com/en/pages/content/1771/spices

Native to Indonesia, spices had served an integral role in ancient Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and Arabic cultures and economies long before European discovery.  The rise of the Crusades in the first couple centuries of the second millennium CE resulted in a novel exchange of Eastern and Western cultures, and among the goods exchanged were precious spices of the East.  Enthralled by the vast medicinal, preservative, and aromatic properties of eastern spices, European powers thus launched explorations in search of these valuable spices, forever altering the history of the world.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/bigphotos/63178626.html

But why did Europeans so vehemently feel the need to travel the globe in search of these aromatic plant products?  As shown in this video, throughout the next few centuries, spices became the ultimate symbol of wealth and status.  As word spread of their potent effects as medicines, preservatives, and flavorings, and as the dominant Catholic Church adopted spices as a key component to Christian worship, spices become one of the most expensive and precious items on the market.

http://www.kofc.org/en/columbia/detail/2012_06_columbus_interview.html

Spurred by desire for profit, European monarchies, like Spain and Portugal, dispatched a series of expeditions to find shortcuts to the East Indies so that they, too, could reap the benefits of the booming spice business.  Two of the most significant voyages were those led by Christopher Columbus of Spain and Vasco de Gama of Portugal.  Though Columbus never actually reached the East Indies, he instead became the first European to discover the Americas, so without Spain’s desire to take over the spice trade, we might not have America as we do today! 

De Gama, on the other hand, was the first to sail east from Europe around the Cape of Hope and then continue on to reach India.  Consequently, this discovery not only allowed European access into the thriving spice trade, but it also promoted globalization, culture exchange, and an international economy.  Shown in map below, Europeans, driven by the burning desire to take over the spice trade, had begun to conquer not only the West, but also the East- resulting in a complex network of trade and exploration all across the globe that still flourishes to this day.

http://jacksonbbrown.com/ss/page/2/