Spices Tea Impacted Global Trade. Reference Book:

¶ … Spices Tea impacted global trade. Reference Book: A History World Societies, Eighth Edition, Volume 1 by: McKay, Hill, Buckler, Ebrey, Beck, Crowston, & Wiesner-Hanks

Discuss why and how spices and tea impacted global trade

Given the fact that almost every person in the developed world today has coffee, tea, and spices in his or her pantry, the obsession with travel to the Near East to obtain such spices and beverages during the Age of Discovery seems mysterious in retrospect. While the desire to find gold and silver was also a factor, "most of the explorers had the immediate task of finding a direct route to India and the Far East in order to obtain spices such as pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves. There are over 250 varieties of spices native to the East" (Lecture 2: The age of discovery, 2012, History Guide). Finding spices was difficult because of the long, perilous passage eastward; spices were rare and expensive, and they formed a kind of 'currency' during this period of history. "From the 12th to the 17th centuries, Oriental spices constituted the most profitable and dynamic element in European trade -- the veritable cream that brought Italian merchants in particular enormous profits; and it may very well be that Italian dominance of medieval commerce and finance rested principally upon their control of the Oriental spice trades" (Munro 2012).

Spices had both medicinal and culinary significance during this time period. Interest in exotic spices was first piqued during the Crusades. "The importation of spices resulted in a highly spiced cuisine for the nobility and spices were seen as a sign of wealth. The higher the rank of a household, the greater its use of spices. Spices were not only extensively used in the preparation of food but they were also passed around on a 'spice platter'" (Spices in the Middle Ages, 2012, The Middle Ages). Spiced wine called malmsey, drunk after the meal to aid in digestion, was also popular. Because of their high cost, wealthy nobles would offer spices on a 'spice platter' which were meant to be eaten whole and spices were often presented as gifts.

Although the cache attached to spices seems strange to us today, it is little different than the value attached to any rare commodity, like fine wines and diamonds. The rare nature of spices and social cache attached to them gave them value. Spices were literally as important as money, and like jewels they served as a kind of universal currency of transaction. A common assumption is that spices were necessary to preserve foods in an era before refrigeration. However, this is false -- salt is a far more effective preservative, and some of the most popular spices had no preservative qualities at all. Instead, spices were a luxury good. "Spices were a necessity for the rich but a luxury for the rest of society" -- a necessity in terms of the social status they conveyed (Munro 2012).