Spice Trade During The Renaissance

During the Renaissance the world experienced great change. The expansion of Europe and the east was due to the Silk Routes and the Spice Trade. The Spice Trade connects the East with Europe which created sea routes for trading spices and other goods. This expanded the world with its new opportunities and gains. Historically the Spice Trade dramatically altered the European countries during the Renaissance; theses new spice’s enabled the opportunity to have tasty food, better health and the ability to impress other people as well as a substitute for money. During the time, the spices were used in cuisine. For example, salt was used to preserve meats (Martell 44). But this made meat extremely salty, so much so, that it became nearly inedible.

The wealthier people of the Renaissance used these seasonings in mixtures or served with alcohol to impress their guests (“Why Were Spices So Important?”). One of the most popular spices used for money was peppercorn; the most common use was to pay landlords, this practice was known as “peppercorn rent.” (“Why Were Spices So Important?”). In addition to peppercorn, several other spices, such as ginger, cinnamon, turmeric, and cardamom were used as currency (“Why Were Spices So Important?”). Spices as a whole were very important to the people of the Renaissance. They played a very big part in the world, for food and as a form of

These routes were very important not in just providing goods for European countries, but “They linked its eastern lands with those of its west and Europe…” (Reid 6). From the east of Europe, Muslims dominated the maritime trade routes throughout the Indian Ocean in the high and late medieval times (Madeln Turkey). Those routes were important for the Spice Trade yes, but they provided a way to trade even more goods between the east, west, and Europe. In 1600, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, The British East India Company was chartered by her and its main objective was to gain cargo (Cornillez). India was one of the main suppliers. In addition, European countries traded with each other (Cornillez). India’s role in the Spice Trade was very important. This was due to its convenient location amongst the countries. When the Ottomans took over the trade routes, Europeans made the move to seek out direct trade routes with spice producing countries (Martell 44). India was important, very important, but other countries were too. Some countries could provide spices that did not grow in India, but grew in Africa or Arabia. The people of Arabia, to create a mystery of the gathering of spices told this story as told in The Story of Spices: “Great birds, they say, bring sticks which we Greeks call cinnamon, and carry them up to their nests. The Arabians, to get to the cinnamon, use the following artifice. They cut