CHAPTER XVI 

 SPICES AND FLAVORINGS 



Spices played a very important part in the history of Europe 

 during the Middle Ages and up to the i6th century. The first 

 knowledge of tropical spices was perhaps brought to Europe 

 by Arab and Jewish tradesmen. These materials brought 

 large prices and were widely sought by the courts and aris- 

 tocracy of European countries. The existence of spices in 

 far-off, and at that time unknown tropical countries, led to 

 great activity in the building of sailing vessels and to deep 

 study of navigation by sailors. In fact, the geography and 

 history of the whole world have been much modified as a 

 result of the struggle for the possession of spices. The quest 

 of spices took the form of a furor which affected some of 

 the European States almost as much as the Crusades. When 

 Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope and reached 

 India, the primary result of his expedition was to lay the 

 foundation of a colonial empire for Portugal, giving Portugal 

 a large supply of spices. Later the Dutch activities in India 

 and the East Indies led to an attempt to secure a monopoly 

 of the whole spice trade, in which complete success was at- 

 tained in so far as cinnamon was concerned till the year 1833. 

 The success of the Portuguese and Dutch led to great efforts 

 of colonization on the part of the English and to the estab- 

 lishment of the Straits Settlements and other English colonies 

 in Asia. 



All tropical spice plants of economic importance were native 

 to the Asiatic tropics with the exception of vanilla, capsicum, 

 and pimento, which come from the American tropics, and 



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