Geography Spiced up by Ritik Patel

Geography Spiced Up!
The thought of Chicken Tikka or Thai Green Chicken curry is enough to wet any appetite but you wouldn’t expect them to conjure up images of heated wars and conquests. This is a brief journey of how the European quest for exotic spices has shaped some of the world trade routes as we know them today.
Historical references to the use of spices date back to 3000BC with Hieroglyphics on the Great Pyramids of Giza showing workers eating garlic and onion for strength. In Genesis, Joseph's older brothers sold him to a passing caravan of spice merchants traveling from Gilead to Egypt. Around 400 BC Hippocrates, the Greek physician, listed more than 400 medicines made with spices and herbs, about half of which are still in use.
Many of the world’s spices originate from China, India, and the Indonesian islands, including the Moluccas (known as the Spice Islands). During the Middle Ages Marco Polo established Venice as a key trade port for the spice trade. Spanish and Portuguese explorers set out to find new routes to the spice treasures as the price of these goods were so high. Portuguese Explorer, Vasco Da Gama was a great influence on the spice trade and established it between Europe and India. He returned from a voyage to India with many spices including cinnamon, ginger and the ‘king of all spices’ peppercorn from the state of Kolkata (Calcutta) having sailed around Africa’s southern Cape of Good Hope to reach there.
Ferdinand Magellan and Bartholomew Dias were other notable Portuguese explorers who navigated the seas in search for alternative routes to India and the Spice Islands. Magellan circumnavigated the world from Portugal, past Cape Horn (on the southern tip of South America) and across the Pacific Ocean to the Philippines in his quest for new trade routes. Dias from Portugal extended Da Gama’s journey from India to the Moluccas.
These early explorers mapped out different routes across the world. These were no simple feats given the lack of Geographical knowledge of the seas at the time.
The trading of spices rose between the 15th and 17th century AD as popularity from the middle class Europeans increased. This resulted many wars being fought out between nations for the control of the centre of the spice routes. The Portuguese arrived at the small state of Malacca in 1511 and hoped to ‘inherit’ the spice trade but the success of their invasions came to a short decline in 1641 when the Dutch of VOC (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie) arrived and hoped the spice trade would be all theirs. It turned out that the Dutch had to overcome the Portuguese and their fort ‘A Famosa’. After the Dutch had conquered ‘A Famosa’ they decided to replenish it and cover Malacca with many buildings such as the famous Stadthuys. Soon Malacca had a garrison of 550 Dutchmen and 50,000 inhabitants. But Malacca’s trade still declined after the conquest despite all of the new buildings the Dutch built. At this time the Dutch’s only intention was the elimination of the invaders. The Dutch ruled Malacca from 1641 to 1798 but they were not interested in developing Malacca as a trading centre, placing greater importance to Batavia (Jakarta) on Java as their administrative centre. Malacca was ceded to the British in the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 in exchange for Bencoolen on Sumatra after the battle fought between the British East India Company (led by Queen Elizabeth I) and the Dutch East India Company. After the battle, the VOC’s trading sites had all been lost, and the company shattered. From 1826 to 1946 Malacca was governed, first by the British East India Company and then as a Crown Colony.
A few spices that were in high demand during the 15th-17th Century were chilli peppers and peppercorns. You may be surprised that a spice that we take for granted today, cost ‘literally’ its weight in gold.
Peppercorn is also used in medicines and grown mainly in Thailand and India. The Malabar Coast, now known as Kerala is well associated with the growth of peppercorns.
Chilli is most commonly associated with India, but its origins are somewhat different. Mexico helped spread the chilli to different countries including India for example; the Philippines, China, Indonesia, Korea and Japan. An alternative theory is that Portugal (getting the chilli from Spain) invaded India, hoping that they would find a new spice, ended up cultivating the chilli in India. From India the chilli journeyed to Central Asia, then to Turkey and onward to Hungary, where it was enjoyed as paprika and used in medicines.
Today most spices are available across the world and enhance our culinary diets. From a gastronomic perspective the world is a smaller place thanks to these early geographical explorers.
By Ritik Patel 7C