1.
History of Sri Lanka
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The earliest human remains found on the island of Sri Lanka date to about 35,000 years ago. The proto-historical period begins roughly in the 3rd century, based on chronicles like the Mahavamsa, Dipavamsa, Silappatikaram, Manimekalai, the earliest documents of settlement in the Island are found in these chronicles. These chronicles cover the period since the establishment of the Kingdom of Tambapanni in the 6th century BCE, the first Sri Lankan ruler of the Anuradhapura Kingdom, Pandukabhaya, is recorded for the 4th century BCE. Buddhism was introduced in the 3rd century BCE by Arhath Mahinda, the first Tamil ruler of the Anuradhapura Kingdom, Elara, an invader, is recorded for the 2nd century BCE. The island was divided into numerous kingdoms over the following centuries, Sri Lanka was ruled by 181 monarchs from the Anuradhapura to Kandy periods. From the 16th century, some areas of the country were also controlled by the Portuguese, Dutch. Between 1597 and 1658, a part of the island was under Portuguese rule. The Portuguese lost their possessions in Ceylon due to Dutch intervention in the Eighty Years War, following the Kandyan Wars, the island was united under British rule in 1815. Armed uprisings against the British took place in the 1818 Uva Rebellion, independence was finally granted in 1948 but the country remained a Dominion of the British Empire until 1972. In 1972 Sri Lanka assumed the status of a Republic, a constitution was introduced in 1978 which made the Executive President the head of state. The Sri Lankan Civil War began in 1983, including an armed uprising in 1987–1989. Evidence of human colonization in Sri Lanka appears at the site of Balangoda, Balangoda Man arrived on the island about 34,000 years ago and have been identified as Mesolithic hunter gatherers who lived in caves. Several of these caves, including the well known Batadombalena and the Fa-Hien Rock cave, have yielded artifacts from these people who are currently the first known inhabitants of the island. Balangoda Man probably created Horton Plains, in the central hills, however, the discovery of oats and barley on the plains at about 15,000 BCE suggests that agriculture had already developed at this early date. Several minute granite tools, earthenware, remnants of charred timber, human remains dating to 6000 BCE have been discovered during recent excavations around a cave at Varana Raja Maha vihara and in the Kalatuwawa area. Cinnamon is native to Sri Lanka and has found in Ancient Egypt as early as 1500 BCE. It is possible that Biblical Tarshish was located on the island, james Emerson Tennent identified Tarshish with Galle. The protohistoric Early Iron Age appears to have established itself in South India by at least as early as 1200 BCE, the earliest manifestation of this in Sri Lanka is radiocarbon-dated to c
2.
Kandy
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Kandy is a major city in Sri Lanka, located in the Central Province, Sri Lanka. It was the last capital of the ancient kings era of Sri Lanka, the city lies in the midst of hills in the Kandy plateau, which crosses an area of tropical plantations, mainly tea. Kandy is both an administrative and religious city and is also the capital of the Central Province, Kandy is the home of The Temple of the Tooth Relic, one of the most sacred places of worship in the Buddhist world. It was declared a heritage site by UNESCO in 1988. The city and the region has been known by different names. Some scholars suggest that the name of Kandy was Katubulu Nuwara located near present Watapuluwa. However, the popular historical name is Senkadagala or Senkadagalapura, officially Senkadagala Siriwardhana Maha Nuwara. According to folklore, this originated from one of the several possible sources. The Kingdom of Kandy has also known by various names. The English name Kandy, which originated during the era, is derived from an anglicised version of the Sinhalese Kanda Uda Rata or Kanda Uda Pas Rata. The Portuguese shortened this to Candea, using the name for both the kingdom and its capital, in Sinhalese, Kandy is called Maha nuwara, meaning Great City or Capital, although this is most often shortened to Nuwara. Sena Sammatha Wickramabahu was followed by his son Jayaweera Astana and then by Karaliyadde Bandara who was succeeded by his daughter Dona Catherina of Kandy, Dona Catherina was succeeded by Rajasinha I. Rajasinha I however, preferred to rule the country from the Kingdom of Sitawaka on the west of the island. A period of turmoil for power ended with the ascent to the throne by Konappu Bandara who came to be known as Vimaladharmasuriya I, having embraced Buddhism, he consolidated his authority further by bringing the tooth relic of the Lord Buddha to Kandy from a place called Delgamuwa. In 1592 Kandy became the city of the last remaining independent kingdom in the island after the coastal regions had been conquered by the Portuguese. Several invasions by the Portuguese were repelled, most notably in the campaign of Danture, after the Sinhalese–Portuguese War and the establishment of Dutch Ceylon, attempts by the Dutch to conquer the kingdom were repelled. The kingdom tolerated a Dutch presence on the coast of Sri Lanka, the most ambitious offensive was undertaken in 1761, when King Kirti Sri Rajasinha attacked and overran most of the coast, leaving only the heavily fortified Negombo intact. When a Dutch retaliatory force returned to the island in 1763, Kirti Sri Rajasinha abandoned the coastline, the Dutch launched a better adapted force in January 1765, replacing their troops bayonets with machetes and using more practical uniforms and tactics suited to jungle warfare
3.
Kingdom of Kandy
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Kingdom of Kandy was an independent monarchy of the island of Lanka, located in the central and eastern portion of the island. It was founded in the late 15th century and endured until the early 19th century, the kingdom was absorbed into the British Empire as a protectorate following the Kandyan Convention of 1815, and definitively lost its autonomy following the Uva Rebellion of 1817. Over the years, the Kingdom of Kandy has been known by many names, routes to the city were kept secret, and spreading information concerning them could often result in death. Many routes into the country became impassable during the annual monsoon. Though the kingdom had intermittent access to the port of Batticaloa it had no forces and could not prevent the Portuguese. The city of Senkadagalapura may have been founded as early as the century during the reign of Vikramabahu III of Gampola. Following the Spoiling of Vijayabahu in 1521, the kingdom of Kotte split into three competing states – Sitawaka, Raigama, and Bhuvanekabahu VIIs kingdom of Kotte, of these Sitawaka, under the dynamic leadership of Mayadunne, posed the greatest threat to the autonomy of the other states. In 1522, the Kandyans secured Portuguese protection against Sitawaka, but any potential for alliance ended in 1546 when Portuguese, Kandy subsequently lent aid to the Jaffna Kingdom against the Portuguese in 1560. Kandy territory was invaded twice in the 1570s and 1580s, first in 1574, both eventually fell under Portuguese warship, converted to Christianity, and adopted the names Dona Catherina and Don Phillip respectively. In the meanwhile the Portuguese also laid claim to the Kandyan realm, Wirasundara Mudiyanse, Rajasinhas viceroy in the area, rebelled soon after the initial conquest, though his uprising was crushed another occurred in 1588. Resistance eventually coalesced around Konnappu Bandara, son of Wirasundara, who had fled to Portuguese lands following his fathers murder by agents of Rajasinha, between 1591 and 1594, he returned to the area, seized the Kandyan throne under the name Vimaladharmasuriya I and married Dona Catherina. Victories over the Sitawakans and the Portuguese secured his position, the strategic situation in Sri Lanka changed dramatically during Vimaladharmasuryas rise to power. To the north, the Portuguese deposed the king Puviraja Pandaram of the Jaffna Kingdom in 1591, in 1594, Rajasinha I died and the kingdom of Sitawaka disintegrated. Kandy remained the sole native polity outside of European dominance, hostilities between the Portuguese and the Kandyans continued throughout the rest of Vimaladharmasuryas reign. The Kandyans lent aid to a rebellion led by Domingos Correa and later Simao Correa, Sinhala subjects of Dharmapala, a Portuguese incursion in 1604 saw them capture Balane, but dissent amongst their Lascarin troops forced a withdrawal back to the coast. Relations between the Dutch Republic and the Kandyans were initiated on the 2 June 1602 when Dutch explorer Joris van Spilbergen arrived at Santhamuruthu on the eastern coast of Sri Lanka. Later that year the Dutch East India Company despatched Sebald de Weert to Kandy in an attempt to negotiate a treaty. The visit ended in disaster when the visitors offended their Kandyan hosts with their behaviour and in the ensuing fracas de Weert and a several of his entourage were killed
4.
Kandyan Convention
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The Kandyan Convention was an agreement signed on 10 March 1815 between the British and the Chiefs of the Kandyan Kingdom, in Sri Lanka for the deposition of rule King Sri Vikrama Rajasinha. The king who was of South Indian ancestry faced powerful opposition from the Sinhalese chieftains who sought to reduce his power, a successful coup was organized by the Sinhala chieftains in which they accepted the British crown as their new king. This ended the line of the Kingdom of Kandy and King Rajasinha was taken as a prisoner, by 2 March 1815 the islands sovereignty was under that of the British Empire. This unique treaty was not signed by the deposed King but by members of his court, because the king was hiding from the British, later he was captured and banished to Vellore in south India. Before the signing of the convention, a British soldier took down the Kandyan flag, wariyapola Sri Sumangala Thero, saw what had happened and quickly replaced the British flag with the Kandyan one. The soldier got angry but before he could do anything, Sir John DOyly who was nearby, robert Brownrigg - Quartermaster-General and in 1813 Governor of Ceylon John DOyly - Chief Translator to the Government Jas. The king is declared fallen and deposed and the claim of his dynasty. All his male relatives are banished from the island, the religion of Buddhism is declared inviolable and its rights to be maintained and protected. All forms of torture and mutilations are abolished. The governor alone can sentence a person to death and all capital publishments to take place in the presence of accredited agents of the government, other non-Kandyans position to remain according to British law. The proclamation annexing the Three and Four Korales and Sabaragamuwa is repealed, the dues and revenues to be collected for the King of England as well as for the maintenance of internal establishments in the island. The Governor alone can facilitate trade and commerce, herath The 1815 Kandyan Convention at the Audience Hall The signing of the Kandyan Convention Kandyan Convention of 1815 Kandyan Convention of 1815 by Dr. K. D. G
5.
British Empire
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The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It originated with the possessions and trading posts established by England between the late 16th and early 18th centuries. At its height, it was the largest empire in history and, for over a century, was the foremost global power. By 1913, the British Empire held sway over 412 million people, 23% of the population at the time. As a result, its political, legal, linguistic and cultural legacy is widespread, during the Age of Discovery in the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal and Spain pioneered European exploration of the globe, and in the process established large overseas empires. Envious of the great wealth these empires generated, England, France, the independence of the Thirteen Colonies in North America in 1783 after the American War of Independence caused Britain to lose some of its oldest and most populous colonies. British attention soon turned towards Asia, Africa, and the Pacific, after the defeat of France in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, Britain emerged as the principal naval and imperial power of the 19th century. In the early 19th century, the Industrial Revolution began to transform Britain, the British Empire expanded to include India, large parts of Africa and many other territories throughout the world. In Britain, political attitudes favoured free trade and laissez-faire policies, during the 19th Century, Britains population increased at a dramatic rate, accompanied by rapid urbanisation, which caused significant social and economic stresses. To seek new markets and sources of raw materials, the Conservative Party under Benjamin Disraeli launched a period of imperialist expansion in Egypt, South Africa, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand became self-governing dominions. By the start of the 20th century, Germany and the United States had begun to challenge Britains economic lead, subsequent military and economic tensions between Britain and Germany were major causes of the First World War, during which Britain relied heavily upon its empire. The conflict placed enormous strain on the military, financial and manpower resources of Britain, although the British Empire achieved its largest territorial extent immediately after World War I, Britain was no longer the worlds pre-eminent industrial or military power. In the Second World War, Britains colonies in Southeast Asia were occupied by Imperial Japan, despite the final victory of Britain and its allies, the damage to British prestige helped to accelerate the decline of the empire. India, Britains most valuable and populous possession, achieved independence as part of a larger movement in which Britain granted independence to most territories of the empire. The transfer of Hong Kong to China in 1997 marked for many the end of the British Empire, fourteen overseas territories remain under British sovereignty. After independence, many former British colonies joined the Commonwealth of Nations, the United Kingdom is now one of 16 Commonwealth nations, a grouping known informally as the Commonwealth realms, that share a monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. The foundations of the British Empire were laid when England and Scotland were separate kingdoms. In 1496, King Henry VII of England, following the successes of Spain and Portugal in overseas exploration, Cabot led another voyage to the Americas the following year but nothing was ever heard of his ships again
6.
Feudalism
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Feudalism was a combination of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structuring society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour, since the publication of Elizabeth A. R. There is no commonly accepted definition of feudalism, at least among scholars. Since the publication of Elizabeth A. R, outside a European context, the concept of feudalism is often used only by analogy, most often in discussions of feudal Japan under the shoguns, and sometimes medieval and Gondarine Ethiopia. The term feudalism has also been applied—often inappropriately or pejoratively—to non-Western societies where institutions, the term féodal was used in 17th-century French legal treatises and translated into English legal treatises as an adjective, such as feodal government. In the 18th century, Adam Smith, seeking to describe systems, effectively coined the forms feudal government. In the 19th century the adjective feudal evolved into a noun, the term feudalism is recent, first appearing in French in 1823, Italian in 1827, English in 1839, and in German in the second half of the 19th century. The term feudal or feodal is derived from the medieval Latin word feodum, the etymology of feodum is complex with multiple theories, some suggesting a Germanic origin and others suggesting an Arabic origin. Initially in medieval Latin European documents, a grant in exchange for service was called a beneficium. Later, the term feudum, or feodum, began to replace beneficium in the documents, the first attested instance of this is from 984, although more primitive forms were seen up to one-hundred years earlier. The origin of the feudum and why it replaced beneficium has not been well established, the most widely held theory is put forth by Marc Bloch. Bloch said it is related to the Frankish term *fehu-ôd, in which means cattle and -ôd means goods. This was known as feos, a term that took on the meaning of paying for something in lieu of money. This meaning was then applied to itself, in which land was used to pay for fealty. Thus the old word feos meaning movable property changed little by little to feus meaning the exact opposite and this Germanic origin theory was also shared by William Stubbs in the 19th century. Another theory was put forward by Archibald R. Lewis, Lewis said the origin of fief is not feudum, but rather foderum, the earliest attested use being in Astronomuss Vita Hludovici. In that text is a passage about Louis the Pious that says annona militaris quas vulgo foderum vocant, another theory by Alauddin Samarrai suggests an Arabic origin, from fuyū. Samarrais theory is that early forms of fief include feo, feu, feuz, feuum and others, indeed, the first use of these terms is in Languedoc, one of the least Germanic areas of Europe and bordering Muslim Spain
7.
India
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India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and it is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast. It shares land borders with Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast, in the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Indias Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a border with Thailand. The Indian subcontinent was home to the urban Indus Valley Civilisation of the 3rd millennium BCE, in the following millennium, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism began to be composed. Social stratification, based on caste, emerged in the first millennium BCE, early political consolidations took place under the Maurya and Gupta empires, the later peninsular Middle Kingdoms influenced cultures as far as southeast Asia. In the medieval era, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived, much of the north fell to the Delhi sultanate, the south was united under the Vijayanagara Empire. The economy expanded in the 17th century in the Mughal empire, in the mid-18th century, the subcontinent came under British East India Company rule, and in the mid-19th under British crown rule. A nationalist movement emerged in the late 19th century, which later, under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolent resistance, in 2015, the Indian economy was the worlds seventh largest by nominal GDP and third largest by purchasing power parity. Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the major economies and is considered a newly industrialised country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition, a nuclear weapons state and regional power, it has the third largest standing army in the world and ranks sixth in military expenditure among nations. India is a constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society and is home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats. The name India is derived from Indus, which originates from the Old Persian word Hindu, the latter term stems from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, which was the historical local appellation for the Indus River. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi, which translates as The people of the Indus, the geographical term Bharat, which is recognised by the Constitution of India as an official name for the country, is used by many Indian languages in its variations. Scholars believe it to be named after the Vedic tribe of Bharatas in the second millennium B. C. E and it is also traditionally associated with the rule of the legendary emperor Bharata. Gaṇarājya is the Sanskrit/Hindi term for republic dating back to the ancient times, hindustan is a Persian name for India dating back to the 3rd century B. C. E. It was introduced into India by the Mughals and widely used since then and its meaning varied, referring to a region that encompassed northern India and Pakistan or India in its entirety
8.
Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka
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Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka are Tamil people of Indian origin in Sri Lanka. They are also known as Hill Country Tamils, Up-Country Tamils or simply Indian Tamils and they are partly descended from workers sent from South India to Sri Lanka in the 19th and 20th centuries to work in coffee, tea and rubber plantations. Some also migrated on their own as merchants and as service providers. These Tamil-speakers mostly live in the highlands, also known as the Malayakam or Hill Country yet others are also found in major urban areas. Although they are all termed as Tamils today, some have Telugu and they are instrumental in the plantation sector economy of Sri Lanka. In general socio-economically their standard of living is below that of the national average, in 1964 a large percentage were repatriated to India, but left a considerable number as stateless people. By the 1990s most of these had been given Sri Lankan citizenship, most are Hindus with a minority of Christians and Muslims amongst them. Politically they are supportive of trade union derived political parties that have supported most of the ruling coalitions since the 1980s, today there are two groups of Tamils in Sri Lanka. The first are the Sri Lankan Tamils, who descended from the Tamils of the old Jaffna kingdom or who migrated to the east coast. The second are the Indian Tamils or Hill Country Tamils, who are descendants of bonded labourers sent from Tamil Nadu to Sri Lanka in the 19th century to work in tea plantations. Sri Lankan Tamils mostly live in the Northern and Eastern Provinces and in the capital of Colombo, the Hill Country Tamils and Ceylon Tamils historically have seen themselves as separate communities. In 1949, the United National Party government stripped the Indian Tamils of their nationality, prominent Tamil political leaders such as S. J. V. Chelvanayakam and his Tamil opposition party opposed this move. However, the conflict has led to the growth of a greater sense of common Tamil identity. By the 1990s most Indian Tamils had received Sri Lankan citizenship, the Hill Country Tamils derive their origins from a British colonial era project. There is also a community of Indian Tamils who were not part of the plantation economy. As soon as these migrant workers were brought to Mannar, the port at which they landed on their arrival by boat from South India, many died during their first few months of employment. They were instrumental in the establishment of tea, rubber, coffee and they formed the bulk of the labour force of the plantation sector. Census operations started in Sri Lanka in 1871, the Census of 1871,1881,1891 and 1901 had lumped together Sri Lankan Tamils and Indian Tamils
9.
Coolie
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Coolie, during the 19th and early 20th century, was a term for an indentured servant indentured to a company, mainly from the South Asia or China. The origins of the word are uncertain but it is thought to have originated from the Tamil word for a payment for work, an alternative etymological explanation is that the word came from Hindustani word qulī, which itself could be from the Turkish word for slave, kul. The word was used in this sense for labourers from India, in 1727, Dr. Engelbert Kämpfer described coolies as dock labourers who would unload Dutch merchant ships at Nagasaki in Japan. The Chinese word 苦 力 means bitterly hard and is translated as bitter labour. Social and political pressure led to the abolition of the trade throughout the British Empire in 1807. Labour-intensive industries, such as cotton and sugar plantations, mines and railway construction, as a consequence, a large-scale slavery-like trade in Asian indentured labourers began in the 1820s to fill this vacuum. British companies were the first to experiment with this new form of cheap labour in 1807. The coolie trade was often compared to the slave trade. Although there are reports of ships for Asian coolies carrying women and children, the Chinese government also made efforts to secure the well-being of their nations workers, with representations being made to relevant governments around the world. The first shipment of Chinese labourers was to the British colony of Trinidad in 1806, the trade soon spread to other ports in Guangdong and demand became particularly strong in Peru for workers in the silver mines and the guano collecting industry. Australia began importing workers in 1848 and the United States began using them in 1865 on the First Transcontinental Railroad construction, the trade flourished from 1847 to 1854 without incident, until reports began to surface of the mistreatment of the workers in Cuba and Peru. As the British government had political and legal responsibility for many of the ports involved, including Amoy, however, the trade simply shifted to the more accommodating port in the Portuguese enclave of Macau. Many coolies were first deceived or kidnapped and then kept in barracoons or loading vessels in the ports of departure, in 1875, British commissioners estimated that approximately eighty percent of the workers had been abducted. Their voyages, which are called the Pacific Passage, were as inhumane. They were sold and were taken to work in plantations or mines with very bad living and working conditions, the duration of a contract was typically five to eight years, but many coolies did not live out their term of service because of the hard labour and mistreatment. Those who did live were often forced to remain in servitude beyond the contracted period, the coolies who worked on the sugar plantations in Cuba and in the guano beds of the Chincha Islands of Peru were treated brutally. Seventy-five percent of the Chinese coolies in Cuba died before fulfilling their contracts, more than two-thirds of the Chinese coolies who arrived in Peru between 1849 and 1874 died within the contract period. In 1860 it was calculated that of the 4000 coolies brought to the Chinchas since the trade began, because of these unbearable conditions, Chinese coolies often revolted against their Ko-Hung bosses and foreign company bosses at ports of departure, on ships, and in foreign lands
10.
Secretary of State for the Colonies
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The Secretary of State for the Colonies or Colonial Secretary was the British Cabinet minister in charge of managing the United Kingdoms various colonial dependencies. The position was first created in 1768 to deal with the increasingly troublesome North American colonies, joint responsibility continued under the Secretary of State for the Colonies, but led to a diminution of the boards status and it became an adjunct to the new Secretarys Department. Following this, colonial duties given to the Home Secretary, then Lord Sydney, following the Treaty of Paris 1783, a new board, named the Committee of Council on Trade and Plantations was established under William Pitt the Younger, by an Order in Council in 1784. In the latter part of the century the United Kingdom also gained control over a number of territories with the status of protectorate. The ministerial responsibility for these territories was initially held by the Foreign Secretary, however, by the early years of the twentieth century the responsibility for each of these territories had been transferred to the Colonial Secretary as well. The League of Nations mandated territories acquired as a result of the Treaty of Versailles became a responsibility of the Colonial Office in the aftermath of the First World War. In 1925 part of the Colonial Office was separated out as the Dominions Office, the new office was responsible for dealing with the Dominions together with a small number of other territories. In the twenty years following the end of the Second World War, in 1968 the Commonwealth Office was subsumed into the Foreign Office, which was renamed the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The Colonial Secretary never had responsibility for the provinces and princely states of India, from 1768 until 1966 the Secretary of State was supported by an Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, and latterly by a Minister of State
11.
Coffee
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Coffee is a brewed drink prepared from roasted coffee beans, which are the seeds of berries from the Coffea plant. The genus Coffea is native to tropical Africa, and Madagascar, the two most commonly grown are the highly regarded arabica, and the less sophisticated but stronger and more hardy robusta. Once ripe, coffee berries are picked, processed, and dried, dried coffee seeds are roasted to varying degrees, depending on the desired flavor. Roasted beans are ground and brewed with boiling water to produce coffee as a beverage. Coffee is slightly acidic and can have an effect on humans because of its caffeine content. Coffee is one of the most popular drinks in the world and it can be prepared and presented in a variety of ways. It is usually served hot, although iced coffee is also served, the earliest credible evidence of coffee-drinking appears in the middle of the 15th century in the Sufi shrines of Yemen. It was here in Arabia that coffee seeds were first roasted and brewed in a way to how it is now prepared. Coffee seeds were first exported from East Africa to Yemen, as the coffea arabica plant is thought to have been indigenous to the former, yemeni traders took coffee back to their homeland and began to cultivate the seed. By the 16th century, it had reached Persia, Turkey, from there, it spread to Europe and the rest of the world. Coffee is an export commodity, it is the top agricultural export for numerous countries and is among the worlds largest legal agricultural exports. It is one of the most valuable commodities exported by developing countries, green coffee is one of the most traded agricultural commodities in the world. Consequently, the markets for fair trade coffee and organic coffee are expanding. The first reference to coffee in the English language is in the form chaona, dated to 1598 and understood to be a misprint of chaoua, equivalent, in the orthography of the time, to chaova. This term and coffee both derive from the Ottoman Turkish kahve, by way of the Italian caffè and it has also been proposed that the source may be the Proto-Central Semitic root q-h-h meaning dark. Alternatively, the word Khat, a plant widely used as stimulant in Yemen and Ethiopia before being supplanted by coffee has been suggested as a possible origin, the expression coffee break was first attested in 1952. The term coffee pot dates from 1705, other accounts attribute the discovery of coffee to Sheikh Omar. According to the ancient chronicle, Omar, who was known for his ability to cure the sick through prayer, was exiled from Mocha in Yemen to a desert cave near Ousab
12.
Cinnamon
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Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus Cinnamomum. Cinnamon is used in sweet and savoury foods. The term cinnamon also refers to its mid-brown colour, Cinnamon is the name for perhaps a dozen species of trees and the commercial spice products that some of them produce. All are members of the genus Cinnamomum in the family Lauraceae, only a few Cinnamomum species are grown commercially for spice. The English word cinnamon, attested in English since the 15th century, derives from the Greek κιννάμωμον kinnámōmon, via Latin, the Greek was borrowed from a Phoenician word, which was similar to the related Hebrew qinnamon. The name cassia, first recorded in English around AD1000, was borrowed via Latin and ultimately derives from Hebrew qtsīʿāh, Cinnamon has been known from remote antiquity. It was imported to Egypt as early as 2000 BCE, the first Greek reference to kasia is found in a poem by Sappho in the seventh century BCE. According to Herodotus, both cinnamon and cassia grew in Arabia, together with incense, myrrh, and ladanum, the phoenix was reputed to build its nest from cinnamon and cassia. Herodotus mentions other writers who believed the source of cassia was the home of Dionysos, egyptian recipes for kyphi, an aromatic used for burning, included cinnamon and cassia from Hellenistic times onward. The gifts of Hellenistic rulers to temples sometimes included cassia and cinnamon, as well as incense, myrrh, Cinnamon was brought around the Arabian peninsula on rafts without rudders or sails or oars, taking advantage of the winter trade winds. Pliny also mentions cassia as a agent for wine. According to Pliny, a Roman pound of cassia, cinnamon, or serichatum cost up to 300 denarii, diocletians Edict on Maximum Prices from 301 AD gives a price of 125 denarii for a pound of cassia, while an agricultural labourer earned 25 denarii per day. Malabathrum leaves were used in cooking and for distilling an oil used in a sauce for oysters by the Roman gourmet Gaius Gavius Apicius. Malabathrum is among the spices that, according to Apicius, any good kitchen should contain, through the Middle Ages, the source of cinnamon was a mystery to the Western world. From reading Latin writers who quoted Herodotus, Europeans had learned that cinnamon came up the Red Sea to the ports of Egypt. Marco Polo avoided precision on the topic, Pliny the Elder wrote in the first century that traders had made this up to charge more, but the story remained current in Byzantium as late as 1310. The first mention that the spice grew in Sri Lanka was in Zakariya al-Qazwinis Athar al-bilad wa-akhbar al-‘ibad about 1270 and this was followed shortly thereafter by John of Montecorvino in a letter of about 1292. Indonesian rafts transported cinnamon directly from the Moluccas to East Africa, venetian traders from Italy held a monopoly on the spice trade in Europe, distributing cinnamon from Alexandria
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