The history of spices reach back thousands of years, dating back to the 8th century B.C. Spices are widely known to be developed and discovered in Asian civilizations. Spices have been used in a variety of antique developments for their unique qualities. There were a variety of spices that were used for common purposes across the ancient world. Different spices hold a value that can create a variety of products designed to enhance or suppress certain taste and/or sensations. Spices were also associated with certain rituals to perpetuate a superstition or fulfill a religious obligation, among other things.
A spice market in Nasiriyah displaying certain spices.
Routes of ancient commerce.
Coriander seeds.
Fruit of a sumac tree.
The spice trade involved historical civilizations in Asia, Northeast Africa and Europe. Spices such as cinnamon, cassia, cardamom, ginger, pepper, nutmeg, star anise, clove, and turmeric were known and used in antiquity and traded in the Eastern World. These spices found their way into the Near East before the beginning of the Christian era, with fantastic tales hiding their true sources.
European access to the economically important Silk Road (red) and spice trade routes (blue) was blocked by the Seljuk Empire c. 1090, causing the Crusades, and by the Ottoman Empire c. 1453, which spurred the Age of Discovery and European colonialism.
The spice trade from India attracted the attention of the Ptolemaic dynasty, and subsequently the Roman empire.
Spice Bazaar used for the spice trade during the Ottoman Empire in Istanbul
Image of Calicut, India from Georg Braun and Frans Hogenberg's atlas Civitates orbis terrarum, 1572.
