Spices Changed History Forever

Question: Of those plants we have so far studied, which in your opinion has had the greatest impact on world history.  Justify and explain your answer.

If I had to choose one plant we have learned about in class that I think has affected history the most, it would have to be spices.  The search for quick sea routes to the spice rich islands led nations to sail across the vast ocean.  In the 1400s the navigational equipment became more advanced and allowed for long-haul sailing.  The kings of Europe set out to change the balance of world trade by paying for spice-hunting missions.   Christopher Columbus set off sailing to look for a quicker route to India when he found himself running into the Americas instead.   Vasco de Gama was also looking for spices when he sailed around Africa for the first time.  America would have not been discovered were it not for the European desire to stop the Arab traders’ monopoly on spices. 

Spices (and the search for them) motivated the globalization of the world.   All of Europe seemed to crave a piece of the spice trade, using dubious and brutal tactics to establish a position in Southeast Asia and India.  European outposts were located all around the Indian Ocean.  While it brought tremendous wealth to their home countries, it also fuelled the colonization of any territory that was able to grow spices.   Spain, Portugal, England and Holland all fought for control of the spice trade participating in wars during the 15^th to 17^th centuries.  

I believe that the spices are the most important plant to the world’s history because they revealed entire continents to Europeans, created shifts in the balance of world power and established vast empires. Some historians have argued that the start of the modern age began because of the spice trade.  It is clear that the demand in spices was a key to expanding world trade throughout history. 

Image 1: http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2010/03/27/what-do-ancient-spice-traders-and-the-modern-financial-industry-have-in-common/

Image 2:  http://www.silkroadencyclopedia.com/

Image 3: http://www.edudemic.com/globalization-videos/

Relevant Links:

1. http://www.spiceadvice.com/history/

2. http://www.livescience.com/7495-spice-trade-changed-world.html

3. http://www.spicetrade.org/

4. http://www.eduplace.com/ss/hmss/7/cl/7.8.html

5.  http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/559803/spice-trade

British East India Company's Way to Success

The British East India Company formed as an English joint-stock company that was created to pursue trade with the East Indies.  The company rose to account for half of the world’s trade.  They traded in basic commodities including silk, opium, cotton, indigo dye, salt and tea.  For this post I will explain the roles that Cotton, tea and opium played in making the British East India Company a dominated force in trade. 

The mass marketing of finely woven cotton was an innovation made by the British East India Company. The company imported large quantities of inexpensive cloth that was being produced in the well-organized textile industry in India.  This created a ‘pile it high and sell it cheap’ policy that made cotton textiles available to those people who were too poor for linen or silk and only had the option of woolen cloth at the time.  Trade in cotton was rapid and by 1625 the East India Company was importing over 220,000 pieces of India cloth, creating fast success and power for the British East India Company.   Cotton was such a successful trade for the British East India Company that by the early 1600’s it accounted for two-thirds of the company’s imports.

The British East India Company also created a mass market in Europe for tea.  When tea’s popularity was rising in Europe, the Chinese were the only people who knew the secrets of its cultivation and processing.  In 1713 the company made a break trough when they were given an agreement to trade direct with Canton in China.  The East India Company worked hard to establish a monopoly on the tea trade with the East.   

Tea was only being sold to the company for pure silver and when there wasn’t enough silver to trade for the high demand of tea in Europe, the company turned to the sale of opium to solve their silver problem.   British opium exports to China gave the company great economic success but left the Chinese population with the largest mass addiction that the world has ever seen.  Winning monopoly rights to the opium trade in Java allowed the East India Company to make some impressive profits.  These are some of the reasons why the trade of cotton, tea and opium led to great success for the British east India Company.          

Relevant Websites:

 1. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/east_india_01.shtml
 2. https://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/British/EAco.html
 3.  http://www.bl.uk/learning/histcitizen/trading/story/trade/4tradingplaces.html
 4.  http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelpregion/asia/china/guidesources/chinatrade/

Photo Citations:

Image 1: https://wikis.engrade.com/imperialisminindia/4

Image 2: http://simonrawles.photoshelter.com/image/I0000nWXzs19UaPI

Image 3: http://www.pem.org/collections/9-asian_export_art

Image 4: http://isedphistory.wordpress.com/2010/10/02/impact-of-opium-on-china-felix/

Barley & Beer

It was very interesting to hear that beer saved the world in our Monday lecture.  This dates back to how the first sedentary lifestyles were created.  After agriculture was formed the human race was able to shape into larger societies, paving the way for our civilization today.  Barley was one of the first domesticated grains in the Fertile Crescent, an ancient area of fertile soil that is regarded as the birthplace of agriculture.  It was first populated in 10,000 BCE when the domestication of animals and agriculture began in the region.  The fertile there encouraged the further cultivation wheat, rye, barley and some of the earliest beer in the world. 

Agricultural food production was a huge success for mankind.  Barley was said to have been the main reason that the agricultural revolution happened.  Barley led the hunter gathers to a life of sedentary living and resulted in civilization.  The video we watched in class theorized that it was not bread these ancient people were making with the barley, it was beer.   This was a very interesting to me and made me see why beer is not just a delicious alcoholic beverage, but it also stimulated the growth of civilization. 

We learned more about the domestication of barley on our field study to Carlsberg laboratory, which I appreciated.  I was interested to hear more about the way in which they cross breed and select different barley plants to try to find the best strain for cultivation.   The field study showed about how barley still is very important to mankind, through beer.  I really enjoyed all of the slides about the many benefits of beer.  For example it is refreshing after you have done exercise, and people participate in running and beer clubs that combine the two.  Monday’s lecture and the field study really helped me to see just how important barley has been to mankind.  I don’t know where our civilization would be today if we didn’t have beer!

Relevant Websites:
1: http://www.carlsberglab.dk/Pages/default.aspx
2: http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/content/17/4/499.full
3: http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/how-beer-saved-the-world/
4: http://www.beerhistory.com/library/holdings/raley_timetable.shtml
5: http://archaeology.about.com/od/domestications/g/barley.htm

Photo Citations:
Image 1: http://www.icarda.org/fertile-crescent
Image 2: http://www.carlsberggroup.com/Company/heritage/Pages/footprints.aspx
Image 3: http://theadmiraldrake.co.uk/?attachment_id=1390