How Did Spices Influence The Age Of Exploration

Spices were extremely valuable before the official spice trade took place. That’s because the labor it took to bring Spices from the mysterious lands of the East Indies was long and strenuous. Muslim traders bought the spices from the East Indies, sailed across the Indian Ocean, and sell the spices to Arabian merchants. The merchants then traveled far distances to the mediteranian sea. There, large ships transported the spices all the way to Europe. The trouble it took to transport spices made The kingdoms of Europe treasured it more than gold itself. They used it for food, medicine, preservation, burials, and even perfumes. This love for spices is was lead to one of the biggest historic events in the European world, The age of Exploration.

A journey
Christopher Columbus’ search for spices lead to the Discovery of America in 1492. Ferndinand Magellan, a sailor from spain, made the famous “around the World” trip in 1519-1522 from Spain towards the Phillapines. Portuguese sailor, Vasco da Gama took the challenge of finding a shorter route to the east Indies by circling around africa. In 1498, he became the first European to arrive in the east Indies’s spice Islands, also known as Indonesia. This gave Portugal a head start in the Spice trade. They took over the Moluccas Spice Islands in 1511, and began setting up trading posts on both the Islands and the route towards it. Unfortunately, the portuguese were not equipt with enough military or financial support to maintain a spice buisness. The Dutch East India Company, founded by Jan Pieterszoon Coen, on the other hand, was more than prepared. The Dutch defeated the portuguese in Moluccas and began taking over the spice trade little by little. Batawa, Java, which is now modern day Jakarta, indonesia, was one of the many ports under Dutch control. In 1619, more political and military