Spices, scents and silk : catalysts of world trade / James F. Hancock.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hancock, James F., author.

Contributor:

Anne and Joseph Trachtman Memorial Book Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Commerce--History--To 500.

Commerce.

History.

Commerce--History--Medieval, 500-1500.

Spice trade--History.

Spice trade.

Incense industry--History.

Incense industry.

Silk industry--History.

Silk industry.

Trade routes--History.

Trade routes.

Commerce--Medieval.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xiv, 323 pages : illustrations (some color), maps ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxfordshire, UK ; Boston, MA : CAB International, [2021]

Summary:

"This book describes the central role that these exotic luxuries - spices, scents and silks - played in the lives of the ancients, traces the development of the great international trade networks that delivered them, and explores how the demand for such luxuries shaped the world"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: 1. Introduction

2. Early History of Scents, Spices and Silk

Setting the Stage - Exotic Luxuries of Antiquity

Smoke of the Gods in Antiquity

The Most Ancient of Spices: Cinnamon, Ginger and Pepper

The European Spice of Antiquity: Saffron

The Indonesian Spices: Clove, Nutmeg and Mace

A Sightless Moth's Gift to the World: Silk

3. Exotic Luxuries in Antiquity

Setting the Stage - Ancient Reports on Incense, Spice and Silk

Use of Frankincense and Myrrh in Antiquity

The Spices in Antiquity

Silk in Antiquity

4. Ancient Mediterranean Trade Links

Setting the Stage - Early Egyptian-Levantine Trade

Minoans and Mycenaeans

8. Invisible Commodities in Early Commerce between Egypt and the Levant

Solomon and the Kingdom of Israel

Phoenicians

Emergence of the Greek City States

Alexander and the City of Alexandria

Egypt Under the Ptolemies

Rome and Carthage Rise and Fight for Mediterranean Supremacy

And Then the Romans Controlled Egypt

5. Land of Punt and the Incense Routes

Setting the Stage - Land of Punt

Red Sea Trade alter Rameses III

Canal of the Pharaohs

The Rise of the Incense Kingdoms

Domestication of the Camel

Caravan Routes

Ma'rib Dam

The Sayhad Desert and Further Points North

Profits Along the Way

The Great Intermediaries: the Nabataeans

Petra - Jewel of the Nabataeans

Maritime Incense Trade

Roman Invasion of the Incense Route

6. Origins of the Spice Trade in the Indian Ocean

Setting the Stage - Central Role of Rivers

Persian Gulf Routes

To the Red Sea and Beyond

Early Indonesian Seafarers

Royal Road of the First Persian Empire

Persian and Greek Explorations

Arab Stranglehold on Egyptian Trade

War Elephants and Red Sea Travel

On to India

The Roman Sea

Periplus of the Erythraean Sea

Rome's Breathtaking International Trade Network

7. Silk Route Beginnings

Setting the Stage - Ancient Steppe Routes

The Horse and the Balance of Power in Central Asia

China Stretches Its Muscles

Chinese Struggles with Mighty Xiongnu

Adventures of Zhang Qian

Han Chinese Take Control of Their Borderlands

Silk Route Map

The Engines of the Silk Routes

The Merchants of the Silk Routes

Cultural Diffusion along the Silk Routes

Postscript - Discovery of the Buddhist Cave Complexes

8. Silk Route Connections

Setting the Stage - Empires of the Middle East

Roman Intrusions into the Middle East

Palmyra Emerges as the Greatest of the Middle Eastern Trading Centres

Zenobia Grabs Power

Kushans Take the Centre of the Silk Routes

Kushan Connections

Parthia Controls the Terminus

Sasanians Take Over

Ebbs and Flows of the Silk Route

A Plague Slows Trade

Silk Trade after 400 CE

9. Ancient South East Asian Maritime Trade

Setting the Stage - Indonesia Awakes

Origin of Trade between India and South East Asia

Maritime Trade of the Anuradhapura Kingdom

Indianization of Indonesia

China's Slow Entry into the South East Asia Trade Network

Java Becomes the Nucleus of Indonesia

The Chinese Pilgrims - Chroniclers of the Ancient Spice and Silk Routes

Early Trade in the Outer Reaches of Indonesia

The Golden Peninsula

The First Great Trading Empire: Funan

South East Asian Trading Spheres in the Early First Century ce

European Connections

The Two Ways to Rome

The First Direct Contact between Rome and China

10. Golden Age of Byzantium

Setting the Stage - Roman Power Shifts

Constantine Builds His City

The World Turns

The Exotic Luxuries of Byzantium

The Golden Age of the Eastern Roman Empire under Justinian

Byzantine Attitudes about Trade

The `Dollar of the Middle Ages'

Trading with the Enemy

Aksum and Byzantium's Indian Ocean Connections

Christians Surrounded by Muslims

The Secret of Silk Escapes

Justinian's Plague

End of the Red Sea Portal

11. Pan Islamica

Setting the Stage - Rapid Spread of Islam 13

The Byzantines Redirect Their Trade

A New Trading Empire Emerges in the Northern Steppes: the Khazar Khaganate

Arab Agricultural Revolution

The Centre of the Muslim World Shifts

The Round City oi Baghdad

Islam and Medieval Medicine

Spread of Islam across South East Asia

Muslim Expansion Towards China

Muslim Maritime Trade with South East Asia

Muslim Sea Trade with China

12. Spice Trade in the Dark Ages of Europe

Setting the Stage - Collapse of the Western Roman Empire

Spice Use in Europe During the Dark Ages

Level of Western Trade in the Early Medieval Age

Mediterranean Trade in the Early Medieval Period

Early Medieval Trade in Europe

The Radhanites, Medieval Tycoons

Rise of the Gotlanders

Rus' Trade with the Muslims and Byzantines through Khazaria

Rus' Attacks on the Islamic and Byzantine Worlds

13. The Eastern Roman Empire and The Rise of Venice

Setting the Stage - Eastern Roman Empire Struggles to Control Italy

Byzantine Empire after Justinian

Islam in the Ninth Century

Rule of Europe after the Fall of Rome

Resurgence of Byzantine Empire in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries

Byzantine Trade in Silk and Spices with the Muslims

The Rise of Venice

Rise of Other Italian Mercantile States

Western Maritime Trade in the High Middle Ages

A Byzantine Cry for Help

Influence of Crusader States on European Trade

The Byzantine Empire Struggles with the Rising Power of Venice

The Fourth Crusade and the Sacking of Constantinople

14. Medieval Shifts in the Balance of Power

Setting the Stage - The Late Medieval European Economy

Spices in Medieval Cuisine

Spices in Medieval Medicine

Silk in Medieval Europe

The World System in the Thirteenth Century

The Venetian Trading Empire

The Catalonian Trade Networks

The Hanseatic League

Internal European Trade and the Champagne Fairs

Genghis Khan Reopens the Silk Route

End of the Crusader States and Muslim Trade

The Alternative Black Sea Route

Venice Moves into the Black Sea

Periodic Confrontations with the Mongols

Black Death Ravages the World

15. Monsoon Islam

Setting the Stage - Ottoman Takeover of the Middle East

The Sea that Fed the Ottoman Spice Routes

Ibn Majid and Indian Ocean Navigation

TomePires

India at the Centre

Aden: Ottoman Portal to Indian Ocean Trade

Ormuz: Safavid Portal to Indian Ocean Trade

Swahili Coast of Africa

Strait of Malacca and the City of Malacca

Sumatra and Java

Ceylon

Moluccas

Far East Asian Connections

Early Chinese Ming and the Indian Ocean

Voyages of Zheng He

Chinese Return to Isolationism

16. Portuguese Discovery and Conquest

Setting the Stage - Medieval European Knowledge of the Spice Trade

Emergence of Portugal

Treaty of Tordesillas

Vasco da Gama Discovers an Unknown World

The Portuguese Conquest of India Begins

The Pace Quickens

The First Viceroy of Portuguese India

Socotra and Ormuz

The Portuguese-Mamluk Naval War

Albuquerque Takes Over

The Portuguese in the Bandas and Moluccas

Portuguese Move into Ceylon

17. The Portuguese Build an Empire

Setting the Stage - Long-Term Effects of Albuquerque's Battles

The Cartaz System

The India Run

Importance of Indian Cotton in the Spice Trade

Sixteenth-Century Shifts in European Spice Trade

The Portuguese Distribution Network in Europe

Portuguese Spice Profits

The Mughals and Portuguese in India

The Last Frontier: Portugal and China

Dutch and English Look for Alternative Routes to the Spices

Henry Hudson Searches Both Ways

18. The Spanish Build Their Empire

Setting the Stage - Spain Stretches Its Muscles Across the Atlantic

Magellan Finds Another Route to the Pacific

The Fate of Magellan's Ships and Crew

Spanish Struggle to Keep a Foothold in the Spice Islands

The Spanish Explore the Pacific

Andres de Urdaneta Finds the Way to New Spain

Manila

Galleons

Spanish Establish a Silk Industry in New Spain

English Sea Dogs Growl at Spanish

English Sea Dog Activity Against Portuguese

19. The Dutch and English Conquest of South East Asia

Setting the Stage - The Rise of the Dutch and English Empires

Ralph Fitch

Jan Huygen van Linschoten

The First Dutch Expeditions to the East Indies

Jacob van Heemskerck and the Law of Prize and Booty

English East India Company

Dutch East India Company (Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie)

The Dutch Establish an East Asian Trading Network

First English-Dutch Confrontations

The Ill-Fated Missions of Admiral Pieter Willemszoon Verhoeff

Brouwer Route

Jan Pieterszoon Coen

Dutch Finally Take Portuguese Malacca

The VOC in the North Moluccas

East India Companies' Effect on European Trade

Atlantic Trade of Europeans

20. Age of Expansion

Setting the Stage - the EIC and VOC Move into India

Mughals of India in the Seventeenth Century

EIC Entry into India

Early Dutch Spread into India

East India Companies Spread Out from Surat

Country Trade

The Port of al-Makha (Mocha)

Affairs at Home and the East India Trade

VOC Gets into Trade with Japan

The Dutch and the Pirates

Dutch Take Over Ceylon

21. The Ottoman and Safavid Silk Trade

Setting the Stage - Ottomans in the Centre

Silk Production and Movement in Safavid Persia

Contents note continued: France and the Ottomans

Enter the Levant Company

Dutch in the Levant

French Impact Grows in the Levant

Raw Silk Around the Horn

The VOC Gets into the Silk Market

Bengali Silk Trade

Luxury Silks in Europe

Death of the Worms

22. End of the Spice Era

Setting the Stage - European Tastes Change

The Shift Away from Spices

The Shift to Cotton

Cotton Politics

British Weave Their Own

The Shift to Tea

Opium Wars

The EIC Moves Heavily into India

VOC Loses Steam

Last Century of the EIC - From Traders to Rulers

European Competitors in India 29b End of the EIC

Epilogue - Spice Trade after the East India Companies.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Anne and Joseph Trachtman Memorial Book Fund.

Other Format:

Online version: Hancock, James F. Spices, scents and silk

ISBN:

9781789249743

1789249740

9781789249750

1789249759

OCLC:

1245346113