Spice routes to southeast Asia

SPICE ROUTES IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
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Spice Routes in Southeast Asia
Humans have used spices since time immemorial. Indeed spices are just seeds of naturally occurring plants and trees. In Europe, some best known natural occurring spices are juniper berries and mustard seeds from Neolithic burials. Most of the best known spices however derive from either the East (Southeast Asia and India) or from the New World of the Caribbean and Mexico. As trade between India and Greco-Roman world intensified, the spice became the main import along the spice routes from India to the western world.
The commercial connection between Southeast Asia and India proved very vital for the merchants of Arabia and Persia during the 7th and 8th century. The Abbasids used Demietta, Alexandria, Aden and Siraf as the entry point to China and India. Moluccan products of Indonesia or the “spice island” were shipped across the Arabian ports to the Near East, passing across the ports of India and Sri Lanka, after which the spices were at times shipped all the way to East Africa, where they were being used for many purposes (Reid, 1993).
The spice trade was a commercial activity that began in ancient times. Civilization of Eurasia was really involved in the spice trade from those ancient times. Over the centuries, Many other centers of trade thrived, including the maritime trading countries of Axum in the northeastern Africa, the Republic of Venice, Cities like Levant, and the Ottoman Empire. The trade was highly dependent on the overland ancient routes; however, maritime trade routes initiated commercial activities (Duiker, 2006).
The spice route is the key to unraveling the migration of civilization as people spread from the jungles of Southeast Asia to India and then to Italy. The spice was integral in shaping the history of the world. The origin of the hot pepper that is consumed today can be traced back into history back when it was unilaterally recognized as a new discovery in the spices world. Interestingly, the pepper which is now eaten by a quarter of the world population was an object of greed in the past, as kingdoms were embroiled in battles over monopolization of spice trade as the spice route became the battle ground.
Spices were on high demand. This growing demand for pepper and other spices had a huge impact on Southeast Asia’s economy whose growth was directly influenced by the spices and especially the pepper. The crusades and policies instituted by the Government of China were the two factors that brought economic development of Southeast Asia. The crusades spurred friction between the Europeans and the Moslems, causing religious tension, nevertheless, they had an effect on East-West trade. At the onset, the trade patterns became disrupted, but with time, the desire by the westerners for goods from the east grew, and this desire would shape the world history for centuries to come (Tan & Chen 2009).
Though the crusaders were extremely aggressive, they nonetheless brought some long lasting cultural changes. The Moslems introduced the crusaders to items that were new to them such as perfumes, silk, new foods and soaps. When some of those crusaders returned to Euro...