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Spice: The 16th-Century Contest That Shaped the Modern World
Spices drove the early modern world economy, and for Europeans they represented riches on an unprecedented scale. Cloves and nutmeg could reach Europe only via a complex web of trade routes, and for decades Spanish and Portuguese explorers competed to find their elusive source. But when the Portuguese finally reached the spice islands of the Moluccas in 1511, they set in motion a fierce competition for control.
Roger Crowley shows how this struggle shaped the modern world. From 1511 to 1571, European powers linked up the oceans, established vast maritime empires, and gave birth to global trade, all in the attempt to control the supply of spices.
Taking us on voyages from the dockyards of Seville to the vastness of the Pacific, the volcanic Spice Islands of Indonesia, the Arctic Circle, and the coasts of China, this is a narrative history rich in vivid eyewitness accounts of the adventures, shipwrecks, and sieges that formed the first colonial encounters--and remade the world economy for centuries to follow.
Book Details
- Publisher: Yale University Press
- Publish Date: Jun 18th, 2024
- Pages: 320
- Language: English
- Edition: undefined - undefined
- Dimensions: 9.29in - 6.06in - 1.34in - 1.36lb
- EAN: 9780300267471
- Categories: • World - General• Europe - Spain• Asia - Southeast Asia
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About the Author
More books by Roger Crowley
Praise for this book
"Crowley's ability to weave threads together makes his story flow effortlessly across time and space. His details of maritime expeditions in particular emphasise their mix of adventure, ambition and cruelty."--Christopher Kissane, Irish Times
"A story of tremendous verve and scope."--Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times
"If you enjoy tales of pirates, exploration and blood-curdling mayhem, then Roger Crowley's swashbuckling account of the 16th-century race between Spain and Portugal for the Spice Islands of east Asia is the book for you."--Dominic Sandbrook, Telegraph, Books of the Year 2024
"Riveting, piquant history. . . . An engaging new look at seasoning's long ago seasons."--The Economist
"Crowley's propulsive narrative is as full of storms, privations, enslavement, piracy and blood as the heady whiff of spice."--Michael Prodger, New Statesman
"Crowley has the knack of turning fragments into a mosaic, and his latest book is another colorful, sweeping saga."--Kirkus Reviews
"That spices should be worth more than their weight in gold and prompt people to risk death exploring treacherous routes to get to them is a compelling story and Crowley tells it well."--Sophie Roell, Five Books
"An eminently readable account of a thrilling historical moment that transformed the world--and shaped it to become the one we live in today."--Zoltán Biedermann, author of (Dis)Connected Empires
"An extraordinary voyage through the sixteenth century with a master storyteller. Spice is a rollicking historical tale wherein incredible seafaring adventure collides with the geopolitics of the first global supply chain."--Admiral James Stavridis, USN (Ret), 16th Supreme Allied Commander of NATO and author of To Risk It All
"Roger Crowley is a great narrator, matched here to his greatest theme: the circling of the planet to create for the first time a truly global economy. A heart-pulsing story of terrifying hardship and inspiring courage."--David Frum, senior editor at the Atlantic
"A terrific story packed with powerful characters, and transformational moments in history, one that explains how and why the global world was created, and at what cost."--Andrew Lambert, author of Seapower States
"A spirited account of the brave, greedy, brutal, and often foolhardy incursions of Spanish-financed adventurers into what is now Indonesia and the Philippines."--Michael Krondl, author of The Taste of Conquest