13-15세기 향신료 직무역의 역사

Direct Trade History of Spices in Thirteenth to Fifteenth Centuries

During ancient and medieval times, like Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and Roman Empire and China, various spices were used for the impressive services, for medicinal purposes, for showing off one’s higher social status and for “haute cuisine”. Therefore many Europeans has longed for nutmeg, mace, cloves, ginger and pepper. But those Europeans did not know where the original home of these spices. The merchants of Venice could come and go between Venice and Constantinople. And Arab merchants, between Calicut and Alexandria in Egypt. Every merchant makes a profit from his given section of the spice trade, without even knowing the neighboring sections. These sections were so numerous. So the price which the last consumer payed for spices is several times greater than that of original home (Molucca Islands & Banda Islands). Because of the dream of making a fortune at one stroke, they would go there without hesitation. if European explorers and adventures knew where the spices had been grown. The records in which Marco Polo travelled to Asia had great impact on them. Marco Polo also remained his aoutoalgraphy, “The Travles of Marco Polo” : EnrixploO, avegador and Christopher Columaus sincerely read and analyzed this book and determined to got into the alg oceans. gosco da Gama and Ferdinand Magellan were finally successful to gain the spices, because they followed their navigational precedessor’s footsteps.