Spice: The Sixteenth-Century Contest That Shaped the Modern World

Spices were the oil of the sixteenth century—the world's most coveted commodities, worth fortunes and capable of transforming empires. The quest to control the trade in cloves and nutmeg drove European exploration across Asia and the Pacific, launching an era of maritime expansion that would reshape the global economy.
In this sweeping narrative, Roger Crowley recounts the fierce rivalry between Portugal and Spain for control of the Spice Islands, from the Portuguese arrival in the Moluccas in 1511 to the emergence of a global trading network sixty years later. Following explorers, merchants, soldiers, and rulers across oceans and continents, he reveals how voyages, sieges, shipwrecks, and imperial ambition forged the first interconnected world.
Rich in vivid eyewitness accounts and gripping storytelling, Spice is a history of exploration, commerce, and conquest that shows how the pursuit of a handful of aromatic plants transformed the course of world history