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Clove Spice Trade Goods
Cloves are an aromatic spice native to the Moluccas (Maluku, Indonesia), which became a high-value trade commodity in the 17th century due to Europea…
Timeline
- 1500–1600Banda Islands · IndonesiaPortuguese and Malay merchants purchased cloves in the Moluccas for sale in India, China, and Europe; local sultans controlled the production areas and collected trade taxes, making cloves a key commodity linking the archipelago with Eurasian markets.
- c. 1641–1650Ambon · IndonesiaIn the 1640s, the Dutch East India Company implemented clove production quotas and a policy of destroying surplus trees at Ambon, purchasing all dried cloves and shipping them to Batavia and Europe to maintain high prices through a monopoly on supply.
- c. 1650–1750Amsterdam · NetherlandsDried cloves arrived at Amsterdam auctions via the East India route, then were redistributed throughout Europe and re-exported through Asian ports, becoming an important ingredient for seasoning, medicine, and preservatives, and driving the development of early modern commercial capitalism.
Sources
- Clove https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clove
- Nathaniel's Nutmeg: Or, The True and Incredible Adventures of the Spice Trader Who Changed the Course of History — Giles Milton (1999)