ABSTRACT
A better-known and efficiently administered empire, it was hoped, would furnish rich revenues by providing new natural products that Spain could sell within Europe or use to compete with trade monopolies maintained by other countries. This chapter discusses metropolitan and colonial efforts to locate, exploit, and promote valuable spices throughout the Spanish empire. It highlights the fiercely competitive nature of Atlantic science, which pitted both European and American players against one another as they scrambled to establish, maintain, or break trade monopolies in natural commodities. The chapter examines the transatlantic pursuit of profitable natural commodities, focusing on cinnamon and pepper as representative case studies. It situates the Spanish expeditions within the larger system within which they operated. The chapter addresses notions of center, periphery, and circulation. It argues that to concentrate exclusively on the movement of information and specimens from colonies to metropolis would imply missing half the story.
