ABSTRACT
Spices pervaded the aristocratic cuisines of late medieval Europe, and cookbooks of the era specified quantities of pepper, clove, and nutmeg that appear outlandish to modern readers—leading many to conclude that meat must have been rotten indeed. Sugar and spice not only fueled Europe's drive to empire, they also contributed to the rise of capitalism. The rise of new trade routes and plantation systems also caused a fundamental shift in the economic balance of power, forging a new Atlantic world as the hub of global exchange. The people of sub-Saharan Africa overcame enormous ecological hurdles to accumulate agricultural surpluses and build great civilizations. Although endowed by geography with a natural monopoly, the spice trade had long remained fragmented among diverse, predominantly Muslim merchants, who shared the bounty in relative peace, notwithstanding the danger of pirates. Economic calculations governed slave provisioning as well as sugar production and marketing.
