Who's Number One?

Of the plants we've looked at so far, each has had a direct and profound effect on world history.  From tobacco helping the American colonies to thrive to tea and opium causing wars between great world powers.  Huge innovations, from the industrial revolution to the advent of writing have all been driven by plants.  As important as they all are, however, none have had as extraordinary effect on the world as spices.

Spices
via www.doscadesa.com

Put simply, spices drove the Age of Exploration.  The spice trade caused the mixing of cultures and religions, the exploration of the globe, and the conquering of societies that shaped history and made the world we know today.  From the beginning, traders on the silk road brought not just their valuable wares but their cultures with them, spreading them across Asia and the Middle East.  The spread of Islam was helped along greatly by the traveling and mixing of people in those times.  Years later when Vasco de Gama and Columbus set sail, it was spices they were searching for.

via vos.noaa.gov

The effects of the hunt for spices are still apparent today.  In South America, where Columbus and the Spaniards landed, the indigenous populations are all but gone.  Residents today are of mixed spanish descent, and speak Spanish.  Where numerous European countries set up colonies to search for a route to the east is now the United States.  The lands that are home to spices, the 'Spice Islands', India, and others, still feel the effects of years of colonialism and western influence and oppression.  Many of these areas face poor economies and the loss of their indigenous peoples and cultures.  Many plants have changed the world, but none like spices.