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
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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.

East India Company

When most Americans hear "East India Company" and "Tea" in the same sentence, images of the Boston Tea Party and the American Revolution quickly spring to mind.  But there was another EIC, the British one, and it's relationship with tea had even more dramatic effects on world history.  And it began not with tea, but with cotton.

Indian calico
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Founded in the early 18th century, the BEIC was to be the connection between England the wealth of spices and other exotic goods in the Indies.  Upon arrival in India, the BEIC found the locals wearing an incredible new fabric that was durable, soft, and cheap: cotton.  The english quickly grew a taste for this new product, and the BEIC was thriving as the only importer.  Not only did cotton bolster the success of this company, but it had dramatic effects for India as well.  Looking for more control over the cotton industry, the BEIC created their own army and quickly took control of the Indian government, creating a colonial rule.

With the boom of cotton, the BEIC grew and grew to become one of the largest european companies in the east.  The company had it's hands in another one of England's favorite products, tea.  However the Chinese, who controlled the growing and processing of tea, was closed off and not interested in trade.  All they would accept was silver.  With the Brits demanding so much tea, it didn't take long for silver to become scarcer, and the BEIC wanted to find another way. China refused to trade for any goods, but if the BEIC could find a way to force them...

The poppy plant
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The poppy is a plant native to India, from which the highly addictive opium is made.  The BEIC ramped up the production of poppy in their colony and began to feed opium into China.  As addiction spread to epidemic levels, the BEIC forced it's way in and traded it's opium for silver, and silver for tea.  The effects on China were devastating.  They fought and lost two wars against the British trying to force the end of the opium trade, suffering even more loss, including Hong Kong.

Chinese opium den

We know that the Dutch East India Company and it's tea had a dramatic impact on the history and founding of America, and helped contribute to a war.  Yet that all pales in comparison to the BEIC, and the wars fought, colonies formed,  lives destroyed, and countries crippled by its appetite for tea.

Beautiful Barley

berkeleywellness.com

Barley, a member of the grass family, and a type of cereal grain, has had a monumental impact on the course of human history.  Native to western Asia and northern Africa, barley thrived in the Fertile Crescent at the time of the Neolithic Revolution, and was one of the first crops to be domesticated.  Even today, barley remains one of the most grown crops in the world.  Why, you ask, do we love barley so? One word: Beer.

groupon.ie

In a few steps and with some complicated chemistry, barley can be turned into delicious, delicious beer.  Evidence of beer brewing can be found as far back as 9,500 BCE, making it one of the oldest alcoholic beverages known to man.  And the early peoples love of this drink helped to shape the world as we know it.  Some argue that the written language was created to keep track of beer- some of the earliest examples of cuneiform are ledgers and receipts for beer.  The great pyramids of Giza were not built by slaves, but by paid workers, who were paid, of course, in beer.  Beer also sustained huge populations in areas where water was not safe to drink.

Our love of beer has not dwindled in recent years.  Beer is the most consumed alcoholic beverage on the planet, and the third most consumed beverage of all, beating out coffee, soda, milk, and juices. Today, the beer industry worldwide is worth over $400 billion.

The Spice Trade

Via peerlesscoffee.com

We don't give much thought to spices today- they're cheap and readily available and there's little mystery about they.  On some level we know that spices were once very expensive and very important, but the full extent of their influence is truly shocking.

For most of ancient history and up through the late Middle Ages, the spice trade was dominated by those who lived closest to the source- the Arabs.  Traders from the middle east had a monopoly on these precious goods, keeping the location of the only islands where spices like nutmeg and cloves grew a closely guarded secret.  While the Arab world was rich in spices, the farther from the source you got, the rarer and more expensive spices became.  Spices were exorbitantly pricey in Europe, the far end of the supply chain, so that only the richest of the rich could afford them and they became the status symbol.  Eventually, however, the Europeans  tired of relying on the Arabs and decided they would get their spices themselves, thank you very much.  They would just need to find a sea route to the East Indies...

Yes, the famous age of exploration was kicked off because people wanted their pepper cheaper, dammit! Spain and Portugal were first out the gate.  Portugal headed east, around Africa, eventually arriving in the East Indies and finding the spices they were looking for.  Spain headed west and bumped into a small island known as the Americas.  While Spain didn't find the spices she was looking for, the Americas were rich in other spices such as vanilla and chilli peppers, and of course everyones favorite spice, gold.

Soon the Dutch and the British joined the party, exploration continued, colonies were founded, and wars were fought, all in the name of spices.

American History & Plants

Tobacco & The 1st Successful Colony in America

Jamestown, Virginia
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Tobacco Field
loren24250.files.wordpress.com

When the English sent ships of settlers to the new world, they had three things in mind: gold, finding a water passage to the East, and creating a lasting settlement, in that order.  The settlers were prepared and provisioned for their first two goals, but had put little thought into the third.  Upon arrival in the New World, some colonists went right to work digging for gold, some set off exploring, some declared themselves too high born for manual labor, and too few others farmed and built.  By the time winter rolled around, the colony had no gold to send home to England, no passage to the east (obviously), and far too little food.  Of the original 241 settlers, only 60 survived.  Jamestown seemed doomed to go the way of Roanoke.
In May, 1610, John Rolfe arrived in Jamestown with the colony's savior: tobacco.  The small seed Rolfe brought with him flourished in the Virginia climate, and soon every settler in Jamestown had his own small farm.  With this new source of income the colony began to thrive, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Cotton & The Boom in the South

A Cotton Field
ecouterre.com

In the late 1700s England saw the advent of the Industrial Revolution.  New technology and high demand for cotton products spurred the construction of large factories which could produce textiles at an extraordinary rate.  To keep up with the newer, faster means of production, England needed a lot of raw cotton, and the young America was happy to help.  The climate in the southern United States is ideal for cultivating cotton, and plantations quickly popped up all over the fertile new land.  Not only did the cotton boom invigorate the American economy, but it helped to set economic and cultural trends that remain in effect today.

The Catch

Slaves on a Cotton Plantation
factsanddetails.com

Both tobacco and cotton were and continue to be extremely important crops for America and her economy.  They played instrumental roles in her founding and flourishing, and we would certainly not be where we are today without them- so what's the catch?  To cultivate both crops in the numbers that they were, slaves were required.  Lots of slaves.  The success of America is built not just on the crops which sustained her, but also on the hundreds of thousands of men and women who were made to work the fields.