If you’ve ever wondered how your kitchen cabinet became a treasure trove of global flavors, you need to look back thousands ...

01:20:00Since time immemorial, the development of peoples and intercultural exchanges along ancient trade routes have played a crucial role in the evolution and transformation of human civilization.

It might seem odd that something as seemingly inconsequential as a spice – a food flavouring ... to some of the first truly international trade routes and shaped the structure of the world ...

As the spice routes and the silk roads opened up ... Michael Wood journeys on an old wooden sailing boat plying its trade from South India to the Gulf, and tells how the spice trade with Rome ...

In 1498, Vasco da Gama's sea route to India opened the spice trade to Europe, and for the next 200 years the Portuguese, Dutch, French, and English would vie for control of the spice trade.

are spread along routes linking them to the Mediterranean end of the incense and spice route. Together they reflect the hugely profitable trade in frankincense and myrrh from south Arabia to the ...