Spices in the Indian Ocean World, and: The Organization of Interoceanic Trade in European Expansion, 1450-1800 (review)

These two volumes belong to a series called An Expanding World: The European Impact on World History, 1450-1800. Each volume consists of an introduction by the editor or editors and a number of previously published articles. The series is under the general editorship of A. J. R. Russell-Wood of Johns Hopkins University. The entire series is projected at thirty-one volumes of which seventeen have ap-peared. All contain the general editor's preface, which states the objectives of the series. Each volume is to cover "a specific aspect of the European initiative and reaction across time and space" (presumably reaction to the European impact on world history). "The series represents a superb overview and compendium of knowledge and is an invaluable reference source on the European presence beyond Europe in the early modern period, interaction with non-Europeans, and expe-riences of people of other continents, religions, and races in relation to Europe and Europeans." This sounds a bit like a publisher's blurb. Although one cannot judge the entire series on the basis of two volumes, the works under review here generally meet the criteria set for individual volumes but cannot quite meet the high goal set for the series. What could? Their perspective remains largely Eurocentric, a problem that historians over the years have had great difficulty in altering.

In each volume, an introduction written by the editors places the collection of reprinted articles in context. This introductory essay in each instance is the key to understanding the volume, for it provides a frame of reference and shows how the selected articles fit into the subject. These introductions are the most important part of the work and will provide for many readers a nucleus of information needed for a grasp of the topic.

M. N. Pearson's introduction to Spices in the Indian Ocean World begins by describing the place of spices in premodern times in food preparation, in the apothecary, and in literature. Spices were more central to life then than they are today. In his accompanying bibliography he wisely refers readers to other works that provide a fuller sense of the spice trade. This is most important, for Pearson, along with this reviewer, is conscious of the fact that no selection of articles, however carefully chosen, can supply the connections necessary for an understanding of the range of information. He points out that although recent historiography has concluded that Europeans had little effect on trade, society, religion, or politics in the Indian Ocean area until well into the eighteenth century, spices and the spice trade are an exception. Here there was an impact, especially once the more efficient Dutch arrived in the seventeenth century.

The arrival of the Portuguese in the Indian Ocean shortly before 1500 brought an end to what had been a trade free from political control. The Portuguese now sought to control markets, but lacked the means to do so fully. The by now classic historical debate over how the Portuguese involvement in the spice trade affected the Mediterranean trade in the sixteenth century is well handled both in the introductory essay and in the selected articles. There is a lot more here than appears at first glance. The Portuguese failed to gain control for a variety of reasons: Asian merchants were determined to continue their own trade; the Portuguese could not control all the routes and sources of supply; it was necessary to conciliate local rulers; the distribution system in Europe was not in Portuguese hands; the consumption of spices increased; and the Portuguese lacked the financial resources needed for control. The...