spice trade

spice in indian cuisine takes so much pride no other food takes. The unique flavours taste and efficient use of them made them important not only in indian cuisine but also whom they use to trade with exchange of gold and diamonds yes the Romans and Europeans.
mMjorly europe had two conections with east one for silk which was with china and secondl with india in regarding to spices as germans french and british needed spices. the spice trade with west was going on since ancient times when rome was on its high their food use to ask for malabar pepper sweet smelling cinnamon and bayleaf for pickling. as time passed rome use to sail thair big ships to india with precious marbles such as pearls, gold, diamonds in exchange of spices. even a story goes on people use to give best pepper to their near and dear on festive time to show their love, and capacity to buy the pepper. even before vasco di gama found the searoute the trade was smooth and was depended much on seasons in india.
BACKGROUND

the roman had most important relation with india was with spice trade. the voyage to india is much more dependant on monsoon seasonsand majorly was ued by them. this trade was going wiht southern india until the fall of rome.Seleucid Empire controlled and developed network of trade with india was done very smoothly which was much more influenced with persian way. majorly it was beleived that indian trade with romans via persians but the documents and history shows that it was with at simultanious, Periplus Maris Erythraei an egyptians trader wrote down " Eudaimon Arabia was called fortunate, being once a city, when, because ships neither came from India to Egypt nor did those from Egypt dare to go further but only came as far as this place, it received the cargoes from both, just as Alexandria receives goods brought from outside and from Egypt." and it was well developed with red sea ports.

the greece after fall of rome kept the trade relation with india. as per strabos work he wrote down not less than 120 vessels were sailling to india. even at the time of augustus around more than 100 vessels use to travel all the way to indian ports carrying gold to exchange with india for spices such as pepper and cardmom bay leaf.

ports of both sides
roman
arsinoe: one of the most important port of egypt under ptolemaic dynasty present day it is called as suez.
Myos Hormos and Berenice: this trade port was used by both egyptians and romans to trade spices.

indian ports :
major ports was from guarath and kerala and arikamedu near pondicherry।

muziris: periplus in his trade account wrote down "Muziris and Nelcynda, which are now of leading importance (...) Muziris, of the same kingdom, abounds in ships sent there with cargoes from Arabia, and by the Greeks; it is located on a river, distant from Tyndis by river and sea five hundred stadia, and up the river from the shore twenty stadia" this port city of india was the busiest in all of the Indian ports aorly dealng with pepper and spices.
Barigaza: periplus while his trading realation with india observed following for this port" There are imported into this market-town (Barigaza), wine, Italian preferred, also Laodicean and Arabian; copper, tin, and lead; coral and topaz; thin clothing and inferior sorts of all kinds; bright-colored girdles a cubit wide; storax, sweet clover, flint glass, realgar, antimony, gold and silver coin, on which there is a profit when exchanged for the money of the country; and ointment, but not very costly and not much. And for the King there are brought into those places very costly vessels of silver, singing boys, beautiful maidens for the harem, fine wines, thin clothing of the finest weaves, and the choicest ointments. There are exported from these places spikenard, costus, bdellium, ivory, agate and carnelian, lycium, cotton cloth of all kinds, silk cloth, mallow cloth, yarn, long pepper and such other things as are brought here from the various market-towns. Those bound for this market-town from Egypt make the voyage favorably about the month of July, that is Epiphi" this port was majorly in business with cotton silk and clothing material and use to receive precious stones glass work and art work.