The Battle for Spices: How the 16th Century Confrontation Shaped the Structure of the Modern World

A vivid account of the struggle for control over the spice trade in the 16th century, a time when spices were worth more than gold and people were willing to risk their lives for them.

You will learn how the ambitions of Portuguese and Spanish navigators, particularly Vasco da Gama and Magellan, as well as local rulers, led to large-scale conflicts between the major maritime powers—Spain and Portugal—and geopolitical shifts, and how this confrontation contributed to the formation of the modern global economic and political system.

Recreating the atmosphere of the Age of Great Discoveries, Roger Crowley shows not only the human thirst for profit and the desire for new conquests, but also the boundless courage of the explorers, their heroism and willingness to make many sacrifices.