🧭 Trade Routes

For three thousand years pepper, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg travelled from a few places in tropical Asia to the markets of Arabia, Egypt and Europe. Follow the caravans, the monsoon ships and the European fleets that carried them.

The map

Pick a route to follow it, or hover over a place to see what came from there.

Routes and places as a list

Routes

Incense road and Roman monsoon route (c. 1000 BC – AD 300). Camel caravans carried frankincense and myrrh from southern Arabia north to Petra and Gaza. From the 1st century BC Greek and Roman ships used the monsoon winds to sail from the Red Sea port of Berenike straight across to the pepper coast of India and back within a year. More
Maritime routes of the Indian Ocean (7th – 15th centuries). Malay, Javanese and Chinese ships brought cloves and nutmeg west to Malacca; Gujarati, Persian and Arab merchants carried them on with Indian pepper and Sri Lankan cinnamon, up the Red Sea to Cairo and Alexandria, or up the Gulf to Baghdad. Venetian galleys bought at the Mediterranean end. More
Overland Silk Roads (2nd century BC – 15th century). Caravan routes linked China with Persia and the eastern Mediterranean through Central Asia. They carried silk above all, but spices moved along them too, passed from market to market rather than carried end to end. More
Portuguese Cape route (from 1498). Vasco da Gama sailed round the Cape of Good Hope and reached Calicut in 1498, cutting out the Venetian and Mamluk middlemen. Portugal went on to seize Goa (1510) and Malacca (1511) and reached the Moluccas, running the trade from fortified posts and selling passes to Asian shipping. More
Dutch VOC route (from 1602). VOC ships sailed from Amsterdam to the Cape, then ran east on the strong westerly winds of the Roaring Forties before turning north to Java, the route Hendrik Brouwer pioneered in 1611. From Batavia the company enforced its nutmeg and clove monopoly, conquering Banda in 1621. More

Places

Moluccas (Ternate and Tidore) — Cloves. For centuries the only place cloves grew.
Banda Islands — Nutmeg and mace. A few tiny islands that were the world's only source of nutmeg.
Malabar coast — Black pepper, cardamom, ginger. The pepper coast of south-west India.
Sri Lanka — Cinnamon. Home of true cinnamon.
Southern China — Cassia, ginger. Cassia and ginger from the south of China.
Dhofar and Hadhramaut — Frankincense and myrrh. The incense lands of southern Arabia.
Malacca. The great entrepôt on the strait between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea; taken by Portugal in 1511.
Calicut. Pepper port where Vasco da Gama arrived in 1498.
Goa. Seized by Portugal in 1510; capital of its Asian empire.
Aden. Gateway to the Red Sea.
Hormuz. Commanding the mouth of the Persian Gulf; taken by Portugal in 1515.
Baghdad. Where the Gulf route met the caravan roads.
Alexandria. Where Venetian merchants bought spices from the Mamluks.
Venice. Europe's spice market before 1500.
Petra. Nabataean city on the incense road.
Berenike. Roman Red Sea port for the monsoon voyage to India.
Samarkand. Oasis city at the heart of the Silk Roads.
Chang'an (Xi'an). Eastern end of the Silk Roads.
Lisbon. Home port of the Portuguese Cape route.
Amsterdam. Headquarters of the VOC.
Cape of Good Hope. Rounded by Dias in 1488; a VOC supply station from 1652.
Batavia (Jakarta). The VOC's Asian headquarters from 1619.

Routes are simplified and drawn along typical sailing and caravan lines; real voyages varied with season, wind and politics. Coastlines from Natural Earth.

The routes

Incense road and Roman monsoon route

c. 1000 BC – AD 300

Camel caravans carried frankincense and myrrh from southern Arabia north to Petra and Gaza. From the 1st century BC Greek and Roman ships used the monsoon winds to sail from the Red Sea port of Berenike straight across to the pepper coast of India and back within a year.

Linking Dhofar and Hadhramaut Petra Gaza Berenike Malabar coast

Maritime routes of the Indian Ocean

7th – 15th centuries

Malay, Javanese and Chinese ships brought cloves and nutmeg west to Malacca; Gujarati, Persian and Arab merchants carried them on with Indian pepper and Sri Lankan cinnamon, up the Red Sea to Cairo and Alexandria, or up the Gulf to Baghdad. Venetian galleys bought at the Mediterranean end.

Linking Moluccas Banda Islands Malacca Southern China Sri Lanka Calicut Hormuz Baghdad Aden Alexandria Venice

Overland Silk Roads

2nd century BC – 15th century

Caravan routes linked China with Persia and the eastern Mediterranean through Central Asia. They carried silk above all, but spices moved along them too, passed from market to market rather than carried end to end.

Linking Chang'an Samarkand Baghdad the eastern Mediterranean

Portuguese Cape route

from 1498

Vasco da Gama sailed round the Cape of Good Hope and reached Calicut in 1498, cutting out the Venetian and Mamluk middlemen. Portugal went on to seize Goa (1510) and Malacca (1511) and reached the Moluccas, running the trade from fortified posts and selling passes to Asian shipping.

Linking Lisbon Cape of Good Hope Calicut Goa Malacca Moluccas

Dutch VOC route

from 1602

VOC ships sailed from Amsterdam to the Cape, then ran east on the strong westerly winds of the Roaring Forties before turning north to Java, the route Hendrik Brouwer pioneered in 1611. From Batavia the company enforced its nutmeg and clove monopoly, conquering Banda in 1621.

Linking Amsterdam Cape of Good Hope Batavia Banda Islands