Journey
The spice routes by sea
Long ago, sailing ships carried spices across the Indian Ocean. Seasonal winds pushed the ships one way, then later back the other way. Pepper, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg traveled from port to port.
For centuries, ships crossed the Indian Ocean between East Africa, Arabia, India, Sri Lanka and the islands of Southeast Asia, carrying spices such as pepper, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Sailors used the monsoon winds, which blow one way for half the year and the other way for the rest, to make their voyages.
The sea routes of the spice trade linked the Swahili coast, Arabia, India's Malabar Coast, Sri Lanka, the Straits of Malacca and the Moluccas, the native home of cloves and nutmeg. Sail-powered trade followed the seasonal reversal of the Indian Ocean monsoon. From 1498, Portuguese and later Dutch fleets fought to control the trade.
Photo: Paul Brockmeyer from Chicago, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Riding the winds
Long ago, there were no engines on ships. Ships had sails.
The wind pushed them across the sea. In the Indian Ocean, the wind blows one way for part of the year. Then it turns around! Sailors used this to carry spices from place to place.
Spices are dried parts of plants, such as seeds, bark, fruits and flower buds, that give food a strong taste. Some of the most wanted spices grew only in a few warm places around the Indian Ocean. To trade them, people sailed ships across the sea.
The key was the monsoon. The monsoon is a seasonal change in the direction of the strongest winds. In the Indian Ocean, the summer monsoon, from about April to September, blows from the southwest, and the winter monsoon, from about October to April, blows from the northeast. When ships were powered by sails, these alternating winds made long voyages possible.
Monsoons are seasonal shifts in pressure that reverse the prevailing winds and bring alternating wet and dry seasons. National Geographic Education describes the Indian Ocean's summer monsoon, usually April to September, blowing from the southwest, and its dry winter monsoon, October to April, blowing from the northeast. When ships were powered by sails, the seasonally alternating winds allowed efficient voyages, for example up and down the coast of East Africa.
Along these routes moved the spices that grew only in particular places: black pepper, native to India's Malabar Coast; cinnamon, native to Sri Lanka, the Malabar Coast and Myanmar; and cloves and nutmeg, native to the Moluccas of Indonesia. Britannica notes that the cloves of the northern Moluccas and the nutmeg of the central islands were traded across Asia long before Europeans heard of the so-called Spice Islands.
Ports along the way
Our trip has six stops.
We start in Zanzibar, in Africa. We sail past Oman and India. Then we visit Sri Lanka and Malacca. Our last stop is the Banda Islands, where nutmeg grows.
We begin at Zanzibar, an island town off East Africa where African, Arab, Indian and European cultures have mixed for more than a thousand years. Next comes Muscat in Oman, a harbor town tucked into a cove among volcanic mountains. Across the Arabian Sea lies Kochi in India, on the Malabar Coast, the home of black pepper.
South of India is the island of Sri Lanka, where true cinnamon comes from. Far to the east, Malacca stands on the Straits of Malacca, where traders from East and West met for more than 500 years. Our last stop is the Banda Islands in Indonesia, part of the Moluccas, the famous Spice Islands.
The Stone Town of Zanzibar is, in UNESCO's words, an outstanding example of a Swahili coastal trading town, whose buildings reflect more than a millennium of African, Arab, Indian and European influence and many centuries of seaborne trade between Asia and Africa. Muscat sits on a cove ringed by volcanic mountains, and its architecture shows Arab, Portuguese, Persian, Indian and African influences.
Kochi, on the Malabar Coast, became one of the safest ports on India's southwestern coast in the 14th century, when changes in the backwaters cut it off from the mainland; pepper and cardamom were shipped through its harbor. Sri Lanka is home to true cinnamon. Melaka, with George Town, is described by UNESCO as having developed over 500 years of trading and cultural exchange between East and West in the Straits of Malacca. The Banda Islands, nine small volcanic islands in the Moluccas, have soils well suited to nutmeg, which is native there.
- Zanzibar, Tanzania
- Swahili trading town; later a clove-growing island
- Muscat, Oman
- Harbor town on a cove among volcanic mountains
- Kochi, India
- Malabar Coast port; pepper and cardamom
- Sri Lanka
- Home of true cinnamon
- Malacca, Malaysia
- Over 500 years of trade between East and West
- Banda Islands, Indonesia
- Where nutmeg trees grow naturally
Stops along the way
- Zanzibar City (Stone Town)
- Muscat
- Kochi
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Sri Lanka
- Malacca (Melaka)
- Banda Islands
Pepper, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg
Each spice comes from a different part of a plant.
Pepper is a small fruit. Cinnamon is bark from a tree. Cloves are flower buds. Nutmeg is a seed.
Each famous spice comes from a different plant part. Black pepper comes from the fruits of a climbing vine that grows wild on India's Malabar Coast. Cinnamon is the dried inner bark of a small tree from Sri Lanka and nearby lands. Cloves are the dried flower buds of a tree from the Moluccas, and nutmeg is the seed of another Moluccan tree.
These spices were so valuable that people traveled thousands of kilometers for them. Pepper was sometimes used instead of money, and Britannica says cinnamon was once more valuable than gold.
Black pepper (Piper nigrum), a perennial climbing vine native to the Malabar Coast, is one of the earliest spices known; it often served as a medium of exchange, and tributes were levied in pepper in ancient Greece and Rome. Cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum) is the dried inner bark of an evergreen tree native to Sri Lanka, the Malabar Coast and Myanmar, and Britannica records that it was once more valuable than gold.
Cloves are the dried flower buds of Syzygium aromaticum, thought to be indigenous to the Moluccas, and were important in the earliest spice trade. Nutmeg and mace both come from the seed of Myristica fragrans, also native to the Moluccas. Today these crops grow in many tropical lands; a 2021 report cited by Britannica ranked Indonesia first in clove production, followed by Madagascar, Comoros, Tanzania and Sri Lanka.
When European fleets arrived
Later, ships came from Europe too.
They wanted to buy and control the spices. Over time, the spice plants were planted in other places, like Zanzibar.
In 1498, the Portuguese sailor Vasco da Gama reached India by sailing around Africa. Soon Portuguese ships set up trading posts and forts at places such as Kochi, Muscat and Malacca, and in 1512 they reached the Moluccas. Later the Dutch took over much of the spice trade.
In 1770, a Frenchman, Pierre Poivre, smuggled clove seeds out of the Moluccas. That led to clove farms in the Seychelles and in Zanzibar.
Vasco da Gama's 1497 to 1498 expedition opened a sea route from Europe around Africa to India. The Portuguese founded the first European settlement in India at Kochi in 1500 and built a fort there in 1503; they held Muscat from 1508 to 1650; and from early in the 16th century Melaka passed through Portuguese and then Dutch hands. National Geographic Education says the Portuguese brutally attempted to control all trade in the Indian Ocean, which contributed to the decline of the Swahili city-states.
In the Moluccas, the Portuguese arrived in 1512, beginning decades of conflict with the sultans of Ternate and Tidore and later the Spanish, English and Dutch that caused great losses of life. The Dutch prevailed, restricted clove growing to Ambon and Ternate to keep prices high, and ran nutmeg plantations in the Banda Islands worked by laborers brought from other islands. Zanzibar was also one of the main slave-trading ports of East Africa. The monopoly broke after Pierre Poivre smuggled clove seeds out in 1770.
Amazing facts
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Cloves are flower buds that have been dried.
A clove is the dried flower bud of a tree that first grew in the Moluccas of Indonesia.
Cloves are the dried flower buds of Syzygium aromaticum, thought to be indigenous to the Moluccas.
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Cinnamon was once worth more than gold.
Britannica says cinnamon was once more valuable than gold.
Cinnamon was once more valuable than gold, and later it was the most profitable spice in the Dutch East India Company's trade.
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People once paid with pepper instead of money.
Pepper was so valuable that it was often used as a kind of money.
Pepper often served as a medium of exchange, and tributes were levied in pepper in ancient Greece and Rome.
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An old clove tree helped cloves grow in Zanzibar.
In 1770, seeds from a famous old clove tree on Ternate were smuggled out, leading to clove farms in the Seychelles and Zanzibar.
Seeds of the clove tree 'Afo I' on Ternate, smuggled out by Pierre Poivre in 1770, led to plantations in the Seychelles and Zanzibar and helped end the Dutch monopoly.
Words to know
- spice
- a dried part of a plant, such as a seed, bark or bud, used to flavor food
- monsoon
- a seasonal change in the direction of a region's strongest winds
- port
- a town with a harbor where ships load and unload goods
- strait
- a narrow strip of sea between two pieces of land
- monopoly
- complete control of selling something, with no competition
- native
- growing naturally in a place, not brought there by people
Discovery challenge
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What pushed the sailing ships across the ocean?
Which seasonal winds did spice ships use to cross the Indian Ocean?
Which seasonal wind reversal made regular sail-powered voyages across the Indian Ocean possible?
- The monsoon winds
- Engines
- Ocean whirlpools
Show the answer
The monsoon winds
The monsoon winds! They blow one way, then turn around.
The monsoon winds blow from the southwest in summer and from the northeast in winter.
The monsoon: southwesterly from about April to September, northeasterly from about October to April.
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Which spice comes from tree bark?
Which spice is the dried inner bark of a tree from Sri Lanka?
Which spice consists of the dried inner bark of Cinnamomum verum?
- Pepper
- Cinnamon
- Cloves
Show the answer
Cinnamon
Cinnamon is bark from a tree.
Cinnamon is the dried inner bark of a tree native to Sri Lanka and nearby lands.
Cinnamon, the dried inner bark of C. verum, native to Sri Lanka, the Malabar Coast and Myanmar.
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Where did cloves and nutmeg first grow?
Which islands were the original home of cloves and nutmeg?
To which island group are cloves and nutmeg native?
- The Moluccas (Spice Islands)
- The Galápagos Islands
- Iceland
Show the answer
The Moluccas (Spice Islands)
The Spice Islands, in Indonesia.
The Moluccas, or Spice Islands, of Indonesia, including the Banda Islands.
The Moluccas: cloves in the north, nutmeg in the central (Banda) islands.
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Which spice grows in Kochi, India?
Which spice is native to India's Malabar Coast, around Kochi?
Which spice, native to the Malabar Coast, often served as a medium of exchange?
- Nutmeg
- Black pepper
- Cloves
Show the answer
Black pepper
Black pepper!
Black pepper grows wild on the Malabar Coast, and it was shipped from Kochi.
Black pepper (Piper nigrum), one of the earliest spices known and often used as money.
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Tanzania
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For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Explain how the reversing monsoon winds made sailing trade across the Indian Ocean possible.
- Name the main spices of the sea routes and where each grew naturally.
- Locate the stops from Zanzibar to the Banda Islands on a map.
- Describe, in age-appropriate terms, how European powers later sought to control the trade.
Recommended ages: 8 to 15 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- Why do you think spices that grew in only a few places became so valuable?
- How would you plan a voyage if the wind changed direction only twice a year?
- Which spices are in your kitchen, and where do you think they came from?
Try at home or in class
- Set out small amounts of pepper, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg and match each to its plant part (fruit, bark, bud, seed) and its home on a map.
- Use a desk fan to blow a paper boat across a tray of water one way, then turn the fan around to bring it back, like the monsoon.
Key vocabulary: spice, monsoon, port, strait, monopoly, native
Where these facts come from
- Monsoon , National Geographic Society (Education)
- The People of the Swahili Coast , National Geographic Society (Education)
- Monsoon , Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Moluccas , Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Banda Islands , Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Kochi , Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Muscat , Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Clove , Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Black pepper , Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Nutmeg , Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Cinnamon , Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Stone Town of Zanzibar , UNESCO World Heritage Centre
- Melaka and George Town, Historic Cities of the Straits of Malacca , UNESCO World Heritage Centre
- Old Town of Galle and its Fortifications , UNESCO World Heritage Centre
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated October 27, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.