Preview
  • Spice

  • The 16th-Century Contest That Shaped the Modern World
  • By: Roger Crowley
  • Narrated by: Samuel Roukin
  • Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (24 ratings)

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Spice

By: Roger Crowley
Narrated by: Samuel Roukin
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Publisher's summary

The story of the 16th-century’s epic contest for the spice trade, which propelled European maritime exploration and conquest across Asia and the Pacific.

Spices drove the early modern world economy, and for Europeans they represented riches on an unprecedented scale. Cloves and nutmeg could reach Europe only via a complex web of trade routes, and for decades Spanish and Portuguese explorers competed to find their elusive source. But when the Portuguese finally reached the spice islands of the Moluccas in 1511, they set in motion a fierce competition for control.

Roger Crowley shows how this struggle shaped the modern world. From 1511 to 1571, European powers linked up the oceans, established vast maritime empires, and gave birth to global trade, all in the attempt to control the supply of spices.

Taking us on voyages from the dockyards of Seville to the vastness of the Pacific, the volcanic Spice Islands of Indonesia, the Arctic Circle, and the coasts of China, this is a narrative history rich in vivid eyewitness accounts of the adventures, shipwrecks, and sieges that formed the first colonial encounters—and remade the world economy for centuries to follow.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2024 Roger Crowley (P)2024 Audible, Inc.
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History
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What listeners say about Spice

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Litany of Maritime Disasters

Most of the book was a stream of maritime disasters. Very little time spent on spice or trade. The last 30 minutes were the best

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Spice or Megellan?

So far very little about the Spice and lots about Megellan. I want a refund. Will keep listening with the hope I hear about spice.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Good - but not Crowley’s best

Unlike his other books, Spice is not a narrative and thus is a little bit of a slower story. One challenge when discussing travels around the world is the lack of maps to really understand where the characters were.

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