Spices such as cinnamon, cassia, cardamom, ginger, pepper, nutmeg, star anise, clove, and turmeric were known and used in antiquity and traded in the Eastern World. The spice trade involved historical civilizations in Asia, Northeast Africa and Europe. 1453, which spurred the Age of Discovery and European Colonialism. 1090, causing the Crusades, and by the Ottoman Empire c.
Historic international commerce European access to the economically important Silk Road (Red) and spice trade routes (blue) was blocked by the Seljuk Empire c.
