Events Tagged: "pepper"

Alaric the Goth demands 3,000 pounds of pepper as part of Rome's ransom - pepper literally worth a city's freedom

Venice gains Byzantine spice monopoly - controls European pepper distribution, one pound costs month's wages for laborer

Marco Polo reports Java's pepper abundance - describes ships loading 6,000 baskets of pepper, Europeans dream of direct access

Columbus encounters chili peppers - mistakes them for black pepper (hence 'pepper'), brings to Spain

Cairo spice trade collapses - from 490 tons of pepper annually in 1500 to under 20 tons, Cape route destroys ancient system