As U.S. President Donald Trump roiled the global trade order through 2025, the AEJ UK notes a timely book by AEJ member Nicholas Nugent on the beginnings of global sea trade to the West.
The author notes that the idea for The Spice Ports: Mapping the Origins of Global Sea Trade, published by the British Library, “came from a stint I spent as a volunteer with UNICEF in eastern Indonesia near the fabled Spice Islands. I came across the remarkable history of how the English and Dutch vied for control of the world’s sole source of nutmeg – eight islands in the middle of the Banda Sea, miles from any other land mass. It would spoil the plot to tell you who won but a clue is that the island of Manhattan was involved!”
Telling the story of trade not only in nutmeg but also in cloves, cinnamon, tea, coffee and rubber, the book is illustrated with Nugent’s personal collection of antique maps and views and was described by one reviewer as “essentially, an atlas – and a gorgeous one at that…”
