Intercolonial Cinnamon: Fashioning Connections from the Eighteenth to Mid-Nineteenth Centuries

Abstract

It is well known that the quest for spices fuelled navigational endeavours during early modern history, acting as a gateway to conquest. Historians from the field have often focused on the relations between the colonies and the colonised, but what role did this play in the forging of intercolonial connections? By delving into the allure of one spice, the current article argues that, more than merely a source of profit, a ceremonial means or an item of consumption, the quest for cinnamon revealed the pursuit of botanical knowledge, which reflected the use of alternative commercial routes. Rivalry between the colonisers prompted significant intercolonial connections rather than merely between them and the colonised, while prompting transimperial relations when these belonged to different empires. These connections resulted in nuanced practical outcomes that conveyed the intellectual stances and political hierarchy inherent in imperial networks.