Nutmeg - A Valuable Spice
IELTS ACADEMIC 15
The nutmeg tree, Myristica fragrans, is a large evergreen tree native to Southeast Asia. Until the late 18th century, it only grew in one area in the world: a small group of islands in the Banda Sea, part of the Moluccas- or Spice Islands- in northeastern Indonesia. The tree has thickly branched with dense foliage of tough, dark green oval leaves, and produces small, yellow, bell-shaped flowers and light yellow pear-shaped fruits. The fruit is attached to a fleshy husk. When the fruit is ripe, this husk splits into two halves along a ridge along the length of the fruit. Inside is a purple-brown glossy seed, 2-3 cm long and 2 cm across, surrounded by a lacy red or crimson covering called 'aril'. These are the sources of the two spices nutmeg and mace, the former being produced from dried seeds and the latter from rice.
Nutmeg was a highly prized and costly ingredient in European cuisine in the Middle Ages and was used as a flavoring, medicinal and preservative agent. Throughout this period, the Arabs were the exclusive importers of spices to Europe. They sold nutmeg to merchants based in Venice, but they never revealed the exact location of the source of this extremely valuable commodity. The Arab-Venetian dominance of the trade finally ended in 1512, when the Portuguese reached the Banda Islands and began exploiting its precious resources.
Always in danger of competition from neighboring Spain, the Portuguese began subcontracting their spice distribution to Dutch traders. Profits began to flow into the Netherlands, and the Dutch commercial fleet quickly expanded into one of the biggest in the world. The Dutch quietly acquired control of the shipping and trade of most of the spices in northern Europe. Then, in 1580, Portugal slipped under Spanish rule, and by the end of the 16th century, the Dutch had expelled themselves from the market. As the prices of pepper, nutmeg, and other spices soared across Europe, they determined to fight back.
In 1602, Dutch merchants launched VOC, a trading corporation better known as the Dutch East India Company. By 1617, VOC was the richest commercial operation in the world. The company had 50,000 employees worldwide, with a private army of 30,000 men and a fleet of 200 ships. At the same time, thousands of people across Europe were dying of the plague, a highly infectious and deadly disease. Doctors were desperate for a way to stop the spread of the disease, and they decided nutmeg held the cure. Everybody wanted nutmeg, and many were willing to spare no expense to have it. Nutmeg bought for a few pennies in Indonesia could be sold for 68,000 times its original cost on the streets of London. The only problem was the short supply. And that's where the Dutch found their opportunity.
The Banda Islands were ruled by local sultans who insisted maintaining a neutral trading policy towards foreign powers. This allowed them to avoid the presence of Portuguese or Spanish troops on their soil, but it also left them unprotected from other invaders. In 1621, the Dutch arrived and took over. Once securely in control of the Bandas, the Dutch went to work protecting their new investment. They concentrated all nutmeg production into a few easily guarded areas, and uprooting and destroying any trees outside the plantation zones. Anyone caught growing nutmeg seedlings or carrying seeds without proper authority was severely punished. In addition, all exported nutmeg was covered with lime to make sure there was chance a fertile seed which could be grown elsewhere would leave the islands. There was only one obstacle to Dutch domination. One of the Banda Islands, a sliver of land called Run, 3 km long and less than 1 km wide, was under British control. After decades of fighting for control of this small island, the Dutch and British arrived at a compromise settlement, the Treaty of Breda in 1667. Intent on securing their hold over every nutmeg-producing island, the Dutch offered a trade that if the British would give them a run island, they would offer Britain a distant and much less valuable island in North America. The British agreed. That other island is Manhattan, which is how New Amsterdam became New York. The Dutch now had a monopoly over the nutmeg trade, which would last for another century.
Then, in 1770, a Frenchman called Pierre Poivre successfully smuggled nutmeg to the island of Mauritius off the coast of Africa. Some of these were later exported to the Caribbean, where they thrived, particularly on the island of Grenada. Next, in 1778, a volcanic eruption in the Banda area caused a tsunami that destroyed half the nutmeg groves. Finally, in 1809, the British returned to Indonesia and seized the Banda Islands by force. The returned the islands to the Dutch in 1817, but not before transplanting hundreds of nutmeg seedlings to plantations in sevaral places across South Asia. The Dutch nutmeg monopoly was finished.
Today, nutmeg is raised in Indonesia, the Caribbean, India, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, and Sri Lanka, and world nut production is calculated to average 10,000 to 12,000 tons per year.
Nutmeg a valuable spice IELTS reading questions.
Question (1 - 4)
Complete the notes below.
Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
The leaves of the tree are 1 ________ in shape
- the 2 ________ surrounds the fruit and breaks open where the fruit is ripe
- the 3 ___________ is used to produce the spice nutmeg
the covering known as the aril is used to produced 4 __________
the tree has yellow flowers and fruit
Question (5 - 17)
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the reading passage?
Write
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this in the passage
5. In the Middle Ages, most Europeans knew where nutmeg was grown.
6. The VOC was the world's first major trading company.
7. Following the Treaty of Breda, the Dutch had control of all the islands where nutmeg grew.
Question (8 - 13)
Complete the table below.
Choose ONE WORDS ONLY from the reading passage for each answer.
Middle Ages Nutmeg was brought to Europe by the 8...................
16th century European nations took control of the nutmeg trade
17th century Demand for nutmeg grew, as it was believed to be effective against the disease known as the..........................................
The Dutch
- took control of the Banda Islands
- restricted nutmeg production to a few areas
- put 10.................. on nutmeg to avaid it being cultivated outside the islands
- finally obtained the island of 11...................................... from the British
Late 18th century 1770- nutmeg plants were secretly taken to 12...................
1778- half the Banda Islands' nutmeg plantations were destroyed by a 13.....................
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