Spice Migrations: Mapping the History of Six Popular Spices

The story “Spice Migrations: Nutmeg,” written by Jeff Koehler and illustrated by Linda Dalal Sawaya, focuses on one of the most-common spices around the world. For centuries, nutmeg had been known only to the people of the islands of South Asia and China. By 750 CE, Muslim traders brought it to the Middle East where it was used more for medicinal purposes than as a food enhancer. In the 17th century, however, nutmeg began playing a more global role, in a land swap that gave the Netherlands control of the nutmeg trade in South Asia, and Britain a very distant island in North America.