Venetian spice trade
How Venice grew rich as the main European buyer of spices from Egypt and the Levant.
Also: Venice and spices, Levant trade, Mamluk spice trade
In the late Middle Ages, spices reached Europe mainly through Alexandria and the Syrian ports, bought by Venetian and Genoese merchants and sold on to northern markets at large markups. Venice's galleys sailed to Egypt each year, and a Mamluk tax on the trade added to costs. Wealth from spice financed the city's palaces. The Portuguese sea route to India threatened this chain, and for a time in the early sixteenth century spice arrived in Lisbon at lower prices, although Venice recovered some share when Portuguese logistics faltered. Sellers in northern Europe were organised in guilds, such as the German Pfeffersäcke, the pepper sacks.