The History of Spices

Earlier this week on the Cool Infographics blog I saw a neat infographic about the history of spices. The infographic contains information about the origins of various spices, which spices are most commonly traded in the world, and which spices are the hottest. The infographic also contains a small timeline of spices through history. I dropped the infographic into Zoom.it to make it fit below.

Applications for Education
One of world history topics that students are taught from an early age (I think I was in the third grade the first time I heard this) is that the spice trade was a motivating factor behind European sailing explorations. The History of Spices infographic could be a discussion starter in a basic world history lesson. Because the infographic isn't heavy on details, I might ask students to take one topic from the infographic and fill-in the rest of the story that is missing.