> I didn't read Salt. But the basic premise, following historical
> conflicts through a single comodity is a pretty good one. Except I
> think its even better to broaden the concept.
>
> I used something like that while reading up on Spinoza. His father
> was a dried fruit merchant. When Spinoza was given the writ by the
> rabbi, it meant that Spinoza couldn't take over the business, so he
> was in effect exiled from his means of earning a living. Dried fruit?
> Following the dried fruit trade first leads to Spain and Portugal
> (Expulsion of the Jews, therefore family imigration to Amsterdam),
> then to North Africa and the Islamic world. Tracing dried
> fruit also takes you to global imperial power struggles between Spain,
> England, France, and the Netherlands. That gets you to the Americas,
> south and southeast Asia. There were sure no shortages of conflicts to
> look at in any of those places.
>
> The other way I've used this idea, just to get a feel for history in
> general is to trace spices. This is a lot of fun for anybody into
> cooking. The most obvious trace out of Europe was Marco Polo. But pick
> a spice, google, and behold. I recalled that trip of the mind from
> this morning's contemplation over Turmeric.
>
> Tracking spices also seems fun especially for thinking about cultural
> histories and changes in cultural histories.
>
> CG
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