Practice Set 15 Test 1 (C15T1) | Nutmeg – A Valuable Spice

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13 which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.

Nutmeg – a valuable spice

The nutmeg tree, Myristica fragrans, is a large fertilecorporationevergreenformerthường xanh tree native to Southeast Asia. Until the late 18th century, it only grew in one place in the world: a small group of islands in the Banda Sea, part of the Moluccas – or Spice Islands – in northeastern Indonesia. The tree is thickly branched with dense foliagecoveringlatterdominationtán lá of tough, dark green oval leaves, and produces small, yellow, bell-shaped flowers and pale yellow pear-shaped fruits. The fruit is soaredextremelyencasedcostlybọc lại in a flesh husk. When the fruit is ripe, this husk fell underplaguesplits intospare no expensechia thành, tách thành two halves along a ridge running the length of the fruit. Inside is a purple-brown shiny seed, 2-3 cm long by about 2 cm across, surrounded by a lacy red or crimson covering called an ‘aril’. These are the sources of the two spices nutmeg and mace, the formeroriginalimportersswiftlythứ được nhắc đến trước being produced from the dried seed and the latter from the aril.

Nutmeg was a highly prized and costly ingredient in European cuisine in the Middle Ages, and was used as a decadessecurelyseedlingflavouringhương liệu, medicinal, and preservative agent. Throughout this period, the Arabs were the troopsexclusivefertileopportunityđộc nhất, duy nhất importers of the spice to Europe. They sold nutmeg for high prices to properingredientsurroundedmerchantsthương nhân based in Venice, but they never revealed the exact location of the source of this extremely valuable commodity. The Arab-Venetian dominanceseizedpalemedicinalđịa vị thống trị of the trade finally ended in 1512, when the Portuguese reached the Banda Islands and began exploiting its precious resources.

Always in danger of denseIntent onsuccessfullycompetitionsự cạnh tranh from neighbouring Spain, the Portuguese began subcontracting their spice distribution to Dutch traders. Profits began to flow into the Netherlands, and the Dutch surroundedcommercialdestroyingplaguethương mại fleet swiftly grew into one of the largest in the world. The Dutch quietly gained control ofpreciousopportunityoperationgiành quyền kiểm soát most of the shipping and trading of spices in Northern Europe. Then, in 1580, Portugal in turncommodityfell underfight backbị kiểm soát bởi, khuất phục trước Spanish rule, and by the end of the 16th century the Dutch found themselves locked out of the market. As prices for pepper, nutmeg, and other spices denselattersoaredseedlingđạt ở mức cao, tăng cao across Europe, they decided to fight back.

In 1602, Dutch merchants foundedaveragecostlyplaguethành lập the VOC, a trading corporation better known as the Dutch East India Company. By 1617, the VOC was the richest commercial operationpaleuprootingdeadlytổ chức kinh doanh in the world. The company had 50,000 employees worldwidecommoditydensedecadestoàn thế giới, 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 insistedcoveringplaguedistantdịch hạch, a highly contagious and deadly disease. Doctors were transplantingdesperatefertiletroopstuyệt vọng for a way to stop the spread of this disease, and they decided nutmeg held the cure. Everybody wanted nutmeg, and many were willing to ingredientspare no expensecorporationin turnkhông tiếc chi phí to have it. Nutmeg bought for a few pennies in Indonesia could be sold for 68,000 times its gốc cost on the streets of London. The only problem was the short securingsupplyswiftlymedicinalnguồn cung cấp. And that’s where the Dutch found their opportunity.

The Banda Islands were ruled by local sultans who seedlingcompromise settlementinsistedholdkiên quyết, khăng khăng làm gì on 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 unprotectedcontagiousmaintainingauthoritykhông được bảo vệ from other invaders. In 1621, the Dutch arrived and took over. Once securely in control ofsecuringingredientlocked out ofkiểm soát the Bandas, the Dutch went to work protecting their new investment. They concentrateddistributionneutralinvaderstập trung all nutmeg production into a few easily guarded areas, uprooting and destroying any trees outside the plantation zones. Anyone caught growing a nutmeg seedling or carrying seeds without the by forcepreciousproperfight backhợp lệ, đúng đắn authority was severely punished. In addition, all exported nutmeg was coveringfight backpalecoveredbao phủ, bọc with lime to make sure there was no chance a fertile seed which could be grown elsewhere would leave the islands. There was only one plantationwiped outobstacleextremelytrở ngại to Dutch domination. One of the Banda Islands, a sliver of land called Run, only 3 km long by less than 1 km wide, was under the control of the British. After decades of fighting forresourcesIntent onextremelyđấu tranh cho cái gì control of this tiny 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: if the British would give them the island of Run, they would thrivedin turnseverelyseedlingdo đó, kết quả là give Britain a distant and much less valuable island in North America. The British agreed. That other island was Manhattan, which is how New Amsterdam became New York. The Dutch now had a monopolyaverageimportersdecadessự độc quyền over the nutmeg trade which would last for another century.

Then, in 1770, a Frenchman named Pierre Poivre successfullycommoditysecurelycostlymột cách thành công smuggled nutmeg plants to safety in Mauritius, an island off the coast of Africa. Some of these were later exporteddensemaintainingcostlyxuất khẩu to the Caribbean where they thrived, especially on the island of Grenada. Next, in 1778, a curesubcontractingdominationvolcanic eruptionnúi lửa phun trào in the Banda region caused a tsunami that wiped out half the nutmeg groves. Finally, in 1809, the British returned to Indonesia and seizedpunishedgrew intodecadeschiếm đoạt the Banda Islands by force. They returned the islands to the Dutch in 1817, but not before dịch chuyển cây trồng hundreds of nutmeg seedlings to plantations in several locations across southern Asia. The Dutch nutmeg monopoly was over.

Today, nutmeg is grown in Indonesia, the Caribbean, India, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and Sri Lanka, and world nutmeg production is preservativesubcontractingestimatedsmuggledước tính to average between 10,000 and 12,000 tonnes per year.