A History of Agriculture in India v2.c72.6

v2.c72.6

THE confrontation of Christendom with Islam entered a new phase at the close of the fifteenth century. Mohammed II, Sultan of Turkey, took Constantinople on 29 May 1453, and this disposed of the last remnants of the Byzantine Empire. Bulgaria had already been conquered by the Turks much earlier, when they seized Sofia. Mohammed II completed the conquest of the Balkans by annexing Serbia and Greece. His successor Selim I defeated the Mamelukes and annexed Syria and Egypt in A.D. 1517. The conquest of Egypt by the Turks made them masters of trade routes from India, China and Africa. Now the Ottoman warships patrolled the whole of the Mediterranean. The Turks imposed heavy levies on Indian spices and other goods. Pepper, which came from Suez in ‘the ships of Mecca’, was sold in Cairo and Alexandria at very high prices. When the cost in India was equivalent to 2 or 3 cruzados a bale, there were occasions when the price in Egypt went up to 80 cruzados. To this were added the cost of transport to Italy, the customs duty in Venice and the profits of the importer. As a result, the Europeans had to pay extortionate prices for spices, particularly pepper, which not only made their food tasty, but was also used as a preservative for meat. Pepper was also used in wine and pastry. As the cultivaton of root-crops had not started, and no fodder crop could be grown in winter, the practice in northern Europe was to slaughter all surplus cattle at the advent of winter and to salt their meat. Among the vegetables, cabbages were in common use, as tomatoes and potatoes had yet to come. Sugar was a luxury and was used as a drug. Fruit-juices and honey were the only means of sweetening. To make the monotonous diet of dried meat and cabbages palatable, spices, such as pepper, cardamom, cloves and nutmeg, were essential. One can imagine the hardship suffered by the Europeans due to the levies of the Turks.