Archaeological evidence of pepper dates back to at least 2000 BC. We know that pepper was exported during this period, but by what means and to what extent remains a mystery. Indeed, traces of a probable ancient trade in Indian pepper in Egypt have been discovered, the presence of peppercorns both in the nostrils and in the stomach of Ramesses the Great (1303-1213 BC) (Bulletins and Memoirs of the Society of Anthropology of Paris, Radiochromodensitographic study on Ramses carried out by Lichtenberg and Thuilliez in 1981)
From the 40s AD, the Romans developed a flourishing trade in spices and particularly pepper. Leaving from the southwest coast of India, taking advantage of the monsoon winds, they imported cinnamon, incense oil and pepper. Alexandria was at the time the trading center for this trade.
Although the book was written a few centuries after his death, the collection by Apicius, a famous gastronome from the beginning of the 1st century, describes a multitude of Roman recipes containing spices including pepper.
Pisane map, one of the first maps dating from the 13th century.
We also see the high price of pepper appearing in the few writings that have come down to us. Indeed, in September 408, Alaric I, King of the Visigoths and his army besieged Rome. The exhausted and hungry Romans eventually surrendered and paid a ransom. The price to pay was 2,500 kg of gold, 15,000 kg of silver, 4,000 silk robes, 3,000 skins and 1,500 kg of pepper . ( https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaric_Ier ). Pepper was already compared to a precious metal!
In the middle Ages :
After the fall of the Roman Empire and from the 7th century, the Arabs organized themselves to resume the spice trade. In order to maintain their monopoly they invented a whole myth (source: Spices and Late-Medieval European Ideas of Scarcity and Value Paul Freedman) according to which pepper was cultivated in India in valleys infested with snakes. It was then necessary to burn the trees in order to make the snakes disappear. The fire then gave the black color to the skin of the peppercorns, they said.
This shows the importance at that time of this trade where one completely protected its sources and by any means!
The pepper trade became more and more flourishing from the 10th century onwards, spreading throughout Europe. With this increase in demand, prices soared and taxes, rents or dowries were sometimes paid in cash. For example, the King of England Ethelred II (978-1016) demanded 10 pounds of pepper from German spice traders before letting them do business in London (source: Spice Crop EA Weiss).
With the rise of the bourgeoisie in the Middle Ages, having pepper was part of the “standing” of the time. Thus this pressure significantly increased demand and therefore pushed prices up further. This forced the strongholds to develop the trade in spices including pepper. In the 14th century, the Genoese massively imported pepper from Alexandria. Exactly between 1367 and 1371 more than 40% by value of imports from Genoa were pepper (source: Spices and Late-Medieval European Ideas of Scarcity and Value Paul Freedman).
The Venetians also began to trade with pepper. They increased the selling price of pepper by more than 40% during the 15th century. (Spices and Late-Medieval European Ideas of Scarcity and Value Paul Freedman)
At that time the sources of pepper came mainly from Constantinople, Syria, Cyprus and Alexandria.
Under the leadership of the Portuguese King John the First, Henry the navigator, his son, was the first to push the development of trade and maritime adventure. Subsequently, Vasco da Gama sought a direct sea route to India, discovered in 1497, in order to bypass the Arab monopoly. His goal was to find “Christians and Spices.” The evangelization of the people served as a pretext to control this flourishing trade.
From the 15th century the Portuguese dominated the pepper trade. It is said that between 1500 and 1600 Portugal imported more than 2000 tonnes of pepper per year! (source: Spice Crop EA Weiss)
Portuguese world map, Atlas Miller 16th century.
The Renaissance :
Portugal subsequently quickly lost control of its imports because their military and political authority was poorly developed in these colonized lands. Thus, from the 16th century, the Dutch became the main player in the importation and trade of spices, including pepper. During Holland's "golden century", they multiplied trading posts through their famous Dutch East India Company (VOC) in India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Java.
The price of pepper was then still very high, reaching 20 to 30 g of silver for 1 kg of pepper.
When the British Empire finally established itself in almost all the tropics in the 17th and 18th centuries, it finally took control of the spice trade with the company: the British East India Company, supported by its dominant military forces.
Modern times :
With the fall of the English Empire, with the industrial revolution which facilitated access to routes of communication (sea and land routes), with the development of spice and pepper crops almost everywhere in the world, the course pepper and spices decreased significantly. Pepper and spices thus became accessible to as many people as possible.
In memory of the high cost of pepper and spices, we have inherited some expressions such as “Cher like pepper” or “pay in spices” which gave “pay in cash”.
Today the quest for pepper remains massive with more than 250,000 tonnes produced per year worldwide. There is even a pepper exchange in Cochin (India). Among this production, we find small productions of exceptional grand cru peppers which are noticeably different from mass peppers.