The Spice Ports: Mapping the Origins of Global Sea Trade

A first-class narrative writer blends his unique cartographic and topographic understanding of the key ports of early seaborne commerce.

We may think of “globalism” as a recent development but its origins date back to the fifteenth century and beyond, when seafarers pioneered routes across the oceans with the objectives of exploration, trade, and profit.

These voyages only became possible after certain technical innovations—improvements in ship design, compasses, and mapping—enabled navig...