Buzz
Nutmeg was a highly prized and costly ingredient in European cuisine during the Middle Ages, serving as a flavoring, medicinal, and preservative agent. Throughout this period, Arabs held a monopoly on importing the spice to Europe. They sold nutmeg at high prices to Venetian merchants, but kept the exact origin of this valuable commodity a secret. The Arab-Venetian dominance in trade ended in 1512 when the Portuguese reached the Banda Islands and began exploiting its valuable resources.
Under constant threat from neighboring Spain, the Portuguese began outsourcing their spice distribution to Dutch traders. The profits poured into the Netherlands, leading to the rapid expansion of the Dutch commercial fleet, which became one of the largest in the world. The Dutch quietly took control of most of the spice shipping and trade in Northern Europe. In 1580, Portugal fell under Spanish rule, and by the end of the 16th century, the Dutch found themselves excluded from the market. As prices for spices like pepper and nutmeg soared across Europe, they decided to take action.
In 1602, Dutch merchants established the VOC, known as the Dutch East India Company. By 1617, the VOC had become the wealthiest commercial enterprise globally. The company employed 50,000 people worldwide, maintained a private army of 30,000 men, and operated a fleet of 200 ships. Meanwhile, Europe faced the deadly plague, and doctors believed nutmeg held the cure. Demand skyrocketed, and people were willing to pay exorbitant prices. Nutmeg bought for a few pennies in Indonesia could be sold for 68,000 times its original cost on the streets of London. However, supply was limited, presenting an opportunity the Dutch were quick to seize.
Local sultans governed the Banda Islands and adhered to a neutral trading policy with foreign powers. This strategy kept Portuguese and Spanish troops away but left them vulnerable to other invaders. In 1621, the Dutch arrived and took control. Once established, the Dutch focused on safeguarding their investment by consolidating nutmeg production in easily defendable zones, removing and destroying trees outside these areas. Severe penalties were imposed on anyone caught cultivating nutmeg seedlings or transporting seeds without authorization. Additionally, all exported nutmeg was treated with lime to prevent fertile seeds from leaving the islands. However, one challenge to Dutch supremacy remained: Run, a small island measuring only 3 km long and less than 1 km wide, was under British control. After years of conflict over this tiny island, the Dutch and British reached a compromise in 1667 with the Treaty of Breda. In their quest for dominance over all nutmeg-producing islands, the Dutch proposed a trade: they would cede the island of Run to the British in exchange for a distant and less valuable island in North America. The British accepted, leading to the transfer of Manhattan, which later became New York. This secured the Dutch monopoly over nutmeg trade for another century.
In 1770, a Frenchman named Pierre Poivre successfully smuggled nutmeg plants to safety on Mauritius, an island off the coast of Africa. Some of these plants were later transported to the Caribbean, particularly Grenada, where they flourished. Then, in 1778, a volcanic eruption in the Banda region triggered a tsunami that destroyed half of the nutmeg groves. Finally, in 1809, the British returned to Indonesia and seized control of the Banda Islands by force. Although they returned the islands to the Dutch in 1817, they had already transplanted hundreds of nutmeg seedlings to plantations across southern Asia, effectively ending the Dutch nutmeg monopoly.
Today, nutmeg is cultivated in Indonesia, the Caribbean, India, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, and Sri Lanka, with global production averaging between 10,000 and 12,000 tonnes annually.
Questions 1-4
Fill in the following notes.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 1-8 on your answer sheet.
The spice tree and its fruit
● the leaves of the tree are 1……………………. in shape
● the 2……………………. surrounds the fruit and breaks open when the fruit is ripe
● the 3……………………. is used to produce the spice nutmeg
● the covering known as the aril is used to produce 4……………………..
● this tree bears yellow flowers and fruit
Questions five to seven
Do these statements match the information in Reading Passage 1?
In boxes 5-7 on your answer sheet, write
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
5 In the Middle Ages, most Europeans knew where nutmeg was grown.
6 The VOC was the world’s first major trading company.
7 Following the Treaty of Breda, the Dutch had control of all the islands where nutmeg grew.
Questions eight to thirteen
Complete the chart below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 8-13 on your answer sheet.
| Middle Ages | Nutmeg was brought to Europe by the 8…………… |
| 16th century | European nations took control of the nutmeg trade |
| 17th century | Demand for nutmeg grew, as it was believed to be effective against the disease known as the 9……………The Dutch– took control of the Banda Islands– restricted nutmeg production to a few areas– put 10…………… on nutmeg to avoid it being cultivated outside the islands– finally obtained the island of 11…………… from the British |
| Late 18th century | 1770 – nutmeg plants were secretly taken to 12……………1778 – half the Banda Islands’ nutmeg plantations were destroyed by a 13…………… |
Solutions
1. Oval (Đoạn 1, “The tree is thickly branched with dense foliage of tough, dark green oval leaves…”)
2. Husk (Đoạn 1, “The fruit is encased in a flesh husk”)
3. Seed (Đoạn 1, “Inside is a purple-brown shiny seed…”)
4. Mace (Đoạn 1, “These are the sources of the two spices nutmeg and mace…”
5. FALSE (Đoạn 2, “Nutmeg, … commodity.” -> Hầu hết người châu Âu không biết xuất xứ của cây Nutmeg, vì người Arab không tiết lộ -> trái ngược với câu hỏi)
6. NOT GIVEN (Không có thông tin về việc VOC có phải là công ty thương mại đầu tiên hay không, chỉ biết đó là công ty giàu nhất tại thời điểm đó.)
7. TRUE (Đoạn 5, “After decades of fighting,…another century.” -> Theo hiệp định Breda, Đức nắm quyền cai trị hòn đảo trồng Nutmeg.)
8. Arabs (Đoạn 2, “Throughout this period, the Arabs were the exclusive importers of the spice to Europe.”)
9. Plague (Đoạn 4, “At the same time, thousands of people across Europe were dying of the plague,…”)
10. Lime (Đoạn 5, “In addition, all exported nutmeg was covered with lime …”)
11. Run (Đoạn 5, “There was only one obstacle to Dutch domination. One of the Banda Islands, a sliver of land called Run,…”)
12. Mauritius (Đoạn 6, “Then, in 1770, a Frenchman named Pierre Poivre successfully smuggled nutmeg plants to safety in Mauritius,…”)
13. Tsunami (Đoạn 6, “Next, in 1778, a volcanic eruption in the Banda region caused a tsunami that wiped out …”)
We hope that through the explanation above, it will help you practice your Reading skills better. If you have any questions about the article, please leave a comment below to get answers!IELTS practice
