| 50,000 BC | By this time, archaeologists believe man had noticed that certain leaves impart delicious flavour to meat. |
| 2300 BC | The Assyrians tell of their gods drinking sesame seed wine before they created the earth. |
| 1920 BC | Biblical history tells of Joseph of the coat of many colours being sold to a spice caravan by his brothers. |
| 1520 BC | The book of Exodus in the Bible tells of Children of Israel fleeing Egypt, taking with the "principal spices" |
| 1453 BC | Greeks begin Olympic Games at which victors were awarded laurel (bay leaf) wreaths. |
| 992 BC | Queen of Sheba visits Solomon with "camels that bear spices" as her principal gift. |
| 80 BC | Alexandria, Egypt becomes greatest spice trading port of Eastern Mediterranean, with one of its entrances known as "Pepper Gate". |
| 50 BC | Romans bring mustard seed to England. |
| 65 AD | Funeral rites for Nero's wife, Poppaca, at Rome consumes year's supply of cinnamon. |
| 300 | Probable date of oldest cookbook by Apicius; recipes richly spiced. |
| 410 | Alaric the Visigoth demands 3000 pounds of pepper as ransom from Rome and two years later extracts 3000 pounds annual pepper tribute from the city. |
| 595 | Mohammed weds wealthy spice-trading widow; his followers combine missionary work with spice-trading in East and build first spice monopoly. |
| 900 | Venice rising as commercial power - much of it based on spices- beginning to bring Europe out of the Dark Ages. |
| 1179 | Guild of Pepperers founded in London; France forms Corporation of Spicers. Pepperers to become Guild of Grossers in 14th Century. |
| 1298 | Marco Polo returns from China; tells where spices grow and awakens western world's interest in trading direct with the Orient. |
| 1418 | Portuguese Prince Henry establishes his navigation college to spur World-wide spice quest. |
| 1492 | Columbus sails to seek more direct passage to Orient's spice riches, opening Age of Exploration. |
| 1493 | Columbus discovers allspice in West Indies. |
| 1494 | Columbus' physician, Chanea, describes Mexican capsicums (red peppers). |
| 1498 | Vasco de Gama reaches Calicut, India, the spice centre; pepper prices fall in Europe. |
| 1505 | Portuguese discover Ceylon, cinnamon source. |
| 1511 | Albuquerque seizes Malacca on Malay Peninsula, one of the most important spice ellipuliums. |
| 1519-1522 | Magellan sails westward for Spain looking for new spice lands; surviving ship returns with enough spices to finance entire expedition. |
| 1529 | Charles V of Spain cedes all rights Spain had claimed in Spice Islands to Portugal for 350,000 ducats. |
| 1563 | Garcia da Orta writes "Colloquies on Drugs and Simples of India" the first scientific book on oriental spices published in the western world. |
| 1580 | Sir Francis Drake returns to London from round-the-world voyage that included visit to Spice Islands. |
| 1585 | West Indies ship arrives in Europe with first cargo of Jamaica ginger- first oriental spice to be grown successfully in New World. |
| 1599 | Van Neck establishes first Dutch trading posts in Banda, Amboina and Ternate, the "Spice Islands." |
| 1600 | British East India Company founded. |
| 1609 | Record 116,000 pounds of cloves reach England in one shipment. |
| 1640 | Dutch seize Malacca and control of most spice production in the East. |
| 1770 | Governor Poivre of Mauritius steals cloves and nutmeg seeds from Dutch and starts new growing areas on his island, thus affecting the first breech in Holland's East Indies monopoly. |
| 1786 | The English found Penang, later to become major eastern pepper port. |
| 1797 | Captain Jonathan Carnes of Salem, Massachusetts returns from Sumatra with first large pepper cargo and puts United States in world spice trade. |
| 1835 | English settlers in Texas invent chilli powder as convenient way of making Mexican-type dishes. |
| 1931 | Dehydrated onion and garlic products go to market. |
| 1937 | Prof. Szent-Gyorgyi wins Nobel Prize for research with paprika, in which he discovers Vitamin C. |
| 1969 | Spices reach the moon, as seasoning the Apollo Astronaut’s food. |
| 1976 | World trade in black pepper sets an all-time high of 220 million pounds. |
| 1977 | American Spice Trade Association completes first complete nutritional analysis of spices. |
| 1983 | British study finds powdered ginger twice as effective as Dramamine in preventing Motion Sickness. |
