World Heritage Site

Ten days or so ago we learned that Indonesia is preparing a serial (transnational?) proposal for a Spice Route WHS. They have been at it for years, similar news items can be traced back online to 2016, a major conference was held in 2022 and hopes are up for spice tourism in Aceh Province. It leads to the question of to what extent ‘Spice’ is represented already on the WH List.

Aspects to consider

Finding spice-related WHS, or creating a brand new one, isn’t so easy, as ‘Spice’ is a multi-interpretable subject:

Framing: In the world of UNESCO, the Spice Route is part of the Silk Roads programme and is loosely mentioned in the Silk Roads Thematic Study. Usually, the distinction between the two is made between land-based routes and maritime routes. The image above shows the Spice Routes in blue and the land-based Silk Roads in red.

Era: There are at least three stages in history where the international Spice trade was important: Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Age of Discovery. It seems logical to focus on one period to create a cohesive proposal.

Flavours: ‘Spice’ is just a general term that groups specific products like cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, pepper, nutmeg, star anise, clove, and turmeric. It also includes chili pepper and vanilla, which originated in the Americas.

Types of sites: Spice goes through different phases, from agricultural production to (sea) transport, ending up at consumer markets. So what will the proposal be? A 'cultural route'? A cultural landscape? 

Current WHS with Spice OUV

We do have an existing connection for ‘Spice Route’, It is one of our earlier ones and not very precise in its description or rationale of the connected sites. Having a second look at WHS where “spice” is mentioned in the OUV statement, we only find:

• Petra (“a major caravan centre for the incense of Arabia, the silks of China and the spices of India”)
• Qalhat (a market town for “its own produce, dates, Arabian horses as well as spices and pearls”)
• Jeddah (“The goods the pilgrimage brought with them from Asia and Africa and sold in the city, ..., the spices, the food, and the intangible heritage of the city were all related to the pilgrimage”)
• Shibam (“Located at an important caravan halt on the spice and incense route across the Southern Arabian plateau”)

Digging a little deeper, into the AB evaluations and nomination files, we encounter:

• Incense Route of the Negev (“reflect the prosperity of the Nabatean Spice trade over five hundred years from the third century BC”)
• Tabriz Bazaar - "Tabriz is the most famous trade city of Asia, because caravans bring all types of goods. They bring silk, diamond, pictured cotton, cinnamon and spices from Tatarstan, Uzbekistan, Tibet, China and eastern India." (Nomination file p. 261)

So we find only a few references and mostly superficial ones. The Nabatean Spice trade from Antiquity may even be better represented than the later global spice trade stages. Interesting is also the link with South America (clearly outside of any historical ‘route’), for Rio de Janeiro is mentioned: "an acclimatising garden, destined to introduce the culture of spices from the East Indies to Brazil in June 1808, was the starting point for the Royal Garden" (Nomination file p. 374) (thanks to Shwabb1 for finding this and other rare occurrences).

What is more remarkable though is the many WHS where “spice” isn’t mentioned at all, but where it played an important role. Anywhere in South (East) Asia with Portuguese or Dutch colonial remains is likely to have played a part in the Spice trade during the Age of Discovery, eg. Galle (no reference in AB ev, but Wiki has it as the main entrepot for cinnamon around 1400). Zanzibar was a major site for clove production and its Stone Town was an important market. Macao, Hoi An, and Melaka are considered "part of the spice trade route and settlements of Western Traders" (AB ev of Melaka only). 

Identifying possible future Spice WHS

The Tentative Lists include more sites where spices played a role. Turkish Niksar and Ukrainian Bilhorod (Akkerman) are related to the Black Sea route of Spice trade. Silhouette Island (Seychelles) was a crop producer, as was Zee Ain (Saudi Arabia). Khor Dubai had a similar market function as others already mentioned, as did Dhaka (a market for the turmeric trade). The Historic and Marine Landscape of the Banda Islands (Indonesia) is the clearest of them all: "the original and sole location of the production of the spices nutmeg and mace during the most prosperous years of Dutch, English and Portuguese colonization" (see photo 3, © Collectie Tropenmuseum).

But there are also sites much further away: San Juan de Ulua (Mexico) and Port Royal (Jamaica) show evidence that they were connected to the global spice trade already in the 17th century. And what to think of Mayo Chinchipe - Marañón archaeological landscape, the cocoa site in Ecuador and the Pre-Hispanic Hydraulic System of the San Jorge River (a medieval site in Colombia that produced peppers)?

What will Indonesia propose?

The official website shows a ‘trail’ and a map with over 20 locations on different islands: Atjeh, Sumatra, Java, Bali, Celebes, Moluccas, Banda, and even West Papua. Sites that stand out are the Trading port of Makassar, the Banda Islands, and the Maluku Islands such as Makian Island, the Biggest Clove Producer in the Spice Islands, and Ternate .

Even for a national site, it seems complex. Extending it into a transnational site requires choices (which period, which OUV and appropriate types of sites) and lots of international cooperation – of which I do not see a coordinated effort. The closest ties are with Qatar and Malaysia. 

The question for a nomination of any kind is whether there are enough tangible remains. I would like to see them stay away from the colonial forts and focus on the cultural landscapes of spice production.

Have you visited a spice-related site on your travels?