Bringing Cinnamon to Europe Reading Answers with Explanation

IELTS Reading Passage: Bringing Cinnamon to Europe

Bringing cinnamon to Europe

A. The inner bark of trees within the genus Cinnamomum, indigenous to the Indian subcontinent, is used to make cinnamon, a sweet, aromatic spice. It was well-known throughout the period of the Bible and is referenced in a number of its books as a component that was combined with oils for application to people's bodies, as well as a token indicating friendship among lovers and friends. For a nice aroma, mourners in ancient Rome who were attending funerals would burn cinnamon. However, the spice was most frequently used as a food and beverage additive. The spice was used in the Middle Ages by Europeans who could afford it to flavor meals, especially meat, and to show off to others their capacity to get an expensive condiment from the "strange" East. A host would provide visitors with a platter during a feast with a variety of spices piled on it as a symbol of the wealth at his or her disposal. Additionally, cinnamon was said to offer health advantages and be able to treat a number of conditions, including indigestion.

B. At the end of the Middle Ages, the European middle classes started to aspire to the lifestyle of the privileged, such as their use of spices. The need for cinnamon and other spices increased as a result. At that time, Arab traders carried cinnamon and kept the location of the spice's origin a closely-guarded secret from possible competitors. They rode camels through the desert to the Mediterranean from India, where it was cultivated. When they arrived in Alexandria, their trip was over. European merchants sailed there to get their supply of cinnamon, then returned to Venice with it. The spice then made its way from that important commercial port to marketplaces across Europe. Due to Venice's near monopoly on the trade and the limited availability of the spice due to the overland trade route, the Venetians established a price of cinnamon extravagantly high. These costs and the rising demand encouraged Europeans who wanted to participate in the spice trade to look for new ways to Asia.

C. Portuguese traders came to Ceylon in the 15th century in the quest for cinnamon riches. Before Europeans arrived, the state produced cinnamon. Salagama members would pull cinnamon bark from fresh trees during the rainy season when it was more flexible. The coiled bark created the spice's "stick" shape while peeling. Salagama gave the finished object as an homage to the monarch. The Portuguese enslaved many more native Ceylonese to increase cinnamon production. 1518: Portugal builds a fort in Ceylon. This allowed them to secure the island, monopolize cinnamon trading, and generate huge profits. In the 16th century, Ceylon's cinnamon exports to India yielded a 10-fold profit. Eight days were spent traveling.

D. The Dutch had the goal of dethroning the Portuguese as the rulers of cinnamon when they first arrived off the southern Asian coast at the start of the 17th century. The interior Ceylonese kingdom of Kandy was linked with the Dutch. They shielded the native ruler from the Portuguese in exchange for gifts of elephants and cinnamon. When the Dutch invaded and took control of the Portuguese industries in 1649, they ended the 150-year Portuguese monopoly. They had successfully driven the Portuguese from the island by 1658, seizing control of the valuable cinnamon trade in the process.

E. Just like the Portuguese preceding them, the Dutch also mistreated the locals in order to maintain their market dominance. The Dutch started changing the Ceylonese harvesting procedures in order to increase production and feed Europe's insatiable need for cinnamon. As a result of routine bark-stripping, the island's stock of cinnamon trees eventually became almost depleted. The Dutch eventually started growing their domestic cinnamon trees to augment the dwindling supply of natural trees.

F. The Dutch lost their monopoly over cinnamon when the English arrived in Ceylon in 1996. The output of cinnamon increased to 1,000 tonnes annually by the middle of the 19th century as a lower-grade composition of the spice became more palatable to European palates. By then, Brazil, Guyana, the West Indies, and other areas of the Indian Ocean were also growing cinnamon. A monopoly of cinnamon was no longer viable, and the economic potential of the spice trade as a whole was declining. Ultimately, coffee, tea, chocolate, and sugar commerce overtook spices.

Question for Reading Passage: Bringing cinnamon to Europe

Here are the questions for the above passage with explanation: 

Questions 1-4

The reading passage has six sections, A-F.

Choose the correct heading for sections A-D from the list of headings below.

Write the correct number, i-v, in boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet.

1. Section A

2. Section B

3. Section C

4. Section D 

List of Headings

I. A civilized profit-making business

II. Introduction of Portuguese traders to Mexicans

III. Establishment of cinnamon’s monetary value

IV. Values of cinnamon other than just a food ingredient

V. Occupation of Dutch over the Portuguese monopoly

Questions 5-8

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the Reading Passage?

In boxes 5-8 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. During the 19th century, the spice trade continued to be an economically significant activity.

6. With their arrival in Ceylon, the Dutch supplanted the Portuguese in the cinnamon trade.

7. All through the 16th century, the Portuguese monopolized Ceylon's cinnamon trade. 

8. Compared to the natural trees, the Dutch-planted trees produced more cinnamon.

Questions 9 - 14

Complete the notes below. Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 9-14 on your answer sheet.

The Early History of Cinnamon