Ginger during ancient times

Among the spices of the world, ginger assumes considerable importance, along with turmeric, as one of the most important and sought-after medicinal spices. In ancient times ginger was more valued for its medicinal properties and played an important role in primary health care in ancient India and China.

Many believe ginger was originally from India and was brought to Europe and East Africa by Arab traders from India.

Ginger was exported from the ancient Malabar Coast on the southwest coats of peninsular India, and the Arab traders might have used only the prevalent local Tamil name for trading the commodity.

It was widely used by the Greeks and Romans and was a common article of European commerce in the Middle Ages.

As early as the second century AD, in Rome ginger as one among the very few items on which duty was levied at Alexandria the port of entry.

In England it must have been well known even prior to the Norman Conquest, for it is frequently named in the Anglo-Saxon beech-books of the eleventh century as well as in the Welsh ‘Physician of Myddvai’.

Together with pepper, ginger was one of the most commonly traded spices during the 13th-14th centuries. From East Africa the Portuguese brought ginger to West Africa and other regions of the tropics in the 16th century.
Ginger during ancient times