Spice chronicles shares a small tit-bit about the Bengali people of India.

Excerpt "Indians love travelling, but people belonging to its Bengali community love travelling more than the others."

Prolific Travellers from India

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Romans & Arabs feud about the spice routes to India (331 BC - AD 641)

The Romans had a huge trade deficit with India (3.2 mil USD) and they attributed that to the Arab middlemen inflation. They decided to then invade and take over the land routes (BC 24), but they lost the war purely due to logistics (bad naval force landing sites).

The Romans had extended their rule till Egypt, and then the discovery of monsoons (AD 30) provided direct sea route access to the Malabar Coast of India (West). The monsoon reversed their direction twice a year, thus leading to the onward trip between April & October, and the return trip during the other months.

The discovery of the direct sea trading routes brought an end to the Arab spice-trade dominance.



North European tribes get their first introduction to Indian spices (early AD)

The extension of the Roman Empire beyond the Alps brought the Goths, Vandals & Huns into direct contact with pepper and the spices of the east.

When Rome was invaded by the Gothic king Alaric, he was well aware of the monetary value of spices and demanded a ransom of 3000 lbs of pepper among other things (treasures).

First western spice tourist to India (AD 548) was Cosman Indicopleustes from Alexandria who visited India.