Content uploaded by Rohitha Dasanayaka
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Rohitha Dasanayaka on Mar 08, 2019
Content may be subject to copyright.
Cinnamon: A Spice of an Indigenous Origin- Historical Study
Abstract
Cinnamon has been used by humans for thousands of years- as early as
3,000 B.C. Despite of its exotic, distant origin, cinnamon was known
and widely used in the ancient world. The Arabs were the first to
introduce it to the west and dominated the trade for centuries via
their network of trading routes that went as far as China. Their
account of where and how cinnamon was obtained proves that
exaggerated marketing techniques were not invented in the past. In
spite of its widespread use, the origins of cinnamon was the Arab
merchants’ best-kept secret until the early 10th century. To maintain
their monopoly on cinnamon trade and justify its exorbitant price,
Arab traders' interlaced colorful stories for their buyers about where
and how they obtained the luxurious spice. Therefore, they furnished
details on the origin of cinnamon which were not true. Many
scholars believe that cinnamon was brought from Sri Lanka during
that period and it needs to be investigated.
Cinnamon1, kurundu, davoul kurundoo (Sinhala), karruwa, lavanga pattai
(Tamil)2, sanalinga (Telugu)3, lavanga patte (Malayalam)4 dala-chini (Kannada)5, darasita,
gudatvak (Sanskrit)6, dar-chini (Persian)7,darsini, qirfa-t, sailaniyah (Arabic)8, qaumi,9
sin-a-mun10 (Urdu) yuh or juh-kwei (Chinese)11, kanil (Dutch), cinnamomum (Latin)12,
canella (French)13, is an aromatic bark, reddish or yellowish brown bark of topical trees
of the genus cinnamonum14 or cinnamomum zeylanicum.15 Cinnomon has long been
valued as a spice which was used by the ancient Egyptians in embalming mummies
1. Cinnamon contains sugar, mannite, starch, mucilage and tannic acid. Cinnamon is stated to posses
antispasmodic, carminative, orexigenic, antidarrheal, antimicrobial, refrigerant, and anthelmintic
properties. It has been use for anorexia, intestinal colic, infantile diarrhea, common cold, influenza, and
specifically for flatulent colic and for dyspepsia with nausea. Cinnamon bark is also stated to be
astringent, and cinnamon oil is reported to possess carminative and antisepeptic properties. See
Manuchair Ebadi, Pharmacodynamic Basis of Herbal Medicine, New York, CRC Press, 2001, p. 31;
Jemes A. Duke and Others, Hand Book of Medicinal Herbs, New York, CRC Press, 2002, pp. 159-160;
Http://homecooking.about.com/od/foodhistory/a/cinnamonhistory.htm and see foodreference.com
2. Tamil-English Dictionary, (ed.), C. Chidambaranatha Chettiar, Madras, University of Madras, 1992, p.
197
3. Dictionary, English and Teloogoo, (ed.), J.C. Morriss, Vol. I, Madras, Printed at the Asian Herald
Press, 1835, p. 182; Dictionary English-Telugu, (ed.), Charles Philip Brown, Madras, Asian
Educational Services, 1992, p. 168 reprint
4. English Malayalam Dictionary, (ed.), Tobias Zacharias, New Delhi, Asian Educational Services,
1984, p. 87
5. English Kannda Dictionary, G. Venkatasubbaiah, Bangalore, Prism Book Pvt. Ltd., 2001, p. 70; S.P.
Ambasta and Others, The Useful Plants of India, New Delhi, CSIR, 1992, p. 126
6. A Dictionary English and Sanskrit, (ed.), Monier Williams, Lacknow, Akhila Bharatiya Sanskrit
Parishad, 1957, p. 95; Dictionary English and Sanskrit, (ed.), Monier Williams, Delhi, Motilal
Benarasidass, 1976, p. 95
7. An English Persian Dictionary, (ed.), Arthur N. Wollaston, New Delhi, Asian Educational Services,
1991, p. 54
8. A learner’s English Arabic Dictionary, (ed.), F. steingass, New Delhi, Asian Publishers, 1978, 60;
Dictionary of the Economic Products of India, (ed.), George Watt, Vol. II, Delhi, Periodical Expert,
1972, p. 326
9. English Urdu Dictionary, (ed.), Jamail Jalibi, New Delhi, Educational Publishing House, 2002, p. 357
10 . Advanced 21st Century Dictionary: English into English and Urdu, (ed.), Bashir Ahmad Qureshi,
New Delhi, Educational Publishing House, 2000, 114
11 . Encyclopaedia Asiatica: Comprising Indian Subcontinent, Eastern and Southern Asia, (ed.),
Edward Balfour, Vol. II, New Delhi, Cosmo Publication, 1976, p. 732
12 . Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged, Vol. I,
London, Encycopaedia Britannica Inc., 1961, p. 407
(mummification), witchery and the manufacture of perfumes16 and malabathrum oil.
Chinese also use cinnabar in preserving the body of the dead.17
According to Warmington “much malabathrum oil18 was produced in Egypt from
raw stuff imported from India, malabathrum19 (Cinnamomum tamala Sanskrit-
tamalapatra) being the leaves of cinnamon.20 Even the author of the Periplus did not
know that malabathrum was only the leaf of cinnamon. He says that malabathrum21 was
exported from the coast of Bacare.22 Pliny says that Syria also exported malabathrum and
stating that cinnamon ‘grows in the country of the Ethiopians’,23 which, however, is not
so.
13 . Dictionary of the French and English Languages, (ed.), J.O. Kettridge, London, Routledge &
Kegan Paul Ltd., 1936, p. 304; The Oxford-Hachette French Dictionary, (ed.), Marie Helene
Correard, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1994, p. 1089
14 . The Encyclopedia Americana: International Edition, Vol. VI, New York, Americana Corporation,
1829, p. 730; Encyclopaedic Dictionary of the World, (eds.), A.S. Rapport, R.F. Patterson and John
Dougall, New Delhi, Akashdeep Pub., 1989, p. 113
15 . The medicinal qualities of cinnamomum zeylanicum as a stomachic and carminative are recognized
in the West and East alike. See R. Thomas, Natural Ways to Health, Alternative Medicine: An
Illustrated Encyclopedia of Natural Healing, Alexandria, Time-Life Books, 1997, p. 220
16 . Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. 5, London, Encyclopaedia Britannica Ltd., 1960, p.713
17. Cheng Te-K’un, Archaeology in China, Vol. II, Cambridge, W. Heffer & Sons Ltd., 1960, p. 66
18 . In the Roman Empire the cinnamon-leaves as raw product generally fetched 60 denarii a pound, but
as much as 300 or 400 denarii could be obtained for one pound of the manufactured oil. E.H.
Warmington, Commerce between the Roman Empire and India, Cambridge, Cambridge University
Press, 1928, p. 189
19 . This plant has never been satisfactory identified. S.K. Maity suggests the betel leaf. Bus it is not.
Economic Life in Northern India: In the Gupta Period (cir. A.D. 300-550), New Delhi, Motilal
Benarsidass, 1970, p. 177
20 . E.H. Warmington, Commerce between the Roman Empire and India, Cambridge, Cambridge
University Press, 1928, p. 186
21 . Malabathrum was frequently used to flavour wines and foods such as oyster-sauce and (like the bark)
was valued in medicines and as a protection for clothes against moth-caterpillars.
22 . The Periplus of the Erythræan Sea: Travel and Trade in the Indian Ocean by a Merchants of
the First Century, Translated from the Greek and Annotated by Wilfred H. Schoff, New York,
Longmans, Green, and Co., 1912, p. 56
23 . Prakash Charan Prasad, Foreign Trade and Commerce in Ancient India, New Delhi, Abhinav
Publications, 1977, p. 204
The quantity of cinnamon and pepper which passes through Alexandria must have
been enormous, as it consisted of supplies for almost the whole of the Roman Empire,
including perhaps large consignments of cinnamon for manufacture into unguents and
perfumes in Syrian towns.24 Egypt also produced it in still greater quantity. In Breasted’s25
translations of Egyptian texts, notably in his version of the Harris papyrus, cassia26 wood,
and cinnamon wood are frequently mentioned. While it is possible that these translations
may, in fact, be correct, they cannot be regarded as altogether certain, and are therefore of
doubtful value as evidence for the use of these products by the Egyptians.
Egyptian perfumes are described by both Theophrastus and Pliny and are
mentioned by Athenaeus, who calls them the best, and expensive. Theophrastus states
that one was made from several ingredients, including cinnamon and myrrh (the other
ingredients not being named) and that a certain perfumer “had had Egyptian perfume in
his shop for eight years.27 The Greeks also used it as an ingredient in ointments28 and
perfumes29 as well as a medicine.30 Trade between the Seleucid domains and India was by
24. E.H. Warmington, op.cit., p. 194
25 . Quoted from A. Lucas and J.R. Harris, Ancient Egyptian Materials and Industries, London,
Edward Arnold Publisher, 1962, p. 308
26 . Cassia and cinnamon are very similar to one another, both being the dried bark of certain varieties of
laurel that grow in India, Sri Lanka and China (cassia being from Cinnamomum cassia and cinnamon
from Cinnamomum zeylanicum), cassia, however, being more pungent, more astringent, less delicate in
flavour and thicker than cinnamon. Anciently both cassia and cinnamon consisted not only of the bark,
but included also flower-tops, twigs and wood; the leaves were called malabathrum.
27 . A. Lucas and J.R. Harris, Ancient Egyptian Materials and Industries, London, Edward Arnold
Publisher, 1962, pp. 86-87
28 . Ariston’s salve for gout (Nard, cinnamon, cassia, chameleon and rush: 32 gr. each; goat grease
(lanolin) in liquid Irinum oil: 80 gr. Iris soaked in vinegar for 20 days: 4gr. (Celsus, V.18, 33) Pills for
pain in the vulva (silis, acoris, seeds of wild rue, castoreium, cinnamon, pepper, opium, panax root,
mandragora dried fruits, round rush flowers. The ingredients were pounded in a mortar each one by
itself, then they were mixed together adding a little sweet wine, just the necessary to obtain a
consistent malm. Per os (Celsus, V.25.2) see E. Salza Prina Ricotti, “Indian Plants in Graeco-Roman
Medicinal Art”, in R.M. Cimino, “Indian Products Exported to the West”, in Rosa Maria Cimino, (ed.),
Ancient Rome and India: Commercial and Cultural Contacts between the Roman World and
India, New Delhi, Munshiram Manoharlal, 1994, pp. 88-100
29 . Kinnamominon was based on cardamom and cinnamon. It was made with behen oil, xylobalsam,
sweet flag, schoenus, cinnamon, carpobalsam, myrrh and honey. (Dioscurides, I, 74) see E. Salza Prina
Ricotti, “Indian products in Roman Cosmetics”, in Rosa Maria Cimino, op.cit., pp. 110-118
both land and sea, and included items such as teak, spices, jewels, incense, and certainly
costus and cinnamon.31
Cinnamon also was reported to cure various ailments during the Middle Ages,
including coughs and indigestion.32 Beyond its importance as a status symbol and
curative, cinnamon was used by those who could afford it for the enjoyable flavor it
added to food and drink. Cinnamon is mentioned as one of the ingredients of the sacred
anointing oil of the Hebrew priests. The Egyptian inscriptions of Queen Hatshepsut’s
expedition, in the 15th century B.C., mention cinnamon wood as one of the “marvels of
the country of Punt” which were brought back to Egypt.33 Cinnamon is mentioned in
several books of the Bible, for instance as an ingredient in Moses' anointing oils and as a
token of friendship between lovers or friends34 and in Exodus (30:23) where Moses is
commanded to use both sweet cinnamon and cassia, and in proverbs 7:17-18, where the
Lover’s bed is perfumed with myrrh, aloe and cinnamon. It is also alluded Herodotus and
other classical writers.
According to an inscription the ‘royal linen’, besides precious stones and
cinnamon which were among yearly tributes of Punt to Pharaoh Rameses III (12th century
B.C)35, might have been obtained from India where along they were available in those
30 . Himanshu Prabha Ray, The Winds of Change: Buddhism and the Maritime Links of Early South
Asia, New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 1994, p. 56
31 . Nayanjot Lahiri, The Archaeology of Indian Trade Routes up to c. 200 B.C.: Resource Use,
Resource Access and Lines of Communication, New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 1992;
Himanshu Prabha Ray, The Archaeology of Seafaring in Ancient South Asia, Cambridge,
Cambridge University Press, 2003, p. 8
32 . Sindney W. Mintiz, Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History , New York,
Viking, 1985, p. 103
33 . “Very heavily with marvels of the country of Punt; all goodly fragrant woods of God’s Land, heaps of
myrrh-resin, of fresh myrrh-trees, ivory, with ebony and pure ivory with green gold of Emu, with
cinnamon-wood, with incense…..See James Hendry Breasted, A History of Egypt from the Earliest
times to the Persian Conquest, London, Hodder and Stoughton, 1905, p. 276; Shereen Ratnagar,
Trading Encounters: from the Euphrates to the Indus in the Bronze Age, (A radically revised
edition), New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 2004, p. 210
34 . Charles Corn, The Scents of Eden: A Narrative of the Spice Trade, New York, Kodansha
International, 1998, p. 202.
35 . K.P. Jayaswal, “Proclamation of Asoka as a Buddhist and His Jambudipa”, Indian Antiquary, Vol.
LXII-62, London, 1933, p. 170 and see Shashi Asthana, History and Archaeology of India’s
days. Hornell believes that cinnamon was brought from Sri Lanka during that period.36 In
ancient Rome, mourners burnt cinnamon in funeral pyres in order to cover the scent of
burning flesh.37 Emperor Nero consumed a year's worth of the spice in the pyre for his
wife Poppaea in 65 AD.38
In his Law Digest Justinian gives a long list of imported merchandise in
connection with his regulation on customs duties. Among the items there were pearls,
cinnamon, long pepper, white pepper, ginger, malabathrum, cardamom, cinnamon-wood
and ivory.39 Chief among these imports were possibly the cinnamon, pepper and silk.
Spices as condiments and for burning as incense had become virtual necessities among
the Byzantine upper classes, and had to be procured at all cost. Alike in the ceremonial of
the court and in the ritual of the church, incense was badly needed, and the requisite spice
could be obtained only through Indian and Arabian traders40.
There seems to be a difference of opinion among scholars regarding the original
habitat of cinnamon and cassia.41 Both cinnamon and cassia are the dried bark of Asia
evergreen that belong to the laurel family. Sri Lanka is the major source of cinnamon
(true cinnamon-Cinnamonum Zeylanicum42) and Portuguese who settled there did so to
Contacts with Other Countries: From Earliest Times to 300 B.C., Delhi, B.R. Publication, 1947, p.
165
36 . Jemes Hornel, “Naval Activities in the Days Solomon and Rameses”, in Antiquity, Vol. XXI, No. 81,
March 1947, pp. 66-73
37 . Richard M. Klein, The Green World: An Introduction to Plants and People, New York, Harper
and Row, 1979, p. 306.
38 . Pliny (XII-XLI, 18) narrated that during the funeral of Poppea, Nero’s wife, who was assassinated by
her own husband, as many perfumes were consumed as Rome imported in a year. R.M. Cimino,
“Indian Products Exported to the West”, in Rosa Maria Cimino, (ed.), Ancient Rome and India:
Commercial and Cultural contacts between the Roman World and India, New Delhi, Munshiram
Manoharlal, 1994, pp. 80-87
39 . S.K. Maity, Economic Life In Northern India: In the Gupta Period (cir. A.D. 300-550) , Delhi,
Motilal Benarsidass, 1970, p. 177
40. De Lacy O’Leary, Arabs before Muhamad, New York, Pub. not given, 1927, p. 113
41 . P. Crone, Meccan Trade and the Rise of Islam, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1987, pp. 253-63;
L. Casson, Ancient Trade and Society, Detroit, 1984, pp. 225-247
42 . See Encyclopaedic Dictionary of the World, (eds.), A.S. Rapport, R.F. Patterson and John Dougall,
New Delhi, Akashdeep Pub., 1989, p. 113
exploit the rich resource of cinnamon43. But there is remotest allusion to cinnamon as an
indigenous production, or even as an article of commerce in Sri Lanka.
Vincent, in scrutinizing the writings of the classical authors, anterior to Cosmas
who treated of Taprobane, was surprised to discover that no mention of cinnamon as a
production of Sri Lanka was to be met with Iambulus, Pliny, Dioscorides, or Ptolemy, and
that even the author of the mercantile Periplus was silent regarding it.44 This unexpected
result has served to cast a suspicion on the title of Sri Lanka to be designated par
excellence the “Cinnamon Isle”, and even with the knowledge that the cinnamon laurel is
indigenous there, it admits of but little doubt that the spice which in the earlier ages was
imported into Europe through Arabia, was obtained, first from Africa, and afterwards
from India; and that it was not till after the twelfth or thirteenth century that its existence
in Sri Lanka became known to the merchants resorting to the island.45
Theophrastus (370-285 B.C.), a contemporary writer of Ptolemy I, and extant
papyri refer to items of import, some of them being products of India. Theophrastus gives
extensive descriptions of plant like rice, cotton, Indian barley, pepper, frankincense,
myrrh, balsam, cassia and cinnamon.46 Aristobulos states that spikenard, cinnamon and
other aromatics were produced in India.47 The letter of Seleucus dated 288-7 B.C.
contains a list of offerings to the Apollo temple in Didyma and includes frankincense
43 . M.N.H. Pearson, (ed.), Spices in the Indian Ocean World, Brookfield, Variorum, 1996, p. xxv
44 . Wiliam Vincent, The Commerce and Navigation of the Ancients in the Indian Ocean, Vol. II,
London, Printed for T. Cadell and W. Davies in the Strand, 1807, p. 512
45 . Sir James Emerson Tennent, Ceylon: An Account of Island Physical, Historical, and
Topographical with Notices of Its Natural History, Antiquities and Productions, London,
Longman, Green Longman and Roberts, 1859, p. 555
46 . Himanshu Prabha Ray, The Winds of Change: Buddhism and the Maritime Links of Early South
Asia, New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 1994, p. 57
47 . J.W. McCrindle, J.W., Ancient India as Described in Classical Literature, Archibald Constable,
Westminster, 1901, p. 28
from South Arabia and cinnamon and Costus speciosus from India.48 In Katesias’s
Indica49 (400 B.C.) a Dravidian word karpian can be noticed for ‘cinnamon’. According
to Caldwell, it can be identified with the Tamil Malayalam word Karppu or Karuppa
similar to Sanskrit Karpara.50 Phile, who composed his Michael XI (Palaeologus), about
the year 1310 A.D., repeats the ancient fable of Herodotus that the Arabians informed
Herodotus that they obtained cinnamon in marshes guarded by winged serpents, and in
the nests of birds. He says the birds made their nests of cinnamon sticks fastened together
with mud, and that the Arabians did not know where the sticks came from.51 Eratosthenes,
librarian of Alexandria (B.C.194), Hipparchus, and Ptolomy place the cinnamon region in
the north eastern corner of Africa or Cape Guardafui.52
But the problem is that right from Herodotus onwards classical sources mention
cinnamon and cassia together with frankincense and myrrh as products of south Arabia.
Strabo, on the other hand mentions Ethiopia and India as the likely sources. South Arabia
and Ethiopia can be dismissed straight away as the plants require far more moisture than
is available there. They could not have come from India as there is no mention of the two
in the detailed list of commodities given in the Periplus. 53
Strabo draws a parallel to indicate the “Regio Cinnamoniferæ”, or countries
where the spice was supposed to grow, passing on one side a little to the south of
48 . J.F. Salles, “The Arab – Persian Gulf under the Seleucids”, in A. Kuhrt and S. Sherwin-White, (eds.),
Hellenism in the East, Duckworth, 1987, p. 90
49 . J.W. MacCrindle, Ancient India as Described by Ktesias the Kindiam, Calcutta, 1882, p. 29
Quoted from Shashi Asthana, History and Archaeology of India’s Contacts with Other Countries:
From Earliest Times to 300 B.C., Delhi, B.R. Publication, 1947, p. 180
50 . R. Caldwell, Grammar of the Dravidians, Language, Madras University, Madras, 1956, p. 105
51 . Rifles, Ceylon: A General Description of the Island, Historical, Physical, Statistical, Vol. II,
Chapman & Hall, (London, 1876), p. 331
52 . Ibid and Shereen Ratnagar, Trading Encounters: from the Euphrates to the Indus in the Bronze
Age, (A radically revised edition) New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 2004, p. 210
53 . Himanshu P. Ray, 1994, The Winds of Change: Buddhism and the Maritime Links of Early
South Asia, New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 1994, p. 56
Taprobana, (Sri Lanka) and at the other across Lybia.54 Laufer says that the greatest part
of cinnamon supply came from Ceylon and India.55 King Buvanekabahu, the first
(A.D.1273-1284) in Sri Lanka, had sent a mission of ambassadors to Mamluk state
council in Egypt during A.D. 1283. This event needs to be considered in this regard.
A detailed account of this mission has been recorded by al Maqrizi in his book
History of Sultans of Mamluk.56 In it appears the following account of an embassy from
Sri Lanka. “On the 14th of Muharram 682 (14th April 1283) envoys arrived in Egypt from
the ruler of Ceylon, which is part of India. This prince was called Abu Nekbah Lebadahs”
In the Egyptian records the name appears as “Abou-Nekbah-Lebabah”57 H.W. Codrington
says58 that Abou-Nekbah is a fair version of “Bhuvaneka Bau”, or “Bhuvaneka Bahu”.
Later historians have identified the name with Buvaneka Bahu I (A.D. 1271-1283). This
mission took place on 14th April 1283 as recorded in the Hijira year 682 (14 of Muharram
682) during the contemporary reign of Al mansur sayfu din Qulaun, the king of Egypt in
the A.D. 1279-1290. King Buvanekabahu’s message to the Sultanate of Egypt contained
details of products of the country and about the King himself. The leader of the mission
54 . Wiliam Vincent, The Commerce and Navigation of the Ancients in the Indian Ocean, Vol. II,
London, Printed for T. Cadell and W. Davies in the Strand, 1807, p. 511
55. Laufer, Sino-Iranica, Chicago, Berthold, 1919, p. 374
56 . In M. Quatremere’s “Histoire des Sultans Mamlouks”, Translated from Maqrizi, under the reign of
al-Mansur Sayfu’d-din Qalaun, Maqrizi, (ed.), Quatremere, Vol. 11, part 1, pp. 59-60; A further
account of this embassy is to be found in M.S. de Gem 118 (2) translated ( from Arabic to French-
Arabian MSS. at St. Germain) in Quatremere’s “Memoires Sur l’Egypt”, Vol.II, p. 284- Quoted from
Henry H. Howorth, “A Singhalese Prince in Egypt”, Indian Antiquary, Vol. XIV, (Bombay, 1885),
February, p. 61
57 . “L’an 682 de I’hégira on vit arriver à la cour d’Egypte une ambassade du prince de Ceylon, roi de
I’nde. Le depute, qui se nommait Al-hadj Abou-Othman, étoit accompagné de plusieurs personnes.
Suivant ce qu’ils recontérent ils étoient embarqués par ordre de leur prince sur un vaisseau de Ceylon,
et, après avoir touché à cette ils étoient venus aborder au port d’Ormus…….La lettre étoit enfermée
dans une boite d’or, et enveloppée d’une étoffe qui ressembloit au touz (l’écorce d’arbre). La letter du
Roi étoit écrite en caractères indigenes sur l’écorce d’arbre……. Je possède une quantitè prodigieuse
de perles et de Pirreries de toute espèce. J’ai des vaisseaux, des elephants, des mousselines et autres
ètoffes, du bois de bakam, de la cannelle, et tous les objets de commerce qui vous sont apportès par les
marchands Banians.” Quatremere’s “Memoires Sur l’Egypt”, Vol. II, p. 284-Quoted from Rifles,
Ceylon: A General Description of the Island, Historical, Physical, Statistical , Two Vols, Chapman
& Hall, (London, 1876), Vol. II, p. 248
58 . H.W. Codrington, “A Sinhalese Embassy to Egypt”, in Journal of Royal Asiatic Society ( Ceylon
Branch), Vol. XXVIII, No. 72, 1919, pp. 82-85
sent to Egypt by the Sinhalese king was a Muslim man, named al- Haj Abu’ Uthman. Al
Maqrizi describes the, Sinhalese mission in the following words:
“Ceylon is Egypt and Egypt is Ceylon. I desire that an Egyptian
ambassador accompany mine on his return and that another be sent to reside in the town
of Aden. I possess a prodigious quantity of pearls and precious stones of every kind. I
have vessels, elephants, muslins, and other stuffs, wood of baqam (Brazil wood),
cinnamon, and all the objects of commerce, which are brought to you by Banian
merchants.”59 The record of cinnamon as a commercial crop in the above mission had
shown that cinnamon had grown an export crop in Sri Lanka to a certain extent. It is
believed that, first of all, records in history before that cinnamon was grown as an export
crop which was not recorded anywhere in local historical documents.
The earliest Sinhalese literature in the Sikhavalanda of the 10th century contains
the first reference to cinnamon in local literature60 and Buzurg Ibn Shahryar’s “Ajaib al-
Hind” (Wonders of India) book, recorded about the cinnamon of Sri Lanka in even as
early as 10th century. Though he had not mentioned as an export crop he says that
Sinhalese cinnamon is so famous.61 But Wolters refers to a Chinese text Tai Ping Yu Lan
written by Yang Tzu in the third century A.D. which states “Shihtze country (Sri Lanka)
produces cinnabar, mercury, hsun-lun, tumeric, slorax, costus and such perfumes.”62 Nafis
59 . Rifles, Ceylon: A General Description of the Island, Historical, Physical, Statistical, Vol. II,
London, Chapman & Hall, 1876, pp. 246-249; Henry H. Howorth, “A Singhalese Prince in Egypt”,
Indian Antiquary, Vol. XIV, Bombay, 1885 February, p. 61; H.W. Codrington, “A Sinhalese Embassy
to Egypt”, in Journal of Royal Asiatic Society (Ceylon Branch), Vol. XXVIII, No. 72, 1919, pp. 83;
Mudaliyar C. Rasanayagam, Ancient Jaffna: Being A Research into the History of Jaffna from
Early Times to the Portuguese Period, New Delhi, Asian Educational Services, 1984, pp. 352-354
reprint; Wilfred Mendis Gunasekara, “Ceylon Mission that visit Egypt in the 13th Century”, in Ceylon
Today, Vol. 8, Colombo, 1956 August, p. 27
60 . Buzurg Ibn Shahriyar, Kitab ‘Ajayab-ul-Hind or The Book of the Marvels of India, English
Translation by L. Marcel Devic, London, The Golden Dragon Library, 1928, p. 155; B.J Perera, “The
Foreign Trade and Commerce of ancient Ceylon: IV- The Exports and Imports of Ancient Ceylon ”, in
The Ceylon Historical Journal, No. 1&2, 1952 July and October, 1952, pp. 15-22
61 . S.M. Yusuf, Studies in Islamic History and Culture, Lahore, Al-Ishak, 1970, p. 185
62 . O.W. Wolters, Early Indonesian Commerce: The Study of the Origins of Srivijaya, Ithaca, New
York, Cornel University Press, 1967, pp. 73-74
Ahamad says that no one with the exception of Buzurg Ibn Shahryar spoke of its
production as being indigenous to the island prior to the 14th century. Earlier it was
supposed that Ibn Battuta was the first to make mention of its production in the island,
and on the basis of this view it was believed that cinnamon was earlier indigenous to
North Africa and was taken from there to Sri Lanka by the Arabs, where it thrived well
and was found growing in the island after the 12th century.63
The reference in the Periplus64 to the export of cinnamon from the Horn is
puzzling (Somali land). Strabo and other Roman writers refer as the region cinnamomifea
in the same belief. It appears that Roman merchants had little direct contact with Indian
merchants, whose ships were kept out of the Red Sea, and the Arab and African
merchants, middlemen found it profitable to conceal the source of cinnamon so that their
near-monopoly of its trade could not be threatened. In fact, this trade secret was kept so
well that when the Romans saw cinnamon leaves in India they failed to recognize them.65
Similarly, the Phoenicians kept secret their sources of the tin and lead which they traded
over appreciable distances as middlemen.66 Neville Chittick says that cinnamon would
seem to be a substance only produced in South East Asia, and there appears here to be
evidence of trade from that to the Horn.67 But Romila Thapar clearly points out and
explains that it as an Indian product.68 However, Periplus’s reference may be an ill-
63 . Nafis Ahmad, “The Arabs Knowledge of Ceylon”, Islamic Culture, Vol. 19, Hyderabad, Islamic
Cultural Board, 1945, p. 17
64 . The Periplus of the Erythræan Sea: Travel and Trade in the Indian Ocean by a Merchants of
the First Century, Translated from the Greek and Annotated by Wilfred H. Schoff, New York,
Longmans, Green, and Co., 1912, pp. 25-27, 82-83
65 . E.H. Warmington, The Commerce between the Roman Empire and India, Cambridge, Cambridge
University Press, 1928, pp. 186-9
66 . G.W. ven Beek, “Frankincense and Myrrh in Ancient South Arabia”, Journal of the American
Oriental Society, Vol. 72, 1958, pp. 141-51
67 . Neville Chittick, “East Africa and the Orient: ports and trade before the arrival of the Portuguese” ,
Historical Relations across the Indian Ocean: The general history of Africa studies and
documents 3, Belgium, UESCO, 1980, p. 17
68 . As early as the fourth century B.C. the Egyptian brought back cinnamon believing it to be a product
of Southern Arabia, whereas it came from India. Romila Thapar, “Epigraphic evidence and some Indo-
Hellenistic contacts during the Mauryan Period.”, in S.K. Maity and Upendra Thakur, (eds.),
Professor D.C. Sircar Commemoration Volume, New Delhi, Abhinav Publication, 1987, pp. 15-21
informed reflection of the fact that cinnamon from Asia was probably transshipped in
southern Arabia.
Abu Dulaf (940 A.D.) says, that the cinnamon tree belongs to everyone communally
and has no particular owner69 regarding Asia. Masalik-ul-Absarfi Mamalik-ul-Amsar (10th
century) mentions that cinnamon as a Indian product.70 W. Ousley, quoting a manuscript
Persian dictionary called “Berhan Katta’ which has, Sailan (Sri Lanka) the well-known
region from which is brought the fine cinnamon, says, “it has been doubted from the
silence of Pliny, Ptolemy, Dioscorides, and other early writers, whether cinnamon, which
in the dictionary quoted seems particularly indicated as a staple commodity of Sri Lanka,
was known among its ancients products”71. In the 9th century, Sindbad also mention
several cinnamon countries with Sri Lanka, those belong to the Asia72 and Benjamin of
Tudela also gives same idea.73 Ibn Khodadhbeh’s account of Jewish merchants from
Persia says that “on their returns from China they carry musk, aloes, camphor, cinnamon
and other products of the eastern countries.74 Anyway Ibn Shahiryar records might be
possible to accept, especially, Jewish traders negotiated large purchases on the west coast
of Sri Lanka. In 1130, a letter from a Jewish trader in Goitein’s collection of letter of
Medieval Jewish Traders speaks of acquiring 6,000 Ibs. of Sri Lanka cinnamon.75
69 . Paul Wheatley, The Golden Khersonese: Studies in the Historical Geography of the Malay
Peninsula before A.D. 1500, Kuala Lumpur, University of Malaya Press, 1961, p. 217
70 . Muhammad Zaki, (ed.), Arabs accounts India, Delhi, 1981, pp. 5, 9, -Quoted from MJoginder K.
Chawla, India’s Overland Trade with Central Asia and Persia During the Thirteenth Century
and Fourteenth Centuries, New Delhi, Munshiram Manoharlal, 2006, pp. 57-59
71 . Quoted from Rifles, Ceylon: A General Description of the Island, Historical, Physical, Statistical,
Vol. II, London, Chapman & Hall, 1876, p. 332
72 . The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, (trans.), Powys Mathers and J.C. Mardrus,
London, Routledge, 1949, 7th impression, Vol. II, pp. 250, 261, 287-9, 303-4
73 . The Itinerary of Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela, (ed.), A. Asher, Vol. II, New York, “Hakesheth”
Publishing Co., 1840, p. 140
74 . Kitab Al-Masalik Wa’ l-Mamalik, Abu’l-Kasim Obaidallah Ibn Abdallah Ibn Khoradhbeh,
Bibliotheca Geographorum Arabicorum, Vol. VI, (ed.), M.J De Goeje, Lugduni-Batavorum, Leiden,
Apud E.J. Brill, 1889. p. 114
75 . S.D. Goitein, Letters of Medieval Jewish Traders, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1973, p.
185
Kazwini Zacharie-ben-Mohammed, an Arabian naturalist and geographer (1275 A.D.)
says that “from it are brought sandal-wood, spikenard, cinnamon, cloves, brazil-wood
(coesalpinia Sappan), and various aromatics” from Sri Lanka.76 Another early foreign
reference to cinnamon of Sri Lanka is found in one of the letters of a thirteenth century
missionary John of Montecorvino (c.1292 A.D) who mentions that “The cinnamon tree is
of a medium bulk, not very high, and in trunk, bark, and foliage is like the laurel; indeed,
altogether it resembleth the laurel greatly in appearance. Great store of it is carried forth
of the island which is hard-by Maabar.”77 Marco Polo describes cinnamon as growing in
Malabar, Ceylon and Tibet78 and Ibn Battuta stated in the fourteenth century that people
from Ma‘bar took away cinnamon from Sri Lanka by “gifting” cloth to the king.79 Later
the Persian navigator Sulaiman also mentions about Serandib cinnamon on his way from
Persian Gulf to Siam.80
In the 15th Century account of the journey of Hieronimo di Santo Stefano a Genovese
says that “after a navigation of twenty –six days we arrived at a large island call Ceylon
which grow the Cinnamon trees, which resemble the laurel even in the leaf……”81 From
these it is quite clear, that during the rule of king Buvanekabhahu’s time Sri Lankan
76 . Rifles, Ceylon: A General Description of the Island, Historical, Physical, Statistical, Vol. II,
London, Chapman & Hall, 1876. p. 246
77 . H. Yule, Cathay and Way Thither, London, Hakluyt Society, 1864, p. 213; Emerson Tennent,
Ceylon: An Account of Island Physical, Historical, and Topographical with Notices of Its Natural
History, Antiquities and Productions, Vol. I, London, Longman, Green Longman and Roberts, 1859,
pp. 578-579; Nilakanta Sastri, Foreign Notices of South India from Megasthenes to Mahuan,
Madras, University of Madras, 1942, p. 188
78 . The Travels of Marco Polo, Translated into English from the text of L.F. Benedetto by Aldo Ricci,
London, Gorge Routledge & Sons, Ltd., 1931, pp. 319-321
79 . The Rehla of Ibn Battuta, (trans. and commentary), Mahadi Hussain, Baroda, Oriental Institute,
1953, p. 217; “The whole of its (Battala-Puttelam) coasts are covered with cinnamon tress brought
down by torrents and heaped up like hills on the shore. They are taken without payment by the people
of Ma’bar and Mulaybar, but in return for this they give presents of woven stuffs and similar articles to
the sultan.” Ibn Battuta, Travels in Asia and Africa 1325-1354, (trans.), H.A.R. Gibb, London,
George Routledge Sons, Ltd., 1929, pp. 254-55
80 . The Ship of Sulaiman translated from the Persian by John O’ kane, Persian Heritage Series, London,
Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1972, pp. 168-173- The ship of Sulaiman relates the visit of an envoy of
Shah Sulaiman the Safavid (1666-94 A.D.) to Siam and to a Persian community, as a response to a
friendly letter by the enlightened Siamese king, Phra Narai to the Shah. That Journey began on 27 June
1685 at Bandar Abbas on the Persian Gulf. On the way describes some contemporary events in Sri
Lanka and India.
Cinnamon, was popular and a commodity of high demand in the international trade and
commerce between East and West.
According to the furnished details given by historical sources, cinnamon originated in
Sri Lanka. The consumption of cinnamon already had a long history in Sri Lanka and by
the time the Portuguese arrived at it became one of the main spices in the early years of
the sixteenth century.
81 . Account of the Journey of Hieronimo di Santo Stefano a Genovese in India in the Fifteenth
Century being a Collection of Narratives of Voyages: The Century Preceding the Portuguese
discovery of the Cape of Good Hope from Latin, Persian, Russian and Italian Sources, (ed.), R.H.
Major, London, Hakluyt Society, 1859. Ch. IV, p. 5