Nutmeg – a valuable spice: reading answers and analysis
Nutmeg and mace both come from one fruit that once grew only on Indonesia's Banda Islands. Arab traders kept the source secret, then the Portuguese and Dutch took over the trade. Believing nutmeg cured the plague, Europe paid a fortune, so the Dutch coated exports in lime and swapped Manhattan for the last British island. Smuggling, a tsunami and a British raid ended the monopoly.
Questions 1-13 · 13 marks · 3 question blocks
Where the answers sit
The notes (1-4) are all in the first paragraph. The three TRUE / FALSE / NOT GIVEN statements (5-7) jump through the second, fourth and fifth. The table (8-13) walks the whole history again by period.
Questions 1-4
The first paragraph describes the tree from outside in: the leaf shape, the husk that splits open, the seed, and the red aril. Remember which spice comes from which part. Nutmeg comes from the dried seed, and mace from the aril.
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | oval | — |
| 2 | husk | — |
| 3 | seed | — |
| 4 | mace | — |
Questions 5-7
The Arabs never revealed where nutmeg grew, so Europeans didn't know (FALSE). The VOC became the richest company in the world, which isn't the same as the first (NOT GIVEN). After Breda the Dutch held every nutmeg island (TRUE).
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | FALSE | — |
| 6 | NOT GIVEN | — |
| 7 | TRUE | — |
Questions 8-13
The table's periods are signposts. Use the Middle Ages for who imported the spice, the 17th century for the disease, the lime and the island of Run, and the late 18th century for where the plants were smuggled and what wiped out half the groves. Two answers need capitals.
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 8 | Arabs | — |
| 9 | plague | — |
| 10 | lime | — |
| 11 | Run | — |
| 12 | Mauritius | — |
| 13 | tsunami | — |
The questions most people get wrong
NOT GIVEN. The VOC was 'the richest commercial operation in the world' by 1617, but nothing says it was the first major trading company.
The husk surrounds the fruit and splits along a ridge. The aril surrounds the seed inside, so it doesn't fit 'breaks open when the fruit is ripe'.
Exported nutmeg was covered with lime so no fertile seed could be grown elsewhere. 'Put ___ on nutmeg' needs that noun.
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