The history of sri lankan spices

The History of Sri Lanka and the History of Spice are interconnected to a large extent that it leaves one to wonder whether Sri Lanka was discovered because of spice, or whether Spice was discovered because of Sri Lanka. Whatever the answer, historians generally agree that Sri Lanka is the born place of the ancient spice trade. and if we consider cinnamon, which originated in Sri Lanka, it is certainly the main cradle.

John Keay the famous writter mentions Sri Lankan spices in the book of“The Spice Route – a history”. The traders in arab must have had an even keener olfactory sense than Mr john, for they arrived in Galle on the Southern coast of Sri Lanka. The objective of their expedition was to introduce a trading post dedicated primarily to spices, gems, and ivory. Later many of these traders shifted to Jaffna and starts another flourishing port on the northern coast of sri lanka.

Today spices are mainly used  to flavour food.  however, spices plays a important role as food preserving agents. In the absence of fridges and freezers, people used spices to preserve meat . 
When the Dutch took over from Portuguese, they tried to develops the spice lands of Lanka. One such area was Kurunduwatta or Cinnamon Gardens in Colombo 7. and they  enhands the spice cultivation in sri lanka