Take a further 20% off almost everything | Free Shipping over $89 (Limited time only, T&Cs apply)
Track My Order
Help Centre
Likes
My Wish ListsLogin / Join
Booktopia
Australia's local bookstore
Get Free Shipping on orders over $89
Cinnamon : a history of taste and empire - Nira Wickramasinghe

Cinnamon

a history of taste and empire

By: Nira Wickramasinghe

eBook | 5 November 2026

At a Glance

eBook

RRP $36.99

$31.45

15%OFF

or 4 interest-free payments of $7.86 with

 or 

Available: 5th November 2026

Preorder. Download available after release.

The sweeping cultural history of a spice so coveted it launched empires across oceans, reshaped global trade, and bound generations of Sri Lankan peelers to colonial rule.

For millennia, cinnamon has been treasured for its healing powers and warm unmistakable aroma. But behind its familiar scent lies a tumultuous past steeped in conquest and rebellion. In Cinnamon, acclaimed historian Nira Wickramasinghe traces the remarkable story of this 'queen of spices', from ancient Egyptian embalming tables and medieval Mughal kitchens to disastrous expeditions to mythical cinnamon lands in the Americas and the fierce imperial rivalries of the Portuguese, Dutch, and British. She reveals how global demand for 'true' cinnamon transformed Sri Lanka, where an entire caste of peelers, neither enslaved nor free, were compelled to harvest the bark under systems of semi-servitude, at times rising up in rebellion.

Drawing from meticulously researched global history and mythology, Wickramasinghe brings to life the smugglers, merchants, cooks, botanists, conquerors, and peelers who built the cinnamon trade. A vivid journey across centuries and continents, Cinnamon is the definitive portrait of a spice through which the turmoil and richness of our world come alive.

on

You Can Find This eBook In

Non-FictionHistoryRegional & National HistoryAsian HistoryEconomicsEconomic HistorySociety & CultureCultural StudiesFood & SocietyPolitics & GovernmentInternational RelationsGeopolitics
Industry & Industrial StudiesPrimary IndustriesAgriculture & Related IndustriesSpecific Events & Topics in HistoryMaritime HistorySocial & Cultural HistoryEuropean History

More in Asian History

The Great Gamble : The Soviet War in Afghanistan - Gregory Feifer

eBOOK

The Great Gamble

The Soviet War in Afghanistan

eBook

RRP $33.99

$27.27

20%
OFF
China's Megatrends : The 8 Pillars of a New Society - John Naisbitt

eBOOK

China's Megatrends

The 8 Pillars of a New Society

eBook

RRP $21.99

$17.59

20%
OFF

This product is categorised by