Question

The Italian merchants sometimes sailed across the Mediterranean Sea to Syria, where they could buy black pepper that had been grown on the southwest coast of India. The tiny dried black peppercorns were the perfect item to trade, because the small ships of the time could carry enough to make a nice profit. From India the pepper was shipped across to Arabia, where camel caravans would carry it all the way to Syria. The Italians could purchase enough pepper in Syria to carry with them to the next Champagne fair. Every count whose cook added the bite of costly black pepper to his food knew he was getting a taste of far distant lands. As late as 1300, Jean de Joieville, a French writer who had actually lived in the Muslim world, still believed that these spices came from the outer edges of the Garden of Eden, located somewhere along the river Nile. There, people “cast their nets outspread into the river, at night; and when morning comes, they find in their nets such goods as . . . ginger, rhubarb, wood of aloes, and cinnamon.”

–Sugar Changed the World,
Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos

Which details from the text support the central idea of this passage? Check all that apply.

“sailed across the Mediterranean Sea to Syria”
“grown on the southwest coast of India”
“tiny dried black peppercorns were the perfect item to trade”
“From India the pepper was shipped across to Arabia”
“Jean de Joieville, a French writer . . . actually lived in the Muslim world”

Answer 1

Correct answers:
- “sailed across the Mediterranean Sea to Syria”
- “grown on the southwest coast of India”
- “tiny dried black peppercorns were the perfect item to trade”
- “From India the pepper was shipped across to Arabia”

These details describe the origin, route, and trade value of pepper, which support the passage’s main idea about long-distance spice trade. The last detail (Jean de Joieville’s personal background) is background information about the writer, not a key detail supporting the central idea.