17 Such goods included garlic shipments, royal sceptres, cinnamon, cardamom, textiles, porcelain and Indigo dye. All shipped in large quantities. As such Hormuz became the destination for all goods going to India from anywhere then finding their way to anywhere in the world. Even black pepper, 1 which was banned many times, used to come through the Strait of Hormuz in large amounts to be sold in the markets of Arabia. This was also the case for many other products which were exported to various parts of the world. In spite of the fact that the Island of Hormuz was rugged and barren, it had all kinds of goods and products in abundance, to the point that it became known as the Centre of the World. The locals as well as the neighboring Persians used to say: “If the world were a ring, Hormuz would be its jewel”. In addition to the huge and diverse trade activities that Hormuz enjoyed, it also was a large store for all kinds of medicinal drugs, natural cosmetics, etc. The best medicinal herbs worldwide used to come from Persia, in addition to many kinds of perfumes and the best antidotes in the world whose price was 1. Black pepper was used in Europe to preserve meat. Trading in pepper used to be a Portuguese monopoly.
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