The 2025 Innes Lecture - Following the Pepper: Black berries, Asian trade and European empires
This year’s Innes Lecture is being delivered by Prof Sujit Sivasundaram, Professor of World History at the University of Cambridge, who will look at the history of pepper and the role it plays in the world.
Pepper is the most widely used spice in the world, but its widespread use was not always certain or predictable.
This lecture follows pepper’s journey from its origins in South India, across the Indian Ocean, and through many different hands, before the Portuguese sought to take control of it.