Which commodity changed world history the most?

Empires rose on some of these and colonies were built to grow others; a few still move markets today.

1. 1
   Spices

   Pepper, cloves and nutmeg sent Columbus and Vasco da Gama across the oceans.
   1000pts
2. 2
   Coffee

   The bean behind Europe's coffeehouses, colonial plantations and the modern morning routine.
   682pts
3. 3
   Salt

   Taxed, traded and fought over for millennia, it even sparked Gandhi's 1930 Salt March.
   622pts
4. 4
   Crude oil

   The fuel of the 20th century, behind cars, plastics, wars and entire national fortunes.
   551pts
5. 5
   Tobacco

   The cash crop that kept the Jamestown colony alive and shaped colonial America.
   466pts
6. 6
   Rice

   The staple grain that feeds half the world and shaped Asian civilisations.
   466pts
7. 7
   Silver

   Spanish silver from Potosí became the first truly global currency.
   466pts
8. 8
   Coal

   The fuel that fired steam engines and started the Industrial Revolution.
   466pts
9. 9
   Wheat

   One of the first domesticated crops, the grain that let cities exist.
   466pts
10. 10
    Cotton

    The fibre that powered the Industrial Revolution's mills and the American South's economy.
    363pts
11. 11
    Silk

    The luxury fabric that gave the Silk Road its name and linked China with Rome.
    363pts
12. 12
    Tea

    The leaf behind the Boston Tea Party and the British East India Company's trade empire.
    0pts
13. 13
    Gold

    Money, gold rushes and conquests: the metal every empire chased.
    0pts
14. 14
    Rubber

    Tyres, the Amazon rubber boom and the horrors of the Congo Free State.
    0pts
15. 15
    Cocoa

    Aztec currency turned into Europe's chocolate craze and West Africa's biggest cash crop.
    0pts
16. 16
    Iron

    From the Iron Age to railways and skyscrapers, the metal that built the modern world.
    0pts
17. 17
    Sugar

    Caribbean sugar plantations drove the Atlantic slave trade and changed the world's diet.
    0pts

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