can anyone find (or write) a reasonable list of valuable commodities in the medieval/renaissance times? There is gold and spices of course, but what other substances could make the merchants giddy? What sudden discoveries could result in an [insert word besides gold] Rush?
Knowledge of historical trade is not my greatest strength, so I hope some of you are a bit better schooled and willing to share what you know :)
(if you only know of one or two things, or a thing that became much sought after later in history, feel free to post. The more the merrier.)
Frankincense? I remember watching a documentary once about the frankincense trade in the middle east, seems it was (and still is, in some places) pretty damn valuable. Even today, just taking it across the border from Yemen to Oman like triples or quadruples its value or something, IIRC.
Amber has always been valuable, particularly in northeastern Europe. Salt was always valuable. You mentioned spices and gold of course. Quality textiles, silk especially (emphasis on silk). A good source of any useful metal.
If you move into colonial times sugar, coffee, cotton and tobacco become very prominent commodities (and slaves too of course). Edit: also chocolate.
I do actually know of one quirky commodity. Tulips (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_mania) were very valuable at one point in the history of the Netherlands.
TMG, you say a sizeable deposit of a metal would be enough to incite some greed. Would you say that e.g. iron could incite a feverish mining rush like gold once did?
Well, you'd never see a 'rush' like you did in California or the Klondike, not in a typical medieval society. Iron isn't really something you can obtain by yourself. It's not a means to individual wealth like gold was. A good source of iron was an incredibly valuable resource for whoever controlled it though.
That said, it is your setting. I'm sure you could set up a believable situation for something like an iron rush depending on economic, geographical and societal conditions.
For a rush to be feasible, you need to think up reasons for why some aggressive warlord (or established government for that matter) won't just march in and claim it all to himself.
-Any spices, clearly.
-Gemstones, such as the ruby and emerald mines you can find in Southern Africa.
-Depending on the level of scientific advancement, lodestones might be something valuable enough to incite a rush (and even can have the 'fools gold' equivalent where people make temporary magnets from rubbing on a lodestone).
In general, for anything to have a rush, you need a couple of things: No threat from a governmental takeover (which necessitates some sort of free market economics), it has to be a natural resource of some kind (else there's skill involved, which while lucrative wouldn't create a rush), and has to be valuable (if not monetarily, like gold, then practically like iron or lumber coupled with rarity). For iron, I would say that there would have to be a lot of surface deposits, and found within a relatively iron-devoid section of the setting. Else, there's too much investment involved for not enough raw profit to incite a rush, in my opinion.
In terms of normal commerce after the Bronze Age, at least, you're really looking at three things: salt, some form of refined sugar (sugar, molasses, alcohol, etc.), and some kind of staple grain (cereals--maize, wheat, rice, etc.--or root vegetables--sweet potatoes). This, of course, only really applies to settled peoples.
As a good example of just how valuable salt is, consider this: the English word 'salary' comes ultimately from the Latin salarium--ultimately from Latin sal ('salt')--which was originally a stipend Roman soldiers received to pay for salt, and later their entire salary. Remember that before refrigeration, salt was the most important preservative; really, the only thing keeping you from starving during winter and early spring.
Nomadic peoples and pre-Bronze Age societies will almost certainly lack the refined sugars category, and nomadic peoples will actually not have a staple. They'll probably have access one of the staples that settled cultures might, but it just won't be something they eat a every meal because they don't stay in one place to farm.
Even in modern, rural Mongolia, you could very well have a meal consisting entirely of mutton and milk. Eurasian steppe nomads traditionally ate the products of their two main domesticated animals: sheep and horses.
A very good resource for the history of food can be found here (http://www.foodtimeline.org/).
Off the top of my head: Valuable Metals (Gold, Silver, Iron, etc.), Valuable Gems (including Amber), Alcohol not made locally, Spices, Silks, Books, Maps, Coffee, Chocolate, Sugar, Information, Art, Fine Pottery, Fruits, Ice (if you're in a desert), Medicines, Aphrodisiacs, rare/exotic animals, dyed clothing, furs, Saint's Bones/Religions Relics, Finely crafted weapons & armor.
Quote from: TheMeanestGuestIron isn't really something you can obtain by yourself.
Not strictly true, look up bog iron some time. Was actually a normal job during the medieval period to go out into swamps and poke around for the stuff to give to the local blacksmith.