Fragrances were extracted from hard to catch animals and rare plants, woods, herbs and spices especially from the Middle East and lands Far East. This made them even more valuable and precious and that is one big reason why people offered them to gods, tyrants and emperors.
How did we stumble upon them when they were far off in the East?
We at Perfumora.com like to call it Crusade for Fragrance. Religious wars (1100-1300) that were seen as a way to get rid the Holy Land from Muslim control became a route for their discovery. Many spices and bath ointments reached the European nations through these paths. Venice and Naples were the two spots that for the next 200 years witnessed the bloom of the perfume industry. Plants like jasmine, tuberose, cloves from India and Persia found suitable climate in this country. The demand for unusual scents and fragrant extracts ran wild.
