Short answers, pulled from the story.
Merchants claimed cinnamon was harvested from the nests of giant winged serpents to keep the price high and the source a mystery. This fabrication was recorded by the Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder and persisted for centuries.
Dutch traders established a trading post in Sri Lanka in 1638 and took control of the manufactories by 1640. They expelled the Portuguese from the region by 1658 to secure the monopoly.
Workers scrape off the outer bark and beat the branch to loosen the inner bark, which is then pried off in long rolls. The inner bark dries completely in four to six hours and curls into rolls known as quills on drying.
Ceylon cinnamon has a lighter brown color and a finer, less dense texture, while cassia is hard, woody, and thicker. Cassia contains high levels of coumarin which can cause liver and kidney damage, whereas true cinnamon has only trace amounts.
China, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka account for 98% of the total global production. China led production in 2023 with 39% of the total 238,403 tonnes.