Chapter 15

Notes

The voyage of the Portuguese mariner Vasco de Gama, in which Europeans sailed to India for the first time, was certainly no accident. It was the outcome of a deliberate, systematic, century-long Portuguese effort to explore sea route to the east, by creeping slowly down West African coast, around the tip of South Africa, up the East African coast, and finally to Calicut in southern India in 1498.

The most immediate motivation for this massive effort was the desire for tropical spices:

·      Cinnamon

·      Nutmeg

·      Mace

·      Cloves

·      And mostly pepper

Which were widely used as condiments and preservatives and were sometimes regarded as aphrodisiacs.

            First the source of supply for these much-desired goods lay solidly in Muslim hands. Most immediately, Muslin Egypt was the primary point of transfer into the Mediterranean basin and its European customers. The Italian commercial city of Venice largely monopolized the European trade in Eastern goods, annually sending convoys of ships to Alexandria.

            What Portuguese created in the Indian Ocean is commonly known as a “trading post empire” for they aimed to control commerce, not large territories or populations, and to do so by force of arms rather than by economic competition.

            By the 1600’s, the Portuguese trading post empire was in steep decline due to the rise of Asian posts.

Summery

           

            Europe was in need of many spices and had no access to them other than by trade in the Indian Ocean. This was a huge industry because they were in such high demand. This was so important to there ways of life. European counties are know for the famous unique taste of their foods and this was due to the spices they acquired. The European trade was an era of monopolistic items because you only could get these in some parts in the world.