TechnologySouth Asia
Vasco da Gama reaches India
A sea route to the East — and cannon in an ocean without a navy
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Indian Ocean trade had functioned without a dominant naval power; the Portuguese imposed a licence system under which ships lacking their permit could be sunk. It is one of the clearest transitions from trade to armed trade in world history. Spice prices in Europe fell, and the middleman role of Venice and Egypt withered.
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The Portuguese sailed round Africa and on to India. They had little to sell that Indians wanted, but they had cannon aboard. With them they took control of trade routes that had been open to all for a thousand years.
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Part of Terra Saga — the story of Earth on a timeline. terrasaga.org