Key Terms – The Portuguese Spice Trade

Henry the Navigator Astrolabe Magnetic Compass Caravel Vasco de Gama

Background to Exploration

The fall of Constantinople shut down Silk Road to the European nations and forced them to trade through other groups.

The need for a European nation to establish a trade network they controlled took precedence during this period.

The Portuguese would be the first to investigate sailing around Africa to enter China and would use different inventions to do so.

Henry the Navigator Prince Henry of Portugal used

his wealth to push the creation of new inventions to assist in sailing east.

After being exposed to the riches of the east: spices, gold, rugs, and silver, he sought to explore how to arrive in the East without the use of Silk Road.

Henry was responsible for sending numerous expeditions along the Western Coast of Africa.

His expeditions were the means by which trade agreements were set up through encounters with the Western African kingdoms.

The New Inventions

Henry the Navigator would have no chance to navigate the coasts of Africa without the help of three inventions:

Astrolabe → device used to decipher the angle of the sun, stars and planets above the horizon

Magnetic Compass → used to tell direction.

Caravel → faster, smaller, sturdier ship with a rudder that allowed for easier steering and triangular sails to ease use of the wind

Caravel

The Gold Trade

The Portuguese, during their expeditions, created relations with the Songhai Empire.

The Songhai Empire was the center of the gold and salt trade in Africa → this relation allowed for a cheaper means by which to buy gold.

After cornering the gold trade, the Portuguese had exclusive control of the African gold trade.

Rounding Africa

The Portuguese, now having a base within Africa, could attempt to navigate around Africa.

Bartolomeu Dias sailed around the Cape of Good Hope in 1488.

He would be followed by another navigator, Vasco da Gama.

Vasco Da Gama

Vasco da Gama → Portuguese explorer who was the first to round Africa and arrive in India.

Da Gama's voyage, which took two years, brought back many luxury goods from India.

The Portuguese, being the first to arrive in India from Europe now had control of the spice trade.

Incursions and Security

The Muslims, having used Silk Road, were the chief means by which the Europeans acquired spices from India.

The Muslims had set up forts on the coastlines to prevent other groups from cornering their market → the Portuguese would defeat the Muslims and take the forts for themselves. The ports would become trading posts and military

bases for the Portuguese in India. They would use these bases to penetrate the

interior of Asia and establish the first European markets there.

Ramifications

The Portuguese investigation and subsequent success in Asia prompted other countries to take on similar journeys.

The Spaniards would send their own voyagers out west in search of a new trade route to compete with the Portuguese.

The journeys of both of these countries would usher in the Age of Discovery and Exploration and would begin the period of Old Imperialism.