INDIAN HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Until the end of the 16th century, their monopoly on the spice trade to India was exceptionally profitable for the Portuguese. The main product brought back to Lisbon was black pepper.

Detailed explanation-2: -Europeans fought the Crusades in large part to maintain a portal to the spice trade. Ultimately, Vasco da Gama and the Portuguese found the route around Africa to the spices of Southeast Asia in the 15th century. They began a period of conquests in India and Indonesia to control that trade.

Detailed explanation-3: -While stopping in modern-day Kenya, da Gama encountered merchants from India in search of their own spices. This city was full with “quantities of cloves, cumin, ginger, nutmeg, and pepper, ‘’ suggesting that the spice trade was well underway in Africa by the time da Gama arrived, despite its focus in Europe and Asia.

Detailed explanation-4: -Under the command of Pedro Álvares Cabral, a Portuguese expedition was the first to bring spices from India to Europe by way of the Cape of Good Hope in 1501. Portugal went on to dominate the naval trading routes through much of the 16th century.

Detailed explanation-5: -The spice trade involved historical civilizations in Asia, Northeast Africa and Europe. Spices such as cinnamon, cassia, cardamom, ginger, pepper, nutmeg, star anise, clove, and turmeric were known and used in antiquity and traded in the Eastern World.