Jan 18

From 1497 - 1499, Vasco da Gama sailed to India for the first time. This happened as a result of a "Portuguese effort to explore a sea route to the East" (Strayer, 670). Thus the Eastern part of the world was explored for the first time. Tropical spices including cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, cloves, and pepper were discovered and used in I believe Europe. In the early fourteenth century, the Black Death occurred in Europe. Europe's population grew in the fifteenth century. In order to buy Asian spices or textiles, Europeans had to pay gold or silver cash. Mexico and Brazil had rich silver deposits which provided a temporary solution to the European problem. Most of the people that were involved in the trade that took place were Muslims. This trade happened between "Africans, Arabs, Persians, Indians, Malays, Chinese, and others" (Strayer, 672). Therefore, a lot of those countries had Muslims as their citizens. Jews, Christians, Hindus, and Chinese also had a role in this trade. Europeans were unable to compete effectively because their "trade goods were crude and unattractive in Asian markets"(Strayer, 672 - 673).