Article: A new route to the spice islands.

In the dwindling years of the 15th century, Europeans had only a vague understanding of where coveted spices such as pepper and cinnamon originated. At the time, Muslims controlled the trade in spices, shipping them west from India to the port of Aden in modern-day Yemen. From there, they were transported to the Egyptian city of Alexandria, where European merchants carried them across the Mediterranean to Europe. Domination of the trade as far as Alexandria made Muslim merchants very rich.

By 1500, the kings of Portugal knew that if their ships could somehow circumvent Aden and Alexandria and bring spices from India directly to Europe, people would have to buy ...

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