CHAPTER 1 Colliding Worlds, 1450–1600
29Africa. Vasco da Gama reached East Africa in 1497 and India in the following year his ships were mistaken
for those of Chinese traders, the last pale-skinned men to arrive by sea. Although da Gama’s inferior goods — tin basins,
coarse cloth, honey, and coral beads — were snubbed by the Arab and Indian merchants along
India’s
Malabar Coast, he managed to acquire a highly profitable cargo of cinnamon and pepper. Da Gama returned to India in 1502 with twenty-one fighting vessels, which outmaneuvered and outgunned the Arab fleets. Soon the Portuguese government setup fortified trading posts for its merchants at key
points around the Indian Ocean, in Indonesia, and along the coast of China (Map 1.4). Ina transition that sparked the momentous growth
of European wealth and power, the Portuguese and then the Dutch replaced the Arabs as the leaders in Asian commerce.
Share with your friends: 
