The Age of Exploration was a period from the early 1400s and continuing into the early 1600s, during which European ships traveled around the world to search for new trade routes to feed growing capitalism in Europe. The most commonly sought after new trade route was to the Spice Islands, which are now the Indonesian archipelago, in southern Asia.
Spices were originally brought to Western Europe by land routes, but because of a lack cargo space and extremely long travel times the prices were very high. The advantages of ships were that they had much larger cargo capacities and were faster than caravans. The obvious solution to get cheaper spices was to carry them by ships.
Portugal under Henry the navigator was the first country to find a water trade route to Asia. In 1488 Portuguese ships, led by Bartholomew Dias, sailed south down the coastline of Africa, then east around the Cape of Good Hope, and finally north into the Indian Ocean, proving that the Indian Ocean was......
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