Student Question
What motivated European rulers to seek a water route to Asia?
Quick answer:
European rulers sought a water route to Asia primarily to access the lucrative spice trade directly, bypassing costly intermediaries like the Ottomans who controlled overland routes and charged high tariffs. Spices were essential for food preservation in the pre-refrigeration era. Additionally, overland routes were dangerous due to piracy. Vasco de Gama's discovery of a sea route around Africa in the late 1400s offered a safer, more profitable alternative, fueling European exploration.
Ultimately, one of the critical resources of the Early Modern economy (stretching back centuries) was spices from further East. Historically, these had been conveyed westward by way of the Muslims and the Byzantines. Of course, this raises a second critical question: why were spices such a key resource during this time period?
Here, we need to recognize the technological limitations of the time period. In a world without refrigeration, these spices became useful components in food preservation (and it also disguised the taste of poor-quality meat). Therefore, the demand for spices was inevitably very, very high. Anyone who gained direct access to those markets, without needing to go through intermediaries, stood to profit tremendously in the process. This proved a key factor in shaping the Age of Exploration.
What prompted European kingdoms to seek a water route to Asia for trade?
By the 1400s, Ottomans controlled the overland route to Asia and charged increasingly high tariffs to Europeans traveling through to countries such as India. The Mediterranean also became more and more dangerous and prone to piracy from groups such as the Barbary pirates, who would capture and enslave Europeans.
While the spice trade and trade in other goods from Asia, such as silk, was extremely lucrative, the tariffs and the risks of the overland route began to outweigh the benefits. Europeans especially desired the spices that came from India and were willing to pay very high prices for them, but there was a limit on high they were willing to go—and merchants needed good profits to incentivize themselves for the risks of what was then somewhat akin to what a voyage to Mars would be today.
Therefore, Europeans became increasingly determined to keep exploring until they found an ocean route to India. Vasco de Gama finally discovered this route in the late 1400s when he managed to sail around the tip of Africa and across the Indian Ocean. This was a long and dangerous voyage, but the lack of tariffs and pirates made it very lucrative for merchants.
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