<P> The first country to attempt to circumnavigate Africa was Portugal , which had , since the early 15th century , begun to explore northern Africa under Henry the Navigator . Emboldened by these early successes and eyeing a lucrative monopoly on a possible sea route to the Indies the Portuguese first crossed the Cape of Good Hope in 1488 on an expedition led by Bartolomeu Dias . Just nine years later in 1497 on the orders of Manuel I of Portugal , four vessels under the command of navigator Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope , continuing to the eastern coast of Africa to Malindi to sail across the Indian Ocean to Calicut , on the Malabar Coast . in south India -- the capital of the local Zamorin rulers . The wealth of the Indies was now open for the Europeans to explore ; the Portuguese Empire was the earliest European seaborne empire to grow from the spice trade . </P>
<P> The first country to attempt to circumnavigate Africa was Portugal , which had , since the early 15th century , begun to explore northern Africa under Henry the Navigator . Emboldened by these early successes and eyeing a lucrative monopoly on a possible sea route to the Indies the Portuguese first crossed the Cape of Good Hope in 1488 on an expedition led by Bartolomeu Dias . Just nine years later in 1497 on the orders of Manuel I of Portugal , four vessels under the command of navigator Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope , continuing to the eastern coast of Africa to Malindi to sail across the Indian Ocean to Calicut , on the Malabar Coast . in south India -- the capital of the local Zamorin rulers . The wealth of the Indies was now open for the Europeans to explore ; the Portuguese Empire was the earliest European seaborne empire to grow from the spice trade . </P>
who secured a monopoly over the spice trade
who secured a monopoly over the spice trade
the Portuguese Empire
the Portuguese Empire