Finance, Forex and Investments

How was Portugal able to trade in India?

How did they expand trade into the Spice Islands? What did they find there? Was it valuable?

Public Comments

1. because they put red dots on their heads
2. They were good with ships and had an advantage there. Spices were very valuable because you can imagine the food those days, they were desperate to get something to put taste on their dull meat etc.
3. Because Portuguese were the first to make the maritime route to India and they were able to control that route 2nd they imposed by the force law to accept them as traders in India
4. Portugal were one of the earliest European maritime explorers and established a colony on the West coast of India (Goa) which was a base for trade in the region and a stop point on the route to other Asian colonies in Macau and East Timor (near the Spice Islands which are in present day Indonesia)... . The Portuguese monopolised trade from the Spice Islands - and the news quickly spread around Europe and led to conflict with Spain, France, Britain and Netherlands... and the Portuguese eventually lost the territory and trade died down when the spice seeds were taken and grown in other parts of the world.