Cape Route
maritime trade route · 1498 AD–1868 AD
The Portuguese sea route round the Cape of Good Hope to India and the Spice Islands, opened by Vasco da Gama in 1498. It bypassed the Venetian and Middle Eastern middlemen of the spice trade, and later carried the Dutch and English East India companies. The Suez Canal took most of its traffic after 1869.
At a glance
- Goods
- pepper, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, silver, textiles
- Carried by
- sea
- Hubs
- Lisbon → Mozambique Island → Malindi → Goa → Malacca → Ternate
Recorded boundaries
| Period | Control | Confidence | Evidence | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1498 AD–1506 AD | — | medium confidence | no observation date recorded | Trading through Lisbon and Malindi. |
| 1507 AD–1509 AD | — | medium confidence | no observation date recorded | Trading through Lisbon, Mozambique Island and Malindi. |
| 1510 AD | — | medium confidence | no observation date recorded | Trading through Lisbon, Mozambique Island, Malindi and Goa. |
| 1511 AD | — | medium confidence | no observation date recorded | Trading through Lisbon, Mozambique Island, Malindi, Goa and Malacca. |
| 1512 AD–1868 AD | — | low confidence | no observation date recorded | Trading through Lisbon, Mozambique Island, Malindi, Goa, Malacca and Ternate. |
Each row is a snapshot the source recorded, not a continuous history. The period between two observations is an inference this atlas shows rather than hides.
Sources
- Lincoln Paine, The Sea and Civilization: A Maritime History of the World, (2013)