The Portuguese quickly pushed past the limits of their early discoveries. Between 1419 and 1433, the prince Henry the Navigator coordinated annual summer voyages to explore farther south along the African coast. Although the Portuguese voyages made at this time were financed mostly by the profits of the Saharan trade monopoly, their purpose was to gain control over the Asian trade. Their first priority was to end Muslim domination in the Mediterranean by controlling the North African coast. Their second was to find a sea route to India using an alternative to the overland caravan routes. This would mean sailing beyond the Strait of Gibraltar and into the open Atlantic.
Discovery of the sea route to India
Bartholomeu Dias, a Portuguese explorer, continued the search for the route to India past West Africa. In 1487 he sailed beyond the southernmost point of Africa and returned with evidence that the African coast turned northeast. King John II of Portugal then commissioned Vasco da Gama to lead a fleet of four ships around Africa and to India. Da Gama set out in the summer of 1497 and reached Calicut, a major Indian trading port, in May 1498. He thus accomplished the mission that had eluded European navigators for over a century.
Conquest of Malacca
With Afonso de Albuquerque's conquest of Malacca, the key center of Southeast Asian trade, in 1511, Portugal achieved its aim of controlling the Asian spice trade. They took control of the trade routes between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea, and began to trade directly with China.
Establishment of a Portuguese overseas empire
The Portuguese had successfully achieved their goal of controlling the Asian spice trade. They had also established a vast overseas empire that included trading posts and colonies in Africa, Asia, and the Americas. This empire was based on the control of sea routes and on the exploitation of local resources and labor.
The Portuguese maintained their control of the Asian spice trade for over a century. However, they were eventually challenged by other European powers, such as the Dutch and the English. By the end of the 17th century, the Portuguese had lost their dominant position in the Asian trade.