The European ships could hardly venture into the open seas at the beginning of 14th Century. A voyage to India or lands eastwards was unimaginable. During this period a city-state, Venice, ruled the trade in Mediterranean. The flow of spice trade between Europe and the East passed through Venice. It had agreements with Arabs to control the spice trade. Venice grew rich but the rest of Europe had the balance of payment crises.

Prince Henry of Portugal was a man whose desire to challenge the supremacy of Venice ultimately changed the course of spice trade. His plan was to simply find a way to India by going around Africa. This would cut out the Venetians and the Arabs. He gathered the scholars and expert navigators and set out upon his grand plan. Henry died before he could fulfill his dream. However, the Portuguese learned to build ships that could sail against the wind. Also, new methods of navigation were developed which let the Portuguese venture into open seas. This gave a tremendous advantage to the Portuguese over their European rivals.

While the Portuguese were preparing to achieve their goal of finding a way to India, their rival nation, Spain, decided to finance the Italian navigator, Christopher Columbus, for an expedition to India. Columbus decided to go westward, in the opposite direction, sailing into the Atlantic. By venturing in the opposite direction, Columbus did find islands, continents and empires but to his lasting disappointment never found India.

In May 1498, after a voyage of ten months, the Portuguese explorer, Vasco da Gama, landed at Calicut, on the west coast of India. He returned to Portugal with spices and jewels. Also, he brought the news that the ruler was willing to trade with Europe.

The European colonialism dominated the world history for next 450 years and it all started with the search for the sources of spices and control over the spice trade.