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What are the spice routes?

What if Ottoman Empire had never blocked Spice route in 1453 ca?

  • With the fall of Byzantine Empire, the Spice Route was blocked which resulted in discoveries of new trade routes. What if the route was never blocked? Would world be different today?

  • Answer:

    Yes.  But not by much.  The European conquest of the Americas may have only been delayed by a generation or two.  Europeans were certainly looking for spices when they began looking on the horizon for trade routes, but that wasn't the ONLY reason.  European enlightenment and population growth was in full swing.  Europe was stabilizing and looking for markets.  Spain and Portugal first.  France, Netherlands and Britain close on their heels.  Eventually, the more-advanced Europeans were going to sail east.  They were going to bring their diseases and thirst for colonies with them.  It really was only a matter of time and I have doubts that the makeup of the world would be that different.

Dan Holliday at Quora Visit the source

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No huge difference.  Not unless the Muslims or the Chinese had found the New World first.   As Dan Holliday says, there was already interest in trade in Europe.  The Ottoman Empire had control of all of the existing routes and therefore raised the price.  But European ship technology had been getting steadily better.   Note also, the Vikings had found "Vinland", probably Newfoundland.  And "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_the_Navigator" had encourages Portuguese expansion an exploration to the south, well before 1453.   (I am aware of claims for an early Chinese discovery.  But they were as interested in gold as Europeans were, and had a military technology that was at least as good.  Had they encountered any of the gold-rich cultures of the New World, they would have taken advantage.)

Gwydion Madawc Williams

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