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- In 1498, the Portuguese sailor Vasco da Gama rounded thesouthernmost point of Africa.- Portugal was eager to establish maritime trade in the Indian Ocean,as there was a high demand for Asian luxury goods.- Prior to the arrival of the Portuguese, Asian merchants conducted trade in markets that linked East Africa, India, Indonesia, and China and operated with little government interference.- Indian Ocean Asian merchants included those from Gujarat, a state on the western coast of India.- Gujaratis imported spices from eastern Indonesia and silk from China.- Over time, the Portuguese began to establish (by forcibly seizing) fortified trading posts along the African and Indian coastlines.- By 1602, the Dutch East India Company challenged the Portuguese for control of Indian Ocean trade and established a monopoly over the spice trade.- By the late 1680s, the British East India Company looked to gain control of trade routes in the Indian Ocean.- Over time, European powers gained political control in many regions of Asia, and local Asian merchants lost control of trade, as trading posts wereestablished along coasts and controlled by Europeans.

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