New trade routes were found, established hegemonies upset and traditional land routes such as the Silk Road withered. The Portuguese were followed by other European powers, setting in inexorable motion the wheels of a new world order, of European colonialism, the global interchange of ideas, influence, trade, expansion of religion, military conquest, enslavement and exploitation of native peoples and their lands, and global trade.
SINGAPORE (Oct 22): In Lisbon, not far from where the Tagus River empties into the Atlantic Ocean, there is a large, rose-tinted mosaic floor map that details one of the most significant periods in the history of Portugal and the world. It had ramifications far beyond Europe, with the rumblings of change reverberating through the centuries.
In the 15th to 18th centuries, Portuguese sailors set out on an unprecedented series of voyages that would bring them down the coast of Africa, to India and eventually, China and Japan. In 1488, Portuguese sailors rounded the Cape of Good Hope, reaching the Indian Ocean, and a decade later, they reached India. In 1509, they landed on the shores of the Malacca Sultanate, to the astonishment of the locals.
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