The search for a cheaper way to obtain spices from the East led to the great Age of Exploration and the discovery of the New World. European explorers such as Ferdinand Magellan, Vasco da Gama, and Bartholomeu Dias began their long sea voyages to discover a sea route to the sources of spices.

Christopher Columbus searching for a route to India  stumbled across the Americas. He returned from the New World, and described to investors the many new, and then unknown, spices available there. The “New World” is a term applied to the majority of Earth’s Western Hemisphere, comprising North and South America and the surrounding waters. According to some geographers, the Western Hemisphere includes portions of Africa, Europe, Antarctica, and Asia.

Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama sailed to India in 1499. He was the first European to reach India by sea. Da Gama returned from his voyage with a cargo of nutmegs, cloves, cinnamon, ginger, and peppercorns. As soon as the news of availability of spices spread across the world, people boarded their ships and set sail to India.

In the 15th century, the spice trade was transformed by the European Age of Discovery. By this time, navigational equipment was better and long-haul sailing became possible. After Vasco Da Gama, a Portuguese expedition led by Pedro Álvares Cabral in 1501 brought spices from India to Europe for the first time through the Cape of Good Hope. What followed was that over half of the revenues of the Portuguese government came from West African gold and Indian spices. With the discovery of new sea routes, the city of Alexandria in Egypt became the main trading center for spices because of its port. The most important discovery prior to the European spice trade was the monsoon winds.

From 1500 onwards, first Portugal, and then other European powers, attempted to control the spice trade, the ports which marketed spices, and eventually the territories which grew them. India seemed awash with black pepper. Sri Lanka was rich in cinnamon. China and Japan were getting spices like cloves, nutmeg, and mace from India, South East Asia, and the Maluku Islands or the Moluccas in what is today Indonesia – not for nothing were they nicknamed the Spice Islands.

Spices were among the most demanded and expensive products available in Europe in the Middle Ages the most common being black pepper, cinnamon while pepper was the most common spice, the most exclusive was saffron. At various times, the Portuguese, Dutch, French, Spanish, and English established monopolies over various parts of the spice trade. This era saw the formation of trading empires such as the British East India Company.