why were the european powers interested in getting involved in the indian ocean trade routes
Spice trade
It was during this time that Spanish and Portuguese explorers first set foot on the New World . Christopher Columbus was the first to do so in 1492 while sailing westward across the Atlantic Ocean on an expedition to the indies . Instead of reaching Asia , Colombus discovered the Americas , landing on an island in what is now the Bahamas . Believing to have in fact reached India , the crew named the natives `` Indians '' , a name which has continued in use to this day , to describe the indigenous peoples of the Americas . Just eight years later in 1500 , the Portuguese navigator , Pedro Álvares Cabral while attempting to reproduce Vasco da Gama 's Atlantic route to the Cape and India was blown westwards to what is today Brazil . After taking possession of the new land , Cabral resumed his voyage across the Atlantic to the southern tip of Africa and India , finally arriving there in September 1500 -- opening for the first time a route from the New World to Asia -- and returning to Portugal by 1501 .
It was during this time that Spanish and Portuguese explorers first set foot on the New World . Christopher Columbus was the first to do so in 1492 while sailing westward across the Atlantic Ocean on an expedition to the indies . Instead of reaching Asia , Colombus discovered the Americas , landing on an island in what is now the Bahamas . Believing to have in fact reached India , the crew named the natives `` Indians '' , a name which has continued in use to this day , to describe the indigenous peoples of the Americas . Just eight years later in 1500 , the Portuguese navigator , Pedro Álvares Cabral while attempting to reproduce Vasco da Gama 's Atlantic route to the Cape and India was blown westwards to what is today Brazil . After taking possession of the new land , Cabral resumed his voyage across the Atlantic to the southern tip of Africa and India , finally arriving there in September 1500 -- opening for the first time a route from the New World to Asia -- and returning to Portugal by 1501 .