Vasco da Gama

Vasco da Gama's sea voyage from Portugal to India (1497-1499), rounding the Cape of Good Hope and crossing the Indian Ocean, opened the direct maritime trade route between Europe and Asia that destroyed the Venetian monopoly on Asian spices. The route he pioneered transformed global commerce, enabled Portuguese colonisation of coastal Asia and Africa, and shifted Europe's economic centre of gravity from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic.