The East Indies

1486 to 1521

The later exploration of the Pacific was left to daring adventurers from the continent of Europe. However, east or west, the undiscovered Pacific was a long way from Europe and much preliminary discovery had to be made before even the shores were reached. In 1486 Bartholomeo Diaz discovered the southern limit of the continent of Africa. Vasco da Gama, another Portuguese navigator, followed up the discovery by sailing round the Cape of Good Hope and reaching Calicut on the Malabar coast of India on May 20, 1498. The Portuguese were quick to realize the prospects of trade with the East, and by 1510 they had established a trading port at Malacca on the Malay Peninsula. Moving farther east, they set up trading posts in the Moluccas (Spice Islands) at Ternate, Tidore, and Banda in 1521. Thus by working east from Europe, Europeans were established on the western fringe of the Pacific, but trans-Pacific exploration did not come from that direction.