The Silk Roads: A New History of the World

Chapter 11, “The Road of Gold,” describes the exploration of the Atlantic as a “new dawn” that “propelled Europe to centre-stage” (197) in world affairs at the end of the 15th century. Even before Columbus sailed to the Americas in 1492, the Portuguese and Spanish were forming new trade routes in the East Atlantic and West Africa. The gold markets of West Africa, associated with figures such as the Malian emperor Mansa Musa, were very important, as was the African slave trade that “exploded” during this period. Portugal in particular became rich from the slave trade, through which they played a key role in the exploration of the African coastline.

By sponsoring Columbus’s voyage in 1492, Ferdinand and Isabella, the rulers of Castile and Aragon, were able to compete with Portuguese expansion. Of course, the lands Columbus found were not India (as he claimed) but a continent new to Europeans, one that later became known as America. Though his initial reports of treasure were grossly exaggerated, it was not long before Columbus—and those who came after him—discovered vast quantities of pearls, silver, and gold. “Inevitably,” Frankopan notes, “exploration turned to conquest” (206), as the Spanish devastated the populations of the Caribbean and the Americas through war and disease.