Portuguese exploration sought cheaper access to valuable eastern goods, not places unknown to their inhabitants. Overland trade multiplied prices as successive middlemen took a share. A sea route could remain costly and still undercut that chain by a wide margin. In the numerical example, a good bought for one pound and shipped for fifteen could sell for eighty while remaining cheaper than the overland alternative. The resulting incentive explains why route knowledge, ship endurance, and control of support points could produce an empire.
Chapter · 25:15-26:58
Portuguese expansion followed the price of trade routes
The Portuguese search for an eastern sea route becomes a simple logistics-and-margin calculation: bypass enough middlemen and an expensive voyage can still transform trade.