European colonisation of Southeast Asia tightening Turkish control and eventual shut down of the Eastern Mediterranean gateways into Asia first prompted Portuguese, and later Spanish and Dutch sea voyagers to ship around Africa in search of new trading routes and business opportunities. Niccolò de' Conti arrived in Southeast Asia as the earliest documented European in the early 15th century. By 1498 Vasco da Gama, who had sailed round the Cape of Good Hope, established the first direct sea route from Europe to India. Central among the various plannings was to establish direct and permanent trade of the highly priced spices, that were native to Southeast
Drug trade in West Africa lack of security in both continents. Drug trade in West Africa In the late 1950s and early 1960s the US and EU’s demand for cocaine, cannabis, and other drugs increased dramatically. This resulted in two trade routes, both of which went through West Africa. One route exported local cannabis from West and South Africa to Europe and Asia. The other trade route moved cocaine from Latin America and heroin from Afghanistan to the EU and US. This was only possible because of West Africa’s badly policed borders, endemic corruption, and economic inequalities. At first the drugs were only smuggled in