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
Cluster of Excellence "Asia and Europe in a Global Context" Cluster of Excellence "Asia and Europe in a Global Context" The Cluster of Excellence "Asia and Europe in a Global Context" is a research facility that has been funded in the framework of the German Universities Excellence Initiative of the federal state governments of Germany since October 2007. It is a trans- and interdisciplinary network of researchers affiliated with Heidelberg University. Key research areas of the Cluster are the processes of exchange between cultures of Asia and Europe, ranging from migration and trade to the formation of concepts and institutions. The Cluster aims at enhancing the understanding of the multi-layered