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" interactions between and within Asia and Europe. During the first funding period from 2008 to 2012, the Cluster's focus was on "Shifting Asymmetries in Cultural Flows". During the second funding period until October 2017, the Cluster is focused on "The Dynamics of Transculturality". The Cluster is located at the Karl Jaspers Center for Advanced Transcultural Studies (KJC) at Heidelberg University, Germany. The KJC provides facilities and infrastructure for collaboration, research and teaching. A branch office of the Cluster is located at the “Heidelberg Center South Asia” in New Delhi, India. The Cluster is headed by three directors, who are Joseph