The Suez route was most useful to steamships (famously described in Around the World in Eighty Days), and put an end to the Age of Sail.

The Suez Canal, completed in 1867, created a shortcut between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean. The Clipper Route is an extension, to reach East Asia or Oceania across the central Indian Ocean, and get back via Cape Horn, to make use of the strong westerlies in the 'roaring forties'. Overseas trade made the Mediterranean and the Silk Road less important for Eurasian commerce (leading to a decline of the Italian city-states), and shifted power to western Europe. Most of the Portuguese Empire was founded along the route, as well as most other European colonies on the continent before the late 19th century scramble for Africa. Vasco da Gama's discovery of the Cape Route, as well as the Columbian voyages, inspired the Magellan-Elcano circumnavigation. The voyages of Columbus aimed for Asia, but instead established European contact with the Americas. The 15th century expansion of the Ottoman Empire disrupted commerce along the Silk Road, and encouraged Europeans to find a new route to Asia. According to Herodotus, an expedition sent by Egyptian Pharaoh Necho II and manned by Phoenicians circumnavigated Africa around 600 BCE.

The first known completion was made by Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama in 1498.Īncient and medieval scholars disagreed whether the Atlantic and Indian Ocean were connected. The Cape Route, the route around Africa, the Carreira da Índia or the European-Asian sea route, used to be among the world's most important routes of commerce.

What route did vasco da gama travel