Vasco da Gama being presented to the ruler of Calicut, Zamorin (Samudra Raja)

The search for sea routes to India from Europe to directly acquire Asian commodities was the driving force behind the Voyages of Discovery that profoundly changed the map of the world and world history. As Asian commodities became essential items of European life, domination of Asian trade by Asian and Middle Eastern merchants became a source of increasing financial cost to European consumers, particularly to Portugal and Spain at the western-most end of the European continent. Since the early part of the 15th century Spain and Portugal had been competing to find a direct sea route to the commodity markets of India and Asia. At the end of the 15th century the Italian navigator Christopher Columbus, under the patronage of the Spanish monarchy, set out from Spain on a western route, underestimating the circumference of the earth and expecting a shorter route to India in that direction. Columbus's erroneous calculations resulted in the discovery of the Americas in 1492 while searching for a direct route to India and profoundly changed the map of the world. In 1498 the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama reached the South West Coast of India near Calicut via the southern tip of Africa, with the help of an Arab pilot. Gama's arrival in India changed the pattern of inter-Asian and Asian-European trade and interactions hence forth. Portuguese were in search of trading privileges, and historical records of the initial encounter between the Raja of Calicut, Zamorin, and da Gama was cordial. An 18th century report based on contemporary records describes it thus: "The Zamorin (Samudra Raja, Ruler of the Oceans) received the newcomers kindly, and admitted them to an audience at which he appeared clothed in white calico flowered with gold and adorned with precious gems. His couch was placed in a hall furnished with rich carpets and tapestry and a golden fountain poured out its waters before it. The Portuguese, unacquainted with Indian customs, had provided no nuzzar for the prince…" (Trevor, George, India, an historical sketch, Religious tract Society, London, 1799).