How did spices impact exploration efforts during the age of discovery? european nations sought to find new oceanic routes to asia to acquire spices from india and china. muslims of the ottoman empire began exploring and trading slaves to western europeans in exchange for herbs and spices. asian spices were believed to cure ailments caused by the bubonic plague, resulting in massive european exploration efforts to asia. the papacy ordered exploration efforts and crusades against eastern european nations that condoned cooking with muslim spices. which is it?