Recalling that the silk road trade was a relay with many exchanges of product for currency, and recalling the bad blood between christian europe and the islamic middle east, why do you think the europeans wanted to 'go around' the muslims to trade directly with india and the spice island?

The economic importance of the Silk Road and the trade routes of spices blocked by the Ottoman Empire in 1453 with the fall of the Byzantine Empire, stimulated the exploration of a sea route around Africa and the activation of the era of discoveries.

Due to the continuous blockades on the silk road, Europeans developed the spice trade. Trade was transformed during the era of European discoveries, during which the spice trade, particularly black pepper, became a very lucrative and important activity for European merchants. The route from Europe to the Indian Ocean through the Cape of Good Hope was first explored by the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama in 1498, giving rise to new maritime routes for trade.

This trade - which promoted the development of the world economy from the late Middle Ages to modern times - marked the beginning of a European domination in the East. Shipping and transit routes and ports such as the Bay of Bengal served as bridges for cultural and commercial exchanges between the various cultures and nations struggling to gain control of trade and spice routes.

relations between the soviet union and the united states were driven by a complex interplay of ideological, political, and economic factors, which led to shifts between cautious cooperation and often bitter superpower rivalry over the years. the distinct differences in the political systems of the two countries often prevented them from reaching a mutual understanding on key policy issues and even, as in the case of the cuban missile crisis, brought them to the brink of war.

the united states government was initially hostile to the soviet leaders for taking russia out of world war i and was opposed to a state ideologically based on communism. although the united states embarked on a famine relief program in the soviet union in the early 1920s and american businessmen established commercial ties there during the period of the new economic policy (1921–29), the two countries did not establish diplomatic relations until 1933. by that time, the totalitarian nature of joseph stalin's regime presented an insurmountable obstacle to friendly relations with the west. although world war ii brought the two countries into alliance, based on the common aim of defeating nazi germany, the soviet union's aggressive, antidemocratic policy toward eastern europe had created tensions even before the war ended.