Download or read book World Trade Since 1431 written by Peter J. Hugill and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 1993 with total page 406 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1431 the Portuguese navigator Velho set sail into the Atlantic, establishing a trade route to the Azores and marking the beginning of commerce with the West as we know it today. Equipped with reliable maps and instruments for open-ocean navigation and highly sea-worthy, three-masted, cannon-armed ships, Portugal soon dominated the Atlantic trade routes - until the diffusion of Portuguese technologies to wealthier polities made Holland the eventual successor, owing to its geographic position and its immense commercial fleet.