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The Age of Exploration started in the 1400's. Europeans were desperate to get spices from Asia. Spices were used to preserve foods and keep them from spoiling. Spices, however, were expensive and dangerous to get. European rulers began to pay for explorations to find a sea route to Asia so they could get spices cheaper.
Portugal was the first country that sent explorers to search for the sea route to Asia. After Bartholomew Dias and his crew made it to Africa's Cape of Good Hope, Vasco da Gama and his crew became the first to sail around Africa and through the Indian Ocean to India in 1497. Spain, however, wo...