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The fall of Constantinople severed the spice road and forced Portugal to sail
A tiny Atlantic kingdom reroutes the world's spice road after Constantinople falls - and the stakes are control of global trade.
The fall of Constantinople severed the spice road and forced Portugal to sail
In this episode, we trace how a single military event in 1453 reshaped trade and pushed a small Portuguese kingdom to invest in systematic maritime exploration. What decisions and methods turned Portugal into a global commercial power, and how did they stitch together an empire of trading nodes?
Person: Prince Henry the Navigator
Event: Fall of Constantinople, 29 May 1453
Period: 15th-16th…
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