How did Vasco da Gama’s voyage to India threaten Venice’s spice trade?

Vasco da Gama’s voyage to India threatened Venice’s spice trade by establishing a direct maritime route to the East, bypassing the traditional overland and Red Sea paths that Venice had long dominated.12

For centuries, Venice held a near-monopoly on the European spice trade by acting as the primary intermediary for goods arriving in the Mediterranean via Egypt and the Levant. By sailing around the Cape of Good Hope, the Portuguese were able to transport spices directly to Europe, undermining the Venetian system of middlemen.132

This shift was part of a broader Portuguese strategy to establish strategic command of the Indian Ocean through fortified posts, such as those established by Afonso de Albuquerque. By controlling these maritime lanes, Portugal sought to cripple the economy of the Middle East—which was increasingly under Ottoman Empire control—and diminish the commercial dominance that had fueled Venice’s immense wealth and influence. While Venetian control did not collapse immediately, the emergence of this alternative route fundamentally challenged its long-standing economic supremacy.23