How did the sea route around the Cape of Good Hope affect Mediterranean trade?

The discovery of a sea route around the Cape of Good Hope in the late 15th century fundamentally altered the economic role of the Mediterranean Sea. Prior to this, Italian commercial states and other Mediterranean powers held a monopoly as intermediaries for trade between the Orient and northwestern Europe.12

The new maritime route provided a safer and more direct connection between Europe and Asia, effectively bypassing the traditional land and sea routes that traversed the eastern Mediterranean and western Asia. This shift had several major consequences:31

• Loss of Commercial Supremacy: The Mediterranean lands lost their function as the primary middlemen for Eastern goods, such as spices. The commercial dominance of Italian cities, which had been built on this monopoly, was ultimately destroyed by the rise of Atlantic-based trade.14
• Economic Decline: For more than two and a half centuries, the Mediterranean remained a backwater of world trade and traffic.1
• Shift in Power: The focus of European economic power moved toward the Atlantic, favoring ports in northwestern Europe, such as Lisbon and Antwerp, and later the Dutch and English merchant fleets.42

It was not until the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 that the Mediterranean regained its status as one of the world's busiest sea-lanes.1