Or rather, the Age of Exploration happened in general.
All of the middlemen (Venice, but also the Ottoman Empire) no longer controlled trade links from Asia to Europe. New sea routes around Africa and routes to the Americas were now more profitable.
Northern_Baron on
Honestly its frightening how reliant nations can become on precise geopolitical circumstances and can crumble once the latter changes.
I, for example, am from Latvia which for ~300 years was the export gate of Russia and brought immense wealth to our capital city and other ports. Now with Russians having left (good thing overall) and having constructed their own ports the wealth has also visibly shifted away.
2 Comments
Columbus happened
Or rather, the Age of Exploration happened in general.
All of the middlemen (Venice, but also the Ottoman Empire) no longer controlled trade links from Asia to Europe. New sea routes around Africa and routes to the Americas were now more profitable.
Honestly its frightening how reliant nations can become on precise geopolitical circumstances and can crumble once the latter changes.
I, for example, am from Latvia which for ~300 years was the export gate of Russia and brought immense wealth to our capital city and other ports. Now with Russians having left (good thing overall) and having constructed their own ports the wealth has also visibly shifted away.