Ormuz, which,
we have seen, was one of the centres of the Eastern trade. Even
more important was the capture of the Moluccas, or Spice Islands,
which were discovered in 1511, after the Portuguese had seized
Malacca. By 1521 the Portuguese had full possession of the Spice
Islands, and thus held the trade of condiments entirely in their
own hands. The result was seen soon in the rise of prices in the
European markets. Whereas at the end of the fifteenth century pepper,
for instance, was about 17s. a pound, from 1521 and onwards its
average price grew to be 25s., and so with almost all the ingredients
by which food could be made more tasty. One of the circumstances,
however, which threw the monopoly into the hands of the Portuguese
was the seizure of Egypt in 1521 by the Turks under Selim I., which
would naturally derange the course of trade from its old route
through Alexandria. From the Moluccas easy access was found to
China, and ultimately to Japan, so that the Portuguese for a time
held in their hands the whole of the Eastern trade, on which Europe
depended for most of its luxuries.

As we shall see, the Portuguese only won by a neck--if we may use
a sporting expression--in the race for the possession of the Spice
Islands. In the very year they obtained possession of them, Magellan,
on his way round the world, had reached the Philippines, within a
few hundred miles of them, and his ship, the _Victoria_, actually
sailed through them that year. In fact, 1521 is a critical year in
the discovery of the world, for both the Spanish and Portuguese
(the two nations who had attempted to reach the Indies eastward and
westward) arrived at the goal of their desires, the Spice Islands,
in that same year, while the closure of Egypt to commerce occurred
opportunely to divert the trade into the hands of the Portuguese.
Finally, the year 1521 was signalised by the death of King Emmanuel
of Portugal, under whose auspices the work of Prince Henry the
Navigator was completed.

It must here be observed that we are again anticipating matters. As
soon as the discovery of the New World was announced, the Pope was
appealed to, to determine the relative shares of Spain and Portugal
in the discoveries which would clearly follow upon Columbus's voyage.
By his Bull, dated 4th May 1493, Alexander VI. granted all discoveries
to the west to Spain, leaving it to be understood that all to the
east belonged to Portugal. The line of demarcation was