Eyes on the East: Chronicles of the Indian Ocean Spice Trade
As the 15th century ended, Europeans were still mostly in the dark about the Eastern world. Early travelers like Marco Polo had given the West tidbits of information, but these accounts were too highly colored and fragmentary to provide a true picture of Asia. The first really accurate and detailed reports came out in the 1500s from four remarkable travelers - Tomé Pires, Garcia de Orta, Jan Huygen van Linschoten, and Ralph Fitch.