Quote Originally Posted by Red Peasant
I agree with you completely Aenlic. I was trying to assert that a trip around Africa would have probably been even more difficult for the Phoenicians.
Oy. Sorry about that. Quoted the wrong person in my reply. You're absolutely correct about rounding Africa. The Cape of Good Hope is very badly named. The Benguela current on the Atlantic side runs smack into the Agulhas current on the Indian Ocean side in opposite directions before the former turns north up the western coast and the later turns south toward Antarctica. The opposing currents make a huge mess of the seas. Add in seasonal bad weather and the trade winds which flow in the opposite direction of the Agulhas current heading east from Cape Elizabeth and things are just plain nasty there. The Portuguese sailors did a phenomenal thing making that crossing. I suspect that the conditions at that point may have been what kept Zheng He's fleet from making the crossing going the opposite way.

And to get back on topic...

I read somewhere that the major impetus for Germany's late 19th century colonial efforts was a desperate need for raw materials, for things like fertilizer. It was also one of the minor and often forgotten reasons for WWI, Germany being squeezed out of the global race for raw materials from colonies. Colonial aspirations were certainly the main reason for the Spanish-American War. How many other conflicts between European powers resulted from colonial beginnings? Or were colonial conflicts just the excuse used?