The men of Venice, on the other hand, sent their vessels to Alexandria, and carried on their trade with the East through the Red Sea.
[Illustration: Routes to India] %3.

New Routes wanted.%--Splendid as this trade was, however, it was doomed to destruction.

Slowly, but surely, the Turks thrust themselves across the caravan routes, cutting off one by one the great feeders of the Oriental trade, till, with the capture of Constantinople in 1453, they destroyed the commercial career of Genoa.

As their power was spreading rapidly over Syria and toward Egypt, the prosperity of Venice, in turn, was threatened.

The day seemed near when all trade between the Indies and Europe would be ended, and men began to ask if it were not possible to find an ocean route to Asia.
Now, it happened that just at this time the Portuguese were hard at work on the discovery of such a route, and were slowly pushing their way down the western coast of Africa.