_ 126 _ over a vast area and was under the control of strongly structured merchant societies. India was the goal of the Portuguese expeditions because it was the vital centre of the Ocean, where the sea routes joining the three continents of the Old World met. Two contrary monsoons directed towards it sails from the China Sea, the Middle East and Africa. In the 9th century, when Arabs undertook the first transoceanic voyages from Siraf to Canton, they had to put in at places along the Indian coast while they waited for favourable winds to take them to the far East. Something can be learnt of their itineraries and their trading networks from accounts of their voyages, but the sources for the 15th century, both oriental and European, are much richer and give a picture of the framework within which Portuguese expansion took place. The Asian context of this expansion can only be understood in the light of preceding developments and a knowledge of the men, the customs and the local traditions which the Portuguese encountered. Only thus can the difficulties they met be understood, also the conditions of their successes and the reactions which were provoked by their presence. I shall not list the available sources but rather emphasize their diversity. The lands of the Indian Ocean
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