_ 476 _ The determination of the King and the most influential ministers of his Court ensured the triumph of the idea of expansion and resulted in the annual dispatch of fleets for the immediate establishment of trade relations and the gathering of information destined for study in Lisbon in relation to the realization of Manuel's policy. In maps and the King's instructions and the replies of his agents it is evident that the intention was definitely to remain in the East, and the choice was only between methods of achieving establishment. Contact with peoples of a high level of civilization, provisioned by wealthy and long-standing trade required an improvement in the trading methods of the Portuguese, which had been fashioned by trade with coastal Africa, and adaptation to the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean routes in order to satisfy their economic requirements. In any case, only the subjection of traders to Portuguese authority could ensure a monopoly in that region which did not seriously impinge upon the normal consumption of those peoples who were supplied by the areas producing spices and drugs. Portuguese activity was conditioned by the effort of moving the produce of the Orient by the route round southern Africa, by conflict with vessels plying in the
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