ABSTRACT
Alexander’s campaigns resulted in a network of Greek kingdoms on the north-west frontier of India. Under the Roman Empire, Roman ships went regularly down the Red Sea and as far east as Ceylon. Kings in ancient India issued coinage on the Roman model. The overseas discoveries resulted in a redistribution of power in Europe. Hitherto civilisation had centred round the Mediterranean. But these discoveries reduced the Mediterranean to a lake, and power shifted to the north-west, especially to England. In the Dark Ages which followed, Europe was reduced to a semi-Asiatic condition, and life was so insecure that intercourse with distant lands died out. e. The idealism of European sailors was reinforced by business necessity, and governments became willing to spend money on exploration which would give them a cheap sea passage to the Indies, a direct route with no profiteering middlemen.
