Chapter 17 : Expanding Horizons Wanting a share of the profitable overland spice trade from Asia controlled by Muslims and Italians, European countries bordering the Atlantic competed to find a direct sea route to the spice-producing islands of Southeast Asia. The competition resulted in the establishment of trading centers in India and Southeast Asia and the development of overseas empires. This overseas expansion brought riches for the Europeans, but the peoples they encountered in Asia, Africa, and the Americas saw their traditional cultures undermined. Millions died of mistreatment or diseases. Others were enslaved and forcibly removed from their homelands to work plantations and mines in the Americas. In the new global trading network, agricultural and raw materials flowed to Europe from Asia, Africa, and the Americas, and European manufactured goods were shipped around the world.