We either take these things for granted or, with our methods of feeding cattle in winter or keeping food in refrigerators, get on without them. It is difficult for us to imagine now how much Europeans at that time felt the need for such things as camphor, pepper, cinnamon, ginger, or nutmeg. The riches of what was loosely called 'The Indies' were fabulous, particularly in the matter of spices. The journey would certainly be worth making. It was not even known that if a ship sailed down the west coast of Africa, it could find a way through to the Indian Ocean, although some geographers at that time had guessed that this might be so.
America and Australia were undiscovered and very little had been found out about Asia and Africa.
In the fifteenth century very little was known of the geography of our globe.
