<P> In the 13th and 14th centuries, a number of Europeans, many of them Christian missionaries, had sought to penetrate into China . The most famous of these travelers was Marco Polo . But these journeys had little permanent effect on East - West trade because of a series of political developments in Asia in the last decades of the 14th century, which put an end to further European exploration of Asia . The Yuan dynasty in China, which had been receptive to European missionaries and merchants, was overthrown, and the new Ming rulers were found to be unreceptive of religious proselytism . Meanwhile, the Turks consolidated control over the eastern Mediterranean, closing off key overland trade routes . Thus, until the 15th century, only minor trade and cultural exchanges between Europe and Asia continued at certain terminals controlled by Muslim traders . </P> <P> Western European rulers determined to find new trade routes of their own . The Portuguese spearheaded the drive to find oceanic routes that would provide cheaper and easier access to South and East Asian goods . This chartering of oceanic routes between East and West began with the unprecedented voyages of Portuguese and Spanish sea captains . Their voyages were influenced by medieval European adventurers, who had journeyed overland to the Far East and contributed to geographical knowledge of parts of Asia upon their return . </P> <P> In 1488, Bartolomeu Dias rounded the southern tip of Africa under the sponsorship of Portugal's John II, from which point he noticed that the coast swung northeast (Cape of Good Hope). While Dias' crew forced him to turn back, by 1497, Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama made the first open voyage from Europe to India . In 1520, Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese navigator in the service of the Crown of Castile (' Spain'), found a sea route into the Pacific Ocean . </P> <P> In 1509, the Portuguese under Francisco de Almeida won the decisive battle of Diu against a joint Mamluk and Arab fleet sent to expel the Portuguese of the Arabian Sea . The victory enabled Portugal to implement its strategy of controlling the Indian Ocean . </P>

As of 1900 taiwan and korea were colonies of france