A Portuguese Empire of Commerce

The Portuguese Empire created a "trading post empire", which means rather than controlling large territories or populations, they wanted to control commerce, or trade, by using violence and not by economic competition, in an attempt to take over Indian Ocean commerce.  However, the Portuguese failed to do so, and began to get involved with carrying Asian goods and selling their shipping services, as they had trouble selling their own goods.  The Portuguese became largely involved with the Asian population because the Asian traders were in greater numbers than the Portuguese, even in their own major settlements.  The Portuguese "trading post empire" quickly began to decline by the year 1600.  Many other European countries did not want the Portuguese to dominate Indian Ocean commerce, causing them to also be against the Portuguese attempt to take over the spice trade of Europe.