Atlantic-built ships enabled small European powers to dominate Asian seas

Evidence

The coming of West European ships built for the Atlantic brought a devastating impact. A ship built to withstand the Atlantic gales had to be bigger and stronger than those built for the Med­ iterranean or the Indian Ocean, so they could mount more guns, carry larger cargoes, travel greater distances. That was why a small country like Portugal was able to establish an empire in Asia in defiance of such mighty military powers as the sultans of Turkey, the shahs of Persia, the moguls of India. By the eigh­ teenth century we find even Muslim pilgrims from India and Indonesia who book their passage to Arabia on west European ships, Portuguese or Dutch, because it was cheaper, quicker and safer. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 794

Categorization

• XREF: Technical maritime superiority as the mechanism behind European imperial reach — connects to broader debates on why West over East, relevant to the reader’s Said-adjacent cluster.