Portuguese mariners built the earliest trading-post empire. By the mid 16th century Portuguese merchants had built more than 50 trading posts between west Africa and east Asia. In some posts they traded west African slaves and tried to control the South African gold trade. At Melaka they oversaw shopping between the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean, and they channeled trade in clovers and nutmeg though Ternate in the spice islands of Melaka.

Describe the trading-post empire of the Portuguese.