It was even said that a grain of pepper was worth its weight in gold. Given this, the Europeans decided to go get the spices themselves. Subsequently, in the 13th century, came the visit to China of Marco Polo via the Silk Road. His travelogue talked about gold being used in the building of magnificent royal Chinese palaces and this filled Westerners with an insatiable yearning to travel to the East.
魏德文說，一千多年前阿拉伯人把東南亞香料引進到歐洲，售價昂貴，甚至有「一粒胡椒一粒金」的說法，歐洲人就想自己取得；其次，13 世紀義大利人馬可波羅由絲路來到中國，他的遊記記載中國宮廷用黃金打造的繁華榮景，更激起了西方人對東方的無限嚮往。