Spices were the trigger of globalization, I would say. In the Age of Exploration, which began in the early 15th century, European countries sought to find sea routes to India and China, and it was Spain and Portugal along the Atlantic coast who were the two greatest sea powers in the world. In 1492, Christopher Columbus under the sponsorship of Queen Isabella I of Castile discovered the New World (America) on his voyage in search of a new route to India and, in 1498, the Portuguese explorer and navigator Vasco da Gama found a new route to India around the southernmost tip of Africa. Ever since the Earth was proved to be round, European countries have kept searching for alternative trade route to expand their power and wealth through their colonial empires and it eventually allowed the global mapping of the world.

 It was the Cape of Good Hope, the southernmost tip of Africa that the Portuguese expedition sailed round to reach India. The Cape of Good Hope was a name given by John II of Portugal because its discovery was a good omen that India could be reached by sea from Europe.

 The Cape of Good Hope is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the Cape Town area. As explained in the last column, Cape Town is the legislative capital of South Africa, the one-time settlement of the Dutch East India Company and a city later ruled by the British.

 There are many must-see attractions in Cape Town other than the Cape of Good Hope, and here are some :

 Located south of Cape Town, Table Mountain has a flat top formed through weathering and it looks like a table from a distance. It is often covered in a cloud, which is known as Table Cloth. This 260 million year-old mountain is among the oldest mountains in the world and it is home to nearly 2,200 species of plant.

 At Boulders Beach, which now forms part of the Table Mountain National Park, you can meet cute, cuddly penguins. Penguins in South Africa; Strange as it sounds, South Africa is home to the African penguin that's Africa's only nesting penguin of the 17 different species of penguin alive today. From two breeding pairs of penguins in 1982, the penguin colony has grown to about 3,000, but African Penguins were moved to the Endangered list in May 2010.

 South Africa is the only country in the world to border both the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean, as shown on the map. Taking advantage of its geographical location, Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town offers an overwhelming view of over 3,000 marine animals found in the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean.

 Korea has Kyochon and BBQ Chicken, and South Africa has Nando's. Nando's is one of the most successful fast food franchises in South Africa. It offers chicken dishes with a range of PERi-PERi sauces (made with African Bird's Eye Chilli).

 In 1987, two men bought a Portuguese restaurant in the Johannesburg suburb Rosettenville after they tried the delicious chicken, cooked in PERi-PERi sauce. They renamed the restaurant Nando's and, 30 years later, it became a huge restaurant chain with 1,000 branches in 35 countries around the world.

 I remember going to Nando's quite often when I was young and lived in South Africa and their PERi-PERi chicken tasted still great when I visited Nando's many years later during my stays in America and Britain. Singapore, Malaysia, the United States and Dubai all have Nando's. If you have a plan to visit any of these countries, make sure that you try some PERi-PERi chicken. Personally, I'm looking forward to seeing Nando's in Korea someday.

 Not only their PERi-PERi chicken, but their sauces are also very popular and widely available from a range of retailers. Their range of sauces combine with flavor with varying degrees of heat from very spicy Tabasco-hot type to sweet lemon and herb perfect for roast chicken. These are different from Korean chicken sauces, but great in their own way.

 But, what's particularly interesting about Nando's is their brand story; it was Portuguese explorers who made their special sauce made with lemon and garlic based on PERi-PERi sauce prevalent in Mozambique. In fact, piri piri is a type of chili pepper that grows in South Africa, Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe and the dictionary records it as the Portuguese word meaning a hot sauce made with red chilli peppers and lemon and giving its origin as the Onga language of Southern Mozambique word for pepper.

 If you know world history, it may not be surprising that Africa and Portugal share a close historical connection. In the age of modern colonialism, Portugal extended their empire across the world to Brazil, Macau and Mumbai (formally called Bombay), as well as the African countries of Mozambique, Angola and Guinea. On Vasco da Gama's voyage to India mentioned earlier, Mozambique was one of important trade outposts and it was under Portuguese colonial rule over 470 years from 1505. This historical background is in fact behind the birth of brands such as Nando's.

 Today's column began with Portugal searching for a spice trade route and ended with the many spices found in Africa. In a sense, Nando's is the brand that truly represents globalization. That's because, in the 21st century, African spice is being spread all around the world by Nando's as it went global in the 15th century, triggering globalization.

 In the next column, I will take you to Yemen in the Arab world. The country now struggles with civil war and conflict with outside force, but people there live on hopes. I will then come back when a cool breeze comes with the start of autumn.