But then fortunes changed. In 1498, while exploring the Paria peninsula in what is now northern Venezuela, Columbus came across locals wearing strings of pearls around their necks and shortly afterwards discovered a set of islands with astonishingly rich oyster beds. Explorers rushed to fill their ships with the prizes. Contemporary accounts record how sacks filled to bursting with pearls, “some as large as hazelnuts, very clear and beautiful,” were shipped back to Spain, generating fortunes for the captains and crews who brought them home.
In “The Silk Roads: A New History of the World” by Peter Frankopan