Intro (English) to the Resolutions of Cape of Good Hope / History of the Cape of Good Hope of the Council of Policy of Cape of Good Hope History of the Cape of Good Hope A Portuguese discovers the sea route from Europe to India In August 1486 the Portuguese navigator, Bartholomeu Dias, set sail from the Tagus River at Lisbon with his fleet of two small vessels and a cargo ship. The objective of his journey was to sail round the southern point of Africa in order find a seaway and a trade route to India . At Angra Pequena (now Lüderitzbucht , Namibia ) he erected a cross. Then a tremendous storm forced his ships off course and he and his crew did not reach land until they entered the bay, which is known today as Mossel Bay . It was then that Dias realised that they had already passed the tip of Africa and had actually discovered the sea route to the East. The indigenous Khoi pastoralists fled when they saw the ships entering the bay. On the island of St. Croix near Algoa Bay he also erected a cross and probably kept on sailing until they reached the Fish River in the present Eastern Cape .

There the small fleet had to turn back because of insufficient supplies on board. On his return voyage Dias, elated by the realisation of having discovered the sea route to India , changed the name Cabo Tormentoso ‘cape of storms’ to Cabo da boa Esperanza ‘cape of good hope’. Portugal continued the expansion of its Indian empire and Portuguese fleets to the East regularly passed the Cape . In 1498 Vasco da Gama named the above-mentioned bay where Dias landed Aguada de Sâo Bras ‘fountain-head of St. Blaize’. On his voyage to India (1501-1502) Joâo de Nova and his fleet also visited the bay and in his turn he named it Golfo dos Vaqueiros ‘bay of herdsmen’. He also built a small chapel, the first Christian structure erected in South Africa . De Nova continued his journey and reached Rio de la Goa ‘river of the lake’, the place that was named in 1544 by Lourenço Marques after himself.

In 1503 one of the three squadrons belonging to this fleet was under the command of Antonio de Saldanha who made a navigational error and eventually reached the bay now known as Table Bay . In March 1510 the Portuguese viceroy Francisco d’ Almeida who had just established Portuguese authority in the Indian Ocean, and a number of his high-ranking officers were killed in Table Bay during a skirmish with a group of Khoi. The inhospitable coastline of Southern Africa was the most important reason why the Portuguese rulers were not interested in occupying this country. HISTORY OF PORTUGAL Enjoy the Famous Daily Navigation and exploration: 1415-1460 Europe's exploration of the world begins in the 15th century, pioneered by Portugal. The Portuguese sailors are under the control of Henry, one of the sons of John I . Although no seaman himself, his energy and vision earns him the name by which history knows him - Prince Henry the Navigator. In 1415 the Portuguese sail a fleet of some 200 ships from Lisbon to attack the Muslims on the African coast.

They successfully take the strategic promontory of Ceuta, on the southern side of the Straits of Gibraltar. The 21-year-old Henry is one of the first to fight his way into the city. He is subsequently given responsibility for the Portuguese garrison there. The capture of Ceuta seems to be the event which fires Henry's enthusiasm for exploration round Africa's coasts. Later in his life he builds himself a villa at Sagres, in the extreme southwest of Portugal, where he establishes a laboratory of seafaring. He gathers there a team of skilled navigators, geographers and mapmakers. His ships sail from the Portuguese harbour of Lagos, a few miles to the east. The main purpose of Prince Henry's efforts will be expeditions pressing ever further south round Africa. But his attention is first drawn to island groups in the Atlantic - Madeira and the Azores. Madeira features on an Italian portolan chart of 1351 but an accidental sighting by a Portuguese navigator, blown off course in 1418, is regarded at the time as a discovery. Returning in 1420, the navigator (João Gonçalves Zarco) finds the island uninhabited and lush.

Prince Henry immediately despatches colonists both for Madeira and its smaller companion, Porto Santo. The forests are slashed and burned. Rich land is brought into cultivation, mainly for sugar cane and vineyards. The productivity of the islands soon comes to depend on another aspect of Portugal's new seafaring activities - the African slave trade , which results from Prince Henry's later expeditions. A group of islands much further into the ocean is sighted by a Portuguese ship in 1427. Prince Henry sends settlers to the Azores from 1432. The practical use of these islands is not yet obvious. But with the European discovery of America in 1492, and of the sea route round Africa to India in 1498, the Azores become an invaluable landfall almost in the middle of the north Atlantic. They are particularly well placed, in later centuries, for ships on the long curving ocean route between Europe and the Cape of Good Hope . As yet these future advantages are unknown to Henry the Navigator, whose ambitions now centre on Africa. Down the African coast: 1434-1460 Many and varied motives lie behind Prince Henry 's African expeditions.

In part they are pure voyages of discovery, driven by a longing to know what new places, people, animals or plants may lie beyond the next forbidding headland. Partly they are a straightforward quest for Africa's gold. Then there is the hope of colonizing new lands for Portugal. There is the desire to spread Christianity and frustrate Islam. There is even the fanciful dream of coming across a fabulous Christian ruler, Prester John . But the overriding purpose is to discover a sea route round Africa to the east, with its rich promise of trade in valuable spices. Ocean-going ships are improving at this period (the era of the caravel ), but the sheer difficulty faced by the sailors is well suggested by the long struggle to get round Cape Bojador - a promontory only about 150 miles south of the Canaries. Prince Henry sends out fourteen expeditions to attempt this feat before at last one is successful, in 1434. In the 1440s progress is quicker. Caravels sail round Cape Verde in 1444 and Cape Roxo in 1446, bringing them to the northern part of what is later Portuguese Guinea .

By the time of Prince Henry's death, in 1460, navigators have explored as far south as Sierra Leone. They have also discovered the uninhabited Cape Verde islands . Portuguese settlers move into the Cape Verde islands in about 1460. In 1466 they are given an economic advantage which guarantees their prosperity. They are granted a monopoly of a new slave trade. On the coast of Guinea the Portuguese are now setting up trading stations to buy captive Africans. Some of these slaves are used to work the settlers' estates in the Cape Verde islands. Others are sent north for sale in Madeira, or in Portugal and Spain - where Seville now becomes an important market. Africans have been imported by this sea route into Europe since at least 1444, when one of Henry the Navigator's expeditions returns with slaves exchanged for Moorish prisoners. Dias and the Cape of Good Hope: 1487-1488 The two most significant Portuguese voyages of exploration take place a generation after the death of Henry the Navigator .

In the first, in 1487-8, Bartolomeu Dias proves that there is a sea route round the southern tip of Africa. In the second, ten years later, Vasco da Gama demonstrates that this route leads to India. Dias is already a veteran navigator along the coast of northwest Africa when he sets off from Lisbon, in August 1487, with two caravels and a storeship. Two or three months later he passes Cape Cross - reached in the previous year by Diogo Cam, and as yet the furthest point south of any Portuguese expedition. Dias abandons his depleted store ship somewhere south of Cape Cross. At Angra Pequena he pauses to erect a stone pillar, declaring that the king of Portugal is the overlord of this region. These pillars, and this claim, have by now become the standard practice of the Portuguese expeditions whenever new territory is reached. Diogo Cam, the immediate predecessor of Dias, has erected four - at the mouth of the Congo, at Cape Santa Maria, at Cape Negro and Cape Cross. From Angra Pequena the two caravels of Dias sail due south. They see no land for thirteen days. Dias turns northeast.

He makes landfall at Mossel Bay in February 1488. The coastline here runs east and west. Dias, whose crew are becoming restless, continues to the east. At Cape Padrone, where he sets up a second pillar, his officers insist that they have achieved enough. They should set sail for Portugal. He persuades them to continue a little further until the northeast trend of the coastline becomes unmistakable. This seems indeed to be the case by the time they have reached the Great Fish river. The two ships turn home. On the way back Dias erects a third stone pillar at the Cape of Good Hope - a magnificent acquisition for the king of Portugal, previously missed because of the long seaward loop on the journey out. Dias and his ships reach Lisbon in December 1488. They have been away for sixteen months. They have sailed round more than 1200 miles of previously undiscovered coastline. They have not reached India, but their rounding of the Cape is considered proof that this longer journey is possible. When the next major attempt is planned, Dias is put in charge of building the two main caravels.

But the command of the expedition is given to a younger man, Vasco da Gama . The ships leave Lisbon in 1497. Dias is allowed to accompany them, but only as far as the Cape Verde Islands - a mere hop for a navigator of his distinction. The Tordesillas Line: 1493-1500 When Columbus returns to Spain in 1493, with the first news of the West Indies, Ferdinand and Isabella are determined to ensure that these valuable discoveries belong to them rather than to seafaring Portugal. They secure from the Borgia pope, Alexander VI, a papal bull to the effect that all lands west of a certain line shall belong exclusively to Spain (in return for converting the heathen). All those to the east of the line shall belong on the same basis to Portugal. The pope draws this line down through the Atlantic 100 leagues (300 miles) west of the Cape Verde islands , Portugal's most westerly possession. The king of Portugal, John II, protests that this trims him too tight. The line cramps the route which Portuguese sailors must take through the Atlantic before turning east round Africa.

Spanish and Portuguese ambassadors, meeting in 1494 at Tordesillas in northwest Spain, resolve the dispute. They accept the principle of the line but agree to move it to a point 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde islands. The new line has a profound significance which no one as yet appreciates. It slices through the entire eastern part of south America from the mouth of the Amazon to São Paulo. The east coast of south America is first reached by Spanish and Portuguese navigators in the same year, 1500. The agreement at Tordesillas gives the territory to Portugal. Thus the vast area of Brazil, the largest territory of south America, becomes an exception in the subcontinent - the only part not to be in the Spanish empire, and the only modern country in Latin America with Portuguese rather than Spanish as its national language. The Portuguese and India: 1497-1502 An important expedition to the east leaves Lisbon in 1497. In July Vasco da Gama sails south in his flagship, the St Gabriel, accompanied by three other vessels. In late November the little fleet rounds the Cape of Good Hope.

Soon they are further up the east coast of Africa than Dias ventured ten years earler. In March they reach Mozambique. They are excited to find Arab vessels in the harbour, trading in gold, silver and spices, and to hear that Prester John is alive and well, living somewhere inland. In the well-established Portuguese tradition, da Gama has on board a good supply of stone pillars . He sets one up in each new territory, to claim it for his king. The real prize lies ahead, a dangerous journey away, across the Indian Ocean. At Malindi, on the coast of Kenya, a pilot is found who knows the route northeast to Calicut, an important trading centre in southern India. After twenty-three days Calicut is safely reached. Da Gama is welcomed by the local Hindu ruler, who must surely wonder why his guest is so keen to erect a stone pillar. Da Gama spends three months in Calicut before sailing back to Africa. Adverse winds extend the crossing this time from three weeks to three months, and before the African coast is reached many of the crew die of scurvy -- a first glimpse of one of the problems of ocean travel.

Da Gama arrives back in Lisbon in September 1499, more than two years after his departure. He is richly rewarded by the king, Manuel I, with honours, money and land. He has not managed to conclude a treaty with the ruler of Calicut. But he has proved that trade with the east by sea is possible. Manuel moves quickly to seize the opportunity. Six months later, in March 1500, the king sends Pedro Cabral on the same journey. He takes such a curving westerly route through the Atlantic that he chances upon the coast of Brazil (an accident with its own significant results). This time a warehouse is established in Calicut, but the Portuguese left there to run it are murdered. To avenge this act, da Gama is sent east again in 1502. He bombards Calicut from mortars aboard his ship. With this clear evidence of Portuguese power a treaty becomes available. These events, east and west in India and Brazil , provide the basis of the Portuguese empire, with all its rich opportunities for future traders and missionaries .

Portugal's eastern trade: 1508-1595 The profitable trade in eastern spices is cornered by the Portuguese in the 16th century to the detriment of Venice , which has previously had a virtual monopoly of these valuable commodities - until now brought overland through India and Arabia, and then across the Mediterranean by the Venetians for distribution in western Europe. By establishing the sea route round the Cape, Portugal can undercut the Venetian trade with its profusion of middlemen. The new route is firmly secured for Portugal by the activities of Afonso de Albuquerque, who takes up his duties as the Portuguese viceroy of India in 1508. The early explorers up the east Africa coast have left Portugal with bases in Mozambique and Zanzibar. Albuquerque extends this secure route eastwards by capturing and fortifying Hormuz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf in 1514, Goa on the west coast of India in 1510 (where he massacres the entire Muslim population for the effrontery of resisting him) and Malacca, guarding the narrowest channel of the route east, in 1511.

The island of Bombay is ceded to the Portuguese in 1534. An early Portuguese presence in Sri Lanka is steadily increased during the century. And in 1557 Portuguese merchants establish a colony on the island of Macao. Goa functions from the start as the capital of Portuguese India. Rivals in the overseas trade: 1555-1595 With this chain of fortified ports of call, and with no vessels in the Indian Ocean capable of challenging her power at sea, Portugal has a monopoly of the eastern spice trade. Indeed the English, now developing interests of their own in ocean commerce, consider that their only hope of trade with the far east is to find a route north of Russia. One of the first joint-stock enterprises, the Muscovy Company chartered in 1555, results from early efforts to find a northeast passage . Of the other Atlantic maritime powers, Spain is mainly occupied with its American responsibilities. And the Dutch enjoy a direct benefit from Portugal's trade. Their ships have a monopoly in ferrying the precious eastern cargoes from Lisbon to northern Europe. The situation changes suddenly in 1580, when the Spanish (perennial enemies of the Dutch) occupy Portugal.

The Portuguese Empire The Portuguese Empire The Portuguese soldiers captured Ceuta in 1415. Throughout the 15th century, Portuguese ships organized by Henry the Navigator explored the West coast of Africa, mapping the territory and pursuing trade, particularly in gold and slaves. By 1487, Bartolomeu Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and in 1498 Vasco da Gama reached India and established the first Portuguese outposts there. The discovery of the sea route around Africa to India and the rest of Asia opened enormous opportunities to trade for Portugal, and Portugal moved aggressively to establish both trade outposts and fortified bases to control this trade. In East Africa, small Islamic states along the coast of Mozambique, Kilwa, Brava and Mombasa were destroyed or became subjects or allies of Portugal. Pedro de Covilha had reached Abyssinia as early as 1490. In the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea, one of Pedro �lvares Cabral's ships discovered Madagascar, which was partly explored by Trista da Cunha (1507); Mauritius was discovered in 1507, Socotra occupied in 1506, and in the same year D.

Lourenço d'Almeida visited Ceylon. The Portuguese empire in the East was guaranteed by the Treaty of Tordesillas, and Portugal established trading ports at far-flung locations like Goa, Malacca, the Maluku Islands, Macau, and Nagasaki. Guarding its trade jealously from both European and Asian competitors, Portugal dominated not only the trade between Asia and Europe, but also much of the trade among different regions of Asia, such as India, Indonesia, China, and Japan. Jesuit missionaries followed the Portuguese to spread Roman Catholic Christianity to Asia with mixed success. Brazil was discovered in 1500 by Pedro Álvares Cabral. Although initially less important, Brazil would become the most important colony of the empire, from which Portugal gathered resources such as gold, precious stones, sugar cane, coffee and other cash crops. Competition and Decline From 1580 to 1640, the throne of Portugal was held by the Habsburg kings of Spain. This period marked a phase of decline for the Portuguese Empire.

Spain's enemies, such as the Netherlands and England, coveted their overseas wealth, and in many cases found it easier to attack poorly-defended Portuguese outposts than Spanish ones; Spain also pursued a policy of neglect of the Portuguese colonies it now controlled. Although Dutch colonies in Brazil were wiped out, over the 17th century the Dutch were able to occupy Ceylon, the Cape of Good Hope, and the East Indies, and to take over the trade with Japan at Nagasaki. Portugal's Pacific territories were reduced to the bases at Macao and East Timor. In 1661 the Portuguese gave Bombay to England as part of a dowry, and over the next hundred years the British became the dominant power in India, excluding other powers from trade. Portugal retained Goa and several minor bases throughout the colonial period. The 1755 Lisbon earthquake sharply checked Portuguese colonial ambitions in the late 18th century. The quake and subsequent tsunami killed more than 100,000 people in Lisbon (then a city of 275,000). Brazil remained a territory of Portugal for many years, and became the main centre for Portugese colonial ambitions.

Voluntary immigration from Europe and the slave trade from Africa increased the population of Brazil immensely (today Brazil is the largest Portuguese-speaking country in the world). By 1822, though, Brazil declared independence with a Portuguese prince, Pedro I, as Emperor. By the height of European colonialism in the 19th century, Portugal had lost its territory in South America and all but a few bases in Asia. During this phase, Portuguese colonialism focused on expanding its outposts in Africa into nation-sized territories to compete with other European powers there. Portuguese territories eventually included the modern nations of Cape Verde, S�o Tom� and Pr�ncipe, Guinea-Bissau, Angola, and Mozambique. Fall In the wake of World War II, other European nations began abandoning their colonies either voluntarily or involuntarily. Portugal refused to enter this process voluntarily, and was the last nation to retain its major colonies. In 1961, Goa and the rest of Portuguese India were occupied and annexed by India, while a decade-long war raged in Portuguese Africa with various resistance groups.

Eventually, the cost of the unsuccessful war led the Salazar regime to collapse in 1974 (the Carnation Revolution), and one of the first acts of the democratic government which replaced it was to end the war and negotiate the hand-over of the colonies to the indigenous rebels. In Mozambique and Angola the rebels promptly entered a civil war, with incoming Communist governments backed by the Soviet Union, Cuba, and other Communist countries, and insurgent groups supported by nations like Zaire, South Africa, and the United States. East Timor also became independent at this time, but was promptly invaded by neighbouring Indonesia, which occupied it until 1999. The Portuguese Empire ended when Portugal handed Macau over to China in 1999 under the terms of a negotiated agreement similar to the one under which the United Kingdom handed over Hong Kong. The seven former colonies of Portugal that are now independent nations, together with Portugal, are members of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP). BBC - History - British History in depth: Vasco da Gama Print this page The search for trade routes Vasco da Gama's pioneering sea voyage to India is one of the defining moments in the history of exploration.

Apart from being one the greatest pieces of European seamanship of that time - a far greater achievement than Christopher Columbus's crossing of the Atlantic - his journey acted as a catalyst for a series of events that changed the world. By the middle of the 15th century, Portugal was the leading maritime nation in Europe, thanks largely to the legacy of Prince Henry the Navigator, who had brought together a talented group of mapmakers, geographers, astronomers and navigators at his school of seamanship at Sagres, in southern Portugal. Henry sponsored voyages of exploration south along the west African coast... but the southern extent of the continent remained unknown to Europeans. Henry's intention had been to find a sea route to India that would give Portugal access to the lucrative trade in spices from the Far East. He had hoped to be aided by an alliance with the elusive Prester John, whose Christian empire was thought to exist somewhere in Africa and who might have provided assistance to Christians in any fight to overcome Muslim dominance of the Indian Ocean trade.

For 40 years, Henry sponsored voyages of exploration south along the west African coast, resulting in a lucrative trade in slaves and gold - but the southern extent of the continent remained unknown to Europeans, and the Prince's dream was not realised. It was not until 1487 that Bartholomew Diaz set off on the voyage that finally reached the southern tip of Africa. By rounding the Cape of Good Hope, Diaz proved that the Atlantic and Indian Oceans were not landlocked, as many European geographers of the time thought, and rekindled the idea that a sea route to India might indeed be feasible. To complement the sea voyages of Diaz, the Portuguese monarch King John II also sent Pedro da Covilha, a fluent Arabic speaker, out on a dangerous overland journey to India. Disguised as an Arab, Covilha gathered vital information on the ports of the east African and Indian coasts during his three-year journey. It would, however, be a further ten years before the Portuguese were able to organise a voyage to exploit the discoveries of these two explorers.

In the meantime, Christopher Columbus, sponsored by the Spanish, had returned to Europe in 1493 to announce that he had successfully found a route to the Orient by sailing west across the Atlantic. Top Rivalries A 16th-century Portuguese ship used in the Indian Ocean trade routes © The rivalry between Portugal and Spain for the control of trade with the Orient intensified. The Pope stepped in to arbitrate and in 1494, after year-long negotiations, the Treaty of Tordesillas was signed. This in effect drew an imaginary north-south dividing line through the Atlantic, some 1,770km (1,100 miles) west of Cape Verde, giving all the newly discovered lands to the west of the line to Spain and everything to the east of the line to Portugal. King John was delighted. The treaty meant that Portugal retained its control of the west African coastal trade and of the possible sea route to India. In 1497 King John's successor, Manuel I, appointed Vasco da Gama to lead a pioneering voyage to India. In 1497 King John's successor, Manuel I, appointed Vasco da Gama to lead a pioneering voyage to India.

Vasco da Gama was born in Sines, a small port in southern Portugal, in 1460 - the same year that Henry the Navigator died. His mother was of English ancestry. His father, Estevao da Gama, was head of one of Portugal's most noble families, had a distinguished military history, and was the provincial governor. When Vasco grew up he joined the navy, where he learned navigational skills and served with distinction in the war against Castille. Bartholomew Diaz personally supervised preparations for da Gama's voyage. The ordinary caravel used by Diaz was not considered sufficient - it was not robust enough, and had insufficient cargo capacity. The crew would also need better protection for the long journey ahead. The fleet consisted of four ships, two of which had been specially constructed. These were naos: square-rigged ships of shallow draught weighing about 200 tons. The flagship, St Gabriel, was captained by Vasco da Gama, and the St Raphael was under the command of his brother Paolo da Gama. Berrio Nicolau Coelho commanded a lanteen-rigged caravel of about 100 tons, and the fourth ship was a store ship.

The crew of 170 included three experienced pilots: Pedro de Alemquer, the pilot who had sailed with Diaz in 1487, Joao de Coimbra and Pero de Escolar. Top The first voyage to India Vasco da Gama and his fleet sailed from Lisbon on 8 July 1497. Bartholomew Diaz himself acted as pilot to the Canary Islands, which they reached on 15 July, and on to the Cape Verde islands. On board were the latest maps and navigational instruments. Between 26 July and 3 August the crew prepared for the next stage of their voyage without Diaz, who advised them to take an unusual course: west-south west in a huge loop out into the Atlantic to avoid the doldrums in the Gulf of Guinea. They were 965km (600 miles) from Brazil before the south-westerly winds blew them back towards southern Africa. Vaco da Gama's passage to India © On 7 November they landed at St Helena Bay, 200km (125 miles) north of the Cape of Good Hope.

They had been out of sight of land for 13 weeks - much longer than Columbus on his trans-Atlantic voyage - and had travelled a distance of more than 7,200km (4,500 miles) from Cape Verde. They would now be sailing in unknown waters, having almost reached the farthest extent of Diaz's explorations. Two days later, after leaving St Helena Bay, they rounded the Cape of Good Hope and landed at Mossel Bay, where they traded trinkets with local people in exchange for an ox. The store ship was burnt, and the supplies re-distributed among the other ships. They would now be sailing in unknown waters, having almost reached the farthest extent of Diaz's explorations. On Christmas Day 1497 the three remaining ships were sailing northwards along the east coast of what is now South Africa and called the country 'Natal'. By 11 January 1498 they were exploring the mouth of Copper River ('Rio Cobre'), named after the copper ornaments worn by the local population. When da Gama tried to trade with the ruling Sultan, his paltry gifts were scorned.

Moving slowly north east against a strong south-westerly current, they travelled 2,700km (1,700 miles) up the coast until, on 2 March 1498, they sailed into the port of Mozambique. This was one of a chain of Muslim city states, at the southernmost point of Muslim influence on the east African coast. When da Gama tried to trade with the ruling Sultan his paltry gifts were scorned. Despite sparing no expense to equip the expedition, the Portuguese had totally underestimated the quality of goods being traded in this part of the world - cotton, ivory, gold and pearls. They sailed on to Mombassa, 1,300km (800 miles) north, in the hope of more lucrative trade, but fared no better there. Fortunately the ruler of Malindi was more welcoming, and during his stay there da Gama recruited a knowledgeable and efficient pilot, possibly the great Arab navigator Ahmed Ibn Majid, to show the explorers the route to India.

Top Da Gama reaches India Da Gama tried to trade spices for trinkets © The 27-day crossing of the Arabian sea, via the Laccadive Islands to the Malabar Coast of India, was eased by the favourable monsoon winds, and the fleet arrived at Calicut on 20 May 1498. Da Gama's men were reduced to bartering on the waterfront to trade what goods they could for the homeward voyage. India's Malabar Coast was at the centre of the spice trade - it was the main outlet for Kerala's large pepper crop - and the place where ships from the Indonesian Spice Islands came to trade cloves with Arab merchants from the Red Sea and Persian Gulf. The newcomers stayed for three months, and were initially well received by the Hindu ruler, the Zamorin. But the Muslim traders also held considerable influence at court, and were unwilling to relinquish control of the spice trade to the Christian visitors - and once again the goods da Gama was offering to trade were inadequate. Relations deteriorated, and da Gama's men were reduced to bartering on the waterfront to trade what goods they could for the homeward voyage. It was a terrible voyage back to Malindi.

The pilot could not be found, the monsoons were against them and the 3,700km (2,300 mile) journey took three months. Da Gama's crew suffered terribly from scurvy and 30 men died. Only the kindness of the Sultan of Malindi saved the rest of the crew, with his gifts of fresh meat and oranges. But now, with too few men alive to sail three ships, the St Raphael was burnt. Keen to get home, the adventurers rounded the Cape of Good Hope on 20 March 1499, and sailed up the west coast of Africa. Paolo da Gama, who had been very compassionate to the sick and ailing throughout the voyage, finally succumbed to illness himself, and died on the Azores. Top Secondary voyages to India Vasco da Gama arrived in Lisbon on 18 September and rode in triumph through the city. He had been away for more than two years, travelled 38,600km (24,000 miles) and spent 300 days at sea. Only 54 of the original crew of 170 had survived, but King Manuel was very pleased.

What had been done once could be done again. The Muslim merchants were outraged at the attempt to steal their trade, and killed 50 of Cabral's men. A second voyage, involving 13 ships and 1,200 men, was immediately dispatched under Pedro Alvares Cabral to secure the sea route to India, and the fleet reached Calicut in under six months. This time the Portuguese were better prepared and brought lavish goods with which to tempt the Zamorin into a trade agreement. The Muslim merchants were outraged at this attempt to steal their trade, and killed 50 of Cabral's men. Cabral retaliated by burning ten Muslim cargo vessels and killing nearly 600 on board, and setting light to the wooden houses of Calicut in revenge. He then moved on to Cochin, where he established the first Portuguese trading post in India. He returned home in the summer of 1501. Only seven ships and half his men survived the journey, but their cargo of spices was sufficient to break the monopoly on the European spice trade previously held by Arab and Venetian merchants. The following year, Vasco da Gama commanded Portugal's third major voyage to India.

He set out with a fleet of 20 ships, including ten of his own and five each under the command of his uncle and nephew. Their task was to consolidate Portuguese dominance of the route to India, but it was to lead to one of the worst maritime massacres in history. Da Gama began a campaign of terror against Muslim shipping... After raids on several Muslim ports along the east African coast, da Gama began a campaign of terror against Muslim shipping off the Malabar Coast. Here he captured the Meri, a ship with 200 Muslim pilgrims on the return journey from Mecca, and set it alight. With some 400 men, women and children aboard, da Gama fuelled the fires for four days until all had died. He then moved on to Calicut, where he captured and dismembered 30 fishermen and let their bodies float in with the tide for their families to find. Feared and hated, he left behind the first European naval force in Asian waters. Upon his return home in September 1503, da Gama was richly rewarded by the Portuguese for his efforts and was eventually appointed Viceroy of India.

HISTORY OF EXPLORATION Enjoy the Famous Daily European maritime adventures: 1402-1460 Until the end of the Middle Ages the most westerly region known to Europeans is the Canary Islands. The islands are visited in about 40 BC by seafarers from Mauretania, a client kingdom of Rome in northwest Africa. An account of this expedition is known in the next century to Pliny the Elder. He explains that the islands are called Canaria because they have so many large dogs (canes). In the 2nd centurythe westernmost island, Ferro, the nearest known point to the setting sun, is chosen by the geographer Ptolemy as his prime meridian of longitude - the role now occupied by Greenwich. If Pliny's great dogs existed in the Canaries, they belonged to the aboriginal inhabitants. Known as the Guanches, these people seem to have been Cro-Magnon in type. They have found their way to the islands at some unkown time long before their discovery in Roman times. They remain largely undisturbed until Adventurers from France arrive in 1402 - beginning almost a century of dispute and warfare.

By the 1430s European settlement begins also on two island groups further out in the Atlantic. Unlike the Canaries, Madeira and the Azores are previously uninhabited. Their colonization by Portuguese settlers is part of the great programme of exploration associated with Prince Henry the Navigator . Madeira features on an Italian portolan chart of 1351 but an accidental sighting by a Portuguese navigator, blown off course in 1418, is regarded at the time as a discovery. Returning in 1420, the navigator (João Gonçalves Zarco) finds the island uninhabited and lush. Prince Henry immediately despatches colonists both for Madeira and its smaller companion, Porto Santo. The forests are slashed and burned. Rich land is brought into cultivation, mainly for sugar cane and vineyards. The productivity of the islands soon comes to depend on another aspect of Portugal's new seafaring activities - the African slave trade , which results from Prince Henry's later expeditions. A group of islands much further into the ocean is sighted by a Portuguese ship in 1427. Prince Henry sends settlers to the Azores from 1432.

The practical use of these islands is not yet obvious. But with the European discovery of America in 1492, and of the sea route round Africa to India in 1498, the Azores become an invaluable landfall almost in the middle of the north Atlantic. They are particularly well placed, in later centuries, for ships on the long curving ocean route between Europe and the Cape of Good Hope . As yet these future advantages are unknown to Henry the Navigator, whose ambitions now centre on Africa. Down the African coast: 1434-1460 Many and varied motives lie behind Prince Henry 's African expeditions. In part they are pure voyages of discovery, driven by a longing to know what new places, people, animals or plants may lie beyond the next forbidding headland. Partly they are a straightforward quest for Africa's gold. Then there is the hope of colonizing new lands for Portugal. There is the desire to spread Christianity and frustrate Islam. There is even the fanciful dream of coming across a fabulous Christian ruler, Prester John . But the overriding purpose is to discover a sea route round Africa to the east, with its rich promise of trade in valuable spices.

Ocean-going ships are improving at this period (the era of the caravel ), but the sheer difficulty faced by the sailors is well suggested by the long struggle to get round Cape Bojador - a promontory only about 150 miles south of the Canaries. Prince Henry sends out fourteen expeditions to attempt this feat before at last one is successful, in 1434. In the 1440s progress is quicker. Caravels sail round Cape Verde in 1444 and Cape Roxo in 1446, bringing them to the northern part of what is later Portuguese Guinea . By the time of Prince Henry's death, in 1460, navigators have explored as far south as Sierra Leone. They have also discovered the uninhabited Cape Verde islands . Dias and the Cape of Good Hope: 1487-1488 The two most significant Portuguese voyages of exploration take place a generation after the death of Henry the Navigator . In the first, in 1487-8, Bartolomeu Dias proves that there is a sea route round the southern tip of Africa.

In the second, ten years later, Vasco da Gama demonstrates that this route leads to India. Dias is already a veteran navigator along the coast of northwest Africa when he sets off from Lisbon, in August 1487, with two caravels and a storeship. Two or three months later he passes Cape Cross - reached in the previous year by Diogo Cam, and as yet the furthest point south of any Portuguese expedition. Dias abandons his depleted store ship somewhere south of Cape Cross. At Angra Pequena he pauses to erect a stone pillar, declaring that the king of Portugal is the overlord of this region. These pillars, and this claim, have by now become the standard practice of the Portuguese expeditions whenever new territory is reached. Diogo Cam, the immediate predecessor of Dias, has erected four - at the mouth of the Congo, at Cape Santa Maria, at Cape Negro and Cape Cross. From Angra Pequena the two caravels of Dias sail due south. They see no land for thirteen days. Dias turns northeast. He makes landfall at Mossel Bay in February 1488. The coastline here runs east and west.

Dias, whose crew are becoming restless, continues to the east. At Cape Padrone, where he sets up a second pillar, his officers insist that they have achieved enough. They should set sail for Portugal. He persuades them to continue a little further until the northeast trend of the coastline becomes unmistakable. This seems indeed to be the case by the time they have reached the Great Fish river. The two ships turn home. On the way back Dias erects a third stone pillar at the Cape of Good Hope - a magnificent acquisition for the king of Portugal, previously missed because of the long seaward loop on the journey out. Dias and his ships reach Lisbon in December 1488. They have been away for sixteen months. They have sailed round more than 1200 miles of previously undiscovered coastline. They have not reached India, but their rounding of the Cape is considered proof that this longer journey is possible. When the next major attempt is planned, Dias is put in charge of building the two main caravels. But the command of the expedition is given to a younger man, Vasco da Gama . The ships leave Lisbon in 1497.

Dias is allowed to accompany them, but only as far as the Cape Verde Islands - a mere hop for a navigator of his distinction. Columbus and the Catholic monarchs: 1492 In Santa Fe, a royal encampment from which the siege of Granada is conducted, the Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella debate whether to accept a proposal put to them by a visionary explorer, Christopher Columbus. For eight years Columbus has been pestering European courts, particularly those of Portugal and Spain, to sponsor him in an undertaking which obsesses him. The Portuguese explorers have had notable success in their attempts to sail east round Africa towards India and China, but Columbus has become convinced that he can achieve the same more easily by sailing west. It has long been the accepted view, deriving from Ptolemy , that nothing but sea separates Europe from India and China round the back of a spherical world. During the 15th century the notion has developed that the unseen distance by sea is much less than the known distance between Europe and China by land.

Columbus believes that he has found mathematical proof of this in an apocryphal text of the Old Testament where the prophet Esdras states that the earth is six parts land to one part sea. Columbus argues, first to the king of Portugal in 1484 and then to the Spanish monarchs, that India is therefore within reach of a caravel sailing west from the Canaries. The Portuguese court rejects his argument. The Spanish monarchs delay for years while a commission investigates his claims. Finally, in the camp near Granada, they accept his somewhat exorbitant terms regarding the honours which will be heaped upon him if he reaches India or China, and his share of whatever is found. Once agreement is reached, after so many years, Columbus moves fast. With his partners (brothers from a Spanish ship-owning family named Pinzón) he prepares vessels for the great adventure. Santa Maria, Pinta and Niña: 1492-1493 On 3 August 1492 a little fleet of three vessels sets sail from the small Spanish harbour of Palos.

Columbus is in command of the largest, the Santa Maria; the captains of the other two, the Pinta and the NiÑa, are the brothers Martin Alonso and Vicente Yañez Pinzón. Three weeks are spent loading stores in the Canaries until, on September 6, the three ships sail west into the unknown. During the next month there are several sightings of coastlines which turn out to be illusions. At last, on October 12, a look-out on the Pinta spies real land. Cape of Good Hope | promontory, South Africa | Britannica.com Cape of Good Hope Alternative Title: Cape of Storms Similar Topics Cape Horn Cape of Good Hope, rocky promontory at the southern end of Cape Peninsula, Western Cape province, South Africa . It was first sighted by the Portuguese navigator Bartolomeu Dias in 1488 on his return voyage to Portugal after ascertaining the southern limits of the African continent. One historical account says that Dias named it Cape of Storms and that John II of Portugal renamed it Cape of Good Hope (because its discovery was a good omen that India could be reached by sea from Europe); other sources attribute its present name to Dias himself.

Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve, Western Cape province, South Africa. © PhotoSky 4t com/Shutterstock.com Explore the popular attractions of Cape Town, South Africa, and the surrounding area, including the … Contunico © ZDF Enterprises GmbH, Mainz Known for the stormy weather and rough seas encountered there, the cape is situated at the convergence of the warm Mozambique-Agulhas current from the Indian Ocean and the cool Benguela current from Antarctic waters. Grass and low shrub vegetation is characteristic of the promontory, which is part of the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve (established 1939) that encompasses the southern tip of the peninsula. There is a lighthouse on Cape Point about 1.2 miles (2 km) east of the Cape of Good Hope. Learn More in these related articles: Bartolomeu Dias c. 1450 May 29, 1500 at sea, near Cape of Good Hope Portuguese navigator and explorer who led the first European expedition to round the Cape of Good Hope (1488), opening the sea route to Asia via the Atlantic and Indian oceans. He is usually considered to be the greatest of the Portuguese pioneers...

in European exploration: The sea route east by south to Cathay ...navigate by their coasts and the seas of Guinea.” In the same year, another Portuguese navigator, Bartolomeu Dias, found encouraging evidence that this was so. In 1487 he rounded the Cape of Storms in such bad weather that he did not see it, but he satisfied himself that the coast was now trending northeastward; before turning back, he reached the Great Fish River, in what is now... More about Cape of Good Hope 1 Reference found in Britannica Articles Assorted Reference Cape of Good Hope - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11) The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky point on the southern tip of the Cape Peninsula. The Cape Peninsula sticks out from southwestern Africa into the Atlantic Ocean. The Cape of Good Hope gave its name to a European colony that once covered nearly all of southern Africa. The Cape Colony lasted until 1910, when it became a part of South Africa. Cape of Good Hope - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up) The southernmost tip of South Africa’s Cape Peninsula is called the Cape of Good Hope. It is known for the stormy weather and rough seas encountered there.

One of the southernmost points in Africa, it is among the most famous capes in maritime history. Its discovery by Europeans in the 15th century opened the first all-water route from Europe to Asia. Article History Corrections? Updates? Help us improve this article! Contact our editors with your feedback. MEDIA FOR: You have successfully emailed this. Error when sending the email. Try again later. Edit Mode Submit Tips For Editing We welcome suggested improvements to any of our articles. You can make it easier for us to review and, hopefully, publish your contribution by keeping a few points in mind. Encyclopædia Britannica articles are written in a neutral objective tone for a general audience. You may find it helpful to search within the site to see how similar or related subjects are covered. Any text you add should be original, not copied from other sources. At the bottom of the article, feel free to list any sources that support your changes, so that we can fully understand their context. (Internet URLs are the best.) Your contribution may be further edited by our staff, and its publication is subject to our final approval. Unfortunately, our editorial approach may not be able to accommodate all contributions. Submit Thank You for Your Contribution!

Our editors will review what you've submitted, and if it meets our criteria, we'll add it to the article. Please note that our editors may make some formatting changes or correct spelling or grammatical errors, and may also contact you if any clarifications are needed. Uh Oh There was a problem with your submission. Please try again later. Close Article Title: Cape of Good Hope Website Name: Encyclopædia Britannica Date Published: February 07, 2015 URL: Access Date: January 19, 2017 Share Age of Discovery - Q-files Encyclopedia Henry the Navigator, son of King John I of Portugal, is born. 1415 Portugal conquers Ceuta on the north coast of Africa, an important centre of the spice trade. 1418/19 Prince Henry the Navigator establishes a naval school for teaching navigation, map reading and cartography. 1419 Madeira Islands discovered by Portuguese explorers Zarco and Tristão Vaz Teixeira. 1432 Portuguese navigator Diogo Silves discovers the Azores in the North Atlantic. 1434 Portuguese exploration of the west coast of Africa begins.

1453 The Turks overrun Constantinople, shutting off the overland trade routes from Asia to Europe. 1487 Bartholomeu Dias leads a Portuguese expedition around the Cape of Good Hope. 1492 Christopher Columbus, sailing on behalf of Spain, discovers the New World. 1494 Spain and Portugal sign the Treaty of Tordesillas, dividing any new land discoveries between them. Spain is entitled to any land to the west of a line drawn from north to south through the Atlantic Ocean, while Portugal may claim all new lands discovered to the east of this line. 1497–8 Vasco da Gama rounds the Cape of Good Hope and reaches India, opening up a major trade route to the East. 1500 Portuguese explorer Pedro Alvares Cabral discovers Brazil. 1502 Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian who sailed on behalf of Portugal, returns from the New World. The Americas are named after him. 1511 Portugal takes control of the Spice Islands (Maluku) in Indonesia. 1519 Ferdinand Magellan leads the first voyage around the world for Spain. 1521 Hernando Cortés defeats the Aztec Empire in Mexico for Spain.

1530 Portugal sets up colonies in Brazil. 1533 Francisco Pizarro defeats the Inca Empire in South America for Spain. 1543 Portuguese sailors are the first Europeans to land in Japan. 1580 Phillip II of Spain defeats Portugal at the Battle of Alcantara, uniting the two countries. Despite this, Portugal remains relatively independent, and trade with India continues as normal. 1599 Holland establishes its first Dutch trading posts in the Spice Islands. 1600s Age of Exploration | European Navigators Explore the New World Age of Exploration By the end of the 15th century many things were changing in Europe. The population started to grow more quickly and a new class of merchants emerged. They wanted to buy and sell expensive and valuable products from Asia—like gold, jewels and silk. In those days, people had no refrigerators to preserve their food. They dried meat and often used salt to make it last longer. To make food taste better they used spices , like pepper or cinnamon. For centuries Europeans brought these goods on a land route from Asia over thousands of dangerous kilometres .

In the 15th century the overland routes were being controlled by the Turkish Empire, which made it even more difficult for European merchants to pass through. As a result, some European countries, like Spain and Portugal, decided to find out if there was a sea route to India . With the help of new kinds of ships that could sail faster and instruments , like the quadrant, they started the Age of Exploration. Portuguese exploration At the end of the 15th century the Portuguese started to explore the west coast of Africa . They set up trading posts and collected gold and silver. They were convinced that by sailing around the coast of Africa they would find a route to India. In 1487 , the Portuguese explorer Bartholomeu Dias sailed around the southern part of the continent and got as far as the east coast of Africa, but a storm made him turn back. On his return voyage, he saw a piece of land that stretched out into the sea. The Portuguese named it the Cape of Good Hope because they were hopeful of finding a passageway to India. In 1497 Vasco Da Gama set out from Lisbon, sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and into the Indian Ocean.

He reached the west coast of India in May 1498. He took some spices and gold back with him to prove that he had reached India. Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus was probably the most famous explorer of the era. He achieved fame by sailing west in search of a sea route to India. Instead of reaching India he discovered that there was an unknown mass of land in between, land that the Europeans knew nothing of. Columbus was born in Genoa, Italy in 1451 and during his early years his father took him on various sailing trips and wanted to make a merchant out of him. Like many navigators of that time, Columbus also wanted to sail to India and the Far East. He thought that if he sailed west he would also reach the Spice Islands of Asia and India. When he went to the king of Portugal to present his plan, but it was rejected. Queen Isabella of Spain admired young and brave men like Columbus and so she gave him three ships—the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria—and a crew of 90 men. Columbus left Spain on August 3, 1492.

After two months of sailing westward, he landed on an island of the Bahamas, San Salvador, on October 12, 1492. Because he thought he had reached the islands near India he called the natives Indians . All together, Columbus made four voyages to the New World between 1492 and 1504. He explored the coasts of Cuba, Jamaica , Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico. On his last two voyages, Columbus reached the mainland of Central and South America and travelled as far south as the mouth of the Orinoco River. After he came home from his fourth voyage, Christopher Columbus fell ill and died in 1506. Other Spanish Explorers During the early 1500s Spanish explorers travelled across most of Central and South America. They founded colonies and brought settlers to the New World. They also made the native Indians work for them. The Spaniards brought new products to the Americas ,like wheat, horses, cattle and sheep. In exchange , they grew plants that were not known in Europe, like corn and potatoes and brought them back to the Old Continent.

In 1513 the Spanish explorer Vasco de Balboa landed in Panama, the part of Central America that is very narrow. With his men, he fought his way through 50 miles of jungle and was surprised to see a new sea , the Pacific Ocean. One of the most important Spanish conquistadors was Hernando Cortes. He conquered the Aztec empire in 1521. In 1532 and 1533 Francisco Pizarro conquered the Incas. These natives ruled an empire that expanded from Columbia to the northern parts of Argentina. The Incas had great riches, vast amounts of gold and silver. When the Spanish got there they took all of it away from the Incas. French and English explorers The French and the English concentrated their journeys on the northern part of the continent, because they thought that there also had to be a north-western route to India. In 1497, John Cabot, an Italian who sailed for England, landed on the east coast of Canada. In 1534 Jacques Cartier sailed down the St. Lawrence River and reached the Great Lakes . He claimed this territory for the king of France.

During the 1600s the French and English began to set up colonies . The French concentrated on the St .Lawrence valley and the Great Lakes and founded towns like Montreal, or Detroit. At the end of the century Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette sailed down the Mississippi River. The land near the Gulf of Mexico was called Louisiana, in honour of the French king. Settlements like St. Louis or New Orleans show French origin. The first permanent settlement in North America was founded at Jamestown , Virginia in 1607. In 1610 Henry Hudson sailed around north-eastern Canada and discovered a huge body of water which he thought was the Pacific Ocean. Today it is known as Hudson Bay . Amerigo Vespucci Amerigo Vespucci was an Italian-born explorer who explored the mainland of America at the end of the 15th century. A German mapmaker believed that Vespucci was the first to reach the New World ,so he suggested naming the new land America. Although Vespucci was probably not one of the greatest explorers of the time, he was the first navigator who explored South America.

Magellan sails around the world In 1519 the Portuguese sailor Ferdinand Magellan set out to find India by sailing around South America. He sailed for Spain because the Portuguese didn’t give him any money for this expedition. Magellan had 5 ships and a crew of 240. When he reached the southern tip of South America, he got into bad, stormy weather . Two of his ships were badly damaged and couldn’t continue the journey. With three ships he sailed through a strait, that later was named after him , the Strait of Magellan. When he reached the Pacific Ocean, he sailed for there months without any sight of land. Finally , in April of 1521 he landed on the Philippine Islands. Magellan got into a fight with native islanders and was killed there. Only one ship could continue the voyage. It crossed the Indian Ocean and sailed around the Cape of Good Hope. With only twenty people on board it reached Spain three years after it had set out.

Magellan's journey around the world History of Age of Discovery, Voyages of Columbus and Magellan - The Map as History The Map as History Home The Map as History > Europe and nations, 1815-1914 The Age of Discovery (Part I) During the first half of the 15th century, the Portuguese were encouraged by Prince Henry the Navigator to explore the coasts of Africa. In 1492 Christopher Columbus sailed further west into the Atlantic Ocean and discovered islands that he thought were close to Asia. A few years later, Vasco de Gama reached India by sailing around Southern Africa. In 1522, one of the ships in Magellan’s fleet returned to Europe and brought proof that it was possible to circumnavigate the Earth. In a few decades, the way that Europeans saw the world had been completely transformed.

Age of Discovery, New World, Magellan's voyage, Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama, Bartolomeu Dias, Amerigo Vespucci, Treaty of Tordesillas, Trade in the Indian Ocean in the 15th century, Ibn Battuta, Zheng He, Cape Bojador | North Atlantic sailings prior to Christopher Columbus Before Christopher Columbus, other European sailors had apparently reached the coasts of America since there are traces of their presence on these shores. However, this maritime exploit by a few hundred men did not lead to long-term settlement. The travels of Marco Polo Marco Polo left Venice with his father and uncle in 1271. Travelling to Ormuz, Central Asia and Mongolia, the three men reached Khanbalik, today’s Beijing, and were welcomed to the luxurious Mongol court. Marco Polo became an adviser to the Empleror Khubilai Khan and travelled extensively through China. The voyages of Ibn Battuta 1325-1355 Ibn Battuta was born in Tangier half a century after Marco Polo. For more than thirty years, he travelled to the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia, India and China.

Ibn Battuta dictated the story of his travels, known as the “Rihla”, to the secretary of the Sultan of Fez. The maritime expeditions of Zheng He In the early 15th century, China launched an exceptional venture: seven major maritime expeditions to explore the Indian Ocean. The official archives, with plans of the ships and their logs, were destroyed several decades later, which explains why many aspects of this extraordinary adventure are unknown to us today. Trade in the Indian Ocean in the 15th century In the 15th century, trade in the Indian Ocean was centred on Southern ports on the Arabian peninsula, the Islamic trading posts on the African coast, and ports on the Indian coast. This triangle was then linked to Malacca by merchant ships travelling to Sri Lanka and the Bay of Bengal, thus making a huge semi-circle stretching from Japan and China to the Spice Islands and Java. Portuguese Exploration of the African coastline In order to circumvent the Muslim monopoly on trans-Saharan caravans, the Portuguese in around 1420, sought to have access to rich African resources by ship.

Encouraged by Henry the Navigator; they sailed out to Africa but had no knowledge of the coastal waters beyond Cape Bojador. Vasco da Gama’s voyage 1497-1498 King Manuel I of Portugal chose Vasco da Gama to lead the first maritime expedition to India. The passage was opened up by Bartolomeu Diaz who had sailed around the Cape of Good Hope ten years earlier. The voyage of Pêro da Covilha During the 15th century, the Indian Ocean was still a great mystery to Europeans. In 1487, the King of Portugal gave Pêro da Covilha and Alfonso de Paiva a mission to report on sailing conditions between Africa and India and to make contact with the legendary Christian kingdom of Prester John. Portuguese Volta (The ‘Loop’) During the 15th century, the Portuguese did not know that the world turned on its own axis nor did they have the scientific knowledge for understanding atmospheric circulation. It was thanks to their wide-ranging experience as navigators that they overcame the difficult sailing conditions encountered in the Atlantic Ocean.

Portuguese expansion in the Indian Ocean Portuguese expansion in the Indian Ocean, after Vasco da Gama’s first voyage, was remarkable. The first two Viceroys, Francisco de Almeida and Afonso de Albuquerque, founded a network of trading posts and fortresses along the coast. The Treaty of Saragossa 1529 confirmed Portuguese dominance in the Indian Ocean. The Treaties of Tordesillas (1494) and Saragossa (1529) The first successful expeditions across the Atlantic Ocean raised the question of what to do with the archipelagos and new lands discovered by these navigators. In 1479, Portugal and Castile signed an initial treaty confirming Castile’s dominion over the Canaries, while recognizing Portugal’s monopoly on the African coast. The circumference of the Earth and the Route towards the West In the 3rd century BCE, Eratosthenes calculated the circumference of the Earth with remarkable precision. In later centuries, other Greek geographers, including the most famous of them all Ptolemy, suggested a much lower figure for the circumference for our planet. This under-estimation was adopted by 15th century map-makers.

Christopher Columbus’ first voyage 1492-1493 Christopher Columbus sailed under the Portuguese flag, but it was Isabella of Castile who provided the funds for his plan to sail to Asia by a western route. His flotilla of three ships set sail from Southern Spain on 3 August 1492. He headed first for the Canary Islands, before setting off across the Atlantic Ocean and discovering islands near the American continent. Christopher Columbus’ three subsequent voyages In the years following his first voyage, Christopher Columbus carried out three more journeys, but with better resources than in the past. He explored the ring of Caribbean islands, founded the colony of La Isabella on the island of Hispaniola, discovered the huge delta of the Orinoco and sailed along the coast of today’s Honduras. The first explorations in the New World Following Christopher Columbus’ discovery of the New World, several expeditions tried to reach China and the Indies by sailing west. Gradually, the Europeans found themselves sailing along the coast of a new continent.

Question: Which 15th century Portuguese navigator discovered the sea route around the Cape of Good Hope?
Answer: Bartholomew Diaz