Portugal’s Great Explorers

Portugal’s Great Explorers

Part One: Vasco da Gama

1. The Europeans were desperately looking for a sea route to the East because they wanted to link up and trade directly with Asia and Africa.
2. Vasco da Gama arrived at Calicut in India on 20^th May 1498.
3. Calicut would remain an essential area in the exploration mission of Vasco da Gama because it was the ultimate end and the reception point for his voyage.
4. Unfortunately, da Gama did not receive a warm reception upon arriving at Calicut. The ruler of Calicut was not embraced with the gifts that Manuel had sent him due to their low quality and poor value.
5. The first venture was not successful in establishing trade with the east because no trade treaty was signed between the ruler of Calicut and Vasco da Gama. However, it is essential to note that the venture set the pace for trade establishment between the two regions.
6. Upon his arrival in Portugal after the first exploration, Vasco da Gama was hailed as a hero by the king and richly rewarded for his contribution towards the birth of Portugal’s overseas empire.
7. In the second voyage, Vasco da Gama attacked the shipping interests of Arabs in the area and forcefully reached an agreement with the ruler of Calicut.
8. In order to ensure that the people in the east would trade with the Portuguese, Vasco da Gama used force to propel the Calicut’s ruler to sign a trade treaty with the Portuguese.
9. During his second return to India in 1524, Vasco da Gama had been appointed by King John ш as a Portuguese viceroy. He arrived in Goa, having been mandated to combat the growing corruption that tainted the Portuguese government.

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10. Unfortunately, after arriving in India for the second time, he soon became sick and died in December 1524 in Cochin.
11. Portugal established colonies in India, Brazil, and East Africa.
12. Brazil was discovered in 1500.

Part two: Portugal’s Great Explorers

• The Portuguese regard the sea as a living being. This living relationship with the sea has enhanced Portuguese explorations, businesses, and discovery of new places.
• Vasco da Gama, Prince Henry, the navigator, Cabral, Diaz, and Megallan are the five explorers whose names appear on the monument at Lisbon.
• Indiana is the Mid-western State upon which Portugal is compared.
• Prince Henry, the Navigator, is known for setting up an institute for explorers in Sagres that enlightened navigators on new geographical discoveries and navigation technology.
• Religion, trade, and exploration are tied in the sense that Christianity was spread to other cultures during the three activities.
• Diaz was the first explorer to round the Cape of Good Hope.
• Vasco da Gama was the first explorer to arrive in India through the sea route in 1498.
• Brazil was discovered in 1500 by an explorer referred to as Cabral.
• The Portuguese empire covered everything between Brazil and Japan, with the two countries inclusive.
• The caravel was a ship with triangular sails. Its ability to sail close to the wind made it the best navigation tool for many explorers.
• Astrolabe was an instrument that could estimate and measure the altitude of the stars and the sun, hence aided to plot geographical locations.
• Vasco da Gama is perhaps the only Portuguese explorer that was buried in the shrine to Portugal’s discoveries.

Part Three: Explorers of the 15^th Century

• Prince Henry, the Navigator, is known for setting up an institute for explorers in Sagres that enlightened navigators on new geographical discoveries and navigation technology.
• Sagres is the town in which Prince Henry, the Navigator, set up a nautical school that offered explorers with navigation knowledge.
• Prince Henry commissioned sailors to discover new sea routes to lucrative trading zones and also to locate the Prester John’s kingdom.
• Prester John was a mythical king of Christians who was thought to be living somewhere in Africa. Henry wanted Prester to help him in a crusade.
• Upon reaching Calicut in 1498, Vasco da Gama told them that he wanted gold and Christians when the natives demanded to know what he was after.
• The Portuguese did not set up prominent empires in Africa, India, and beyond because these regions already had empires that were powerful to break.
• A trading post empire refers to all the coastal cities that were captured by the Portuguese and subsequently made trading centers.
• The Portuguese often used extortion to control the Indian Ocean trade. Merchants from Portugal always captured other ships and forcefully made them buy a permit.
• Trading permits were usually referred to as ‘Cartaz’ by the Indian Ocean traders. Even with the use of the license, the Portuguese failed to control the trade.
• Columbus indeed knew that the earth was round. He had previously used the geography of Ptolemy and the Imago Mundi to approximate the oceans’ size.
• Columbus referred to anyone he encountered as an Indian because he thought he had at long last made it to the east.
• The demarcation line split the world into two parts, the Portuguese section, and the Spanish territory.
• Modern-Day South America was primarily given to Spain following the division by the line of demarcation.
• Columbus first landed in Caribbean island San Salvador upon discovering the New World.