It was not until 1487 that Bartolomeo Diaz began the journey that would take the Portuguese to the extreme south of Africa.
However, the extreme south of the African continent had remained unknown to Europeans, and the Prince’s dream had never been fulfilled. In addition, he hoped that he would conclude an alliance with the legendary kingdom of Father John with the help of ending Muslim rule in the Indian Ocean business.įor forty years, Henric had sponsored exploration trips along the west coast of Africa, thus laying the foundations for profitable trade in slaves and gold. In the middle of the fifteenth century, Portugal was the largest maritime power in Europe, thanks to the legacy of Prince Henry the Navigator, who brought to the navigation school in Sagres a talented group of geographers, cartographers, astronomers, and navigators. Henry wanted to find a maritime route to India, thus gaining access to the very profitable spice trade for the country. Vasco da Gama’s journey to India is one of the defining moments in the history of great geographical discoveries. Thus, as Shane Winser of the Royal Geographical Society of the United Kingdom explains, Vasco da Gama changed the world. In an impressive journey, he sailed along the African coast, beyond the Cape of Good Hope and managed to destroy the monopoly of Arab and Venetian merchants in the spice trade which was considered a luxury in that period of time. Asco da Gama was the first European to set up a maritime trade route to India.
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