In 1497, Vasco da Gama led four ships and nearly 170 crew members along the route Dias had followed, this time veering even more sharply into the southern Atlantic to catch the favorable currents needed to get past the Cape of Good Hope.
Map illustrating Vasco Da Gama's first voyage to India in 1497. In addition, the treaty completely disregarded as many as 50 million people who were already living in the Americas, and who would suffer the devastating consequences of European expansion. Though Spain and Portugal largely respected the Treaty of Tordesillas, it would be ignored by other European powers-including Britain, France and the Netherlands-going forward. Spain claimed all lands to the west of the line Portugal all lands to the east, including the coast of Brazil, which at the time had not yet been officially “discovered.” (Portuguese explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral would reach Brazil in 1500, prompting speculation by historians that in fact Portugal already knew of its existence from an earlier expedition, and had used that knowledge to push the treaty’s boundaries further west.) Signing of the Treaty of Tordesillas between Spain and Portugal, June 7, 1494.Īccording to the Treaty of Tordesillas, a vertical line was drawn through the Atlantic Ocean about 345 miles west of the Cape Verde Islands, located off the northwestern African coast and controlled at the time by Portugal. In 1487, on a mission to find a water route from Portugal to India, Bartolomeu Dias led the first successful sea voyage to the southern tip of Africa, rounding the Cape of Good Hope and sailing for a few days before turning back. Momentum behind Portuguese maritime exploration slowed somewhat after Henry’s death, but would regain strength under the rule of his grandnephew, King John II.
Portugal was largely responsible for introducing the slave trade to the Americas through colonies on previously uninhabited Atlantic African islands that served as collection points for captives and commodities.īy the time Henry died in 1460, Portuguese sailors and settlers had reached as far as modern-day Sierra Leone, and formed active colonies on the islands of Porto Santo, Madeira and the Azores. In the decades to come, John’s son Prince Henry the Navigator financed numerous expeditions along the western coast of Africa, aimed at spreading Christianity and making Portugal rich with profits from gold, spices and slaves. In 1415, a Portuguese fleet crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and captured the heavily fortified Moroccan port of Ceuta, announcing Portugal’s arrival on the world stage. Its depiction of the Atlantic Ocean stretches from Scandinavia down to the Rio de Oro. Gabriel de Valseca's 'Portolan Map' from 1439 documents discoveries of the captains of the Portuguese Prince Henry the Navigator.
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