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Following Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama's success in discovering a sea route around Africa to India in 1498, King Manuel I commissioned Pedro Alvares Cabral to lead a second voyage of 13 ships and 1,500 men to India. Although he intended to stay close to the west coast of Africa, Cabral sailed far off course and accidentally chanced upon the coast of South America.<br/><br/> According to the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494, any land falling within 370 leagues [2.060 km] west of the Cape Verde Islands was to belong to Portugal, whereas any land discovered west of this meridian would be Spanish territory, as decreed by Spanish-born Pope Alexander VI. The coastline of Brazil therefore fell within the Portuguese sphere of influence and was colonized by Manuel I.<br/><br/> Cabral left two men there as ambassadors and continued across the south Atlantic, rounded the Cape of Good Hope, fought off Arab merchants in East Africa, and finally reached Calicut in India in September 1500.
Vasco da Gama (1460 or 1469 – 1524) was a Portuguese explorer, one of the most successful in the Age of Discovery, and the commander of the first ships to sail directly from Europe to India. Under the reign of King Manuel I, Portugal discovered Brazil in 1500. Meanwhile, da Gama set sail from Lisbon on July 8, 1497, with a fleet of four ships and 170 men. He sailed around the Cape of Good Hope, impersonated a Muslim in Mozambique, resorted to piracy in Kenya, and finally landed in Calicut in India on May 20, 1498. For a short time in 1524, he was Governor of Portuguese India under the title of Viceroy.
Vasco da Gama (1460 or 1469 – 1524) was a Portuguese explorer, one of the most successful in the Age of Discovery, and the commander of the first ships to sail directly from Europe to India. Under the reign of King Manuel I, Portugal discovered Brazil in 1500. Meanwhile, da Gama set sail from Lisbon on July 8, 1497, with a fleet of four ships and 170 men. He sailed around the Cape of Good Hope, impersonated a Muslim in Mozambique, resorted to piracy in Kenya, and finally landed in Calicut in India on May 20, 1498. For a short time in 1524, he was Governor of Portuguese India under the title of Viceroy.