Both the Spaniards and the Portuguese were cut off from trade with
the East, because the Turks had taken possession of Constantinople.
In consequence of this, the navigators of both countries were making
earnest efforts to find a water route to India.
[Illustration: Vasco da Gama.]
Spain, as you know, had faith in Columbus, and helped him in his plan
of trying to reach India by sailing westward. But the Portuguese had
a different idea. They spent their time and money in trying to sail
round the African coast, in the belief that India could be reached
by means of a southeast passage.
This southeast passage could be found only by crossing the "burning
zone," as the part of the earth near the equator was called; and all
sailors feared to make the attempt.
It was thought almost impossible to cross this burning zone, and the
few navigators who had ventured as far as the equator had turned back
in fear of steaming whirlpools and of fiery belts of heat.
In 1486, six years before Columbus discovered America, the King of
Portugal sent Bartholomew Diaz, a bold and daring navigator, to find
the end of the African coast.
Bartholomew Diaz sailed through the fiery zone without meeting any
of the dreadful misfortunes which the sailors so feared. When he had
sailed beyond the tropic of Capricorn, a severe storm arose. The wind
blew his three vessels directly south for thirteen days, during which
time he lost sight of land. When the sun shone again, Diaz headed his
vessels eastward, but as no land appeared, he again changed the
direction, this time heading them toward the north. After sailing
northward a short time, land was reached about two hundred miles east
of the Cape of Good Hope.
Diaz now pushed on four hundred miles farther along the coast of Africa,
and saw the wide expanse of the Indian Ocean before him. Here the
sailors refused to go any farther, and Diaz, although he wanted very
much to go ahead and try to reach India, was obliged to return.
On the way home, the vessels passed close to the cape which projects
from the south coast of Africa, and Diaz named it Stormy Cape, in memory
of the frightful storm which hid it from view on the way down. When
they reached Lisbon, however, King John said that it should be called
the Cape of Good Hope, because they now had hope that the southern
route to India was found.
Diaz won much praise for his bravery and patience in making this voyage.
He had proved that the stories about the fiery zone were false, and
that the African coast had an end.
[Illustration: Spanish and Portuguese Vessels.]
It remained, however, for Vasco da Gama, then a young man of about
twenty years of age, to prove that India could be reached in this way.
In 1497 Da Gama sailed from Lisbon to the Cape of Good Hope, doubled
the cape, and proceeded across the Indian Ocean to Hindustan.
He returned to Lisbon in 1499, his ships loaded with the rich products
of the East, including cloves, spices, pepper, ginger, and nutmeg.
He also brought with him rich robes of silk and satin, costly gems,
and many articles made of carved ivory, or of gold and of silver.
The King of Portugal was greatly pleased with what Da Gama had
accomplished, and his successful voyage was the wonder of the day.
[Illustration: Costume of Explorers.]
The same year that Da Gama returned from India by a route around the
south end of Africa, with his ships loaded with rich produce, Sebastian
Cabot returned from a fruitless voyage to the strange, barren coast
of North America.
It was no wonder that the voyages of Columbus and the Cabots were
thought unsuccessful as compared with the voyage Da Gama had just
finished.
No one then dreamed of a New World; all were searching for the
Orient--for golden Cathay.