Henry the Navigator
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Henry the Navigator, the prince of Portuguese, had set up a research center in southern Portugal. He began mapping Africa's coastline and trading with Africa's kingdoms in 1420. Azores, Madeira, and Cape Verde Islands had also been seized. After that, Portuguese had discovered sugarcane would grow on the islands. Sugar was very valuable in Europe, so the Portuguese began bringing enslaved Africans to the islands to work their sugarcane fields. The beginning of a slave trade would eventually bring millions of enslaved people to the Americas as well.
Vasco da Gama
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In 1497, a Portuguese explorer named, Vasco da Gama, had rounded the tip of Africa, raced across the Indian Ocean, and landed on India's coast. After that, Vasco da Gama at last has reached the water route to East Asia. Vasco da Gama was the first to sail around the south of Africa and reach India in 1499. He was also the most successful in age discovery.
Bartolomeu Dias
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Another Portuguese explorer named Bartolomeu Dias was one of the captains of the second Indian expeditions. He is remembered for being the first European to sail around the southernmost tip of Africa.
For more information go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartolomeu_Dias
For more information go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartolomeu_Dias
Pedro Alvares Cabral
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Pedro Alvares Cabral was a Portuguese navigator and explorer, who had led 13 ships back to India in 1500. The Portuguese fought a war holding valuable spices against the Muslim merchants that were held with a monopoly in the Indian Ocean. Trading post in India, China, Japan, the Persian Gulf, and in the Moluccas, or Spice Islands, were made after defeating the Arab fleet in Southeast Asia. From these bases, most of southern Asia's sea trade was controlled.