To understand the setting of the discovery and of the early voyages to Brazil we must go back to some of the circumstances which preceded, and review the conditions in Europe at that time. The discoveries of the Portuguese navigators mark an epoch in world history. Had Columbus not persuaded the Spaniards to finance his voyage to the Spice Islands by a western route, the Portuguese might easily have claimed the discovery of both North and South America within a decade following Columbus’ landfall. Both continents would probably have been visited in 1500 when Gaspar Corte-Real reached Newfoundland and Pedro Alvares Cabral, Brazil. The former voyage was but a continuation of others westward over the Atlantic and the latter was only an incident in the Voyages to India. Furthermore, the delusion of reaching Asia would have been avoided. The exploration of the Americas would then have been carried on in an orderly manner with the realization that a new world had been found. However, the Portuguese are not best known for their voyages to America, but for the first accurate knowledge of both the West and East coasts of Africa, of the Indian Ocean and of the Spice Islands. They continued these voyages even farther, up the coast of China, and in 1542 they were the first Europeans to set foot in Japan. These achievements, of which any nation might justly be proud, were made by a country which then numbered between one and two million people.
Major Currents Off the West Coasts of North and South America
