At the
time of which we are now speaking, however, the
Portuguese were intent upon their interests in the
Orient. Their great aim was to pass beyond India,
already reached by da Gama, to the further empires of
China and Japan. Like other navigators of the time, they
thought that these places might be reached not merely by
southern but also by the northern seas. Hence it came
about that the Portuguese, going far southward in
Africa, went also far northward in America and sailed
along the coast of Canada.
We find, in consequence, that when King Manoel of Portugal
was fitting out a fleet of twenty ships for a new expedition
under da Gama, which was to sail to the Indies by way of
Africa, another Portuguese expedition, setting out with
the same object, was sailing in the opposite direction.
At its head was Gaspar Corte-Real, a nobleman of the
Azores, who had followed with eager interest the discoveries
of Columbus, Diaz, and da Gama. Corte-Real sailed from
Lisbon in the summer of 1500 with a single ship. He
touched at the Azores. It is possible that a second vessel
joined him there, but this is not clear. From the Azores
his path lay north and west, till presently he reached
a land described as a 'cool region with great woods.
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