Editing Vasco da Gama (section)

== Exploration before da Gama ==
[[File:Descobrimentos e explorações portuguesesV2.png|thumb|[[Portuguese discoveries]] and explorations: first arrival places and dates]]
From the earlier part of the 15th century, [[Portuguese discoveries|Portuguese expeditions]] organized by Prince [[Henry the Navigator]] had been reaching down the African coastline, principally in search of West African riches (notably, gold and slaves).<ref>De Oliveira Marques, António Henrique R. (1972). ''History of Portugal''. Columbia University Press, {{ISBN|0-231-03159-9}}, pp. 158–160, 362–370.</ref> They had greatly extended Portuguese maritime knowledge but had little profit to show for the effort. After Henry's death in 1460, the Portuguese Crown showed little interest in continuing this effort and, in 1469, licensed the neglected African enterprise to a private Lisbon merchant consortium led by [[Fernão Gomes]]. Within a few years, Gomes' captains expanded Portuguese knowledge across the [[Gulf of Guinea]], doing business in gold dust, [[melegueta pepper]], ivory and [[Slavery|sub-Saharan slaves]]. When Gomes' charter came up for renewal in 1474, Prince John (the future John II), asked his father [[Afonso V of Portugal]] to pass the African charter to him.<ref>Parry, 1981, pp. 132–135</ref>

Upon becoming king in 1481, [[John II of Portugal]] set out on many long reforms. To break the monarch's dependence on the feudal nobility, John II needed to build up the royal treasury; he considered royal commerce to be the key to achieving that. Under John II's watch, the gold and slave trade in West Africa was greatly expanded. He was eager to break into the highly profitable [[spice trade]] between Europe and Asia, which was conducted chiefly by land. At the time, this was virtually monopolized by the [[Republic of Venice]], which operated overland routes via [[Levant]]ine and [[Egypt]]ian ports, through the [[Red Sea]] across to the spice markets of India. John II set a new objective for his captains: to find a sea route to Asia by sailing around the African continent.<ref name="Scammell, 1981, p. 232">Scammell, 1981, p. 232</ref>

[[File:A partida de Vasco da Gama para a Índia em 1497.jpg|thumb|Vasco da Gama leaving the port of [[Lisbon]], Portugal]]

By the time Vasco da Gama was in his 20s, the king's plans were coming to fruition. In 1487, John II dispatched two spies, [[Pero da Covilhã]] and [[Afonso de Paiva]], overland via Egypt to East Africa and India, to scout the details of the spice markets and trade routes. The breakthrough came soon after, when John II's captain [[Bartolomeu Dias]] returned from rounding the [[Cape of Good Hope]] in 1488, having explored as far as the [[Fish River, Eastern Cape|Fish River]] ({{Lang|pt|Rio do Infante}}) in modern-day South Africa and having verified that the unknown coast stretched away to the northeast.<ref name="Scammell, 1981, p. 232"/>

An explorer was needed who could prove the link between the findings of Dias and those of da Covilhã and de Paiva and connect these separate segments into a potentially lucrative trade route across the Indian Ocean.