8 июля 1497 года из Лиссабона отплыла экспедиция  Васко да Гамы

An expedition of four ships departed in search of India, the country that Columbus who discovered America did not manage to find. Vasco da Gama, a naval commander of little experience, headed the expedition. Scientists argue until know about why the king of Portugal did not entrust the expedition to Bartolomeu Dias, an experienced sailor, the famous discoverer of the Cape of Good Hope. First, Dias called this place “the Cape of Storms,” but it was renamed in hope that it would show the way to India. The hope did not fail. Vasco da Gama was up to the task: he sailed around Africa from the south, past the Cape of Good Hope, entered the Indian Ocean and reached the coveted India, breaking up Venice’s monopoly for trading Indian spices. He also gave coconuts their name: to him, they looked like monkeys’ faces, and coco is the Portuguese for “monkey.” The way discovered by Vasco da Gama was the main commercial road to the countries of the Indian Ocean and China until the Suez Canal was built.