The portuguese were the first european to discover it wa possible to sail around Africa, thus reaching Asia.
Until Bartolomeu Dias 16 month roundtrip in 1488, nobody knew if Africa had a "tip" and ocean around it.
Some historians even say the portujuese had reached north america by the 1440 (the Azore, portujuese islands, were discovered in the 1420 and theyre halfway to America...) but they "gave" America away, via Columbu (a suposed portujuese double ajent) so that the spanish left the Sea Route to Asia around Africa alone and a 100% portuguese exclusive.
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