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Discovery Of The Sea Route To India
The Portuguese discovery of the sea route to India was the first recorded trip directly from Europe to the Indian subcontinent, via the Cape of Good Hope. Under the command of the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama, it was undertaken during the reign of King Manuel I in 1497–1499. It is one of the most important events of the Age of Discovery and the Portuguese Empire, and it initiated the Portuguese maritime trade on the Malabar Coast and other parts of the Indian Ocean, the military presence and settlements of the Portuguese in Goa and Bombay. Preparations of the trip The plan for working on the Cape Route to India was charted by King John II of Portugal as a cost-saving measure in the trade with Asia and also an attempt to monopolize the spice trade. Adding to the increasingly influential Portuguese maritime presence, John II craved for trade routes and for the expansion of the Kingdom of Portugal which had already been transformed into an Empire. However, the project ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Os Lusíadas
''Os Lusíadas'' (), usually translated as ''The Lusiads'', is a Portuguese epic poem written by Luís Vaz de Camões ( – 1580) and first published in 1572. It is widely regarded as the most important work of Portuguese-language literature and is frequently compared to Virgil's ''Aeneid'' (1st c. BC). The work celebrates the discovery of a sea route to India by the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama (1469–1524). The ten cantos of the poem are in ottava rima and total 1,102 stanzas. Written in Homeric fashion, the poem focuses mainly on a fantastic interpretation of the Portuguese voyages of discovery during the 15th and 16th centuries. ''Os Lusíadas'' is often regarded as Portugal's national epic, much as Virgil's ''Aeneid'' was for the Ancient Romans, or Homer's ''Iliad'' and ''Odyssey'' for the Ancient Greeks. It was written when Camões was an exile in Macau and was first printed in 1572, three years after the author returned from the Indies. Internal structure The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ginger
Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and a folk medicine. It is an herbaceous perennial that grows annual pseudostems (false stems made of the rolled bases of leaves) about one meter tall, bearing narrow leaf blades. The inflorescences bear flowers having pale yellow petals with purple edges, and arise directly from the rhizome on separate shoot (botany), shoots. Ginger is in the family (taxonomy), family Zingiberaceae, which also includes turmeric (''Curcuma longa''), cardamom (''Elettaria cardamomum''), and galangal. Ginger originated in Maritime Southeast Asia and was likely domesticated first by the Austronesian peoples. It was transported with them throughout the Indo-Pacific during the Austronesian expansion ( Before Present, BP), reaching as far as Hawaii. Ginger is one of the first spices to have been exported from Asia, arriving in Europe with the spice trade, and was used by ancient Gre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cinnamon
Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus ''Cinnamomum''. Cinnamon is used mainly as an aromatic condiment and flavouring additive in a wide variety of cuisines, sweet and savoury dishes, biscuits, breakfast cereals, Snack, snack foods, bagels, teas, hot chocolate and traditional foods. The aroma and flavour of cinnamon derive from its essential oil and principal component, cinnamaldehyde, as well as numerous other constituents, including eugenol. Cinnamon is the name for several species of trees and the commercial spice products that some of them produce. All are members of the genus ''Cinnamomum'' in the family Lauraceae. Only a few ''Cinnamomum'' species are grown commercially for spice. ''Cinnamomum verum'' (alternatively ''C. zeylanicum''), known as "Ceylon cinnamon" after its origins in Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon), is considered to be "true cinnamon", but most cinnamon in international commerce is derived from four other speci ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indies
The East Indies (or simply the Indies) is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The ''Indies'' broadly referred to various lands in the East or the Eastern Hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainlands found in and around the Indian Ocean by Portuguese explorers, soon after the Cape Route was discovered. In a narrow sense, the term was used to refer to the Malay Archipelago, which today comprises the Philippine Archipelago, Indonesian Archipelago, Borneo, and New Guinea. Historically, the term was used in the Age of Discovery to refer to the coasts of the landmasses comprising the Indian subcontinent and the Indochinese Peninsula along with the Malay Archipelago. Overview During the era of European colonization, territories of the Spanish Empire in Asia were known as the Spanish East Indies for 333 years before the American conquest and later the independence of the Philippines. Dutch occupied colonies in the area were known for abou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spices
In the culinary arts, a spice is any seed, fruit, root, Bark (botany), bark, or other plant substance in a form primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of plants used for flavoring or as a garnish (food), garnish. Spices and seasoning do not mean the same thing, but spices fall under the seasoning category with herbs. Spices are sometimes used in medicine, Sacred rite, religious rituals, cosmetics, or perfume production. They are usually classified into spices, spice seeds, and herbal categories. For example, vanilla is commonly used as an ingredient in Aroma compound, fragrance manufacturing. Plant-based sweeteners such as sugar are not considered spices. Spices can be used in various forms, including fresh, whole, dried, grated, chopped, crushed, ground, or extracted into a tincture. These processes may occur before the spice is sold, during meal preparation in the kitchen, or even at the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prester John Map
Presbyter () is an honorific title for Christian clergy. The word derives from the Greek ''presbyteros'', which means elder or senior, although many in Christian antiquity understood ''presbyteros'' to refer to the bishop functioning as overseer. The word ''presbyter'' is used many times in the New Testament, referring both to the Jewish leadership and the "tradition of the elders", and to the leaders of the early Christian community. In modern Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican usage, ''presbyter'' is distinct from ''bishop'', and in English it is synonymous with ''priest''. In other Protestant usage, for example, Methodism, ''presbyter'' does not refer to a member of a distinctive priesthood called ''priests'' but rather to a Minister (Christianity), minister, pastor, or Elder (Christianity), elder. Etymology The word ''presbyter'' etymology, etymologically derives from Greek language, Greek ''πρεσβύτερος'' (''presbyteros''), the comparative form of ''πρέσβυς'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prester John
Prester John () was a mythical Christian patriarch, presbyter, and king. Stories popular in Europe in the 12th to the 17th centuries told of a Church of the East, Nestorian patriarch and king who was said to rule over a Christian state, Christian nation lost amid the pagans and Muslims in the Orient. The accounts were often embellished with various tropes of medieval popular fantasy, depicting Prester John as a descendant of the Three Magi, ruling a kingdom full of riches, marvels, and strange creatures. At first, Prester John was imagined to reside in India. Tales of the Nestorian Christians' evangelistic success there and of Thomas the Apostle's subcontinental travels as documented in works like the ''Acts of Thomas'' probably provided the first seeds of the legend. As Europeans became aware of the Mongols and their empire, accounts placed the king in Central Asia, and eventually Portuguese explorers came to believe that the term was a reference to Ethiopian Empire, Ethiopia, by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
River Tagus
The Tagus ( ; ; ) is the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula. The river rises in the Montes Universales between Cuenca and Teruel, in mid-eastern Spain, flows , generally westward, and empties into the Atlantic Ocean in Lisbon. Name The river's Latin name is ''Tagus''. While the etymology is unclear, the most probable etymological origin for the hydronym ''Tagus'' is Indo-European *(s)tag- ('to drip'). Geography Source The Tagus River originates at an elevation of 1,593 meters above sea level in a place known as Fuente García, within the municipality of Frías de Albarracín in Teruel, Spain. Its source is located between the Muela de San Juan (1,830 m) and Cerro de San Felipe (1,839 m), in the Sierra de Albarracín, which belongs to the Montes Universales in the western branch of the Iberian System. Course The river flows through Spain for , passing through four autonomous communities (Aragón, Castilla-La Mancha, Madrid, and Extremadura) and a total of six pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
São Gabriel (ship)
''São Gabriel'' was a Portuguese carrack and the flagship of Vasco da Gama's armada on his first voyage to India in 1497–1499. The other three ships Velho indicated that the sources agreed that the armada contained four ships, but there was disagreement about the names. These were the other three ships according to him: * ''São Rafael'': The sister ship of ''São Gabriel'', built by the same builder at the same time for the same purpose. It was of similar dimensions as ''São Gabriel''. Paulo da Gama, Vasco's brother, was the captain, other people include João de Coimbra, pilot, and João de Sá, clerk. * ''Bérrio'', also known as ''São Miguel'': This caravel was named after its former owner. Only carrying lateen sails, it was the smallest and swiftest of the convoy with a tonnage of 50–90 t. Key people were: Nicolau Coelho, captain, Pedro Escobar pilot, and Álvaro de Braga, clerk. * A supply ship, name ''São Miguel'': The ship was a carrack of about 110 or 200 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bartolomeu Dias
Bartolomeu Dias ( – 29 May 1500) was a Portuguese mariner and explorer. In 1488, he became the first European navigator to round the Cape Agulhas, southern tip of Africa and to demonstrate that the most effective southward route for ships lies in the open ocean, well to the west of the African coast. His discoveries were later used by Vasco da Gama to establish a sea route between Europe and Asia. Early life Bartolomeu Dias was born around 1450 in the Faro District of Portugal. His family had a maritime background, and one of his ancestors, Dinis Dias, explored the African coast in the 1440s and discovered the Cap-Vert peninsula in today's Senegal in 1445. Tracing his biography is complicated by the existence of several contemporary Portuguese seafarers with the same name. In 1481, Dias accompanied an expedition, led by Diogo de Azambuja, to construct a fortress and trading post called São Jorge da Mina in the Gulf of Guinea. Indirect evidence also points to his possible pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
