This I tell you, is for the Venetians. I, Bartolomeu Dias, have finally broken the Venetian merchant’s monopoly upon our European people, for I have discovered a trade route from Europe to the Indies. Gone is the need for the Venetian middlemen and their overpriced services for trading with the East! For by navigating the southernmost tip of Africa I have found the way to India successfully! Though it was a sixteen month voyage and the crew had us return before we quite reached the Indies, I have found the way in this the year of 1488. Thus by traveling the Gold Coast and rounding the Cape of Storms, one will reach the Indian Ocean and be free to trade in India for cinnamon and other spices. Further trips will help establish relations with the fabled Prester John character also, for we did not make it far enough to find him. More expeditions shall entail.
Peace has been reached with the Spaniards! Of course while we, the Portuguese, were the first to open up trade between ourselves and the Indies, the Spaniards were not far behind in their voyages of expedition. We have been destined to be competitive in the discovery of new lands none the less, but today of 1494, on June 7, the King John of Portugal and Ferdinand and Isabella, the King and Queen of Castile (and their said cities), have signed the Treaty of Tordesillas. By signing this treaty the Spanish have allowed the demarcation line running from pole to pole to be moved 370 leagues to the west of the Cape Verde Islands, allowing us to take anything east of the line and they anything west of it. Originally the line was a mere 100 league west of the islands, as proclaimed by the Bull Inter Caetera, which gave the Spaniards possession of the West Indies which Christopher Columbus found. Columbus, not even being Spanish but Portuguese, proclaimed his findings, and the Spaniards took advantage. This competition will continue yet for some time, let me assure you.
It is the year 1500 and I have been traveling with Pedro Alvares Cabral on a second expedition following that of Vasco de Gama. Following de Gama’s directions and charts, we are to go back to the Indies, however we have made a great discovery before reaching the Indies. It seems that we have travelled too far west and come across and new land that Cabral has named the Island of Vera Cruz. This island is on our side of the Tordesillas Line, and we so claimed it for Portugal immediately. The men of Vera Cruz were quite peculiar to us, with very brown skin and wearing nothing over their bearings as we do in Europe. As of this moment we are continuing our trip as planned, preparing to round the Cape of Good hope (renamed by King John II). We are all excited to return home to Portugal and proclaim our finding.