Yeah.
Well, some people legit believed that back then. (They still do today. The Flat Earth Society. 4srs.) They thought that there were big scary sea monsters and stuff if you went too far this or that way.
Ok.
But so these peeps were right next door to Spain. They were in Portugal, and they were some explorers.
So you can really appreciate this, you need to know what happened to other explorers. People had tried to go from Portugal ALL THE WAY down the coast of Africa, around it, and head over to India. 14 trips had been attempted, but, well....
Or:
But more likely:
Yeah. They were getting kinda close to the equator, and they weren’t used to really hot weather. So they started SPAZZIN!!1! and freaking out and they thought the sun was going to boil them.
lulz.
So why did they want to go to Africa and India anyway?
Well, they wanted a new trade route. BECAUSE SUDDENLY TURKS.
The Turks cut off trade routes to the East. Which means no moar silk. No moar spices. NO MOAR GEMS.
And spices were important. They didn’t have ‘fridgerators, so they spiced the meat to make it like beef jerky. Pepper was one of those more valued spices. In fact, it was almost as valuable as gold. Derp.
So the Portugal's also wanted to share the gospel with the Asians. More specifically, Prince Henry the Navigator, son of the King of Portugal, wanted to do that. DOOD, THESE GUYS ARE ORIGINAL WITH THEIR NAMES. Hmm.
Okbutso.
Henry was a super legit Christian. He wanted to convert Muslims, he was in a cool religious group, they didn’t take slaves (like a buncha other traders), and they wanted to stop the spread of Islam.
Well they sound like some nice people.
Henry wanted to travel to preach the gospel, so he joined up with some Astronomers, Shipbuilders, Map Makers, and a buncha peeps.
AND THEN THERE WAS A THIRD REASON.
They were trying to find a ~mysteriousss~ Christian king named Prester John. John supposedly owned kingdoms in India or Africa. A letter was received that pretty much said “OGURL I BE GETTIN TAKEN OVAR BY BARBARIANS.”
So I’m thinking dood probably didn’t really exist. Some kid probably wrote it up and dropped it in the mailbox to see where it’d end up. And then it spread through ALL OF EUROPE and everyone was looking for Prester John.
So there was another guy named Bartolomeu Dias... We’ll call him Bart.
So Bart was asked by King John II of Portugal to sail around Africa. The king paid for the ALL EXPENSE PAID VACATION~! He got three of the finest ships in Portugal, and sent Bart off.
So he got farther south than anyone had before. He and his men kept moving. Well, guess what?
THERE WERE NO MONSTERS. THERE WAS NO BOILING. THERE WAS NO END OF THE WORLD.
Failmode.
So a really bad storm came. For two whole weeks.
*sniffle*
BUT. THEY. LIVED.
After the storm was over, Bart still wanted to go for it.
He wanted to go up the east coast of Africa, but his men weren’t to hip on the idea.
Bart, sadly, gave in, and he went back to Portugal. This time, he maneuvered his ships close enough to the shore to see it. lulz.
So another explorer wanted to go around Africa. By this time, Portugal had another king. He was a good one, and gave the explorer, named De Gama, a few ships to sail him off.
So he brought a crew with him, and in that crew was Bart. Bart decided to come along, which was pretty cool. However, he ditched the guys about halfway there. ~And nobody knows why~
So the guys made it without any boiling water, end of the worlds, or sea monsters.
So they were pretty much kicked out of India because it was taken over by Muslims, and nobody wanted them there.
So they went back to Portugal, and everyone treated them like heroes.
Later, they went back to India, and they pretty much BROKE IN TO INDIA. They sank a Muslim ship that held THREE HUNDRED PILGRIMS GOING TO MECCA, and at that, India opened their trade routes.
So what about Bart?
Oh. Yeah. He drowned.
As for De Gama, he died in India. He was kinda an ambassador.
Uhm.
Well.
That was... Anti-climatic.
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