https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartolomeu_Dias
He was the first European to round the Cape and make it back, in the years 1487-88.
His voyage was foundational for the later voyage of Vasco Da Gama to India in 1497-1498.
Here's a few ideas to bring about some divergences from our timeline.
1) What if Dias discovered Brazil on the way back?
PoD - after reaching the Cape from the east, thus confirming the attachment of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, rather than coasting home slowly, takes a different route. Perhaps tossed into position by storms, he catches the South Atlantic gyre, which leads to near Brazil. He stops, reprovisions successfully, and returns to Portugal.
Thus the new western continent is discovered by Europeans, and definitively known to the King of Portugal, 4 years before the voyages of Columbus.
Questions in the meantime - could Dias' expedition have survived the voyage across the South Atlantic, landed in Brazil without crashing, and reprovisioned without getting killed, and then get home? And can they discover Brazil wood and see it as something valuable while they are at it?
Consequences: I imagine the push to continue to explore east would continue with equal force, as the Portuguese will still correctly believe this is the quickest path to India.
But they now have the option of exploring and exploiting the new unknown western continent and claiming it for themselves. They could well explore the coasts of south America and reach into the Caribbean within a few years, and announce broad claims to everything up to the Caribbean/Gulf of Mexico. Spain or any other powers end up only with the room to explore only points further north, unless they can manage contesting Portuguese claims by force.
2) What if Dias never gets knocked by OTL's storm that pushed him to the east side of the Cape and then allowed him to sea how Africa was to his west, but then he lands in Brazil on the way back?
This could conceivably set back the timetable for a full Da Gama expedition, force another voyage to confirm that Africa is surrounded by water, while still making the Portuguese interested in checking out the western continent in more detail.
3) What Dias never made it back?
If his expedition is lost at sea or its survivors stranded where they will be undiscovered, what does this do to the tactics and timetable of Portuguese exploration and exploitation?
He was the first European to round the Cape and make it back, in the years 1487-88.
His voyage was foundational for the later voyage of Vasco Da Gama to India in 1497-1498.
Here's a few ideas to bring about some divergences from our timeline.
1) What if Dias discovered Brazil on the way back?
PoD - after reaching the Cape from the east, thus confirming the attachment of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, rather than coasting home slowly, takes a different route. Perhaps tossed into position by storms, he catches the South Atlantic gyre, which leads to near Brazil. He stops, reprovisions successfully, and returns to Portugal.
Thus the new western continent is discovered by Europeans, and definitively known to the King of Portugal, 4 years before the voyages of Columbus.
Questions in the meantime - could Dias' expedition have survived the voyage across the South Atlantic, landed in Brazil without crashing, and reprovisioned without getting killed, and then get home? And can they discover Brazil wood and see it as something valuable while they are at it?
Consequences: I imagine the push to continue to explore east would continue with equal force, as the Portuguese will still correctly believe this is the quickest path to India.
But they now have the option of exploring and exploiting the new unknown western continent and claiming it for themselves. They could well explore the coasts of south America and reach into the Caribbean within a few years, and announce broad claims to everything up to the Caribbean/Gulf of Mexico. Spain or any other powers end up only with the room to explore only points further north, unless they can manage contesting Portuguese claims by force.
2) What if Dias never gets knocked by OTL's storm that pushed him to the east side of the Cape and then allowed him to sea how Africa was to his west, but then he lands in Brazil on the way back?
This could conceivably set back the timetable for a full Da Gama expedition, force another voyage to confirm that Africa is surrounded by water, while still making the Portuguese interested in checking out the western continent in more detail.
3) What Dias never made it back?
If his expedition is lost at sea or its survivors stranded where they will be undiscovered, what does this do to the tactics and timetable of Portuguese exploration and exploitation?