Portuguese discovery of the sea route to India of the "São Gabriel" and its sister ship, the "São Rafael" that were used by Vasco da Gama to sail past the Cape of Good Hope and continue to India. One of the sailors, Bartolomeu Dias passed the southernmost point of Africa known as the Cape of Good Hope in 1488. He declared it possible to travel to India by going around Africa. The Portuguese were then able to make an immense profit by using their own ships to retrieve the spices. This global expedition was launched on 8 July 1497. It concluded two years later with the entry of
Portuguese immigration to Hawaii of about 10,700 Portuguese. Whereas contracts for the Chinese workers that preceded them generally stipulated single men only, the Portuguese were allowed to bring their families, an incentive that the plantation owners hoped would provide stability. Prior to independence in 1975, many Cape Verdeans emigrated to Hawaii from drought-stricken Portuguese Cape Verde, formerly an overseas province of Portugal. Because these people arrived using their Portuguese passports, they were registered as Portuguese immigrants by the Hawaiian (and later, the American) authorities. Portuguese immigration to the islands slowed after 1887, which was the same year that King Kalākaua was stripped of power,