Indian Ocean trade Madagascar at this time leaving behind a lasting cultural and genetic legacy. Chinese fleets under Zheng He criscrossed the Indian Ocean during the early part of the 15th century. The missions were diplomatic rather than commercial, but many exchanges of gift and produces were made. The Portuguese under Vasco da Gama discovered a naval route to the Indian Ocean through the southern tip of Africa in 1497–98. Initially, the Portuguese were mainly active in Calicut, but the northern region of Gujarat was even more important for trade, and an essential intermediary in east-west trade. Venetian interests were directly threatened as
Greater Portugal Greater Portugal Greater Portugal (), also known as Portugalicia (), is a proposed union of the Portuguese-speaking territories including the autonomous region of Galicia, the Eonavian region, the territory of Olivença, and many villages along the Portugal-Spain border that speak any kind of Galician-Portuguese dialect, such as the Fala language. The concept of a Greater Portugal has its origins during the Portuguese Age of Discoveries, when Portuguese navigators and explorers discovered previously uninhabited lands such as the Madeira Islands, Savage Islands, Azores, and several other lands in the Atlantic Ocean. Although the proposal is thought to be a recent political