Portuguese discovery of the sea route to India working on the Cape Route to India was charted by Portuguese King John II as a cost saving measure in the trade with Asia and also an attempt to monopolize the spice trade. Adding to the increasingly influential Portuguese maritime presence, John II craved for trade routes and for the expansion of the kingdom of Portugal which had already been transformed into an Empire. However, the project was not realized during his reign. It as his successor, King Manuel I, who designated Vasco da Gama for this expedition, while maintaining the original plan. However, this development was not viewed well
Time in Portugal Empire: although almost all continental Portugal is located west of the 7.5°W meridian (i.e. in the theoretical zone of time zone), for mainland Portugal it was adopted as its time zone. By the same law, time zone was adopted for the Azores and Cape Verde, for Madeira and Portuguese Guinea, for São Tomé and Príncipe and São João Baptista de Ajudá, for Angola, for Mozambique, for Portuguese India and for Macau and Portuguese Timor. These time zones were adopted on 1 January 1912. Daylight saving time ("Hora de Verão", in Portuguese) was observed for the first time in 1916, during