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 March to last Sunday in October in the whole country.<ref name="Regional Legislative Decree 6/96/M"> Regional Legislative Decree 6/96/M (Madeira), 25 June 1996 (in Portuguese). Retrieved 26 May 2013.</ref><ref name="Regional Legislative Decree 16/96/A"> Regional Legislative Decree 16/96/A (Azores), 1 August 1996 (in Portuguese). Retrieved 26 May 2013.</ref> In 1996 Portugal adopted ISO 8601 via EN 28601 as NP EN 28601:1996. The Astronomical Observatory of Lisbon publishes the official time via the Network Time Protocol (NTP), e.g. via "ntp02.oal.ul.pt" and "ntp04.oal.ul.pt". The IANA time zone database contains 3 zones for Portugal. Columns marked with * are from the file zone.tab from the