Portuguese colonization of the Americas on 22 April, Cabral landed on the coast, in Porto Seguro. Believing the land to be an island, he named it Ilha de Vera Cruz (Island of the True Cross). The previous expedition of Vasco da Gama to India already recorded several signs of land near its western open Atlantic Ocean route, in 1497. It has also been suggested that Duarte Pacheco Pereira may have discovered the coasts of Brazil in 1498, possible its northeast, but the exact area of the expedition and the explored regions remain unclear. On the other hand, some historians have suggested that the Portuguese may
Journey to Portugal wrong from the start; it is downright solipsistic", and concluded that the book was better as a guide to Saramago rather than as a guide to Portugal. The book was also reviewed in "World Literature Today", "The Washington Post", "New Statesman", and "The Spectator". Journey to Portugal Journey to Portugal ("Viagem a Portugal" in Portuguese) is a non-fiction book on Portugal by Nobel Prize-winning author José Saramago. It was first published in 1981 by Círculo de Leitores e Editorial Caminho. An English language translation was published in 2001. A review in "Publishers Weekly" praised the book, calling it a "monumental