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 1861, the Astronomical Observatory of Lisbon was founded and, in 1878, it was tasked with the exclusive competence of calculate its mean solar time and to transmit it to rest of the country’s public services. Thus, in practice, Portuguese standard time was defined as the mean solar time at Lisbon Observatory longitude, which was later calculated as being GMT–00:36:44. In 1911, it was agreed that standard time in Portugal should be defined in accordance with the 1884 prime meridian system. By the Decree of 26 May 1911, a reform was approved regarding standard time in Portugal and in its overseas