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
Portugal at the Paralympics European countries- has never taken part in the Winter Games. Portuguese athletes have won a total of 92 Paralympic medals, of which 25 gold, 30 silver and 37 bronze. As of 2010, Portugal ranks thirty-sixth on the all-time Paralympic Games medal table. The country's best performance came in 2000, when it won 15 medals (of which 6 gold) and ranked 26th. Portugal at the Paralympics Portugal made its Paralympic Games début at the 1972 Summer Paralympics (two years before the Carnation Revolution), where it was represented solely by a men's team in wheelchair basketball. They were eliminated at the preliminary