History of Western civilization Genovese born mariner, Christopher Columbus set out under the auspices of the Crown of Castile (Spain) to seek an oversea route to the East Indies via the Atlantic Ocean. Rather than Asia, Columbus landed in the Bahamas, in the Caribbean. Spanish colonization followed and Europe established Western Civilization in the Americas. The Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama led the first sailing expedition directly from Europe to India in 1497-1499, by the Atlantic and Indian oceans, opening up the possibility of trade with the East other than via perilous overland routes like the Silk Road. Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese explorer working
Greater Portugal Greater Portugal Greater Portugal (), also known as Portugalicia (), is a proposed union of the Portuguese-speaking territories including the autonomous region of Galicia, the Eonavian region, the territory of Olivença, and many villages along the Portugal-Spain border that speak any kind of Galician-Portuguese dialect, such as the Fala language. The concept of a Greater Portugal has its origins during the Portuguese Age of Discoveries, when Portuguese navigators and explorers discovered previously uninhabited lands such as the Madeira Islands, Savage Islands, Azores, and several other lands in the Atlantic Ocean. Although the proposal is thought to be a recent political