Portuguese discovery of the sea route to India of the "São Gabriel" and its sister ship, the "São Rafael" that were used by Vasco da Gama to sail past the Cape of Good Hope and continue to India. One of the sailors, Bartolomeu Dias passed the southernmost point of Africa known as the Cape of Good Hope in 1488. He declared it possible to travel to India by going around Africa. The Portuguese were then able to make an immense profit by using their own ships to retrieve the spices. This global expedition was launched on 8 July 1497. It concluded two years later with the entry of
European route E01 in Portugal largest city in Portugal Porto. From this coastal city on the Atlantic Ocean, the E01 goes southwest, using the A1 motorway to the Centro Region passing by the major cities of Coimbra and Leiria to the Portuguese capital Lisbon. The motorway passes through the city center, from where it takes the A2 motorway crossing the sparsely populated Alentejo Region all the way until the south coast in the Algarve region at the merge with the A22 motorway at Albufeira. The road goes then east passing by Faro to the Spanish border at the Guadiana river in the Portuguese village of