Portuguese discovery of the sea route to India It is often regarded as the most important work of Portuguese literature. The work celebrates the discovery of a sea route to India by the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama. King Manuel did not share that opinion. Keeping the D. João II plan, he went ahead to equip the ships and chose Vasco da Gama as the leader of this expedition and the captain of the armada. According to the original plan, John II had appointed his father, Stephen da Gama, to head the armada; but by the time of implementing the plan, both were deceased. Portuguese were after spices,
Time in Portugal Cavaco Silva government, by Decree-Law 124/92, mainland Portugal officially changed its time zone from WET () to CET ().<ref name="Decree-Law 124/92"> Decree-Law 124/92, 2 July 1992 (in Portuguese). Retrieved 12 May 2013.</ref> Differently from the 1966 move to CET, this time DST was to be observed, as CEST (), from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in September. The measure, approved without the consultation of Lisbon Observatory, had the intention of promoting energy savings, in order that “Portugal follow, in work schedules, the countries with which it maintains more frequent contacts” (DL 124/92) and so promoting economic