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,
Portuguese in the United Kingdom introduced to Britain by Jewish migrants fleeing Portugal and Spain. Some Portuguese emigrated to the UK in the 1950s and 1960s, when guest workers left Portugal for other Western European countries in search of employment opportunities. However, the scale of migration to the UK during this period was small in comparison with Portuguese migration to France and Germany. Some Portuguese migrated to the UK in the 1960s and 1970s, when Portugal was amongst the poorest countries in Europe. Young males also left Portugal at this time in order to avoid being conscripted to fight in the Portuguese Colonial War. More