5th Portuguese India Armada (Albuquerque, 1503) Cape Verde, the first squadron of Afonso de Albuquerque struck out into the south Atlantic, following the South Atlantic Gyre. Along the way, Albuquerque came across Ascension Island. Although the island had already been discovered back in 1501 by the Third Armada of João da Nova (and named "ilha da Conceição" then), Albuquerque renamed it "ilha da Ascensão" on account of it being Ascension Day (May 21), the name that has since stuck. Strong south-westerly winds pushed them towards the coast of Brazil, where Albuquerque made a brief stop to take on water (exactly where is uncertain), before making his
Afonso de Albuquerque discovering their sea routes. Afonso found what had evaded Columbus' grasp – the wealth of the Orient. His discoveries did not go unnoticed, and it took little time for Magellan to arrive in the same region a few years later and discover the Philippines for Spain, giving birth to the Papal Treaty of Zaragoza. Afonso's operations sent a voyage pushing further south which made the European discovery of Timor in the far south of Oceania, and the discovery of Papua New Guinea in 1512. This was followed up by another Portuguese, Jorge de Menezes in 1526, who named Papua New