Founded with the intent of protecting Portugal's monopoly on the spice trade, the Casa da Índia began financing and organizing the Portuguese India Armadas in 1497, annual armadas of galleons, carracks, and caravels transporting commodities, like gold, ivory, and spices, between Lisbon and the Portuguese trade posts and colonies across Africa and Asia. The Casa da Índia sponsored numerous famous Portuguese navigators, including Vasco da Gama (who discovered the sea route to India), Pedro Álvares Cabral (who discovered Brazil), and Afonso de Albuquerque (who established Portuguese hegemony in the Indian Ocean). Throughout the 15th and 16th centuries, the Casa da Índia rapidly grew into an economically powerful institution, playing a crucial role in the financing of the Portuguese discoveries and expeditions throughout West Africa, East Africa, the Middle East, India, and the East Indies. The Casa da Índia similarly played an important role in the development of modern cartography, patronizing the "Padrão Real", one of the first early world maps.