Equator crossed, A.D. 1471. was first passed, and ten years afterwards the Portuguese founded a fort and established a trading station on the coast of Guinea for the purpose of maintaining a permanent commercial intercourse with the natives.
From this commercial alliance the Portuguese derived large profits, while the crown received a considerable revenue from the ivory and gold the natives offered in abundance in exchange for trinkets and baubles of European manufacture. The greatest precautions were necessary to preserve in their own hands the valuable trade they had discovered, as other nations had indistinctly heard of the enormous profits the Portuguese were deriving from their commercial intercourse with some distant and hitherto unknown lands. They were, however, successful in keeping this secret for a good many years.[1]
John II. of Portugal.
First attempt to reach India by the Cape of Good Hope, A.D. 1487.
The reign of Dom John II.[2] was likewise conspicuous
for the still wider extension of this spirit of
maritime enterprise. Second only to Prince Henry,
this monarch displayed the greatest anxiety to foster
discoveries by sea. He had been taught to believe
that, by coasting along the African continent, a
passage to the East Indies might be discovered; and
he not only equipped two small squadrons expressly
for this purpose, but despatched two of his subjects
into India and Abyssinia to find out the route to and
between these vast regions, and to ascertain what
advantages the trade of his country might derive from
the knowledge thus acquired. These researches ulti-*
