The Spanish and Portuguese in the New World: The History and Legacy of the First European Rivalry in the Americas

In 1451, Prince Henry the Navigator helped fund and develop a new type of ship, the caravel, that featured triangular lateen sails and would be able to travel in the open ocean and sail against the wind. In 1488, Bartholomew Diaz rounded the southern tip of Africa, named the Cape of Good Hope by King John of Portugal, and entered the Indian Ocean from the Atlantic.

One explorer, Christopher Columbus, sought funding from the Portuguese to search for a passage to Asia by sailing westwards, but...