Concept
Version 8
Created by Boundless
Portuguese Explorers
How Portugal became the first global sea power
Pick your adjective for the monster wave McNamara rode in January just off the Portuguese coast near Nazare. The Portuguese explorer, Vasco da Gama, came to Nazare, too, to pray before he set out in 1497 -- and again after a successful return from his voyage to find a sea route to India with its rich spice trade. He did what Christopher Columbus tried to do but failed. Casimiro said that as a country, Portugal turns to the sea: "Our backs are turned to the land, and we are always looking at the sea. We have that kind of impulse to see what is after that." Even if it's frightening? "Yeah." Portugal is a country where the sea is and always has been regarded as a living being -- to be stared down, confronted.