8 
DISCOVERY OF THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. 
Gama in this expedition, may be considered as the foundation 
of the high rank, which the Portuguese once held amongst the 
maritime and commercial nations of Europe. The track round the 
Cape of Good Hope, was discovered in 1498, and the flag of Portu¬ 
gal was planted on the shores of India. These extraordinary dis¬ 
coveries of the Portuguese, and the flourishing commerce which 
they had established in the Indian seas, engrossed for a long time 
the spirit and jealousy of the other maritime powers of Europe, 
and particularly stimulated the English nation, to obtain a par¬ 
ticipation in the apparently inexhaustible fountain of wealth, 
which flowed to the Portuguese from their Indian possessions. 
The Portuguese at that time were in regard to the Indian trade, 
what the English now are: they had firmly established them¬ 
selves in their new dependencies; they considered themselves, 
as being the discoverers of the route round the Cape of Good Hope, 
to possess an exclusive and sovereign right, to all the benefits and 
privileges of the commerce, belonging to all the countries 
within a given latitude, as had been previously the case with the 
Spaniards. A bull of the pope, a most powerful instrument in 
those days, and which was, doubtless, purchased by some portion 
of the wealth acquired in their commercial enterprises, invested 
the Portuguese with the sovereignty of their new possessions, 
and there was not a maritime power in Europe, then strong 
or bold enough, to dispute their dominion, or to wrest it from 
them by the usual mode of warfare. 
It is curious to observe how intimately connected the principal 
discoveries are to each other ; although apparently dissimilar in 
their object; the majority of them, springing from the rival spirit 
of commerce, and, finally leading to the annexation of some of 
the richest portions of the globe, to the European governments. 
The flourishing state of the Venetian commerce, led to the 
discovery by the Portuguese, of the route round the Cape of 
Good Hope, and the latter discovery first suggested to the Eng¬ 
lish, the idea of attempting to reach China and India, by at 
least one half of the distance, and this was to be achieved by 
sailing round the north coast of America, into the great Pacific ; 
and so confident were the English navigators of the existence 
