The Renaissance, apart from its literature and artistic meaning, may also be characterized by a crescendo of geographical curiosity induced by the discovery of new lands. After centuries, the Europeans start to have access to new seas, while until then they have maintained contact with Asia exclusively by land, as the Arab merchants, skilled in navigation, plied the monsoon troubled seas.

In 1488, the Portuguese managed to go beyond the newly-named Cape of Good Hope, they made their way to Africa’s eastern side, crossed the Indian Ocean and landed in India. A turning point that inaugurated a new era of discoveries.