After the death of Alfonso V, King of Portugal, his explorers’ southward push continued at a frantic pace of 170 km per year for 46 years. But from then on, it increased to 790 km per year, and in just seven years, under King John II, they rounded the Cape of Good Hope, traveling another 6,300 km, until finally emerging into the long-sought Indian Ocean, seeking a passage to the East, the existence of which had by then begun to fade.
