17. Exploration Is the Spice of Life
Pedro Álvares Cabral was a Portuguese nationalist and explorer. His biggest claim of fame is that he was the first European to have discovered what is now the country of Brazil. Cabral initially left Portugal with 13 ships, following the initial route of Vasco da Gama; however, on April 22, 1500, Cabral got sight of land that ended up being Brazil, where this explorer stayed for ten days before resuming his trip to India. While in India, he traded for spices and other goods and ran into mercenaries and destructive storms. He returned to Portugal with just five ships and refused to travel to India again.