Timeline 1500-1600 (Zheng China)

Columbus and Cabot in Vinlandia
In late March, Columbus departed England on his third voyage to the lands he and Cabot discovered, which came to be collectively referred to as Vinlandia. After a rough trip over the sea in the ten ships he commanded, he arrived in early June along the coast of the Gulf of Saint Wenceslaus, and found a very different scene from his previous voyages. Instead of the occassional fishermen, he found whole villages clinging to the coasts as people reaped the bountiful sea. Using the experience he gained from his previous two voyages, Columbus quickly opened a dialogue, trading metal fishing hooks for furs, which proved considerably more profitable due to the timing, as the locals acquired furs over the winter and needed fishing equipment for the summer more than they needed furs. This time, Columbus refrained from kidnapping natives, as he was considerably outnumbered this time and needed their support in what he had planned: travelling up the river he noted earlier. Giving local natives gifts in exchange for their help as guides and using a ship with a low draft, he travelled up the river.

The river, which he named the Saint Wenceslaus River, travelled on a nigh steady course southwest, with some erratic bumps and twists along the way. Over the next five weeks, as Columbus sailed down the river, he noticed the climate shift to a warmer, more humid type. He also noted a shift in the language, becoming less and less familiar to him the further south he travelled. Eventually, he reached a point where the people on the eastern side of the river were completely unintelligible to him, and seemed to be hostile to his guides. After the new people launched a raid on his camp, whether to capture his guides or his crewmen, he decided that he had seen enough and sailed back down the river to his ships.

When he returned, he found that the locals had become sick with some disease that involved pustules on the skin. Recognizing the disease as influenza, Columbus and his men tried to help but nothing they did helped, nor any of the locals' traditional remedies. The locals, believing Columbus had brought the disease to them, reacted violently against him and he was forced to leave prematurely, though he still carried the rich stocks of furs from his transactions.

Concurrent with Columbus' adventures in the Gulf of Saint Wenceslaus, Cabot, and a fleet of six ships, had returned to his previous location, and to a very similar sight as Columbus further north, with large groups of locals fishing along the coast. Quickly opening trade, he acquired a large wealth in furs and began talks about travelling up the river he had visited earlier. The locals agreed to help him travel the river, which he named Saint Francis River (OTL Saint John River) after the saint's feast day that he discovered it. Using local canoes and hiring local guides, he made his way up the river, while his men scouted further south, but not before being ordered to return within a month to pick him up.

As he travelled up the river, he received a glimpse into the locals' lifestyle. He saw that many of them relied on hunting and gathering, foraging depending on the seasons, though tentative visits to a few villages showed that they also practiced agriculture, though with very different plants and very different methods. Instead of planting one crop in a field, they mixed their crops together, forming a kind of mutual support system between the different plants. The main plants were beans, a yellow melon like plant but with a different taste, and something that resembled bamboo but had large kernels that they used as food. After three weeks of travelling the river, John Cabot turned back to the sea to his crew, but not before leaving a small stone tablet commemorating the king at the farthest point he had travelled. When he returned he found that his ships had travelled south along the coast and had reached a strange peninsula that stretched out and up, forming a kind of hook. Interactions with the local tribes revealed a remarkable cultural continuum tha stretched from north to south, with the people all speaking similar languages, akin to French and Catalan, and having a very similar culture, with the same lifestyles as those further north. After conglomerating their charts together, Cabot quickly stocked up on supplies, including furs and some natives, and soon departed home for England.

When they returned to England, King Henry was quite impressed with the amount of furs they had brought back, immediately calculating the riches the furs represented. The thing that interested him most, however, turned out to be Cabot's report on agriculture, which meant that it was possible for the English to grow crops and soon make their colonies self-sufficient in terms of food, so the state would not have to invest a lot of food to support it after a short period of time. Columbus' reports on the effects of disease, however, proved to be a double-edged sword for Henry to consider: it opened the potential for England to reduce the local populations, so they posed less of a threat to the initial colonies, but it also meant that the locals could start trouble if they believed the diseases were caused by the colonists. Columbus' reports on the apparent antagonism between the locals and the raiders opened the possibility to further relationships with the locals despite the devastation caused by the new diseases: with reduced numbers, their enemies would have a tactical advantage, so the locals would be searching for something to even the odds again, which the English could provide via weapons and supplies. To test this out, Henry planned another expedition to launch within a few years to give the diseases time to travel through the group, and leave the locals relatively vulnerable to their enemies, to see if their weakened military state would persuade them to seek an alliance with England.

On March 24, 1504, Columbus and Cabot made another voyage across the Atlantic, this time carrying cargo ships filled with guns, ammunition, and gunpowder ingredients, among other goods. After nine weeks of travel, slowed by storms and disease, they arrived at their respective destinations. In the Gulf of Saint Wenceslaus, Columbus found a much smaller group fishing than he had seen barely three years ago, and a much angrier one at that. They had not only received diseases from direct dealings with Columbus and his crew, but also from the clothing and blankets they had received due to the fomites, as well as dealing with those that had managed to recover, which surprised Columbus to a degree. This meant that the disease spread far and wide across the area among their friends and neighbors, until eventually they had burned the pieces hoping to rid themselves of the disease, though this only prevented it from spreading further via this particular route. Hoping to curry favor and perhaps forgiveness, Columbus offered to give them a new means to defend themselves against their enemies, the ones whose language Columbus did not recognize.

Unfortunately for Columbus, while the locals were impressed by the power that his matchlock guns possessed, they were not impressed enough because they had lower range, accuracy, and reload time when compared to their best archers, even when wielded by the best of Columbus' crewmen. Also, their style of fighting was different from the Europeans and Asians. Instead of armies forming lines across a battlefield, the locals raided each others' camps and sites. This meant that stealth and surprise was more important than numbers or firepower, and the loud noise that the firearms produced undermined these elements considerably. Finally, the guns had a potential reliability problem: they had to keep the match lit for it to work, which meant that for those attempting to lay an ambush, the light and smoke could give them away. The only advantages the guns possessed over bows and arrows were their penetration power, their lower learning curve, which was what won them the advantage over archery in Eurasia, and the psychological effect on those unfamiliar with them.

In the end, the locals acquired the guns more for hunting than for warfare, as their greater power meant that even the biggest prey could not escape, though their warriors did make use of them as well, fighting alongside the archers. This enabled Columbus to repair the diplomatic damage the diseases had caused and soon negotiations and trade resumed. This time, Columbus, and his crew, thanks to the captives they had taken, had a strong enough grasp on the local language to conduct talks instead of being limited to trade.

Meanwhile, in the south, Cabot had returned to find a very different landscape than before. Thanks to trade and kin connections among the locals, the diseases that Columbus and his crew introduced further north had travelled southward, decimating the population, and souring relations with the natives. After convincing them that the ship they had heard of, the apparent origin of the disease, was not affiliated with him, he offered the natives matchlocks for warfare and hunting. The natives assessed the matchlocks on the same criteria as their neighbors to the north and came to the conclusion that on their own, the guns left much to be desired. Still, their power was impressive enough that many matchlocks were given, though the secret of making gunpowder remained safely in English hands, leaving the natives dependent on them for trade and supplies. This would prove very important in the early colonies and their dealings with the natives.

Upon their return to England, they discussed with King Henry their next course of action. Columbus wanted to settle along the northern route, with the endpoint on the Gulf of Saint Wenceslaus for direct access to the fur trade. Cabot, on the other hand, suggested establishing a fishing colony on the first island Columbus visited to make the colonies more sef-sufflicient and least dependent on imports from home, thus cutting costs. The king decided  Cabot's suggestion made more sense economically and asked him to begin preparations for the colony. He asked Columbus to embark on one final voyage to the north to see what lay north of the gulf. He wanted to know if there was land or sea north of the gulf. If it was the latter, perhaps it would lead to Asia via the north. Columbus, now quite old and sick with arthritis and ophtalmia, decided to turn down the king's request, and was instead assigned to oversee the burgeoning colony while John Cabot was assigned the voyage to the north.

On their last voyage in April of 1506, Columbus journeyed to the island that he first encountered, now named Newfoundland, where he oversaw the first colonists disembarking from their ships. After some quick repairs and recuperation for Cabot's ships, Columbus gave him the latest charts of the Gulf and bade him good luck.

Over the next seven weeks, Cabot and his ships hugged the coast as they travelled north. They noted a gradual turn in the coast heading west-northwest. The climate grew increasingly cooler, though the summer months kept it within tolerable levels. They took careful notes of what they saw along the way, including the many fjords and islands, and they eventually came to a turning point, where the land abruptly turned south before giving way to the sea again, in the form of a large bay. A cursory look of the gulf proved that the area was too cold for trees or crops, though there were still small villages along the coast, and that the other side gave way to a strait heading west-northwest. Cabot attempted to open talks with the locals, but their language proved incomprehensible to him. The long trip and the unfamiliarity with the terrain also took its toll on the ships, and the dwindling supplies took its tool on his men. After a quick restocking of supplies via trade with the locals, exchanging food and animal hides for metal tools, in mid autumn of 1506, Cabot turned eastward for the nascent colony on Newfoundland. Fortunately for his return journey, the strong current flowing southeast from the north expediated his journey and he returned within three weeks as opposed to six on his journey north.

Cabral's Journeys to India and Brazil
Meanwhile as Columbus and Cabot explored the north Atlantic, King Manuel I of Portugal, first of the House of Aviz-Beja, became intrigued about the new lands they had uncovered. However, his primary interests remained in the trade in India and commissioned Pedro Alvares Cabral to command a fleet to open diplomatic ties with India in the hope of expanding Portugal's commercial base in the east. A particular target was Kozhikode, a dominant city on the south Indian coast and a key port on the spice trade. He also wanted to see how influential the Chinese were in India when compared to southeast Asia. A third objective was to find the city of Sofala, a key seaport of the Kingdom of Mutapa and the local gold trade. Finally, they were to acquire large cargo holds of spices on a commercial spice run. Along with the various gifts and trade products, the fleet also carried a group of Franciscan missionaries, led by Friar Henrique Soares of Coimbre, to "reconnect" with and "upgrade" the "Hindu Church", whose religion was thought by some to be a derived form of Christianity.

On March 9, 1500, the fleet, comprised of 13 ships, departed from the Tagus. On March 22, his fleet arrived at Cape Verde during a storm, which damaged several ships, including one that had to be sent back to Portugal. After undergoing rudimentary repairs, Cabral made the fateful decision to sail southwest instead of southeast, to catch the trade winds and avoid the counteracting currents along the African coast. The storms also forced him to sail southwest to avoid the worst, so catching the trade winds was deemed more economical than trying to return to the African coast. On April 22, his men saw the outlines of a hill, which they called Monte Pascoal. The next day, they anchored at the mouth of the Do Frade River and, seeing a group of locals assembled on the beach, prepared to go ashore, but the turf proved too strong and they were forced to turn back and try again tommorrow.

That night, strong winds forced the fleet to pull anchor and turn north to find a more protected area, where they captured two locals in a canoe and brought them onboard for questioning. While the linguistic and cultural differences proved a challenge for both parties, the natives were treated well. The next day, Nicolau Coelho and Bartholomew Dias went ashore, along with the captured natives, where they encountered a party of armed natives. After a brief, tense moment, the captured natives managed to diffuse the situation by signaling the locals to lower their weapons and the Europeans were able to gather food and water without fear of attack. Over a week, interactions between the Europeans and the natives increased, and eventually trade opened up, exchanging European nails and cloth for trinkets, spears, parrots, and monkeys. The trinkets planted a seed of suspicion in the Europeans that precious metals may lie in the land they had discovered, so some crewmen stayed ashore with the locals while the rest returned to their ships.

On May 1, Cabral decided to resume the fleet's voyage to India, though he sent a supply ship filled with goods from the land they discovered, which they named "Brazil", as well as some men with the locals to survey the land. In late May, Cabral reached the Tiān fēi jiǎ , albeit at a great price as strong winds blew against them, sinking three ships in the process, including the ship destined to sail to Sofala. After making some quick repairs, they reached the Primeiras Islands off the East African coast on the 16th of May, then the Island of Mozambique, and then the city of Kilwa on May 22nd. In Kilwa, Cabral attempted to open talks with Emir Ibrahim, the de facto ruler, but due to suspicions on the latter's part, very little came of it and Cabral set sail for India.

After stopping to pay respects to the Sultan of Malindi on August 2, Cabral and his fleet five days later. On August 22, Cabral and his fleet stopped at Anjediva Island for repairs and recuperation before travelling down the coast of India. On September 13, Cabral and his fleet finally arrived at Kozhikode and began to open talks with the Zamorin. A commercial treaty was agreed upon, where the Portuguese would be allowed to build a trading post in the city of Calicut, and soon, Cabral began buying spices to bring home. In October, the Zamorin requested that Cabral dispatch his fleet to capture a group of Arab merchants, aligned with the Kingdom of Cochin, carrying war elephants to the Sultan of Cambay, claiming that they were delivering illegal contraband and hoping to capture the elephants. Cabral, hoping to further ties with the Zamorin, agreed and sent one ship to intercept the Arabs, which initially managed to escape, but were captured later and brought into Calicut with their nearly intact cargo, minus one elephant that had been killed in the fighting.

Unfortunately, their success was soured by an incident that occurred in December. The Portuguese were only able to buy enough spices to fill two of their cargo ships. Believing that the Arab merchants, the predominant traders in Calicut, were colluding to keep them excluded from the rich spice trade, the Portuguese factor Aires Correia brought his complaints to Cabral, who promised to look into the matter and take it up with the Zamorin. However, while the Zamorin made vague promises to help the Portuguese, very little came of it. After much lobbying and little action, on December 17, Cabral finally took action and seized an Arab merchant ship, claiming the Zamorin had granted the Portuguese spice market priority, inflaming the Arab merchants to direct a riot against the trading post, killing over 50 Portuguese, including Aires Correia and several friars. 20 survivors later claimed that the Zamorin's own Hindu guards were assisting in the riot, either directing it or actively taking part.

Inflammed by the claims, Cabral prepared a retaliatory strike, though he gave the Zamorin one day to redress the matter with him. When the Zamorin remained unresponsive, Cabral seized ten Arab ships, confiscated their cargoes, killed their crews, and burned their ships. Then, after accusing the Zamorin of sanctioning the attack, he ordered his ships cannons to open fire on the city and the nearby port of Pandarane, killing hundreds.

Cabral, acting on the advice of Gaspar da Gama, decided to sail to the Cochin Kingdom, who had long enjoyed a relationship with Kozhikode akin to that between Vietnam and China, and desired an opportunity to break away. An emissary was sent to the Trimumpara Raja to make contact, and the Portuguese were warmly greeted, their earlier bombardment of Calicut outweighing their seizure of the war elephants. An alliance was quickly formed, with the Portuguese promising to make the Trimumpara Raja the ruler of Calicut upon the city's capture, and the Portuguese quickly built a trading post in the city. The trading post was soon after burned down, probably at the instigation of Arabs, learning of the events at Calicut, but the Trimumpara Raja quickly cracked down on the arsonists, earning the respect and gratitude of Cabral and the Portuguese, though the smaller spice markets meant smaller returns for the Portuguese.

In early January, Cabral received invitations from the rulers of other rival states of Calicut, but he declined, not wanting to insult his Cochinese ally. He responded to one ruler, though, the ruler of the Cranganore Kingdom, which had fallen on hard times. Seeing the supply of good in Cochin running low, Cabral accepted and departed for Cranganore. Their arrival gave the Portuguese a tremendous shock-the city hosted significant populations of Syrian Christians and Malabari Jews, exploding the idea that the "Hindu Church" was a primitive version of Christianity, as it was clear that the Hindus had extensive contact with Christianity for centuries and remained a distinct religion. Two Syrian Christians, one of which came to be known as Jose de Cranganore, applied for passage back to Portugal, which Cabral accepted, hoping to gain key intelligence on India.

On January 16, after hearing that a large fleet of 80 ships had departed Calicut to confront him, Cabral, despite offerings by the Trimumpara Raja to defend him, departed and left to the north, swinging wide to avoid the Zamorin's fleet. Prior to their departure, they left behind some men, including the factor Gonçalo Gil Barbosa. They had also, inadvertently, took along a couple of the Trimumpara Raja's officers, who had been serving as noble hostages to the Portuguese. As they departed, they paid a quick visit to Cannamore, where the Raja, seeking an alliance against Calicut, offered to sell the Portuguese spices on credit, though Cabral paid him anyway. His cargo holds now full, Cabral made sail back to Portugal.

As he travelled down the coast of Africa, he realized that Diogo Dias, the man delegated to finding Sofala, had not returned nor had been found, and so he sent the fastest ships home while he personally searched for Sofala himself. He also left some men on the coast with instructions for Diogo Dias to avoid Calicut due to the turn of events. After failing to find Sofala, Cabral and most of his men turned south to return to Portugal, though one man, Sancho de Tovar, managed to find the city and quickly scouted it from his ship before turning home.

Meanwhile, Manuel I, learning of the discovery of Brazil, sent a small force commanded by Gaspar de Lemos, to explore it further. The force also which included the navigator and explorer Amerigo Vespucci from Florence. While the force was stationed in Senegal, they found Diogo Dias, who recounted how he lost his way around a large island off the coast of Africa, and tried to sail directly north to link up with Cabral, only to stray into the Gulf of Aden and be attacked by pirates, and had just managed to get back to Senegal. While there, Amerigo Vespucci pondered two potential arrangements for the lands of Vinlandia and Brazil. One was that they were two distinct islands or continents, separated by a corridor of sea centered around the equator. The other was that they were two halves of a much larger landmass, though he could not be sure of either one. One thing was certain: they were distinct from Asia, not part of it, as others, including Columbus, initially thought. In mid-June 1501, Vespucci and de Lemos departed for Brazil to explore it further, and shortly after they left, Cabral arrived for supplies and repairs.

Cabral, after returning home to Portugal on July 21 of 1501, he faced a great deal of criticism. He had lost over half of the fleet, and had failed to establish a treaty or a trading post with Calicut or Kilwa, and he failed to bring the "Hindu Church" back into the Catholic faith. In his defense, he managed to establish good relations with some Indian powers, albeit weaker, poorer ones in comparison to Calicut. He had also brought back tons of spices, which brough huge returns for the crown, and he discovered a new island and a new land, Brazil, which the court considered using as bases for future runs to India.

Almost immediately after the return of the fleet, King Maneul I decided to launch another fleet to India to recover from the losses they sustained earlier, but Vasco da Gama was selected to command the fleet, irritating Cabral to no end. Hoping to placate him, King Manuel decided to give Cabral a chance to redeem himself in the eyes of the court by exploring the new land of Brazil. Figuring that it was the best he would receive, Cabral agreed and was placed in command of a fleet of five ships, as opposed to the 12 ships Gama commanded on his journey to India.

On March 1, Cabral's fleet was launched and headed south-southwest, following the route he took to reach Brazil. Within six weeks, they had returned to Monte Pascoal and began scouting the coast for a suitable location to build a port. Eventually, they decided that the place that they first landed, which they named "Porto Seguro" for future reference, would be the best place. The chief resource of the area was the forest, in particular the brazilwood, which they found useful as a dye for textiles. To help plan for their future settlements, they took detailed maps of the area, and, with the help of a skilled botanist and metal expert, created a thorough inventory of the resources in the area. They also made contact with some of the natives, mainly hunters foraging in the forest. Attempts at opening a dialogue proved fruitless as neither party could understand the other. After spending over five weeks studying and researching the area, and after capturing some locals, on May 29 Cabral set sail back to Portugal, arriving home in Lisbon in mid August.

King Maneul I, upon receiving the maps and the inventory, soon began contemplating a full-scale colonization of the area, and perhaps along the coast of Brazil, if only to monopolize the brazilwood industry west of India. Knowing, however, that such a scheme would be highly risky and expensive, he had to figure out if the potential profits were indeed worth the effort. Perhaps da Gama's relative success in India and Africa made the king more open, or susceptible, to further commercial gambles and he soon began planning another expedition to Brazil, once more with Cabral in command. On March 25, 1502, Cabral, commanding a fleet of eight ships, once more departed Portugal for Brazil. After nine weeks crossing the Atlantic, upon his return to Porto Seguro, Cabral split his force into two divisions, one to scout the coastline to the north, and the other to the south to seek out additional sites for colonies. Their criteria for choosing sites were their proximity to the sea, the disposition of the local inhabitants, and the resources available within a few days walk from the site. The resources, especially botanical and geological, were to carefully catalogued for future reference, and every site were to be thoroughly mapped. After approximately two months of travel, the two halves were to return to Porto Seguro to repair, resupply, and eventually return to Portugal.

Cabral, leading the fleet northward, encountered a large river flowing from the west into the Atlantic after travelling north for over six weeks. Stopping for water and supplies, he noted the sheer volume of the river, considerably greater than anything in Europe. More astonishing was the presence of a fairly large city seated on an island at the river's mouth. With great care, Cabral ventured into the city in his longboats, hoping to get an idea of what lay ahead, and perhaps open a dialogue with the natives. He was soon seen by the locals who approached him warily and with arms. Cabral, seeing the people's reaction, attempted to allay their concerns, though their language, which he found virtually incomprehensible but strangely familiar, was a considerable barrier. Nevertheless, Cabral, with great care and patience, and the captured natives' assistance, managed to convince the locals that they were not a threat, and trade soon commenced. The trade pattern, exchanging local trinkets and exotic animals for metal tools, gave Cabral more time to open talks. The local trinkets indicated that precious metals were nearby, probably upriver, meaning that the idea of colonization became much more tempting to the king back in Portugal. Also. he learned that there were other cities like this further upriver, opening the potential for future trade. After stopping for repairs and supplies, as well as bringing some of the natives abroad, without the use of force, Cabral turned back to the coast to meet up with the rest of his fleet.

Upon his return he looked over the charts his men had put together and conglomerated them into a legible map of the Brazilian coast. He also met up with an unexpected guest: Amerigo Vespucci, who had gone farther south than his men did, taking detailed charts along the way. Using the map, he discovered several ports for settlement, including Porto Seguro. They included the mouth of the river he had encountered as well as the ports of other rivers along the coast. Of particular interest to him were the highlands to the southern coast, which might contain iron and other useful minerals and metals. One thing that interested him were the distribution of the natives along the coast, which were predominantly of one linguistic and cultural group but lacked a unified identity or politcal structure. After compiling the map and taking on supplies, on August 28, 1502, Cabral left for Portugal.

Upon his return in late October, Cabral and Vespucci presented the map and the catalogues to King Manuel I. Convinced by the trinkets that much wealth lay in Brazil, and realizing the race to colonize that would soon ensue, he immediately made plans to colonize the area, starting with Porto Seguro. However, seeing the sheer size of Brazil, as indicated by Vespucci's charts, he knew that colonizing Brazil would be a long, difficult process, so he had to figure out where in Brazil to begin. Fortunately, he saw an opportunity in the river, specifically the city at the mouth. If he could forge an alliance with the natives, they could provide the labor, the knowledge, and perhaps the infrastructure necessary to colonize Brazil, expediating the colonization process and securing Portugal's control over the land's resources. To find out if this was an option, he commissioned Cabral to undergo one final voyage to Brazil, with two primary objectives: explore the northern coast; and venture up the river. For the latter, a ship with a shallow draft was built for the purpose and Fernão de Loronha was assigned to travel up the river.

In May of 1503, Cabral and Loronha set out for Brazil once more, arriving at the river's mouth approximately two months later. After undergoing some quick repairs and resupply, Cabral and Loronha parted for their respective missions. As Cabral ventured northward, toward more mountainous areas, he took careful note of the area, particularly the resources and the people along the coasts, making sure to open trade whenever he had the chance, hoping to acquire information on what lay ahead. Unfortunately, their language was very difficult to understand, even with the help of the locals they had captured earlier, though they did catch some familiar words now and then. Eventually, they opened trade with the locals, trading metal tools, such as axes and knives, for local trinkets and exotic animals. Unfortunately, they did not have time to gather information on what lay ahead due to the linguistic barrier and so had to press on without much help. As they travelled northward, they encountered the southernmost island of an archipelago stretching northward, with people speaking a similar language to those along the coast. Attempts to open negotiations again proved fruitless though they did notice some European goods, such as knives and ax heads, leading them to the realization that someone else had found the islands, or had been trading with neighbors of the locals. Either way, someone else had been there, and they too were likely contemplating colonization.

Seeking to find out, he followed the archipelago until he came across a large mountainous island, where he stopped for supplies and repairs. Upon encountering the inhabitants, he attempted to open talks but found that their language was different from anything that he had previously encountered, hampering attempts at investigation. His attempts at trade were hindered by the relative abundance of European goods compared to the natives he had already encountered, though their friendly manner made first contact comparatively easy. Through some rudimentary communication, he learned that other Europeans had indeed arrived at the islands around the same time that he did in Brazil. Knowing that the English were exploring the far north, he concluded that they must have been the Spanish. Having received the information he needed, he turned south to explore the northern coast. After travelling westward for another two weeks, he arrived at a lowlying area hidden within a gulf open to the north. As the men searched for repair materials and supplies, they encountered the natives, which spoke a language very different from what they had previously encountered, though it bore a strange but distant resemblance to that spoken on the mountainous island to the north. After some rough, slow attempts at communication, the familiar trade pattern of metal tools for local trinkets commenced. After approximately three weeks, Cabral turned eastward to the city.

Meanwhile, Loronha journeyed down the river, taking care to avoid hidden obstacles. To improve his navigational capabilities, he employed locals as guides, giving them gifts in exchange for their assistance. Over the next seven weeks, as he travelled up the river, he took careful note of the locals, in their mannerisms and their language, and found that the locals they shared many similiarities with the locals they encountered along the eastern and southern coasts. Along the coast, he discovered hamlets and a few towns along the river, all sharing a similar language to that at the rivers' mouth, though this decreased the farther inland he travelled. Eventually, after travelling for nearly fourteen weeks, he turned back, returning to the city at the coast. Upon his return he underwent repairs while waiting for Cabral's return.

When Cabral arrived shortly after Loronha, they compared the notes they took along their respective journeys. After taking on supplies and repairs, which took approximately two weeks, they found that the locals began getting sick, some of which developed pustules on the skin. Seeing the natives struggling to fight the illness, Cabral and his men tried everything they could, but nothing helped. Over the next two weeks, over forty percent of the population died of the disease, despite everyone's best efforts. Feeling that they were overstaying their welcome, in mid October, Cabral and Loronha quickly left to return to Portugal.

When they returned to Lisbon in mid December, they presented King Manuel I their findings of the river and the islands north of Brazil.

Rodrigo de Bastidas' Equatorial Adventures
Concurrent with Cabral's voyage to India, Rodrigo de Bastidas, a Spanish explorer and conquistador, was dispatched by King Phillip of Castile to explore the equatorial Atlantic, along the longitude of the sites visited by Cabot in the land of Vinlandia. Not sure what he would find, he decided to travel only to the same longitude and then turn back if he failed to find anything. His fleet, comprised of six ships, departed from Palos de la Frontera on March 12, 1500 for the Canary Islands. Hopefully, Columbus was right about his discoveries to the north and they would find something other than open ocean.

After travelling southwest for just over eight days, Bastidas arrived in the Canary Islands to rest and resupply before heading west-southwest into the Atlantic, much to the trepidation of his men. Over the next seven weeks, Bastidas and his fleet sailed west, struck by storms, much like the ones that struck Cabral further south, forcing a slight course alteration to the north, and damaging two ships. After tending to the storm's casualties, Bastidas pressed on, determined to reach the destinated longitude. Disease and dwindling supplies tapped the morale and strength of his men, though they kept going, if only to satisfy the king and Bastidas. As they approached the longitude in question, they saw huge flocks of birds, indicating land was near. Immediately invigorated, Bastidas and his crew pressed onwards and on May 17, 1500, they arrived at a mountanous, tropical island, covered with jungle growth.

The next day, Bastidas, along with about 20 crewmen, went ashore to find food and water. They also searched for local inhabitants, which soon came ashore curious about the strange vessels that appeared on their horizon. After a brief moment of silent stillness, the natives quickly began treating Bastidas and his crew as honored guests and gave them much food and water. Quickly, trade opened up between Bastidas and the natives, trading metal tools and cloth for food and trinkets. As Bastidas and his men treated and traded with the locals, his crewmen repaired the ships damaged in the storms while the other ships were used to circumnavigate the island. They quickly formed a rudimentary map of the island, which they named La Isla Espanola, meaning "The Spanish Island", and found that they had landed on the northern coast. Later sailors and navigators would call the island "Hispaniola" due to translation errors.

They also learned that La Isla Espanola was divided into several chiefdoms, which occupied various portions of the coast. For the most part, the people were polite and friendly, though the inhabitants of one peninsula to the east of their landing point proved hostile and approached the sailors armed with bows and arrows. When negotiations proved difficult, violence broke out and two sailors were killed, though they managed to kill six natives and capture ten. Sailors exploring to the north indicated that there was another large island to the northwest of La Isla Espanola, while sailors going westward noted another island to the west. Intrigued, Bastidas decided to visit the northwestern island, though he stopped to capture several natives before hand to act as guides. When they arrived on the southeastern tip of the island in question, they discovered remarkable similarities between the inhabitants of the two islands. Soon after, trade and negotiations commenced, as well as circumnavigation of the island. They discovered the island was signficantly larger than their first island, and flatter as well with fewer mountains. They also found greater cultural and linguistic diversity, with the majority of the inhabitants holding similarities with the Isla Espanola natives akin to those between Spain and Italy. On the extreme western tip, they found a very distinct group from the rest, akin to the Basque in Spain.

After exploring the large island and seizing some more natives, Bastidas visited the smaller island immediately west of La Isla Espanola. They found that the island was inhabited by people with a language and culture similar to those they had already visited, though more similar to the larger island. Using the captives they had acquired, they quickly opened trade with the natives, trading exotica for metal tools and cloth. After stocking up on supplies, and captives, on November 30, 1500, they departed east back to Spain.

Reversing their course westward, they arrived home on February 7, 1501, where they presented their king the fruits of their exploration. Phillip I and Joanna, his coruler, were very intrigued by what Bastidas had brought back, especially the gold earrings he had obtained from the Isla Espanola, which indicated that gold was nearby. The possibility of finding gold, as well as the relative ease that Bastidas captured the natives, made the prospect of colonizing all the more tempting, and plans were being drafted for a second voyage as well as a follow-up with a fleet of colonists.

On June 22, 1502, after nearly nine weeks at sea, Bastidas returned to Isla Espanola with a larger fleet of six ships, stopping for supplies before sailing north and eastward. After three weeks, the ships to the east quickly discovered an archipelago curving south in an arc. Following the islands, the ships saw some coastline and catalogued it for later. The ships to the north reported another archipelago running northwest in a slight curve. Following these islands they also discovered coastline, which they catalogued for further exploration. Faced with these discoveries, Bastidas decided to travel northward, due to the prevailing currents and trade winds, and preliminary research among the natives showed greater similarity between the peoples to the north and the Isla Espanola natives than those to the south.

The northern archipelago led to a long strip of coastline that stretched far to the north. Preliminary expeditions found the area to be very flat, just above sea level, covered in subtropical rainforest to the north with the forests opening up in the southern extreme. Curious as to the lay of the land, he sent his ships to map the coast alongside tentative steps into the interior, though his men were forbidden to journey further than a few hours walk into the more densely forested regions, for fear of them becoming lost. Over the next few weeks, he discovered that the coast turned northward as one travelled westward, indicating that this was either a long island or a peninsula, perhaps connected to Vinlandia. They also found natives, either fishing along the coasts or foraging in the forests. Bastidas attempted to open talks, but discovered that they spoke a very different language from any he had encountered before. Not even his local guides could help him, so trade was slow to develop and was limited to the most rudimentary form of communication. Eventually, even as his men explored the area, Bastidas and the locals developed a trade along the same lines as the other locals they encountered earlier, local trinkets and exotic animals for metal tools and clothing. After spending nearly eight weeks in the new land, Bastidas and his men returned to Isla Espanola to prepare for the return home. On October 26, 1502, after stocking up on supplies in Isla Espanola, Bastidas and his men returned to Spain and arrived in early December.

Upon his return to Spain, Bastidas presented his findings to Phillip and Joanna. While they were intrigued by the new discoveries and the exotica that Bastidas had brought back, they were disappointed in he reported largely flat areas where he explored, meaning low probability of finding gold or other precious minerals. Fortunately, he reported seeing high mountains on the island immediately west of Isla Espanola, meaning that gold or other minerals may be there. In addition, the presence of so many non-Christians presented tremendous, and tempting, opportunities for conversion, eliciting the Church's support to continue the voyages and follow through with colonization.

Da Gama's Indian Adventure
Meanwhile as Bastidas and Cabral explored the new lands to the west, Maneul I sent Da Gama on a mission to the east to reevaluate the situation to the east in India. While the king wished to punish the Zamorin of Calicut for the destruction of the factory and the massacre of the Portuguese, he knew that the Chinese had established a trading post at Diu, as well as other cities in Southeast Asia and India, though their influence in the latter was considerably weaker than in the former. Still, he knew that he had to handle the situation "carefully", meaning no loss to Chinese property, money, or lives. While the Ming had little interest in the world past India save for what they could acquire, he knew that no government, regardless of its international policy, could tolerate an attack on their people, so he order da Gama to handle the situation as peacefully as possible. He also knew that even if China itself was not threatened or attacked, their array of tributary states might feel so, and thus call China for help. Regardless of the probabilities of China becoming involved outside of a full-scale assault on their capital, he wanted to avoid war with China as much as possible, knowing Portugal had no means to prosecute such a war without bankrupting herself and told da Gama as such. He explained in clear terms that the mission was to gauge Calicut's willingness to open talks as well as evaluate the impact their previous interactions had on the wider international picture, if at all.

On Februrary 10th, 1502, da Gama departed Spain leading a fleet of 14 ships, nearly two squadrons of the fourth armada, from Lisbon, stopping in Senegal to take water before heading south down the African coast. Prior to turning eastward, Gama decides to turn southwest to take advantage of the trade winds, hugging the coast of Brazil and taking supplies before heading back out into the open Atlantic toward Tiān fēi jiǎ. Meanwhile, the final squadron, led by Estevao da Gama, Vasco's cousin, departed Lisbon in April, taking a different path that would meet up with the main body in India. Due to heavy storms near Tiān fēi jiǎ , the fleet was scattered and the captains were forced to navigate to the rendevous point separately, delaying their progress toward India.

In early June, after rounding the cape, Vasco da Gama stopped for supplies and repairs in Mozambigue and waited for the other ships to arrive.

Early Colonies
As Columbus and Cabot made their last voyage across the Atlantic, the first colony ships were being launched from Spain, England, and Portugal for their respective destinations. Following Columbus' voyages across the Atlantic, English fishermen and woodcutters soon made their way across to settle along the Grand Banks, eager to make a fortune. Soon after, settlers began to follow Cabot's footsteps, seeking fresh farmland. In Spain, Bastidas led a fleet of colonists to the new islands, seeking gold. Finally, Portugal sent its own colonists to the shores of Brazil to secure it as a port on the route to India and to monopolize control over the brazilwood.

As Cabot returned to Newfoundland, he found the colony was building up slowly, with most buildings dedicated to logging and fishing, which were exactly what Cabot needed. Unfortunately, repair work on his ships was slow because the labor force was stretched thinly to build housing, wharfs, etc. Columbus contemplated enslaving the natives to bloster the labor force, but all attempts to find them proved fruitless, and sometimes dangerous. While the settlers had the edge in technology, the locals' numbers and familiarity with the terrain tipped the scales in their favor, and any attempts to enslave the mainlanders would leave them hostile and thus resilient to colonization. In the end, Columbus was forced to simply leave them alone until somehow the tables turned.

In the Caribbean, things were not much better for Bastidas and the settlers he led. Their crops fared poorly in the humid, tropical conditions, leaving the colony dependent on foraging and imports. To make matters worse, the local gold was quickly used up, and the colony had to find new sources to convince the king the colony was worth the price. Needing a new source of labor, Bastidas turned to enslaving the natives and forcing them to work in the mines, scouring for gold. Harsh conditions and hard work dwindled the natives' numbers, and their patience, until eventually, after nearly a year, the natives rebelled and attacked the colony. While the Spanish had superior technology, they were outnumbered over ten to one, and weak from hunger. After a brutal battle, the Spanish were forced to flee for their ships, abandoning their colony.

Five years later, the Spanish returned, in greater numbers and more weapons, and restored the colony. However, due to large populations of natives, the colony is temporary stopped from expansion. Over the next few years, warfare with the Spanish and introduced diseases devastated the native population, cutting their numbers in half in just over fifteen years. With the native populations dwindling, the Spanish were soon able to impose complete control over the island, but the dwindling native populations forced them to find another labor source. They eventually settled on a combination of indentured servitude for petty criminals and those unable to pay their debts, and importing African slaves via the Portuguese. The system had the advantages of making runaways easier to distinguish from the native populations and having fewer laborers dying from infectious diseases.

In Brazil, the Portuguese have built a small colony whose intent is to resupply and fix Portuguese ships on the way to India. An additional purpose was the harvest and export of brazilwood back to Europe. The colony was built in OTL Porto Seguro. On