Ships of Discovery

During the 15th and 16th centuries, the leg of Atlantic Coast that starts in Cape San Vicente and ends in Cadiz played a very important role in the geographic discovery era. This stretch of coast was the starting point for most of the maritime expeditions that explored the world by sailing naos (carracks) and caravels manned by Portuguese sailors from Algarve and Spanish sailors from western Andalucía.

Thanks to their seamanship and the perfection of their vessels, naos (carracks) and caravels, these sailors ruled the oceans, discovered new worlds and opened new routes on the sea that would connect the whole planet. This strip of coast of the Iberian Peninsula was the birthplace of some of the greatest mariners and greatest maritime adventures of all times.

With the project “SHIPS OF DISCOVERY TOUR 2017”, the two most representative ships of the discovery era will sail for the first time together on a European Tour calling in ports of Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, France, England and Spain. A unique event in which visitors will be able to board and tour the most symbolic vessels of those times:

The Boa Esperança (Good Hope) is the caravel that the Portuguese seafarer Bartolomé Díaz took beyond the limits of Atlantic navigation in 1488, passing through the Cape of Good Hope and opening the route towards the East. The Nao Victoria is the replica of the Spanish vessel that some years later (1529 – 1522) achieved the first tour around the world in history with the work of two captains: Ferdinand Magellan and Juan Sebastián Elcano.