Medieval/Renaissance Period Turning Points?

[Dachs]

Really? Then why were the Portuguese all sailing in the wrong direction towards India and the spice isles? (Currents don't push sailing ships, the winds do.) The fact that something is discovered (in this case America, and by chance, mind you) does not make it inevitable.

Look up Pedro Álvares Cabral, and what he did, and say again that prevailing sea and wind conditions didn't make a European discovery of the Americas (Africa to Brazil) virtually inevitable.

 

[Masada]

Look up Pedro Álvares Cabral, and what he did, and say again that prevailing sea and wind conditions didn't make a European discovery of the Americas (Africa to Brazil) virtually inevitable.

Dutch used to hit Brazil all the time as they began to work their way down Africa, it helps to explain why they bothered with Dutch Brazil for so darn long.

On a similar, related, but slightly geographically removed example the Dutch used to have to work turn at just the right time to avoid hitting Western Australia (ala the Batavia) and actually end up in Indonesia. Once the roaring forties were tapped by this man, the discovery of Australia was a given.