Vocabulary

 

 
 
 

Video

 

 
 
 
 

Transcript

 
That speck? It’s American surfer Garrett McNamara. Unbelievable, colossal, astonishing — pick your adjective — for the monster wave he rode in January just off the Portuguese coast near the town of Nazare.

The lighthouse? It’s at the top of a 200-foot (61 meter) cliff.

Journalist: “Everybody wants to come and see this.”
Dino Cazimiro, PE Teacher: “Yeah, exactly, because nobody knew that this was here in Nazare.”

In 2005, Dino Cazimiro, a physical education teacher in Nazare, sent McNamara this photograph to lure him to the small fishing village with its large waves.

Dino Cazimiro, PE Teacher: “The explosion is so big that for us to see the height of the explosion, we have to look up, really up.”
Journalist: “You say explosion. Does it feel like a real explosion?”
Dino Cazimiro, PE Teacher: “Yeah, exactly.”

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Portuguese explorer Vasco de Gama came here, too, to pray before he set out in 1497, and again after a successful return from his voyage to find a sea route to India with its rich spice trade.

He did what Christopher Columbus tried to do but failed.

“I think because we are a country, we turn to the sea. Our backs are turned to the land and we are always looking at the sea. We have that kind of impulse to see what is after that.

Journalist: “Even if it’s frightening?”
Dino Cazimiro, PE Teacher: “Yeah.

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Portugal is a country where the sea is and always has been regarded as a living being, to be stared down, confronted.

The song laments the price paid, but Portugal’s greatest heroes, Vasco da Gama among them, are its explorers and their patrons during the age of discovery.

In Lisbon, Portugal’s capital, there’s a monument to them, da Gama, Dias, Cabral, Magellan, Prince Henry the Navigator, all those names you memorized in grade school and immediately forgot.

But think about this.

In the 1400s and 1500s, their daring and navigational skill made little Portugal smaller than the state of Indiana — the first global sea power, and very rich.

How it happened is a story about innovation, which will begin at Prince Henry the Navigator’s outpost in Sagres, the craggy and windswept southwest corner of Europe.

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Artur DeJesus, Historian: “The classical people — the Greeks, the Romans and other civilizations — believed that this is where the world ended.”

Journalist: “This is the end of the world?”

Artur DeJesus, Historian: “That is the idea. They gave you a picture; the sun sets here. They believed the sun dived into the sea — and might boil the sea.”

Journalist: “Boil the sea?”
Artur DeJesus, Historian: “Yes, yes!”

But the Portuguese thought otherwise: here where many explorers began their voyages, Prince Henry surrounded himself with scholars, mapmakers, astronomers, as well as navigators, amassing knowledge and intelligence; the fifteenth century of R&D.

Like a venture capitalist, he financed expeditions intended to push the boundaries of the known world, for profit — and to spread Christianity.

Artur DeJesus, Historian: “The idea was to other cultures, to other people, to other lands Christianity.”
Journalist: “So Christianity and exploration were tied together?”
Artur DeJesus, Historian: “Always.”

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Prince Henry died in Sagres in 1460. But by that time, Portuguese explorers had inched their way south along the coast of Africa as far as Sierra Leone.

In 1488, Bartholomew Dias made it around the Cape of Good Hope.

Ten years later, Vosco da Gama reached India.

Then just two years after that, in 1500, Pedro Alvares Cabral discovered Brazil . . . and on it went, each explorer armed with knowledge provided by the last.

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Gonzalves Neves, Lieutenant, Maritime Museum: “Those are the main voyages; those lines represent routes Portuguese navigators took on their early voyages of exploration.”

Lieutenant Gonzalves Neves heads the research department at the Portuguese Maritime Museum in Lisbon.

Journalist: “At its peak, when Portugal was at the height of its power, how broad was Portugal’s reach?”

Gonzalves Neves, Lieutenant, Maritime Museum: “From Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Tanegashima, Japan.”

From Brazil to Japan, with everything in between.

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And new technology was key. And this is what it looked like, circa 1440 — a ship with triangular sails.

Journalist: “And what is this boat called?”
Gonzalves Neves, Lieutenant, Maritime Museum: “Caravel.”

An ocean going version of smaller fishing boats, the caravel revolutionized exploration.

Journalist: “Now what would be the advantage of having this type of rigging?”
Gonzalves Neves, Lieutenant, Maritime Museum: “You could sail very close to the wind, meaning you could sail basically where and when you wanted to.”

In a caravel, you weren’t restricted to winds that just pushed you along from behind, as square riggers were.

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And the Portuguese had the best and most up to date navigational tools, for example the mariner’s astrolabe which helped to plot location by measuring the altitude of the sun and stars.

Gonzalves Neves, Lieutenant, Maritime Museum: “This is the first representation of Brazilian territory in terms of cartography; it was drawn in 1502.”

Portugal had the equivalent of today’s proprietary computer software: accurate maps.

Gonzalves Neves, Lieutenant, Maritime Museum: “There was an order by King Manual I prohibiting the selling of maps showing the Portuguese navigations outside of Portugal.”

Journalist: “Oh, top secret.”
Gonzalves Neves, Lieutenant, Maritime Museum: “Right.”
Journalist: “So maps were Portugal’s secret weapon in a way?”
Gonzalves Neves, Lieutenant, Maritime Museum: “Maps were power. Because knowledge is power.”

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King Manual, who outlawed the sale of maps, began in 1502 the building this: it’s an extravagant shrine to Portugal’s discoveries, and to its heroes.

Vasco da Gama the embodiment of Portugal’s long history of taking on the sea is buried here.

This summer, the Portuguese Navy honored that spirit by giving its Vasco da Gama Award to surfer Garret McNamara, who holds the world record for riding this 78 foot (23.8 meter) wave in November, 2011—just off Nazarre, where such exploits have always been understood.

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Questions

 
Atlantic Ocean. The main idea or theme of this report was surfing in Portugal. True or false? Is there anything unique or special about surfing in Nazarre, Portugal?

Indian Ocean. Has Nazarre only been associated with surfing?

Pacific Ocean. The most famous people in Portugal’s history have been kings, warriors, saints and footballers such as Cristian Ronaldo. Is this right or wrong?

Arctic Ocean. Have the Portuguese been preoccupied with the Kingdom of France, the Holy Roman Empire and the Hapsburg Monarchy?

Did the ancient Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans consider Portugal to be the center of their empires and colonies?

Caribbean Sea. Were only Portuguese fishermen interested in maritime activities? What drove and motivated Portuguese mariners (sailors)?

North Sea. The Portuguese established colonies and trading posts only in Africa. Is this correct or incorrect? Were Portuguese seafarers just “lucky”?

North Atlantic. Was Vasco da Gama buried in an ordinary grave in an ordinary cemetery?
 
 
 
Mediterranean Sea. Did you learn about explorers and travelers in school?

Arabian Sea. Have there been famous travelers and explorers from your nation?

Bay of Bengal. What do you think of famous explorers such as Columbus, da Gama, Magellan? Were they great persons, good, bad, both, neither, in the middle, it depends?

Persian Gulf. My friends and I would like to go on maritime voyages and expeditions.

Straits of Malacca. What might happen in the future?

Red Sea. What could or should people, governments and businesses do?