There was an India beyond the Ganges; a Middle India between the Ganges and the Indus; and a Lesser India, in which were included Arabia, Abyssinia, and the countries about the Red Sea.

These divisions were, however, quite vague, and varied in different periods.

In the time of Columbus the word India meant the kingdom of Prester John, that fabulous monarch who had been the subject of persistent legends since the twelfth century; and it was this India to which the Portuguese sought a sea road.

They had no idea of a barrier cape far to the south, the doubling of which would open a road for them to the west; nor were they, as Mr.Vignaud believes, trying to open a route for the spice trade with the Orient.

They had no great spice trade, and did not seek more; what they did seek was an extension of their ordinary trade with Guinea and the African coast.