Volta Do Mar

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The phrase volta do mar, in Portuguese, means literally turn of the sea, or more correctly return from the sea. It was a sailing technique discovered when returning from the Atlantic islands where you first had to sail in the wrong direction (north-south) to catch good winds and return to Europe. Discovering this technique was crucial for returning from future discoveries; for example Columbus would never have returned from America without doing a volta do mar. The European sea empires would never have been had the Europeans not figured out how the trade winds worked. More information on this can be found in J.H. Parrys The age of reconnaissance.