Cape Route

Ptolemy's world map implied that Africa was part of an outer landmass, separating the Atlantic from the Indian Ocean.
The early Portuguese Empire centered around the Cape Route.
In 1500, Portuguese explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral used the prevailing winds on the Atlantic for a volta do mar, and thereby became the first European to arrive in Brazil. European sailors found the stop useful on the way to India.
Since the Suez Canal opened, the Cape Route has been used when passage through Suez is refused, or by Capesize ships. In the 1904-05 Russo-Japanese War, the Dogger Bank incident forced the Russian fleet to sail around Africa.

The European-Asian sea route, commonly known as the sea route to India or the Cape Route, is a shipping route from the European coast of the Atlantic Ocean to Asia's coast of the Indian Ocean passing by the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Agulhas at the southern edge of Africa. The first recorded completion of the route was made in 1498 by Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama, the admiral of the first Portuguese Armadas bound eastwards to make the discovery. The route was important during the Age of Sail, but became partly obsolete as the Suez Canal opened in 1869.