Now, as the strange coast seemed to be east of the line of demarcation, and therefore the property of Portugal, Cabral sent word to the King that he might explore it.
Accordingly, in May, 1501, the King sent out three ships in charge of Americus Vespucius.

Vespucius sighted the coast somewhere about Cape St.
Roque, and, finding that it was east of the line of demarcation, explored it southward as far as the mouth of the river La Plata.

As he was then west of the line, and off a coast which belonged to Spain, he turned and sailed southeastward till he struck the island of South Georgia, where the Antarctic cold and the fields of floating ice stopped him and sent him back to Lisbon.
The results of this great voyage were many.

In the first place, it secured Brazil for Portugal.

In the second place, it changed the geographical ideas of the time.