_ 475 _ actual occupation of areas of greater or lesser extent and their subjection to the authority of the King of Portugal could present problems. A Portuguese presence could take the form of a simple commercial partnership, of control limited to the sea and some ports or islands, or could assume imperial dimensions. The opening of the route around Africa produced a change in ways of life both in Europe and in the East through contact between the respective peoples and the adaptation of economic interests between regions separated by voyages of months or years, decisive factors at the dawn of the modern era(A). The chronicler João de Barros describes the doubts and fears felt by Portuguese at the thought of the enormous distances to be crossed in small and vulnerable ships and the dangers and difficulties to be overcome in order to reach the Orient: When they saw in the navigation charts lands with such a length of coast and many changes of direction, their imagination conjured up so fearsome a picture that it disturbed their judgement(B). (A) Vitorino Magalhães Godinho has dealt with these subjects in several works,e.g. Os Descobrimentos e a Economia Mundial, 2 vols, Lisbon 1963-1971, esp. part II, chaps.5and 6,vol.II,pp.71-171. (B) Ásia. Década I, book 6,chap.1.
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