sentences:  In 1486, after the opening of contact with Benin, John II established the "Casa de Escravos", as a distinct slave-trading department of the "Casa da Mina".With the discovery of a sea route to India by Vasco da Gama in 1497-99, the spice trade became a new and important activity of the royal trading house, and the old "Casa" was reorganized into the "Casa da Índia e da Guiné" (the first written reference to a "Casa da Índia" was in a royal letter dated 1501)
  
  From 1511, offices of the "Casa da Índia" were located on the ground floor of the royal Ribeira Palace on Terreiro do Paço in Lisbon, with the Armazém just next to it.The Portuguese India Armadas ("Armadas da Índia") were the fleets of ships, organized by the Casa da Índia in name of the Portuguese Crown, and dispatched on an annual basis from Portugal to India, principally Goa.