Arriving in Cochin, he fell ill and died on 24 December 1524. After 20 years at home, in 1524, he was nominated as Portuguese viceroy in India and sent to deal with the mounting corruption among Portuguese authorities there. He forced the ruler of Calicut to make peace and, on his return voyage along the east African coast established Portuguese trading posts in what is now Mozambique.īack in Portugal, da Gama was granted further privileges and revenues and continued to advise the king on Indian matters. After hearing of the massacre of all those at the trading post, da Gama sailed for India again in 1502 attacking Arab Muslim ships he met on the way.
The king immediately dispatched another expedition to secure a trading post at Calicut. This voyage launched the all-water route from Europe to Asia.ĭa Gama returned to Portugal. The expedition then rounded the Cape of Good and, after sailing up the coast of east Africa, took on an Arab navigator who helped them reach the Indian coast, at Calicut (now Kozhikode) in May 1498. This established a route still followed by sailing vessels. Setting off in July 1497, da Gama's expedition took advantage of the prevailing winds by sailing south down the coast of Africa, then veering far out into the Atlantic and swinging back in an arc to arrive off the southern African coast. In 1497, he was appointed to command an expedition equipped by the Portuguese government, whose intention was to find a maritime route to the East. Vasco da Gama was born in about 1460 into a noble family. Short time after Gama’s journey to India several other explorers embarked on their famous journeys – Christopher Columbus to the West Indies, Pedro Álvares Cabral discovery of Brazil and Ferdinand Magellan’s journey around the world.© Da Gama was a Portuguese explorer and navigator, and the first person to sail directly from Europe to India. With his voyage, the Portuguese overseas empire was born. He was greeted as a hero and richly rewarded by the king. Still, da Gama was able to leave India with some spices.Īfter a long and harrowing return trip - which included the death of his brother - da Gama reached Portugal in September of 1499, more than two years after having set out. The goods Manuel had sent as gifts were of poor value, infuriating Calicut’s ruler. Once he reached Calicut, da Gama’s reception was not very warm. Nevertheless, he was named to head the historic voyage. Why he was chosen by Portugal’s King Manuel to lead the expedition to India is unknown his only achievement to date had been carrying out a mission for Manuel’s predecessor a few years earlier. In his late thirties at the time of his voyage, da Gama was the son of a minor Portuguese nobleman. The long voyage also took a serious toll of the crew around two-thirds died during the voyage, most of disease.įinally on May 20, 1498, Vasco da Gama reached Calicut, India. The trip across the southern Atlantic left the ships a worrying three months without sight of land, and the expedition met hostile natives in southern Africa - who gave da Gama an arrow wound - and Muslims in eastern Africa.
He carried with him priests to see to the crews’ souls, interpreters to help communicate with Bantu and Arabic speakers, and a store of gifts the king intended for him to use to attract Indian rulers to trade. During his travel, he visited the eastern shores of Africa and tried unsuccessfully to establish a trade deal with the Sultan of Mozambique.Īt the head of four ships (one a floating warehouse) and 170 men, da Gama began his journey on July 8, 1497.
Both Prince John and Prince Manuel continued the efforts of Prince Henry to find a sea route to India, and in 1497 Manuel placed Vasco da Gama, who already had some reputation as a warrior and navigator, in charge of four vessels built especially for the expedition. On 8 July 1497, Vasco da Gama started his journey to India traveling in a fleet of four ships led by his own flagship São Gabriel. Vasco da Gama was born about 1460 in Sines, Portugal. New ships were constructed and additional maps were procured from the expeditions that visited India via the land trade route witch was held (and heavily taxed) then by the Republic of Venice. In the following years, Portugal explorers prepared themselves for the journey to India. In 1488, Bartolomeu Dias managed to reach the southern tip of Africa, opening the way for the new expeditions to the east. After the 1490’s King John II of Portugal formed the exploratory fleet with a task to find the sea route to the distant India. He was born around 1460s in Sines, Portugal as a son of Knight Estêvão da Gama. Vasco da Gama was a Portuguese governor and one of the best-known explorers in the time today known as “ Age of Discovery”.