Vasco da Gama

Vasco da Gama (without background)
Vasco da Gama

Vasco da Gama (1469 or 1469-December 24, 1524) was a Portuguese sailor. He was the first European who went to India through the Cape of Good Hope, the southern end of Africa. He went to India three times by ship.

He was born in Sines, Portugal. His exact date of birth is unknown. According to some people's accounts, he was a knight in the 1490s in Sines.

On the 4th of July 1497 he left Lisbon with four ships: the São Gabriel, the São Rafael, the Berrio, and a storage ship of unknown name. He intended that his ships sail to India. No European explorer before him had sailed further than the place that is now called South Africa. Vasco da Gama sailed around the bottom of the African continent. Da Gama's crew gave the South African coast they were passing the name Natal, a word which means "Christmas" in Portuguese.

They did this because they sailed near to that coast at the same time they celebrated Christmas. The coast they named is still called Natal. By January, Da Gama's crew had reached modern-day Mozambique, on the East African coast. Mozambique was controlled by Arabs because it was part of the Indian Ocean's network of trade. An angry crowd discovered that da Gama's men were not Muslims, so the crew continued north to Kenya. There, at Malindi, da Gama hired a pilot from India.

The pilot brought the Portuguese men to the city of Calicut on the southwest coast of India on May 20, 1498. Vasco da Gama was in danger because of a conflict with the ruler of Calicut. However, he escaped and returned to Portugal in September 1499. A few of his Portuguese sailors stayed in Calicut.

Vasco da Gama went on his next trip in 1502. He found out that the people of Calicut killed the Portuguese he had left behind. During this trip, he attacked and stole from all the Arab and Indian ships he found in the Indian Ocean. Then, he went on to Calicut and took over that city, capturing much wealth. This made the King of Portugal very happy with him.

Vasco da Gama went on one last trip in 1524, to be the viceroy (governor) of Calicut, which was now a Portuguese colony. He died soon after he got there on Christmas Eve.


Images

  • Sines06 edit1

    Statue of Vasco da Gama at his birthplace, Sines, Portugal

  • 50 Escudos célébrant le 500e anniversaire de la naissance de Vasco Da Gama, 1969

    Vasco Da Gama

  • Vasco da Gama Leaving Portugal,

    Vasco da Gama leaving the port of Lisbon, Portugal

  • Cross daGama2

    Monument to the Cross of Vasco da Gama at the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa

  • Pillar of Vasco da Gama

    Pillar of Vasco da Gama in Malindi, erected on the return journey

  • VASCO DA GAMA LANDING AT KALICUT

    Vasco Da Gama landing at Calicut

  • A steel engraving from the 1850's, with modern hand coloring

    A steel engraving from the 1850s, with modern hand coloring. It shows the meeting of Vasco da Gama with Zamorin.

  • Vasco Memo Kappad

    Landmark in Kappad, near Calicut

  • Map of Portuguese Carreira da India

    Outward and return voyages of the Portuguese India Run (Carreira da Índia). The outward route of the South Atlantic westerlies that Bartolomeu Dias discovered in 1487, followed and explored by da Gama in the open ocean, would be developed in subsequent years.

  • Gama armada in India, 1502

    Malabar Coast of India, c.1500, showing the path of Vasco da Gama's 4th India Armada in 1502

  • Gama squadron of 1502 Armada (Livro das Armadas)

    A depiction of da Gama's fleet (from the Livro das Armadas)

  • Vasco da Gama (Livro de Lisuarte de Abreu)

    An aged Vasco da Gama, as Viceroy of India and Count of Vidigueira (from Livro de Lisuarte de Abreu)

  • St Francis Church, Fort Kochi 001 (14)

    Gama's former tomb in St. Francis Church, Kochi

  • St Francis Church, Fort Kochi 001 (17)

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  • Vasco da Gama Jerónimos 2008-1

    Tomb of Vasco da Gama in the Jerónimos Monastery in Belém, Lisbon

  • Vasco da Gama - 1838

    Portrait of Vasco da Gama by António Manuel da Fonseca (1838)

  • Panteão Nacional - Cenotáfio de Vasco da Gama - Jul 2008

    Cenotaph to Vasco da Gama in the Church of Santa Engrácia


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