Life History of Vasco Da Gama
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Vasco da Gama was a Portuguese governor and one of the best-known explorers in the time today known as “Age of Discovery”.
He was born around 1460s in Sines, Portugal as a son of Knight Estêvão da Gama. 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.
In 1488, Bartolomeu Dias managed to reach the southern tip of Africa, opening the way for the new expeditions to the east. In the following years, Portugal explorers prepared themselves for the journey to India.
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.
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. During his travel, he visited the eastern shores of Africa and tried unsuccessfully to establish a trade deal with the Sultan of Mozambique.
At the head of four ships (one a floating warehouse) and 170 men, da Gama began his journey on July 8, 1497.
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.
The voyage posed many challenges. 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.
The long voyage also took a serious toll of the crew; around two-thirds died during the voyage, most of disease.
Finally on May 20, 1498, Vasco da Gama reached Calicut, India.
In his late thirties at the time of his voyage, da Gama was the son of a minor Portuguese nobleman.
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. Nevertheless, he was named to head the historic voyage.
Once he reached Calicut, da Gama’s reception was not very warm. The goods Manuel had sent as gifts were of poor value, infuriating Calicut’s ruler. Still, da Gama was able to leave India with some spices.
After 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.
He was greeted as a hero and richly rewarded by the king. With his voyage, the Portuguese overseas empire was born.
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.
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