He was sent by the King to explore the west He expanded Portuguese trade of merchandise and ideas to the new lands he had found. With this conquest, the official trade route from Portugal to the lands of the East was finally open, breaking the Arab and Venetians monopoly in the East. Vasco de Gama battled against them and easily claimed the lands to the South East. Muslim merchants prepared an ambush upon the Portuguese arrival to India, but they failed. In July 8th 1497, the King of Portugal ordered Vasco de Gama to discover the sea route from Portugal to India, where he established contact in Calecute, India in May, 17th of 1498, ten months after his departure. What Did Vasco de Gama discovered?įor many years lots of travelers tried to find a direct sea route from Portugal to India to avoid having to deal with merchants and traders from the Mediterranean and Egypt, who were known to impose high taxes for the exchange of their goods. Coming from a poor family, he had an inferiority problem and so his ambitions were to achieve great social status and fortune. Vasco de Gama was famous for his personality, being described as violent, rude and relentless. Also Vasco de Gama at this young age had already crossed the Mediterranean and visited the city of Tânger, in Morocco. Vasco de Gama spent almost all his childhood in a sailormen and trips environment enriching his knowledge in this matter.Īt eighteen years old, Vasco de Gama was already inlisted as ship crew member in charge of patroling Portuguese ports on the African coast, defending them against pirate ships. He was the son of Estêvão da Gama, who also was a navigator. Vasco da Gama was born in 1469 in the city of Sines. Who was Vasco de Gama? His early life and youth In this article, you will find out more about Vasco da Gama and understand the reason why he is one of the most famous Portuguese explorers. He found new lands, promoted trade but also spread religious ideals.
He traveled and discovered new territories and brought back from his travels new goods and knowledge.įrom the fourteenth and seventeenth century, Vasco da Gama’s doings greatly influenced the history but also people’s lives. He’s a very important figure in the Portuguese history. Vasco da Gama is mostly known for uniting Europe and India by sea. Reproduced with permission.I’ve written an article about the Age of Discoveries, so I obviously had to write about Vasco da Gama, one of the most famous Portuguese explorers! Read on and find out my top 10 interesting facts about Vasco da Gama. (New York Public Library Picture Collection. The zamorin could not have known that the ragtag band of sailors were the advance party for waves of European colonization that would not end until the nation of India annexed the Portuguese colony of Goa in 1961. From the standpoint of India, wealthy in natural resources, these were cheap trinkets, and though the zamorin sent back samples of treasure and spices when da Gama set sail again in August 1498, this was probably more from courtesy than from a genuine belief that trade with Europe would prove profitable. Disappointment followed when the zamorin, the local ruler, examined the treasures Manuel had sent him as examples of Portugal's economic might. Thanks in part to this help, da Gama landed in Calicut on May 20, 1498.Īt first the Portuguese were sure they had found Prester John's land, because they mistook a temple to a Hindu goddess as a shrine to the Virgin Mary. The Portuguese did battle with the Muslims in Mozambique and Mombasa (now part of Kenya), but found a better reception in the city of Malindi, whose sultan provided them with an Indian pilot to guide them across the ocean. As a member of the …show more content… This put them in contact with coastal trading cities, which served as ports for Arab and Persian vessels plying the Indian Ocean route da Gama intended to cross. This one was led by Vasco da Gama, who sailed under the Portuguese flag and rounded the southern tip of Africa to become the first European to reach the Indian subcontinent by sea.ĭa Gama was born in Sines, Portugal, where his father was governor.
Though that statement would seem to describe the 1492 voyage of Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) to the New World, it is equally true of a less famous expeditionfrom an American perspective, at leastthat set sail five years later.
What area did vasco da gama explore full#
In the last years of the fifteenth century, an explorer set off from the Iberian Peninsula, full of grand illusions and hoping to reach India by going where no European had ever gone before.