Explorer Vasco da Gama

Explorer Vasco da Gama

Explorer Vasco da Gama work is a instrumental milestone in the history of navigation. In 1497, he was commissioned by the Portuguese king to find a maritime route to the East. He subsequently made two other voyages to India, and was appointed as Portuguese viceroy in India in 1524.

Vasco da Gama was born in 1460 in Sines, on the southwest coast of Portugal. His father was Estêvão da Gama, who had served in the 1460s as a knight of the household of Infante Ferdinand, Duke of Viseu. Vasco da Gama was the third of five sons of Estêvão da Gama and Isabel Sodré.

Young Vasco da Gama joined the navy, where was taught how to navigate under his father’s leadership. Vasco da Gama known as a tough and fearless navigator, he solidified his reputation as a reputable sailor.

On 8 July 1497 Vasco da Gama led a fleet of four ships with a crew of 170 men from Lisbon. The distance traveled in the journey around Africa to India

The fleet arrived in Kappadu near Kozhikode (Calicut), in Malabar Coast (present day Kerala state of India), on 20 May 1498.

When da Gama returned to Lisbon, he was greeted as a hero. In an effort to secure the trade route with India and usurp Muslim traders, Portugal dispatched another team of vessels, headed by Pedro Álvares Cabral. The crew reached India in just six months, and Cabral established the first Portuguese trading post in India.

In 1502, Vasco da Gama helmed second journey to India that included 20 ships.

Late in life, after the death of King Manuel, da Gama was asked to return to India, in an effort to contend with the growing corruption from Portuguese officials in the country. In 1524, King John III named da Gama Portuguese viceroy in India.

That same year, da Gama died in Cochin—the result, it has been speculated, from possibly overworking himself. His body was sailed back to Portugal, and buried there, in 1538.