Vasco da Gama leaving the port of Lisbon, Portugal In 1492, John II dispatched da Gama on a mission to the port of Setúbal and to the Algarve to seize French ships in retaliation for peacetime depredations against Portuguese shipping – a task that da Gama rapidly and effectively performed. John II doted on the Order, and the da Gamas' prospects rose accordingly. The master of Santiago was Prince John, who ascended to the throne in 1481 as King John II of Portugal. It has been claimed that he studied under Abraham Zacuto, an astrologer and astronomer, but Da Gama's biographer Subrahmanyam thinks this dubious.Īround 1480, da Gama followed his father (rather than the Sodrés) and joined the Order of Santiago. The Portuguese historian Teixeira de Aragão suggests that he studied at the inland town of Évora, which is where he may have learned mathematics and navigation. Vasco also had one known sister, Teresa da Gama (who married Lopo Mendes de Vasconcelos). Vasco da Gama was the third of five sons of Estêvão da Gama and Isabel Sodré – in (probable) order of age: Paulo da Gama, João Sodré, Vasco da Gama, Pedro da Gama and Aires da Gama. Her father and her brothers, Vicente Sodré and Brás Sodré, had links to the household of Infante Diogo, Duke of Viseu, and were prominent figures in the military Order of Christ. Estêvão da Gama was appointed alcaide-mór (civil governor) of Sines in the 1460s, a post he held until 1478 after that he continued as a receiver of taxes and holder of the Order's commendas in the region.Įstêvão da Gama married Isabel Sodré, a daughter of João Sodré (also known as João de Resende), scion of a well-connected family of English origin. He rose in the ranks of the military Order of Santiago. Vasco da Gama's father was Estêvão da Gama, who had served in the 1460s as a knight of the household of Infante Ferdinand, Duke of Viseu. Sines, one of the few seaports on the Alentejo coast, consisted of little more than a cluster of whitewashed, red-tiled cottages, occupied chiefly by fisherfolk. Vasco da Gama was born in 1460 or 1469 in Sines, on the southwest coast of Portugal, probably in a house near the church of Nossa Senhora das Salas. In March 2016, researchers announced that thousands of artifacts and vessel remains had been recovered from the ship Esmeralda, one of Da Gama's armada, found off the coast of Oman. His first trip to India is widely considered a milestone in world history, as it marked the beginning of a sea-based phase of global multiculturalism. The Portuguese national epic, Os Lusíadas, was written in his honour. Numerous homages have been made worldwide to celebrate his explorations and accomplishments. Vasco da Gama remains a leading figure in the history of exploration. For his contributions, Da Gama was appointed the Governor of India in 1524, under the title of Viceroy, and given the newly created County of Vidigueira in 1519. The latter was the largest and departed for India four years after his return from the first one. It would be a century later before other European powers such as the Netherlands and England, followed by France and Denmark, were able to challenge Portugal's monopoly and naval supremacy in the Cape Route.ĭa Gama led two of the Portuguese armadas destined for India, the first and the fourth. Portugal maintained a commercial monopoly of these commodities for several decades.
The spices obtained from Southeast Asia were primarily pepper and cinnamon at first, but soon included other products, all new to Europe. Unopposed access to the Indian spice routes boosted the economy of the Portuguese Empire, which was previously based along northern and coastal West Africa.
The sum of the distances covered in the outward and return voyages made this expedition the longest ocean voyage ever made until then, far longer than a full voyage around the world by way of the Equator.Īfter decades of sailors trying to reach the Indies, with thousands of lives and dozens of vessels lost in shipwrecks and attacks, da Gama landed in Calicut on. Traveling the ocean route allowed the Portuguese to avoid sailing across the highly disputed Mediterranean and traversing the dangerous Arabian Peninsula. His initial voyage to India (1497–1499) was the first to link Europe and Asia by an ocean route, connecting the Atlantic and the Indian oceans and therefore, the West and the Orient.ĭa Gama's discovery of the sea route to India was significant and opened the way for an age of global imperialism and for the Portuguese to establish a long-lasting colonial empire in Asia. 1460s – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and the first European to reach India by sea.
Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira ( Portuguese pronunciation: c.