Thales vasco da gama biography
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- “Vasco de Gama,” Histoire des Déouvertes et Conquestes des Portugais dans le Nouveau Monde: Avec des Figures en Taille-Douce, 1733-34, From The Library at The Mariners’ Museum, DP583.L16 rare. After 20 years at home, in 1524, he was nominated as Portuguese viceroy in India and sent to deal with the mounting corruption among Portuguese authorities there.
Vasco da Gama
Relations with Local Population & Rival Traders
Though the local Hindu population of Calicut initially welcomed the arrival of the Portuguese sailors (who mistook them for Christians), tensions quickly flared after da Gama offered their ruler a collection of relatively cheap goods as an arrival gift.
Paulo da Gama – brother to Vasco – commanded the São Rafael, a three masted ship. His voyage and explorations helped change the world for Europeans.
Images
- Portrait of Vasco da Gama by artist Antonio Manuel da Fonseca in 1838. Many explorers made several attempts. They sailed for 23 days, and on May 20, 1498 they reached India.7 They headed for Kappad, India near the large city of Calicut.
Arriving in Cochin, he fell ill and died on 24 December 1524.
They left India at the end of August. This meant they could, and did, charge high prices for ships passing through ports. Europeans during this time were looking to find a faster way to reach India by sailing around Africa. By doing so, he helped open a major trade route to Asia. Vasco da Gama left Portugal for India, and arrived at Goa in September 1524.
Vasco da Gama opened a new world of riches by opening up an Indian Ocean route. The expedition then rounded the Cape of Good and, after sailing up the coast of east Africa, took on an Arab navigator who helped them reach the Indian coast, at Calicut (now Kozhikode) in May 1498. He accomplished what many explorers before him could not do.
He made da Gama a Portuguese viceroy in India.9 King John III sent da Gama to India to stop the corruption and settle administrative problems of the Portuguese officials. From about 1419 until his death in 1460, he sent several sailing expeditions down the coast of Africa.4 In 1481, King John II of Portugal began sending expeditions to find a sea route around the southern shores of Africa.
To help avoid the storms and strong currents near the Gulf of Guinea, da Gama and his fleet sailed out into the South Atlantic and swung down to the Cape of Good Hope. On March 2 they reached the Island of Mozambique.
- Portrait of Vasco da Gama by artist Antonio Manuel da Fonseca in 1838. Many explorers made several attempts. They sailed for 23 days, and on May 20, 1498 they reached India.7 They headed for Kappad, India near the large city of Calicut.