CSMH History Class

Vasco da Gama

Page history last edited by David Cross 2 yrs ago

Vasco da Gama

By: Khailyn N

On December 24, 1524 Vasco da Gama went to Kochi, India, He was a Portuguese explorer and was one of many prosperous people in the European Age of Discovery. Vasco da Gama was the comander of the first ships to sail straight from Europe to India. His father was Estevaoda Gama. In the 1460s he was a knight in the house of the Duke of Viseu, Dom Fernando. Dom Fernando established Vasco da Gama Alcaide-Mor or civil Governor of Sines and allowed him to accept a slight profit from taxes on soap making in Estremoz.

Vasco da Gama studied at the inland town of Evora, which is where he supposedly had learned mathematics, exploration and astronomy.

In 1492 King John II of Portugal sent Vasco da Gama to the gate of Setubal, south of Lisbon and to the Algrave, Portugal's southernmost colony, to sieze French ships in retaliation for peacetime desolation against Portuguese shipping. Vasco da Gama succeeded at this task.

On July 8, 1497, the fleet containig four ships left Lisbon. The ships under the leadership of Vasco da Gama had passed the Great Fish River on December 16th, where Dias had turned back. The ships were also sailing into the waters the European's did not know anything about.

In February 1498, Vasco da Gama resumed north, landing at the friendlier port of Malindi, whose commanders were in contention with those of Mombasa- and there the journey first acclaimed evidence of Indian traders.