The most important expedition of the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama
July 8, 1497 from Lisbon to India on four ships went the expedition of the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama. The open sea route to Asia through the Atlantic and Indian oceans remained the main one for the Europeans until the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869.
On July 8, 1497, the expedition left Lisbon and reached the Cape of Good Hope at the end of November, circling around the coast. Here it was necessary to burn a transport ship that did not give in to repairs, and a significant number of deaths from scurvy prevented the full crews from equipping all four ships.
On December 25, the expedition reached the modern province of Natal in South Africa and, continuing northward along the coast of Africa, at the end of February 1498 approached the city of Mombasa, off the coast of which it had robbed several Arab ships.
In Malindi, where the Portuguese first met Indian merchants, an experienced pilot was employed, with the help of which on May 20, 1498, the ships of Vasco da Gama reached India.
Having obtained permission to open the trading station, the Portuguese, however, could not get their local merchants interested in their goods and on August 29 sailed back to their homeland, which was reached only in a year, having lost another ship and almost half of the crew on the way back.
Despite the absence of a trade agreement with Calcutta, Vasco da Gama was met as a winner - in his honor a triumphal procession and folk festivals were organized, and in December 1498 Manuel I appropriated Vasco da Gama noble title, handed him to the hereditary feud Sines, appointed a lifelong pension, and in 1502 appropriated the title "Admiral of the seas of Arabia, Persia, India and the whole East."
The success of da Gama, which was the first of Europeans to reach India by sea, enabled Portugal in the 16th century to become a colonial empire, which included not only possessions in Asia, but also huge territories in Africa and South America.
On July 8, 1497, the expedition left Lisbon and reached the Cape of Good Hope at the end of November, circling around the coast. Here it was necessary to burn a transport ship that did not give in to repairs, and a significant number of deaths from scurvy prevented the full crews from equipping all four ships.
On December 25, the expedition reached the modern province of Natal in South Africa and, continuing northward along the coast of Africa, at the end of February 1498 approached the city of Mombasa, off the coast of which it had robbed several Arab ships.
Photo © jnsm.com.ua
In Malindi, where the Portuguese first met Indian merchants, an experienced pilot was employed, with the help of which on May 20, 1498, the ships of Vasco da Gama reached India.
Having obtained permission to open the trading station, the Portuguese, however, could not get their local merchants interested in their goods and on August 29 sailed back to their homeland, which was reached only in a year, having lost another ship and almost half of the crew on the way back.
Despite the absence of a trade agreement with Calcutta, Vasco da Gama was met as a winner - in his honor a triumphal procession and folk festivals were organized, and in December 1498 Manuel I appropriated Vasco da Gama noble title, handed him to the hereditary feud Sines, appointed a lifelong pension, and in 1502 appropriated the title "Admiral of the seas of Arabia, Persia, India and the whole East."
The success of da Gama, which was the first of Europeans to reach India by sea, enabled Portugal in the 16th century to become a colonial empire, which included not only possessions in Asia, but also huge territories in Africa and South America.
