On his last leg, Gama left eastward for India from Malindi on 24 April 1498.Ġ6. It so happened that during the Christmas time t he Portuguese passed the South African coast. On 4 November, 1497 the navigators landed on the African coast, covering more than 10,000 kilo meters (6,000 mi) of open ocean in a period of three moths, a world record at that time. The latter got lost while sailing along the east coast of Africa.Ġ5. Other ships were the caravel Berrio and a storage ship of unknown name.

Da Gama commanded the ship Sao Gabriel, a carrack of 178 tons and his eccentric brother Paulo da Gama commande d a similar ship named Sao Rafael. Gama led a fleet of four ships with a crew of 170 men from the Tagus River in Lisbon on 8 July 1497.Ġ4. The spice trade was then dominated by Venetians and others and Gama wanted to break t heir monopoly. Gama was a member in the court of King Manuel I and he undertook the sea journey to the west coast of India against the wish of numerous counselors. The Portuguese then were crusading against the Muslims and wanted to monopolize the spice trade.Ġ2. 1460-1524) was the first to travel by sea from Portugal to India with a view to spreading Christianity and beginning trade with the natives. The Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama (ca. The following are the interesting facts of Gama's first voyage to India:Ġ1. The first voyage of Vasco d a Gama to India 1497 to 1499 mentions theĬasual talk between the Portuguese convict and the strange Venetian Surprisingly, this handwritten highly faded, but readable document had lain there in the dark storage room unnoticed for more than three centuries !! The 15th century old hand written manuscript Journal of It was brought to light b y one Alexandre Herculano, Portuguese Historian. This ra re document with 79 folios in faded ink was on the dusty shelf of a Monastery of Santa Cruz de Coimbra in 1834. Very useful, but incomplete pretty old document on the pioneering voyage of Gama to India by an UNESCO recently came into possession of an important and Imperialism backed by their ingenuity, administrative and military prowess. Most importantly, the curtain drew on the world stageįor the wily British to establish their hegemony across the globe - first foundation everįor the establishment of the British Empire, a show of strength of British It was an 'open sesame'įor the other European countries and their access to India's vast wealth and Portuguese navigator Vasco d a Gama in May, 1498. None of them had made so much impact on the internationalĬommunities as the very first di scovery of the sea route to India by the daring Vasco da Gama leaving the port of Lisbon, Portugal.Ĭivilization, there have been so many breath-taking discoveries in the areas of scienceĪnd technology.

The route followed in Vasco da Gama's first voyage (1497–1499).

What routes did vasco da gama take