Vasco da Gama

Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira (UK: /ˌvæskoʊ də

Vasco da Gama
ˈɡɑːmə/, US: /ˌvɑːskoʊ də ˈɡæmə/;[1][2] European
Portuguese: [ˈvaʃku ðɐ ˈɣɐ̃ mɐ]; c. 1460s – 24 December 1524), was
a Portuguese explorer and the first European to reach India by sea.

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. This is widely
considered a milestone in world history, as it marked the beginning
of a sea-based phase of global multiculturalism.[3] Da Gama's
discovery of the sea route to India opened the way for an age of
global imperialism and enabled the Portuguese to establish a long-
lasting colonial empire in Asia. The violence and hostage taking
employed by da Gama and those who followed also assigned a
brutal reputation to the Portuguese among India's indigenous
kingdoms that would set the pattern for western colonialism in the
Age of Exploration.[4] Traveling the ocean route allowed the
Portuguese to avoid sailing across the highly disputed Mediterranean
and traversing the dangerous Arabian Peninsula. The sum of the Viceroy of Portuguese India
distances covered in the outward and return voyages made this In office
expedition the longest ocean voyage ever made until then, far longer
5 September 1524 – 24 December
than a full voyage around the world by way of the Equator.[5]
1524
After decades of sailors trying to reach the Indies, with thousands of Monarch John III of Portugal
lives and dozens of vessels lost in shipwrecks and attacks, da Gama Preceded by Duarte de Menezes
landed in Calicut on 20 May 1498. Unopposed access to the Indian
spice routes boosted the economy of the Portuguese Empire, which Succeeded by Henrique de
was previously based along northern and coastal West Africa. The Menezes
main spices at first obtained from Southeast Asia were pepper and Personal details
cinnamon, but soon included other products, all new to Europe.
Born 1460 or 1469
Portugal maintained a commercial monopoly of these commodities
for several decades. It was not until a century later that other Sines, Alentejo,
European powers, first the Dutch Republic and England, later Kingdom of
France and Denmark, were able to challenge Portugal's monopoly Portugal
and naval supremacy in the Cape Route. Died 24 December 1524
(aged
Da Gama led two of the Portuguese India Armadas, the first and the
approximately 55–
fourth. The latter was the largest and departed for India four years
after his return from the first one. For his contributions, in 1524 da 65)
Gama was appointed Governor of India, with the title of Viceroy, Cochin, Portuguese
and was ennobled as Count of Vidigueira in 1519. He remains a India
leading figure in the history of exploration, and homages worldwide Resting place Jerónimos
have celebrated his explorations and accomplishments. The Monastery, Lisbon,
Portuguese national epic poem, Os Lusíadas, was written in his
Portugal
honour by Luís de Camões. In March 2016 thousands of artifacts
Spouse(s) Catarina de Ataíde
and nautical remains were recovered from the wreck of the ship Children Francisco da
Esmeralda, one of da Gama's armada, found off the coast of Gama, 2nd Count
Oman.[6] of Vidigueira
Estêvão da Gama,
Governor of India
Contents Cristóvão da Gama,
Captain of Malacca
Early life Among others
Exploration before da Gama Mother Isabel Sodré
First voyage Father Estêvão da Gama
Journey to the Cape
Occupation Explorer, Viceroy of
Mozambique
India
Mombasa
Malindi Signature
Calicut, India
Return
Rewards
Second voyage
Pilgrim ship incident
Calicut
Seabattle
Cochin
Interlude
Third voyage and death
Marriage and descendants
Intergenerations
Legacy
See also
References
Citations
Bibliography
Further reading
External links

Early life
Vasco da Gama was born in 1460 or 1469[7] in the town of Sines, one of the few seaports on the Alentejo
coast, southwest Portugal, probably in a house near the church of Nossa Senhora das Salas.

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.[8] He rose in the ranks of the military Order of Santiago. 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.
Estêvão 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.[9] 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. 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. Vasco also had one
known sister, Teresa da Gama (who married Lopo Mendes de
Vasconcelos).[10]

Little is known of da Gama's early life. 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. It has been claimed that he studied under Abraham
Zacuto, an astrologer and astronomer, but da Gama's biographer
Subrahmanyam thinks this dubious.[11] Bronze statue of Vasco da Gama at
his birthplace, Sines, Portugal
Around 1480, da Gama followed his father (rather than the Sodrés)
and joined the Order of Santiago.[12] The master of Santiago was
Prince John, who ascended to the throne in 1481 as King John II of Portugal. John II doted on the Order, and
the da Gamas' prospects rose accordingly.

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.[13]

Exploration before da Gama

From the earlier part of the 15th century, Portuguese
expeditions organized by Prince Henry the Navigator
had been reaching down the African coastline,
principally in search of west African riches (notably, gold
and slaves).[14] They had greatly extended Portuguese
maritime knowledge, but had little profit to show for the
effort. After Henry's death in 1460, the Portuguese
Crown showed little interest in continuing this effort and,
Portuguese discoveries and explorations: first
in 1469, licensed the neglected African enterprise to a arrival places and dates
private Lisbon merchant consortium led by Fernão
Gomes. Within a few years, Gomes' captains expanded
Portuguese knowledge across the Gulf of Guinea, doing business in gold dust, melegueta pepper, ivory and
sub-Saharan slaves. When Gomes' charter came up for renewal in 1474, Prince John (future John II), asked his
father Afonso V of Portugal to pass the African charter to him.[15]

Upon becoming king in 1481, John II of Portugal set out on many long reforms. To break the monarch's
dependence on the feudal nobility, John II needed to build up the royal treasury; he considered royal
commerce to be the key to achieving that. Under John II's watch, the gold and slave trade in west Africa was
greatly expanded. He was eager to break into the highly profitable spice trade between Europe and Asia,
which was conducted chiefly by land. At the time, this was virtually monopolized by the Republic of Venice,
who operated overland routes via Levantine and Egyptian ports, through the Red Sea across to the spice
markets of India. John II set a new objective for his captains: to find a sea route to Asia by sailing around the
African continent.[16]
 By the time Vasco da Gama was in his 20s, the king's
plans were coming to fruition. In 1487, John II
dispatched two spies, Pero da Covilhã and Afonso de
Paiva, overland via Egypt to East Africa and India, to
scout the details of the spice markets and trade routes.
The breakthrough came soon after, when John II's
captain Bartolomeu Dias returned from rounding the
Cape of Good Hope in 1488, having explored as far as
the Fish River (Rio do Infante) in modern-day South
Africa and having verified that the unknown coast
stretched away to the northeast.[16]
Vasco da Gama leaving the port of Lisbon,
Portugal An explorer was needed who could prove the link
between the findings of Dias and those of da Covilhã and
de Paiva, and connect these separate segments into a
potentially lucrative trade route across the Indian Ocean.

First voyage
On 8 July 1497 Vasco da Gama led a fleet of four
ships[17] with a crew of 170 men from Lisbon. The
distance traveled in the journey around Africa to India
and back was greater than the length of the
equator.[17][18] The navigators included Portugal's most
experienced, Pero de Alenquer, Pedro Escobar, João de
Coimbra, and Afonso Gonçalves. It is not known for
certain how many people were in each ship's crew but
approximately 55 returned, and two ships were lost. Two
of the vessels were carracks, newly built for the voyage;
the others were a caravel and a supply boat.[17]

The four ships were:

The route followed in Vasco da Gama's first
São Gabriel, commanded by Vasco da Gama; a voyage (1497–1499)
carrack of 178 tons, length 27 m, width 8.5 m,
draft 2.3 m, sails of 372 m2
São Rafael, commanded by his brother Paulo da Gama; similar dimensions to the São Gabriel
Berrio (nickname, officially called São Miguel), a caravel, slightly smaller than the former two,
commanded by Nicolau Coelho
A storage ship of unknown name, commanded by Gonçalo Nunes, destined to be scuttled in
Mossel Bay (São Brás) in South Africa[8]

Journey to the Cape

The expedition set sail from Lisbon on 8 July 1497. It followed the route pioneered by earlier explorers along
the coast of Africa via Tenerife and the Cape Verde Islands. After reaching the coast of present-day Sierra
Leone, da Gama took a course south into the open ocean, crossing the Equator and seeking the South Atlantic
westerlies that Bartolomeu Dias had discovered in 1487.[19] This course proved successful and on 4
November 1497, the expedition made landfall on the African coast.
For over three months the ships had sailed more than 10,000
kilometres (6,000 mi) of open ocean, by far the longest journey out of
sight of land made by that time.[17][20]

By 16 December, the fleet had passed the Great Fish River (Eastern
Cape, South Africa) – where Dias had anchored – and sailed into
waters previously unknown to Europeans. With Christmas pending,
da Gama and his crew gave the coast they were passing the name
Natal, which carried the connotation of "birth of Christ" in
Portuguese.

Mozambique

Vasco da Gama spent 2 to 29 March 1498 in the vicinity of

Mozambique Island. Arab-controlled territory on the East African
coast was an integral part of the network of trade in the Indian Ocean.
Fearing the local population would be hostile to Christians, da Gama Monument to the Cross of Vasco da
impersonated a Muslim and gained audience with the Sultan of Gama at the Cape of Good Hope,
Mozambique. With the paltry trade goods he had to offer, the explorer South Africa
was unable to provide a suitable gift to the ruler. Soon the local
populace became suspicious of da Gama and his men. Forced by a
hostile crowd to flee Mozambique, da Gama departed the harbor, firing his cannons into the city in
retaliation.[21]

Mombasa

In the vicinity of modern Kenya, the expedition resorted to piracy, looting Arab merchant ships that were
generally unarmed trading vessels without heavy cannons. The Portuguese became the first known Europeans
to visit the port of Mombasa from 7 to 13 April 1498, but were met with hostility and soon departed.

Malindi

Vasco da Gama continued north, arriving on 14 April 1498 at the

friendlier port of Malindi, whose leaders were having a conflict with
those of Mombasa. There the expedition first noted evidence of Indian
traders. Da Gama and his crew contracted the services of a pilot who
used his knowledge of the monsoon winds to guide the expedition the
rest of the way to Calicut, located on the southwest coast of India.
Sources differ over the identity of the pilot, calling him variously a
Christian, a Muslim, and a Gujarati. One traditional story describes
the pilot as the famous Arab navigator Ibn Majid, but other
Pillar of Vasco da Gama in Malindi,
contemporaneous accounts place Majid elsewhere, and he could not
in modern-day Kenya, erected on the
have been near the vicinity at the time.[22] None of the Portuguese return journey
historians of the time mentions Ibn Majid. Vasco da Gama left Malindi
for India on 24 April 1498.

Calicut, India
The fleet arrived in Kappadu near Kozhikode (Calicut), in Malabar
Coast (present day Kerala state of India), on 20 May 1498. The King
of Calicut, the Samudiri (Zamorin), who was at that time staying in
his second capital at Ponnani, returned to Calicut on hearing the news
of the foreign fleet's arrival. The navigator was received with
traditional hospitality, including a grand procession of at least 3,000
armed Nairs, but an interview with the Zamorin failed to produce any
concrete results. When local authorities asked da Gama's fleet, "What
brought you hither?", they replied that they had come "in search of The arrival of Vasco da Gama at
Christians and spices."[23] The presents that da Gama sent to the Calicut, by Roque Gameiro, 1900.
Zamorin as gifts from Dom Manuel – four cloaks of scarlet cloth, six
hats, four branches of corals, twelve almasares, a box with seven
brass vessels, a chest of sugar, two barrels of oil and a cask of honey –
were trivial, and failed to impress. While Zamorin's officials
wondered at why there was no gold or silver, the Muslim merchants
who considered da Gama their rival suggested that the latter was only
an ordinary pirate and not a royal ambassador.[24] Vasco da Gama's
request for permission to leave a factor behind him in charge of the
merchandise he could not sell was turned down by the King, who
insisted that da Gama pay customs duty – preferably in gold – like
any other trader, which strained the relation between the two.
Annoyed by this, da Gama carried a few Nairs and sixteen fishermen
(mukkuva) off with him by force.[25] Vasco da Gama before the Samorim
of Calicut, by Veloso Salgado, 1898.

Return

Vasco da Gama left Calicut on 29 August 1498. Eager to set sail for
home, he ignored the local knowledge of monsoon wind patterns that
were still blowing onshore. The fleet initially inched north along the
Indian coast, and then anchored in at Anjediva island for a spell. They
finally struck out for their Indian Ocean crossing on 3 October 1498.
But with the winter monsoon yet to set in, it was a harrowing journey.
On the outgoing journey, sailing with the summer monsoon wind, da
Gama's fleet crossed the Indian Ocean in only 23 days; now, on the
return trip, sailing against the wind, it took 132 days.

Da Gama saw land again only on 2 January 1499, passing before the
coastal Somali city of Mogadishu, then under the influence of the
Ajuran Empire in the Horn of Africa. The fleet did not make a stop,
but passing before Mogadishu, the anonymous diarist of the
expedition noted that it was a large city with houses of four or five
storeys high and big palaces in its center and many mosques with Landmark in Kappad, near Calicut
cylindrical minarets.[26]

Da Gama's fleet finally arrived in Malindi on 7 January 1499, in a terrible state – approximately half of the
crew had died during the crossing, and many of the rest were afflicted with scurvy. Not having enough
crewmen left standing to manage three ships, da Gama ordered the São Rafael scuttled off the East African
coast, and the crew re-distributed to the remaining two ships, the São Gabriel and the Berrio. Thereafter, the
sailing was smoother. By early March, they had arrived in Mossel Bay, and crossed the Cape of Good Hope in
the opposite direction on 20 March, reaching the west African coast by 25 April.
The diary record of the expedition ends abruptly here. Reconstructing from other sources, it seems they
continued to Cape Verde, where Nicolau Coelho's Berrio separated from Vasco da Gama's São Gabriel and
sailed on by itself.[27] The Berrio arrived in Lisbon on 10 July 1499 and Nicolau Coelho personally delivered
the news to King Manuel I and the royal court, then assembled in Sintra. In the meantime, back in Cape Verde,
da Gama's brother, Paulo da Gama, had fallen grievously ill. Da Gama elected to stay by his side on Santiago
island and handed the São Gabriel over to his clerk, João de Sá, to take home. The São Gabriel under Sá
arrived in Lisbon sometime in late July or early August. Da Gama and his sickly brother eventually hitched a
ride with a Guinea caravel returning to Portugal, but Paulo da Gama died en route. Da Gama disembarked at
the Azores to bury his brother at the monastery of São Francisco in Angra do Heroismo, and lingered there for
a little while in mourning. He eventually took passage on an Azorean caravel and finally arrived in Lisbon on
29 August 1499 (according to Barros),[28] or early September[17] (8th or 18th, according to other sources).
Despite his melancholic mood, da Gama was given a hero's welcome and showered with honors, including a
triumphal procession and public festivities. King Manuel wrote two letters in which he described da Gama's
first voyage, in July and August 1499, soon after the return of the ships. Girolamo Sernigi also wrote three
letters describing da Gama's first voyage soon after the return of the expedition.

The expedition had exacted a large cost – two

ships and over half the men had been lost. It had
also failed in its principal mission of securing a
commercial treaty with Calicut. Nonetheless, the
small quantities of spices and other trade goods
brought back on the remaining two ships
demonstrated the potential of great profit for
future trade.[29] Vasco da Gama was justly
celebrated for opening a direct sea route to Asia.
His path would be followed up thereafter by
yearly Portuguese India Armadas.
Outward and return voyages of the Portuguese India Run
The spice trade would prove to be a major asset (Carreira da Índia). The outward route of the South Atlantic
to the Portuguese royal treasury, and other westerlies that Bartolomeu Dias discovered in 1487,
consequences soon followed. For example, da followed and explored by da Gama in the open ocean,
Gama's voyage had made it clear that the east would be developed in subsequent years.
coast of Africa, the Contra Costa, was essential
to Portuguese interests; its ports provided fresh
water, provisions, timber, and harbors for repairs, and served as a refuge where ships could wait out
unfavorable weather. One significant result was the colonization of Mozambique by the Portuguese Crown.

Rewards
In December 1499, King Manuel I of Portugal rewarded Vasco da
Gama with the town of Sines as a hereditary fief (the town his father,
Estêvão, had once held as a commenda). This turned out to be a
complicated affair, for Sines still belonged to the Order of Santiago.
The master of the Order, Jorge de Lencastre, might have endorsed the
reward – after all, da Gama was a Santiago knight, one of their own, Vasco da Gama's signature (reads
and a close associate of Lencastre himself. But the fact that Sines was Ho Comde Almirante, "The Count
awarded by the king provoked Lencastre to refuse out of principle, Admiral")
lest it encourage the king to make other donations of the Order's
properties.[30] Da Gama would spend the next few years attempting
to take hold of Sines, an effort that would estrange him from Lencastre and eventually prompt da Gama to
abandon his beloved Order of Santiago, switching over to the rival Order of Christ in 1507.
In the meantime, da Gama made do with a substantial hereditary royal pension of 300,000 reis. He was
awarded the noble title of Dom (lord) in perpetuity for himself, his siblings and their descendants. On 30
January 1502, da Gama was awarded the title of Almirante dos mares de Arabia, Persia, India e de todo o
Oriente ("Admiral of the Seas of Arabia, Persia, India and all the Orient") – an overwrought title reminiscent
of the ornate Castilian title borne by Christopher Columbus (evidently, Manuel must have reckoned that if
Castile had an 'Admiral of the Ocean Seas', then surely Portugal should have one too).[31] Another royal letter,
dated October 1501, gave da Gama the personal right to intervene and exercise a determining role on any
future India-bound fleet.

Around 1501, Vasco da Gama married Catarina de Ataíde, daughter of Álvaro de Ataíde, the alcaide-mór of
Alvor (Algarve), and a prominent nobleman connected by kinship with the powerful Almeida family (Catarina
was a first cousin of Dom Francisco de Almeida).[32]

Second voyage
The follow-up expedition, the Second India Armada, launched in
1500 under the command of Pedro Álvares Cabral with the mission of
making a treaty with the Zamorin of Calicut and setting up a
Portuguese factory in the city. However, Pedro Cabral entered into a
conflict with the local Arab merchant guilds, with the result that the
Portuguese factory was overrun in a riot and up to 70 Portuguese
were killed. Cabral blamed the Zamorin for the incident and
bombarded the city. Thus war broke out between Portugal and
Calicut.

Vasco da Gama invoked his royal letter to take command of the 4th
India Armada, scheduled to set out in 1502, with the explicit aim of
taking revenge upon the Zamorin and force him to submit to
Portuguese terms. The heavily armed fleet of fifteen ships and eight
hundred men left Lisbon on 12 February 1502. It was followed in
Malabar Coast of India, c. 1500,
April by another squadron of five ships led by his cousin, Estêvão da
showing the path of Vasco da
Gama (the son of Aires da Gama), which caught up to them in the
Gama's 4th India Armada in 1502
Indian Ocean. The 4th Armada was a veritable da Gama family affair.
Two of his maternal uncles, Vicente Sodré and Brás Sodré, were pre-
designated to command an Indian Ocean naval patrol, while brothers-
in-law Álvaro de Ataíde (brother of Vasco's wife Catarina) and Lopo Mendes de Vasconcelos (betrothed to
Teresa da Gama, Vasco's sister) captained ships in the main fleet.

On the outgoing voyage, da Gama's fleet opened contact with the East African gold trading port of Sofala and
reduced the sultanate of Kilwa to tribute, extracting a substantial sum of gold.

Pilgrim ship incident

On reaching India in October 1502, da Gama's fleet intercepted a ship of Muslim pilgrims at Madayi travelling
from Calicut to Mecca. Described in detail by eyewitness Thomé Lopes and chronicler Gaspar Correia, da
Gama looted the ship with over 400 pilgrims on board including 50 women, locked in the passengers, the
owner and an ambassador from Egypt and burned them to death. They offered their wealth, which "could
ransom all the Christian slaves in the Kingdom of Fez and much more" but were not spared. Da Gama looked
on through the porthole and saw the women bringing up their gold and jewels and holding up their babies to
beg for mercy.[33]
Calicut

After stopping at Cannanore, Gama drove his fleet before Calicut,

demanding redress for the treatment of Cabral. Having known of the
fate of the pilgrims' ship, the Zamorin adopted a conciliatory attitude
towards the Portuguese and expressed willingness to sign a new treaty
but da Gama made a call to the Hindu king to expel all Muslims from
Calicut before beginning negotiations, which was turned down.[34] At
the same time however, the Zamorin sent a message to his rebellious
vassal, the Raja of Cochin urging cooperation and obedience to
counter the Portuguese threat; the ruler of Cochin forwarded this
message to Gama, which reinforced his opinion of the Indians as
duplicitous.[35] After demanding the expulsion of Muslims from
Calicut to the Hindu Zamorin, the latter sent the high priest Talappana
Namboothiri (the very same person who conducted da Gama to the
Zamorin's chamber during his much celebrated first visit to Calicut in
May 1498) for talks. Da Gama called him a spy, ordered the priests'
lips and ears to be cut off and after sewing a pair of dog's ears to his
head, sent him away.[36] The Portuguese fleet then bombarded the
unfortified city for nearly two days from the sea, severely damaging it. A depiction of da Gama's fleet (from
He also captured several rice vessels and cut off the crew's hands, ears the Livro das Armadas)
and noses, dispatching them with a note to the Zamorin, in which
Gama declared that he would be open to friendly relations once the
Zamorin had paid for the items plundered from the feitoria as well as the
gunpowder and cannoballs.[37][38]

Seabattle

The violent treatment meted out by da Gama quickly brought trade along
the Malabar Coast of India, upon which Calicut depended, to a standstill.
The Zamorin ventured to disptach a fleet of strong warships to challenge
da Gama's armada, but which Gama managed to defeat in a naval battle
before Calicut harbor.

Cochin
An aged Vasco da Gama, as
Da Gama loaded up with spices at Cochin and Cannanore, small nearby
Viceroy of India and Count of
kingdoms at war with the Zamorin, whose alliances had been secured by Vidigueira (from Livro de Lisuarte
prior Portuguese fleets. The 4th armada left India in early 1503. Da de Abreu)
Gama left behind a small squadron of caravels under the command of his
uncle, Vicente Sodré, to patrol the Indian coast, to continue harassing
Calicut shipping, and to protect the Portuguese factories at Cochin and Cannanore from the Zamorin's
inevitable reprisals.

Vasco da Gama arrived back in Portugal in September 1503, effectively having failed in his mission to bring
the Zamorin to submission. This failure, and the subsequent more galling failure of his uncle Vicente Sodré to
protect the Portuguese factory in Cochin, probably counted against any further rewards. When the Portuguese
king Manuel I of Portugal decided to appoint the first governor and viceroy of Portuguese India in 1505, da
Gama was conspicuously overlooked, and the post given to Francisco de Almeida.
Interlude
For the next two decades, Vasco da Gama lived out a quiet life,
unwelcome in the royal court and sidelined from Indian affairs. His
attempts to return to the favor of Manuel I (including switching over
to the Order of Christ in 1507), yielded little. Almeida, the larger-
than-life Afonso de Albuquerque and, later on, Albergaria and
Sequeira, were the king's preferred point men for India.

After Ferdinand Magellan defected to the Crown of Castile in 1518,

Vasco da Gama threatened to do the same, prompting the king to
undertake steps to retain him in Portugal and avoid the embarrassment
of losing his own "Admiral of the Indies" to Spain.[39] In 1519, after
years of ignoring his petitions, King Manuel I finally hurried to give
Vasco da Gama a feudal title, appointing him the first Count of
Vidigueira, a count title created by a royal decree issued in Évora on
St. Francis CSI Church, in Kochi.
29 December, after a complicated agreement with Dom Jaime, Duke
Vasco da Gama died in Kochi in
of Braganza, who ceded him on payment the towns of Vidigueira and
1524 when he was on his third visit
Vila dos Frades. The decree granted Vasco da Gama and his heirs all
to India. His body was originally
the revenues and privileges related,[40] thus establishing da Gama as buried in this church.
the first Portuguese count who was not born with royal blood.[41]

Third voyage and death

After the death of King Manuel I in
late 1521, his son and successor,
King John III of Portugal set about
reviewing the Portuguese
government overseas. Turning away
from the old Albuquerque clique
(now represented by Diogo Lopes
de Sequeira), John III looked for a
fresh start. Vasco da Gama re-
emerged from his political
wilderness as an important adviser to
the new king's appointments and
strategy. Seeing the new Spanish
threat to the Maluku Islands as the
priority, Vasco da Gama advised
against the obsession with Arabia
that had pervaded much of the
Plaque engraved near the
Manueline period, and continued to
tomb in St Francis's Church
be the dominant concern of Duarte
de Menezes, then-governor of
Portuguese India. Menezes also Gama's former tomb in St. Francis
turned out to be incompetent and corrupt, subject to numerous Church, Kochi
complaints. As a result, John III decided to appoint Vasco da Gama
himself to replace Menezes, confident that the magic of his name and
memory of his deeds might better impress his authority on Portuguese India, and manage the transition to a
new government and new strategy.
By his appointment letter of February 1524, John III granted Vasco da Gama the privileged title of "Viceroy",
being only the second Portuguese governor to enjoy that title (the first was Francisco de Almeida in 1505).[42]
His second son, Estêvão da Gama was simultaneously appointed Capitão-mor do Mar da Índia ('Captain-
major of the Indian Sea', commander of the Indian Ocean naval patrol fleet), to replace Duarte's brother, Luís
de Menezes. As a final condition, Gama secured from John III of Portugal the commitment to appoint all his
sons successively as Portuguese captains of Malacca.

Setting out in April 1524, with a fleet of fourteen ships, Vasco da Gama took as his flagship the famous large
carrack Santa Catarina do Monte Sinai on her last journey to India, along with two of his sons, Estêvão and
Paulo. After a troubled journey (four or five of the ships were lost en route), he arrived in India in September.
Vasco da Gama immediately invoked his high viceregent powers to impose a new order in Portuguese India,
replacing all the old officials with his own appointments. But Gama contracted malaria not long after arriving,
and died in the city of Cochin on Christmas Eve in 1524, three months after his arrival. As per royal
instructions, da Gama was succeeded as governor of India by one of the captains who had come with him,
Henrique de Menezes (no relation to Duarte). Da Gama's sons Estêvão and Paulo immediately lost their posts
and joined the returning fleet of early 1525 (along with the dismissed Duarte de Menezes and Luís de
Menezes).[43]

Vasco da Gama's body was first buried at St. Francis Church, which was located at Fort Kochi in the city of
Kochi, but his remains were returned to Portugal in 1539. The body of Vasco da Gama was re-interred in
Vidigueira in a casket decorated with gold and jewels.

The Monastery of the Hieronymites, in Belém, which would become

the necropolis of the Portuguese royal dynasty of Aviz, was erected in
the early 1500s near the launch point of Vasco da Gama's first
journey, and its construction funded by a tax on the profits of the
yearly Portuguese India Armadas. In 1880, da Gama's remains and
those of the poet Luís de Camões (who celebrated da Gama's first
voyage in his 1572 epic poem, The Lusiad), were moved to new
carved tombs in the nave of the monastery's church, only a few meters
away from the tombs of the kings Manuel I and John III, whom da
Tomb of Vasco da Gama in the
Gama had served. Jerónimos Monastery in Belém,
Lisbon
Marriage and descendants
Vasco da Gama and his wife, Catarina de Ataíde, had six sons and
one daughter:[44]

1. Dom Francisco da Gama, who inherited his father's titles

as 2nd Count of Vidigueira and the 2nd "Admiral of the
Seas of India, Arabia and Persia". He remained in
Portugal.
2. Dom Estevão da Gama, after his abortive 1524 term as
Indian patrol captain, he was appointed for a three-year
term as captain of Malacca, serving from 1534 to 1539
(includes the last two years of his younger brother Paulo's
term). He was subsequently appointed as the 11th
governor of India from 1540 to 1542.
3. Dom Paulo da Gama (having the same name as his uncle
Paulo), captain of Malacca from 1533 to 1534, killed in a Coat of arms of Vasco da Gama.
naval action off Malacca.
 4. Dom Cristovão da Gama, captain of Malacca from 1538 to 1540; nominated to succeed in
Malacca, but executed by Ahmad ibn Ibrahim during the Ethiopian-Adal war in 1542.
5. Dom Pedro da Silva da Gama, appointed captain of Malacca from 1548 to 1552.
6. Dom Álvaro d'Ataide da Gama, appointed captain of Malacca fleet in the 1540s, captain of
Malacca itself from 1552 to 1554.
7. Dona Isabel d'Ataide da Gama, only daughter, married Ignacio de Noronha, son of the first
Count of Linhares.

His male-line issue became extinct in 1747, though the title continued through the female-line.

Intergenerations
Dom Vasco da Gama, 3rd Count of Vidigueira, the nobility and military personnel, son of
Francisco (2nd Count) and grandson of Vasco da Gama.
Dom Francisco da Gama, 4th Count of Vidigueira, the viceroy (1597–1600) and governor
(1622–1628) of India, son of Vasco (3rd Count) and great-grandson of Vasco da Gama.

Legacy
Vasco da Gama is one of the most famous and celebrated explorers
from the Age of Discovery. As much as anyone after Henry the
Navigator, he was responsible for Portugal's success as an early
colonising power. Beside the fact of the first voyage itself, it was his
astute mix of politics and war on the other side of the world that
placed Portugal in a prominent position in Indian Ocean trade.
Following da Gama's initial voyage, the Portuguese crown realized
that securing outposts on the eastern coast of Africa would prove vital
to maintaining national trade routes to the Far East.

However, his fame is tempered by such incidents and attitudes as

displayed in the notorious Pilgrim Ship Incident previously discussed.

The Portuguese national epic, the Lusíadas of Luís Vaz de Camões,

largely concerns Vasco da Gama's voyages.[45]

The 1865 grand opera L'Africaine: Opéra en Cinq Actes, composed

Portrait of Vasco da Gama by
by Giacomo Meyerbeer from a libretto by Eugène Scribe,
António Manuel da Fonseca (1838)
prominently includes the character of Vasco da Gama. The events
depicted, however, are fictitious. Meyerbeer's working title for the
opera was Vasco da Gama. A 1989 production of the opera by the
San Francisco Opera featured noted tenor Plácido Domingo in the role of da Gama.[46] The 19th-century
composer Louis-Albert Bourgault-Ducoudray composed an eponymous 1872 opera based on da Gama's life
and exploits at sea.

The port city of Vasco da Gama in Goa is named after him, as is the crater Vasco da Gama on the Moon.
There are three football clubs in Brazil (including Club de Regatas Vasco da Gama) and Vasco Sports Club in
Goa that were also named after him. There exists a church in Kochi, Kerala called Vasco da Gama Church,
and a private residence on the island of Saint Helena. The suburb of Vasco in Cape Town also honours him.

Cenotaph to Vasco da Gama in the
Church of Santa Engrácia, now the
National Pantheon in Lisbon.
A few places in Lisbon's
Parque das Nações are
named after the explorer,
such as the Vasco da Gama
Bridge, Vasco da Gama
Tower and the Centro
Comercial Vasco da Gama
Portuguese coin from 1969
shopping centre.[47] The
commemorating the 500th
Oceanário in the Parque das anniversary of Vasco da Gama's
Nações has a mascot of a birth.
cartoon diver with the name
of "Vasco", who is named
after the explorer.[48]

Vasco da Gama was the only explorer on the final pool of Os Grandes Portugueses. Although the final
shortlist featured other Age of Discovery related people, they were not actually explorers nor navigators for
any matter.

The Portuguese Navy has a class of frigates named after him. There are three Vasco da Gama class frigates in
total, of which the first one also bears his name.

The Portuguese government erected two navigational beacons, Dias Cross and da Gama Cross, to
commemorate da Gama and Bartolomeu Dias who were the first modern European explorers to reach the
Cape of Good Hope. When lined up, these crosses point to Whittle Rock, a large, permanently submerged
shipping hazard in False Bay.

South African musician Hugh Masekela recorded an anti-colonialist song entitled "Colonial Man", which
contains the lyrics "Vasco da Gama was no friend of mine", and another song entitled "Vasco da Gama (The
Sailor Man)". Both songs were included in his 1976 album Colonial Man.

Vasco da Gama appears as an antagonist in the Indian film Urumi. The film, directed by Santosh Sivan,
depicts atrocities and progression to establish the Portuguese empire by da Gama in India.

In March 2016, archaeologists working off the coast of Oman identified a shipwreck believed to be that of the
Esmeralda from da Gama's 1502–1503 fleet. The wreck was initially discovered in 1998. Later underwater
excavations took place between 2013 and 2015 through a partnership between the Oman Ministry of Heritage
and Culture and Blue Water Recoveries Ltd., a shipwreck recovery company. The vessel was identified
through such artifacts as a "Portuguese coin minted for trade with India (one of only two coins of this type
known to exist) and stone cannonballs engraved with what appear to be the initials of Vincente Sodré, da
Gama's maternal uncle and the commander of the Esmeralda."[49]

See also
Chronology of European exploration of Asia

References

Citations
1. Wells, John C. (2008). Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (3rd ed.). Longman. ISBN 978-1-
4058-8118-0.
 2. Jones, Daniel (2011). Roach, Peter; Setter, Jane; Esling, John (eds.). Cambridge English
Pronouncing Dictionary (18th ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-15255-6.
3. Nigel, Cliff (2011). Holy War: How Vasco da Gama's Epic Voyages Turned the Tide in a
Centuries-Old Clash of Civilizations. Harper..
4. M. G. S. Narayanan, Calicut: The City of Truth (2006) Calicut University Publications.
5. Diffie, Bailey W. and George D. Winius, Foundations of the Portuguese Empire, 1415–1580, p.
176
6. Romey, Kristin (14 March 2016). "Shipwreck Discovered from Explorer Vasco da Gama's Fleet"
(http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/03/20160314-oman-shipwreck-explorer-vasco-da-g
ama-age-of-exploration-india-route/). National Geographic. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
7. Modern History Sourcebook: Vasco da Gama: Round Africa to India, 1497–1498 CE (http://ww
w.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1497degama.html), fordham.edu, Retrieved 27 June 2007.
8. Ames, Glenn J. (2008). The Globe Encompassed. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-13-193388-0..
9. The Sodrés were said to have been descended from Frederick Sudley, of Gloucestershire, who
accompanied the Earl of Cambridge to Portugal in 1381, and subsequently settled there
(Subrahmanyam, 1997, p. 61).
10. Subrahmanyam, 1997, p. 61.
11. Subrahmanyam, 1997, p. 62.
12. Subrahmanyam, 1997, pp. 60–61.
13. Subrahmanyam, 1997, p. 63.
14. de Oliveira Marques, António Henrique R. (1972). History of Portugal. Columbia University
Press, ISBN 0-231-03159-9, pp. 158–160, 362–370.
15. Parry, 1981, pp. 132-135
16. Scammell, 1981, p. 232
17. Diffie, Bailey W.; Winius, George D. (1977). Foundations of the Portuguese Empire, 1415–1850
(https://books.google.com/books?id=vtZtMBLJ7GgC&pg=PA176). Europe and the World in the
Age of Expansion. 1. pp. 176–177. ISBN 978-0-8166-0850-8.
18. Da Gama's Round Africa to India (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1497degama.html),
fordham.edu Retrieved 16 November 2006.
19. Gago Coutinho, C.V. (1951–52) A Nautica dos Descobrimentos: os descobrimentos maritimos
visitos por um navegador, Lisbon: Agencia Geral do Ultramar; pp. 319–363; Axelson, E. (1988)
"The Dias Voyage, 1487–1488: toponymy and padrões", Revista da Universidade de Coimbra,
Vol. 34, pp. 29–55 offprint (https://books.google.com/books?id=hcMp9hZ_8yAC&lpg=PA25&pg
=PA29#v=onepage&q&f=false); Waters, D.W. (1988) "Reflections Upon Some Navigational
and Hydrographic Problems of the XVth Century Related to the voyage of Bartolomeu Dias",
Revista da Universidade de Coimbra, Vol. 34, pp. 275–347. offprint (https://books.google.com/b
ooks?id=UKK-b3If-78C&lpg=PA333&dq=rota%20entre%20santiago&pg=PA333#v=onepage&
q&f=false).
20. Fernandez-Armesto, Felipe (2006). Pathfinders: A Global History of Exploration (https://archive.
org/details/pathfindersgloba00fern/page/177). W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 177–178 (https://a
rchive.org/details/pathfindersgloba00fern/page/177). ISBN 978-0-393-06259-5.
21. "Vasco da Gamma Seeks Sea Route to India" (http://www.oldnewspublishing.com/dagamma.ht
m) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20111222043247/http://www.oldnewspublishing.com/
dagamma.htm) 22 December 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Old News Publishing, Retrieved 8
July 2006.
22. Fernandez-Armesto, Felipe (2006). Pathfinders: A Global History of Exploration (https://archive.
org/details/pathfindersgloba00fern/page/178). W.W. Norton & Company. pp. 178–179 (https://ar
chive.org/details/pathfindersgloba00fern/page/178). ISBN 978-0-393-06259-5.
23. Ames, Glenn J. (2005). Vasco da Gama: Renaissance Crusader. New York: Pearson/Longman.
p. 50.
24. Castaneda, Herman Lopes de, The First Book of the Historie of the Discoveries and Conquests
of the East India by the Portingals, London, 1582, in Kerr, Robert (ed.) A General History and
Collection of Voyages and Travels Vol. II, London, 1811.
25. M.G.S. Narayanan, Calicut: The City of Truth (2006) Calicut University Publications (The
incident is mentioned by Camoes in The Lusiads, wherein it is stated that the Zamorin "showed
no signs of treachery" and that "on the other hand, da Gama's conduct in carrying off the five
men he had entrapped on board his ships is indefensible.").
26. Da Gama's First Voyage p. 88.
27. Subrahmanyam, 1997, p. 149.
28. João de Barros, Da Asia, Dec. I, Lib. IV, c. 11, p. 370.
29. Diffie & Winius, 1977, p. 185.
30. Subrahmanyam, 1997, p. 168.
31. João de Barros (1552, pp. 23–24 (https://books.google.com/books?id=BJ42AAAAMAAJ&pg=P
A23#v=onepage&q&f=false)) dates this appointment in January 1502, just before da Gama's
departure on his second voyage. But Subrahmanyan (1997, p. 169), following Braancamp
Freire, conjectures this award may have been made as early as January 1500.
32. Catarina de Ataíde's mother, Maria da Silva, was the sister of Beatriz da Silva, mother of
Francisco de Almeida. The Almeidas provided a substantial part of Catarina's dowry
(Subrahmanyan, 1997, p. 174).
33. Nambiar O.K, The Kunjalis – Admirals of Calicut, Bombay, 1963.
34. "Vasco da Gama Arrives in India 1498" (https://web.archive.org/web/20040118015254/http://w
ww.northpark.edu/history/WebChron/WestEurope/DaGama.CP.html). Archived from the original
on 18 January 2004. Retrieved 29 July 2015. Dana Thompson, Felicity Ruiz, Michelle Mejiak;
15 December 1998. Retrieved 8 July 2006.
35. Prof. Roger Crowley: Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire, Faber &
Faber, 2015, p.131.
36. M. G. S. Narayanan, Calicut: The City of Truth (2006) Calicut University Publications.
37. Sreedhara Menon. A. A Survey of Kerala History (1967), p. 152. D. C. Books Kottayam.
38. Roger Crowley, in Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire, Faber & Faber,
2015, p.134.
39. Subrahmanyam, 1997, p. 278.
40. Vasco Da Gama, Ernest George Ravenstein, "A journal of the first voyage of Vasco da Gama,
1497–1499", p. Hakluyt Society, Issue 99 of Works issued by the Hakluyt Society, ISBN 81-
206-1136-5.
41. At this time in Portugal, there were only twelve counts, one count-bishop, two marquises and
two dukes (Subrahmaynam, 1997, p. 281).
42. Subrahmanyam, 1997, p. 304.
43. Subrahmanyam, 1997, pp. 343–345.
44. See also Diogo do Couto (Decadas de Asia, Dec. IV, Lib. 8, c. 2); Teixeira de Aragão pp. 15–16
(https://books.google.com/books?id=cBAoAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA15), and Castanhoso (1898: p.
viiff (https://books.google.com/books?id=MiFXAAAAMAAJ&pg=PR7).).
45. "The Lusiads" (http://www.wdl.org/en/item/11198/). World Digital Library. 1800–1882. Retrieved
31 August 2013..
46. Subrahmanyam, 1997, p. 2.
47. "Centro Vasco da Gama" (http://www.centrovascodagama.pt/). Centrovascodagama.pt.
Retrieved 29 January 2009..
48. "Vasco participa na maior Parada das Mascotes em Portugal" (https://www.oceanario.pt/noticia
s/vasco-participa-na-maior-parada-das-mascotes-em-portugal). Lisbon Oceanarium. Retrieved
10 January 2021.
49. Romey, Kristin (14 March 2016). "Shipwreck Discovered from Explorer Vasco da Gama's Fleet"
(http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/03/20160314-oman-shipwreck-explorer-vasco-da-g
ama-age-of-exploration-india-route/). National Geographic. Retrieved 15 March 2016.

Bibliography
Ames, Glenn J. (2004). Vasco da Gama: Renaissance Crusader. Longman. ISBN 978-0-321-
09282-3.
Ames, Glenn J. (2007). The Globe Encompassed: The Age of European Discovery, 1500–
1700. Prentice Hall. ISBN 978-0-13-193388-0.
Castanhoso, M. de (1898) Dos feitos de D. Christovam da Gama em Ethiopia Lisbon: Imprensa
nacional. online (https://books.google.com/books?id=MiFXAAAAMAAJ&pg=PR3)
Corrêa, Gaspar (2001). The Three Voyages of Vasco da Gama, and His Viceroyalty. Adamant
Media Corporation. ISBN 978-1-4021-9543-3. Facsimile reprint of an 1869 edition by the
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Diffie, Bailey W.; Winius, George D. (1977). Foundations of the Portuguese Empire 1415-1580.
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Fernández-Armesto, Felipe (2001). Civilizations. Basingstoke and Oxford: Macmillan.
ISBN 978-0-7432-0248-0.
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org/details/pathfindersgloba00fern/page/177). W.W. Norton. pp. 177–181 (https://archive.org/det
ails/pathfindersgloba00fern/page/177). ISBN 978-0-393-06259-5.
Jayne, Kingsley Garland (1910). Vasco Da Gama and His Successors 1460 to 1580 (https://arc
hive.org/details/vascodagamahissu00jaynuoft). London: Meuthen & Co. Ltd. ISBN 978-0-548-
00895-9.
Panikkar, K.M. (1959). Asia and Western Dominance: A Survey of the Vasco da Gama Epoch
of Asian History, 1498–1945 (https://archive.org/details/asiaandwesterndo009963mbp)
(new ed.). London: Allen & Unwin. ASIN B000Q5T6X6 (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000Q5T
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Parry, J. H. (1981). Age of Reconnaissance. University of California Press.
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1497–1499 (https://archive.org/details/ajournalfirstvo00ravegoog/page/n12). London: Hakluyt
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m4mvUC). University of California Press. ISBN 9780520044227.
Subrahmanyam, Sanjay (1997). The Career and Legend of Vasco da Gama. Cambridge
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Teixeira de Aragão, A.C. (1887) Vasco da Gama e a Vidigueira: um estudo historico. Lisbon:
Sociedade de Geografia de Lisboa online (https://books.google.com/books?id=cBAoAAAAYA
AJ&pg=PP7)
Towle, George Makepeace (c. 1878). Vasco da Gama, his voyages and adventures (https://arch
ive.org/details/vascodagamahisvo00towl). Boston: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard.

Further reading
 Vasco da Gama (Ernst Georg Ravenstein, Gaspar Corrêa, Alvaro Velho) [2011] Viartis
ISBN 978-1-906421-04-5
Vasco da Gama: Renaissance Crusader (Glen J.Ames) [2004] Longman ISBN 0-321-09282-1
The Career and Legend of Vasco da Gama (Sanjay Subrahmanyam) [1997] Cambridge
University Press ISBN 978-0-521-47072-8
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Gama, Vasco da" (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclo
p%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Gama,_Vasco_da). Encyclopædia Britannica. 11 (11th ed.).
Cambridge University Press. pp. 433–434.

External links
Vasco da Gama's Round Africa to India (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1497degama.htm
l), fordham.edu
Vasco da Gama web tutorial with animated maps (https://web.archive.org/web/2013121300360
4/http://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/eurvoya/vasco.html), ucalgary.ca
A Portuguese East Indiaman from the 1502–1503 Fleet of Vasco da Gama off Al Hallaniyah
Island, Oman: an interim report (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1095-9270.12175/pd
f), IJNA

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