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Dom 'Vasco da Gama', 1st
Count of Vidigueira () (
Sines or
Vidigueira,
Alentejo,
Portugal, ca. either 1460 or 1469 –
December 24,
1524 in
Kochi,
India) was a
Portuguese explorer, one of the most successful in the European
Age of Discovery and the commander of the first ships to sail directly from
Europe to
India.
Early life
Vasco da Gama was probably born in either 1460
[1] or 1469
[2], in
Sines, on the southwest coast of Portugal, probably in a house near the church of Nossa Senhora das Salas. Sines, one of the few seaports on the Alentejo coast, consisted of little more than a cluster of whitewashed, red-tiled cottages, tenanted chiefly by fisherfolk.
Vasco da Gama's father was
Estêvão da Gama. In the 1460s he was a
knight in the household of the Duke of
Viseu,
Dom Fernando. Dom Fernando appointed him Alcaide-Mór or Civil Governor of Sines and enabled him to receive a small revenue from taxes on soap making in
Estremoz.
Estêvão da Gama was married to
Dona Isabel Sodré, daughter of João Sodré (also known as João de Resende; of
English origin, with links to the household of Prince
Diogo, Duke of Viseu, son of King
Edward I of Portugal and governor of the military
Order of Christ).
Little is known of Vasco da Gama's early life. It has been suggested that he studied at the inland town of
Évora, which is where he may have learnt mathematics and navigation and that he knew astronomy well, having learned from the famous astronomer
Abraham Zacuto.
In 1492 King
John II of Portugal sent Gama to the port of
Setúbal, south of
Lisbon and to the
Algarve, Portugal's southernmost province, to seize
French ships in retaliation for peacetime depredations against Portuguese shipping - a task that Vasco rapidly and effectively performed.
Background
Bartolomeu Dias had already rounded
Africa's
Cape of Good Hope in 1488, in an historic event that was the culmination of a generation of Portuguese sea exploration fostered by
Henry the Navigator.
Gama's voyage was successful in reaching
India. This permitted Europeans to trade with the
Far East without having to endure the costs and hazards of the
Silk Road caravans, which followed inland routes through the
Middle East and
Central Asia at a time when much of this territory was part of the
Mughal Empire. However, Gama's achievements were somewhat dimmed by his failure to bring any trade goods of interest to the nations of
Asia Minor and India. Moreover, the sea route was fraught with its own perils - his fleet went more than three months without seeing land and only 54 of his 170 companions, on two of his four ships, returned to Portugal in 1499. Nevertheless, Gama's initial journey ushered in an era of European domination through sea power and commerce that lasted several hundred years and 450 years of Portuguese
colonialism in India and Africa that brought wealth and power to the Portuguese monarch.
Exploration before Gama
From the early fifteenth century, the nautical school of
Henry the Navigator had been extending Portuguese knowledge of the African coastline. From the 1460s, the goal had become one of rounding that continent's southern extremity to gain easier access to the riches of India (mainly black pepper and other spices) through a reliable sea route.
By the time Gama was ten years old, these long-term plans were coming to fruition.
Bartolomeu Dias had returned from rounding the Cape of Good Hope, 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.
Concurrent land exploration during the reign of
João II of Portugal supported the theory that India was reachable by sea from the Atlantic Ocean.
Pero da Covilhã and
Afonso de Paiva were sent via
Barcelona,
Naples and
Rhodes, into
Alexandria and thence to
Aden,
Hormuz and
India, which gave credence to the theory.
It remained for an explorer to prove the link between the findings of Dias and those of da Covilhã and de Paiva and to connect these separate segments into a potentially lucrative trade route into the Indian Ocean. The task, originally given to Vasco da Gama's father, was offered to Vasco by
Manuel I on the strength of his record of protecting Portuguese trading stations along the African
Gold Coast from depredations by the French.
First voyage
The route followed in Vasco da Gama's first voyage (1497 - 1499)
On
8 July 1497 the fleet, consisting of four ships, left
Lisbon.
[3] The vessels were:
★ The ''São Gabriel'', commanded by Vasco da Gama; a
carrack of 178 tons, length 27 m , width 8.5 m,
draft 2.3 m, sails of 372
m², 150 crew
★ The ''São Rafael'', whose commander was his brother
Paulo da Gama; similar dimensions to the ''São Gabriel''
★ The
caravel ''Berrio'', slightly smaller than the former two (later re-baptized São Miguel), commanded by
Nicolau Coelho.
★ A storage ship of unknown name, commanded by Gonçalo Nunes, later lost near the Bay of São Brás, along the east coast of Africa.
Rounding the Cape
By December 16, the fleet had passed the
Great Fish River- where Dias had turned back- and was sailing into waters unknown to Europeans. With Christmas pending, they gave the coast they were passing the name
Natal ("birth (of Christ)" = Christmas in
Portuguese).
Arab-controlled territory on the East African coast was part of the Indian Ocean's network of trade. Fearing the local population would be hostile to Christians, Gama impersonated a Muslim and gained audience with the Sultan of Mozambique. With the paltry trade goods he had to offer, Gama was unable to provide a suitable gift to the ruler and soon the local populace began to see through the
subterfuge of Gama and his men. Forced to quit Mozambique by a hostile crowd, Gama departed the harbor, firing his cannon into the city in retaliation.
[4]
Mombasa
In the vicinity of modern
Kenya, the expedition resorted to
piracy, looting Arab merchant ships - generally unarmed trading vessels without heavy cannon. The Portuguese became the first known Europeans to visit the port of
Mombasa but were met with hostility and soon departed.
Malindi
Pillar of Vasco da Gama in Malindi
In February 1498, Vasco da Gama continued north, landing at the friendlier port of
Malindi, -whose leaders were in conflict with those of Mombasa- and there the expedition first noted evidence of Indian traders. They contracted the services of an
Arab navigator and
cartographer, whose knowledge of the
monsoon winds allowed him to bring the expedition the rest of the way to
Calicut (modern Kozhikode) on the southwest coast of India. The navigator was believed to be
Ibn Majidwho would have been approaching 60 at the time.
Calicut, India
The fleet arrived in Calicut on
20 May,
1498. Sometimes violent negotiations with the local ruler (usually anglicized as ''
Zamorin''), the ''Wyatt Enourato'' ensued, in the teeth of resistance from Arab merchants. Eventually Gama was able to gain an ambiguous letter of concession for trading rights but had to sail off without giving notice of his intention to do so after the Zamorin insisted that Gama leave all his goods as
collateral. Vasco da Gama kept his goods but left a few Portuguese with orders to start a trading post.
Return
Paulo da Gama died in the Azores on the homeward voyage. Vasco da Gama returned to Portugal in September 1499 and was richly rewarded as the man who had brought to fruition a plan that had taken eighty years to fulfill. He was given the title "Admiral of the Indian Ocean" and the feudal rights over Sines were confirmed.
Manuel I also awarded the dignity of ''Dom'' (
lord) to Gama, his brothers and sisters and to all of their descendants, forever. He was created first earl of Vidigueira, the first Portuguese count with no royal blood ever created.
The spice trade would prove to be a major asset to the Portuguese economy. Other consequences followed. For example, Gama's voyage had made it clear that the farther (East) coast of Africa, the ''Contra Costa'', was essential to Portuguese interests: its ports provided fresh water and provisions, timber and harbors for repairs and a refuge where ships could to wait out unfavorable seasons. The result in the end was the colonization of Mozambique by the Portuguese Crown.
Second voyage
On
12 February 1502, Gama sailed with a fleet of twenty
warships, with the object of enforcing Portuguese interests in the east. This was subsequent to the voyage of
Pedro Álvares Cabral, who had been sent to India two years earlier. (Swinging far to the west across the Atlantic in order to make use of the pattern of favourable winds, Cabral became the official European discoverer of
Brazil. The find may have been an accident). When he finally reached India, Cabral learned that the Portuguese citizens who had been left by Gama at the trading post had been murdered. After encountering further resistance from the locals, he bombarded
Calicut and then sailed south of Calicut to reach
Cochin, a small kingdom where he was given a warm welcome. He returned to Europe with silk and gold.
Once he had reached the northern parts of the Indian Ocean, Gama waited for a ship to return from
Mecca and seized all the merchandise on it. He then ordered that the 380 passengers be locked in the hold and the ship set on fire. It took four days for the ship to sink and everyone on board died. When Gama arrived at Calicut on
October 30,
1502 the Zamorin was willing to sign a treaty.
[5]
Gama assaulted and exacted tribute from the Arab-controlled port of
Kilwa in East Africa, one of those ports involved in frustrating the Portuguese; he played
privateer amongst Arab merchant ships, then finally smashed a Calicut fleet of twenty-nine ships. Following that battle he extracted favorable trading concessions from the Zamorin.
On his return to Portugal, in September 1503, he was made Count of
Vidigueira, with his seat in land sold to him by the Duke of Bragança (the future royal family of
Bragança). He was also awarded feudal rights and jurisdiction over
Vidigueira and
Vila dos Frades.
Third voyage
Tomb in the Jerónimos Monastery in Belem
Having acquired a fearsome reputation as a "fixer" of problems that arose in India, he was sent to the subcontinent once more in 1524.
The intention was that he was to replace the incompetent
Eduardo de Menezes as viceroy (representative) of the Portuguese possessions but he contracted malaria not long after arriving in Goa and died in the city of Cochin on Christmas Eve in 1524.
His body was first buried at St. Francis Church,
Fort Kochi,
Kochi but his remains were returned to Portugal in 1539 and re-interred in Vidigueira in a splendid tomb.
The
Monastery of the Hieronymites in
Belém was erected in honour of his voyage to India.
Legacy
Map of the Portuguese Empire during the reign of
John III (1502–1557).
Gama and his wife,
Catarina de Ataíde, had six sons and one daughter: Francisco da Gama, 2nd
Count of Vidigueira;
Estevão da Gama; Paulo da Gama;
Cristovão da Gama; Pedro da Silva da Gama; Álvaro de Ataíde; and Isabel de Ataíde da Gama.
As much as anyone after Henry the Navigator, Gama 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.
The Portuguese
national epic, the ''
Lusíadas'' of
Luís Vaz de Camões largely concerns Vasco da Gama's voyages.
Following 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.
The port city of
Vasco da Gama in
Goa is named after him, as is the
Vasco da Gama crater, a big crater 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. A church in
Kochi,
Kerala Vasco da Gama Church, a private residence on the island of
Saint Helena and Lisbon's
Vasco da Gama Bridge are also named after him. The suburb of Vasco in Cape Town also honours him.
Gama was ranked eighty-sixth on
Michael H. Hart's
list of the most influential figures in history.
In 1998, attempts to observe the five hundredth anniversary of Gama's arrival in India by the Government of Portugal had to be abandoned because of public antipathy towards the event.
[6].
References
1. Modern History Sourcebook:
Vasco da Gama: Round Africa to India, 1497-1498 CE Retrieved June 27, 2007
2. Catholic Encyclopedia: Vasco da Gama Retrieved June 27, 2007
3. da Gama's ''Round Africa to India'', Retrieved 16 November 2006
4. Vasco da Gamma Seeks Sea Route to India www.oldnewspublishing.com; Retrieved 08 July 2006
5. Vasco da Gama Arrives in India 1498 (Google cached version) Dana Thompson, Felicity Ruiz, Michelle Mejiak; December 15, 1998; Retrieved 08 July 2006
6. Explorer or Exploiter? Rediff On The Net - www.rediff.com
External links
★
Vasco da Gama at Prominent People
★
da Gama's ''Round Africa to India'' in English
★
da Gama web tutorial with animated maps
★
Brief description of da Gama's journeys
See also
★
Exploration of Asia
★
Ferdinand Magellan
★
Pedro Álvares Cabral
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