Vasco De Gama Vasco Da

Vasco De Gama

Vasco da Gama

Like many of the greatest explorers of the early modern era, Vasco da Gama hailed from Portugal, where he was born in a port city south of the capital of Lisbon in 1469 (Subrahmanyam 24). His family was part of the Portuguese nobility and was fairly well off because of this, and Vasco da Gama's father Estavao was actually an explorer as well, and had intended to make the voyage to India that brought his son so much fame (Enchanted Learning). His father died before being able to complete this voyage, however, and the familial imperative can be seen as one of the reason's behind Vasco da Gama's determination to make this voyage. Unmarried and known for a strong will that could often manifest itself as a hot temper, da Gama was chosen by the king of Portugal to follow in his father's footsteps (or wake, perhaps) and find a sea route to India (Doak 6-8).

The voyage was completely financed by the king of Portugal, who like da Gama knew that a sea route to India would be much faster, cheaper, and safer than the current land routes used for training, and hoped to gain enormous wealth from the venture despite its initial expenditure (Doak 6-8; Correa). Four ships set sail from Lisbon in 1497 -- the Sao Gabriel, which Vasco da Gama captained, the Sao Rafael, the Berrio, and an unnamed store-ship that carried the three-years worth of provisions needed for the voyage (ThinkQuest; Doak). Vasco da Gama proved himself a relatively fearless and determined explorer in his refusal to stay near the coast, as other previous expeditions had done, but rather struck for the faster and often more treacherous waters farther from the coast in the open ocean -- and even so, it took him five months to reach the southern part of Africa (ThinkQuest).

In addition to the necessary provisions to sustain he and his crew during the voyage, da Gama had been provided with many trinkets -- brass bowls, mirrors, and other relatively cheap examples of European craftsmanship -- that he (and the king) hoped could be traded for gold, spices, and other commodities in both Africa and his ultimate destination of India (Doak 11). At first, his trading went according to plan and was largely successful, but da Gama encountered problems with some of the Muslim population in Africa who were upset at his disruption of their trade routes, which earned them large amounts of wealth (Enchanted Learning). In addition, though his initial dealings with the Indians were mutually beneficial, the native inhabitants soon grew suspicious of da Gama and demanded large taxes fro the amount of goods he was receiving; da Gama left with all of his new goods and several Indian hostages without paying the taxes, which certainly did not improve relations with Europeans in the future (Subrahmanyam 79-88).