Vasco da Gama
Vasco da Gama (c. 1469 at Sines, Alentejo, Portugal - December 24, 1524 in Cochin, India) was a Portuguese explorer and the first person to sail directly from Europe to India.
Life
From the early 15th century, the nautical school of Henry the Navigator had been extending Portuguese knowledge of the coast of Africa. From the 1460s, the goal had become one of rounding that continent's southern extremity and gaining easier access to the riches of India (mainly black pepper and other spices) through a reliable sea route instead of the costly and unsafe overland route.
Da Gama was born in Sines. He was slightly younger than 10 years old as these long-term plans were coming to fruition. Bartolomeu Dias had returned from rounding the Cape of Good Hope and exploring as far as the Fish River (Rio do Infante) in modern-day South Africa, and verified that the unknown coast stretched away to the northeast. Meanwhile in India, Pero da Covilhã had explored south along the coast of East Africa to 20 degrees of South latitude, and garnered essential information about the Arabic trade with India. It remained only for the 8 segments to be joined into one voyage.
First voyage
This task was given to Da Gama's father, Estevão da Gama, alcaide of Sines, but he died before he could begin. Vasco was then given the job by Manuel I on the strength of his record protecting Portuguese trading stations along the Gold Coast from depredations by the French. On July 8, 1497 the fleet consisting of four ships left Lisbon:
- the São Gabriel, commanded by Vasco da Gama; a carrack of 178 tons, length 27 meters, width 8.5 meters, draft 2.3 meters, 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
- a storage ship of unknown name
By December 16 they had passed the White River where Diaz had turned back and continued on into waters unknown to Europeans. With Christmas pending they gave the coast they were passing the name Natal (Christmas in Portuguese), which it retains to this day. By January they had reached modern-day Mozambique, Arab-controlled territory on the East African coast that was part of the Indian Ocean's network of trade. Having got that far, da Gama was able to employ Ibn Majid, a Gujarati pilot at the more friendly port of Malindi, who employed the common understanding of the monsoon in those waters to bring the expedition the rest of the way to Calicut (modern Kozhikode) on the southwest coast of India; there they arrived on May 20, 1498. Sometimes violent negotiations with the local ruler (the Samoothiri Raja, usually anglicized as Zamorin) ensued in the teeth of resistance from Arab merchants. Eventually da Gama was able to gain an ambiguous letter of concession for trading rights, but had to sail off without warning after the Zamorin insisted on his leaving behind all his goods as collateral. Da Gama kept his goods, but left behind a few Portuguese with orders to start a trading post.
One new development was made especially clear from da Gama's voyage: the farther coast of Africa, the Contra Costa, was going to be essential to Portuguese interests: its ports provided fresh water and provisions, timber and harbors for repairs and to wait out unfavorable seasons.
Paulo da Gama died in the Azores on the homeward voyage, but upon Vasco da Gama's return to Portugal in September 1499 he was richly rewarded as the man who had brought to fruition a plan that had taken eighty years. He was given the title "Admiral of the Indian Ocean" and the feudal rights over Sines were confirmed. He also was awarded the title Dom (count) by Manuel I.
Second voyage
On February 12, 1502 he sailed again with a fleet of twenty warships to enforce Portuguese interests. Pedro Álvares Cabral had been sent out two years earlier (on which voyage he incidentally discovered Brazil, though some claim this it was intentional) and found that those at the trading post had been murdered, encountered further resistance and bombarded Calicut.
Da Gama assaulted and exacted tribute from the East African Arabian port of Kilwa, which had been one of those involved with frustrating the Portuguese; he played privateer amongst Arab merchant ships; and then finally smashed a Calicut fleet of twenty-nine ships and essentially conquered that port city. In return for peace, he received valuable trade concessions and a vast quantity of plunder that put him in extremely good favor with the Portuguese crown. Returning to Portugal, he was made Dom of Vidigueira out of lands that had previously belonged to the royal Bragança family. He was also awarded the feudal rights and jurisdiction over Vidigueira and Villa dos Frades.
Third Voyage
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 of the Portuguese possessions, but he died not long after arriving in Calicut. His body was first buried at St. Francis Church, Fort Kochi, Kochi, India, then later his remains were returned to Portugal in 1539 and re-interred in Vidigueira in a splendid tomb. The convent of the Hieronymites in Belém was erected in honor of his voyage to India.
Da Gama and his wife, Caterina de Ataíde, had six sons and one daughter: Francisco da Gama, Conde da Vidigueira; Estevão da Gama; Paulo da Gama; Christovão da Gama; Pedro da Silva da Gama; Alvaro de Athaide; and Isabel de Athaide da Gama.
As much as anyone after Henry the Navigator, da Gama was responsible for Portugal's success as an early colonizing power. Besides 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 the Indian Ocean trade. The Portuguese "national epic", the Lusíadas of Luís Vaz de Camões largely concerns Vasco da Gama's voyages.
References
- Kelly, Jack (2004). Gunpowder: Alchemy, Bombards, & Pyrotechnics. ISBN 0465037186 — The history of the explosive that changed the world from Vasco da Gama to E.I. DuPont.
- English translation of da Gamas Round Africa to India
