Vasco da Gama

In honor of Vasco da Gama’s momentous expeditions in the 1500s, a crater on the Moon was befittingly named after him. Born in 1460 in the coastal town of Sines, Portugal, Vasco da Gama grew up always wanting to be an explorer just like his father, Estevao. The Portuguese explorer learned the trade and quickly went on to serve as a command for a number of ships owned by the Portuguese monarch.

With the overland journey from Europe to India is long and challenging, explorers of the time sought to find an alternate sea route to the Indian subcontinent. India was by then a very important trading partner famous for its spices that many European merchants found simply irresistible. With enough backing from the King of Portugal, explorer Vasco da Gama took it upon himself to solve the task of finding a way to India by sea.

da Gama relied on the findings of fellow explorer Bartolomeu Dias – i.e. the Cape of Good Hope at the southernmost part of South Africa. Da Gama, like many other explorers and navigators, reasoned that he could sail around Cape of Good Hope and then head northeast to India. Between the Cape and India, lay the vast uncharted Indian Ocean. Vasco da Gama was the explorer brave enough to put his life and the lives of his crew on the line to sail across the Indian Ocean to India.

On his first voyage in July 1497 to India, he commanded a crew of about 170 men aboard the fleet of four ships given to him by the king of Portugal. Along the journey, Vasco da Gama made some stops at some famous trading ports on the eastern coast of Africa, most notably Malindi and Mombasa. With some help from a Malindi-based navigator, Vasco da Gama and his crew made it to the shores of Calicut, India, around December 1497.

Vasco da Gama, the first European in recorded history to travel from Europe to India via the tip of the African continent, made it back home to a hero’s welcome. On his return home, he reported losing more than half of his crew to scurvy and other forms of sicknesses.

Born: 1460
Died: December 24, 1524

Nationality: Portugal