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Interesting facts about Vasco Da Gama

Vasco da Gama is mostly known for uniting Europe and India by sea. He’s a very important figure in the Portuguese history. He travelled and discovered new territories and brought back from his travels new goods and knowledge.

From the fourteenth and seventeenth century, Vasco da Gama’s doings greatly influenced the history but also people’s lives. He found new lands, promoted trade but also spread religious ideals.

In this article, you will find out more about Vasco da Gama and understand the reason why he is one of the most famous Portuguese explorers.

Who was Vasco de Gama? His early life and youth

Vasco da Gama was born in 1469 in the city of Sines. He was the son of Estêvão da Gama, who also was a navigator.

Vasco de Gama spent almost all his childhood in a sailormen and trips environment enriching his knowledge in this matter.

At eighteen years old, Vasco de Gama was already inlisted as ship crew member in charge of patroling Portuguese ports on the African coast, defending them against pirate ships. Also Vasco de Gama at this young age had already crossed the Mediterranean and visited the city of Tânger, in Morocco.

Vasco de Gama was famous for his personality, being described as violent, rude and relentless. Coming from a poor family, he had an inferiority problem and so his ambitions were to achieve great social status and fortune.

What Did Vasco de Gama discovered?

For many years lots of travelers tried to find a direct sea route from Portugal to India to avoid having to deal with merchants and traders from the Mediterranean and Egypt, who were known to impose high taxes for the exchange of their goods.

In July 8th 1497, the King of Portugal ordered Vasco de Gama to discover the sea route from Portugal to India, where he established contact in Calecute, India in May, 17th of 1498, ten months after his departure. Muslim merchants prepared an ambush upon the Portuguese arrival to India, but they failed. Vasco de Gama battled against them and easily claimed the lands to the South East.

With this conquest, the official trade route from Portugal to the lands of the East was finally open, breaking the Arab and Venetians monopoly in the East. He expanded Portuguese trade of merchandise and ideas to the new lands he had found.

He was sent by the King to explore the west

The King Manuel I of Portugal trusted Vasco da Gama to be the leader of an exploration to the west and to serve as the ambassador to the rulers of India as well.

Vasco de Gama was the first person to achieve the status of “Count”, which can be translated to Conde in Portuguese, without being a true blood royal member. He got the title thanks to the many trips and achievements throughout the years serving the King as a Captain of the Charters.

For this mission, he travelled with 170 men and four vessels which were the following ones: São Gabriel, São Rafael, Bérrio, and then, São Miguel which was the ship dedicated for supplies.

Vasco da Gama was known to be kind of brutal and arrogant. Some traits of his personality led to negative relations with the Muslims.

On his first journey to India, he found out that India had already established trade with many different countries, such as Africa and China. This, and the fact that he had an aggressive temper, complicated the establishment of a profitable relations with the natives. Some historians say that Vasco da Gama and his crew were disrespectful towards Hindu shrines and even kidnapped a few locals to be used as interpreters in their next expeditions.

He was a hero for the Portuguese

Thanks to his explorations and discoveries, Vasco da Gama gained major roles in the military and navy. Once he returned to Portugal, he was definitely seen as a hero by the Portuguese. One cannot deny the fact that he played an essential role in Portugal history.

Vasco da Gama greatly contibuted to the wealth of Portugal

During the fifteenth and sixteenth century, India was still quite a mystery. It was an unexplored land where one could find many fine spices and stunning jewelry. Once Vasco da Gama established a trading relationship with India, he created a new source of wealth for Portugal and gave it power.

Portugal economy was on the rise thanks to him

Vasco da Gama’s expeditions along the coast of Africa and to India improved Portugal’s economy and its expansion of trade. Thanks to him and many other explorers like him, Lisbon was once the greatest trading centre of Europe!

His explorations affected the religious world

One of the main reasons for the Age of Discoveries to happen was the spreading of the religion. During Vasco da Gama’s and other explorers travels, many people were converted to Catholicism and were taught the customs of the Christian religion. Throughout the Middle Ages, religion and politics worked together. One wouldn’t work without the other, so many initiatives of the Age of Discoveries originated from the will to expand Christianity.

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