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Prajwal T V
13 July 2024 |
On 08 July 1497, Vasco Da Gama set sail for his first voyage with a fleet of four vessels from Lisbon in hopes of reaching India after a neglected project of finding a new sea route to Asia and outflanking the Muslim domination of the eastern Mediterranean and all routes that connected India to Europe. The King of Portugal Manuel I had appointed Vasco Da Gama to lead this expedition.
From Dias to Gama: The Sail to 08 July 1497
In the 14th century, under the leadership of Prince Henry, the ‘Navigator,’ Portugal had been steadily advancing its maritime knowledge and exploring the west coast of Africa and ways to find a sea route to India. By the late 15th century, Europe was gripped by the Renaissance and the call for exploration. By then, Europe had made great advances in the art of shipbuilding and navigation, building an eagerness to explore the East.
In 1487, before Vasco Da Gama set sail, King John II of Portugal had commissioned Bartolomeu Dias to find a route around Africa to India. In 1488, Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope, originally known as the Cape of Storms, proving that a sea route to India was possible after returning from a 16-month-long journey. Under King Manuel I, in 1495, that the ambitious plan to send an expedition to India was realised.
08 July 1497: Beginning of a New Era
On that day, Vasco da Gama departed Portugal, with a fleet of four shipsto find a maritime route to India, which would establish a direct trade link for spices and other valuable commodities, circumventing the Muslim monopoly of trade routes to India. Vasco Da Gama's fleet carried stone pillars called padrão to set up on the way as marks of discovery. The expedition sailed south along the coast of Africa, stopping at trading ports such as the Cape Verde Islands and Sierra Leone. After passing the Canary Islands, they reached São Tiago in Cape Verde, then took a detour to avoid Gulf of Guinea currents, reaching Santa Helena Bay on 07 November 1497. Delayed by adverse winds, they rounded the Cape of Good Hope on 22 November and reached Natal on Christmas Day, navigating uncharted waters, dealing with adverse weather conditions, and the health issues of the crew. The crew suffered from scurvy, prompting a month-long rest at the Quelimane River.
In March 1498, da Gama reached Mozambique, and Malindi, Mombasa (now in Kenya) on 14 April 1498, where they hired a pilot to navigate to India, reaching Calicut (modern-day Kozhikode) on 20 May 1498 on the west coast of India, marking the first direct sea route from Europe to Asia.
The Legacy of 08 July 1497
Vasco da Gama's successful trip in 1498 established Portuguese control in the Indian Ocean. Portugal quickly built a massive colonial and trading empire, controlling key ports and trade routes, allowing it to monopolise the lucrative spice trade. Da Gama's expedition also paved the way for more European explorations and imperial ventures. A direct sea link with India ended the Arabs and Turks' virtual monopoly on commerce in eastern products, particularly spices, who were historic adversaries of Christianity. Thus, business and religious aims complemented and justified one another.
Vasco da Gama remained in India for three months. When he returned to Portugal, he brought with him a large cargo that he sold in the European market for a large profit. The fact that Europeans would have had to pay 10 times as much for the same amount of pepper if they had bought through Muslim intermediaries elsewhere demonstrated the necessity of direct access to the pepper trade. Other profit-seeking merchants from European nations began their trek to India and traded directly; Afonso de Albuquerque expanded Portuguese influence further by capturing strategic ports such as Goa, Malacca, and Ormuz, solidifying their control over the Indian Ocean. Among the notable expeditions that followed, Pedro Álvares Cabral's voyage in 1500, which followed da Gama's route but veered westward, led to the discovery of Brazil. Meanwhile, Ferdinand Magellan's expedition from 1519 to 1522 was the first to circumnavigate the globe, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
This network facilitated significant cultural exchanges, introducing new goods, ideas, and technologies across continents. However, the era of European exploration also had profound and often devastating impacts on indigenous populations. Under the pretext of protecting the factories and their trading activities, the Portuguese fortified these centres, European explorations evolved into colonisation which further led to exploitation, cultural disruption, and conflict, altering the lives of millions across countless communities.
In the series:
05 July 1962: The Algerian War comes to an end
01 July 1968: US, Soviet Union, UK and 40 countries sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty
05 July 1996: Dolly becomes the first mammal to be cloned
01 July 2002: The Rome Statute establishes the International Criminal Court
05 July 1962: Algeria declares its independence, ending 132 years of French occupation
06 June 1944: Allied forces land in Normandy, turning the tide in World War-II
21 May 1991: LTTE human bomb assassinates Rajiv Gandhi
20 May 1948: Vasco da Gama, a Portuguese explorer lands in Calicut in India’s west coast
20 May 2002: East Timor becomes an independent country
30 April 1975: Saigon falls to North Vietnam troops, leading to the reunification of Vietnam
21 April 1526: The First Battle of Panipat leads to the emergence of the Mughal Empire in India
17 April 1895: The Treaty of Shimonoseki ends the first Sino-Japan War (1894-95)
17 April 1975: Khmer Rouge captures Phnom Penh in Cambodia, establishing the Pol Pot regime
16 April 1917: Lenin issues “April Theses”
04 April 1968: Martin Luther King Jr assassinated
18 March 2014: Russia annexes Crimea
14 March 1879: Albert Einstein born in Germany
14 March 1849: The Sikh Army surrenders to the British
12 March 1918: Lenin shifts the capital to Moscow
11 March 1985: Mikhail Gorbachev becomes the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
About the author
Prajwal TV is an Undergraduate Student at St Joseph's University, Bangalore.
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