Vasco+da+Gama

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**Vasco da Gama** was born in Sines (Portugal), in 1469, and died in Cochin (India), the 24th December of 1524. He was a Portuguese sailor and a explorer. He became important after creating the shipping route to the land of spices (India). His father, Estevao da Gama, was a knight. His child mother was Isabel Sodre. She was a friend of the family of prince Diogo. She wanted his seond child to became a priest, but he refused to. Vasco da gama studied mathematical navigation in Evora (Portugal) with the scientist Abraham Zacuto.

This poster, created by us, summarizes Vasco da Gama's life and achievements:

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=The first expedition=

The expedition was originally organised by king João IIand assigned to Estevão da Gama, Vasco da Gama’s father. However, he died in July 1497, and the command of the expedition was given by the new king of Portugal, Manuel I, to his son, Vasco da Gama. The 8th July of 1497, the expedition set sail fron Santa María de Belem, in the river Tagus (Lisbon), with the intention of following the African coast, surroun d the Cape of Good Hope and sail to ﻿India.

In this exploration, letters from the king Manuel I for the kingdoms the crew visited were also taken on board, as well as various products chosen by Bartolomeu Diaz that could be useful in barters.

The ships
Gama relied on 170 men, more or less, among sailors, soldiers and clergy, spread in four ships:
 * ** San Gabriel ** : A carrack. It was built specially for this voyage. It was commanded by Vasco da Gama. Crew: 60 men
 * ** San Rafael ** : A carrack. It was also built for this voyage, and it was commanded by Paulo da Gama, Vasco da Gama's little brother. In the return voyage, the crew abandoned it because there were not enough sailors. This ship was later burnt in Malindi.
 * ** San Miguel ** : A carrack. It was commanded by Gonçalo Nunes. This ship was mainly used to transport suplies, but it was burnt in the outward journey.
 * ** Berrio ** : A caravel. It had been lent by Manuel de Berrio (its owner). It was commanded by Nicolau Coelho.

The route
media type="custom" key="9605970" align="right" The expedition set sail from Lisbon, following the African Coast through the island of [|Tenerife] and **﻿Cape Verde Islands****﻿**. After getting to the current [|Sierra Leone], it turned off towards the south, in the open ocean, and crossing the equator line. This manoeuvre, known as ﻿volta do mar, was successful and the 4th November of 1497 the expedition had arrived again to the African coast. After about three months, the ships had sailed more than 6,000 kilometres, the longest trip made in open sea. The 16th ﻿ December the fleet had reached the point in which Bartolomeu Diaz had returned previously. The 2nd M ﻿﻿ arch of 1498, completing the outline of the African coast, the fleet arrived to Mozambique. Here they found the first Indian traders, who mistook the Portuguese for Muslims. Finally, when they found out they were Christians, they had to run away from Mozambique, forced by a hostile crowd, and set sail from the port firing their cannons against the city. In the coast of the current ﻿Kenya, the expedition sacked several unarmed merchant Muslim ships. The Portuguese were the first Europeans to visit the port of Mombasa, but were received in a very hostile way, and left soon. In February 1498, they disembarked in the friendly port of Malindi (rival of Mombasa), where the sultan provided them with Arab pilot, who knew the Indian Ocean and guided them to Calicut, in the southwestern coast of India﻿. The 20th May of 1498, the fleet opened the sea route from Europe to India.

It was not very successful when negotiating with the local governor of Calicut, because he considered thatmedia type="custom" key="9620374" align="left" the Portuguese goods were not very valuable. In the end, Vasco got small amounts of spices and jewels to take back to Portugal. The Indian governor also gave him a letter for the Portuguese king which allowed trade with Calicut. However, the conditions were not clearly expressed, and Gama decided to go back to Portugal, because he did not trust him. For this reason, the governor of Calicut obliged him to leave in the city part of his goods, to make sure he would return to trade, so Vasco da Gama left here part of his crew. He started the return voyage to Portugal the 29th August of 1498. Sailing against the Monsoon winds of the Indian Ocean took the fleet 132 days, although in the outward journey it had only taken them 23 days. Half of the surviving crew died, and many more sailors had scurvy. This is why, from the 148 men that made up the army after leaving Calicut, only 55 arrived to Portugal, in only two ships. The caravel Berrio was the first to return to Lisbon, the 10th July of 1499, under the command of Nicolau Coelho and piloted by Pêro Escobar. Later, in August, the Sao Gabriel arrived, under the command of João de Sá, and not Vasco da Gama, because he had abandoned the ship in the island of Santiago, in Cape Verde, where he chartered a caravel to take his brother Paulo da Gama, who was ill, to Terceira island, in the Azores, with the hope of saving him. Vasco da Gama returned to Lisbon in September of 1499, a month after his mates, because he had to bury his brother, who had died in the Azores islands. When he arrived to Portugal he received the title of “almirante-mor dos Mares das India”.

The only proof of this vogage is a log written by Alvaro Velho. The other documents have been burnt.

=﻿The second expedition=

The 12th February of 1502, Vasco da Gama sailed again to India, with twenty warship, to take more spices and conquer more territories. He conquered Kilwa and Sofala, in Tanzania and Mozambique, respectively. He wanted to expel the Arabs from the Indian Ocean.

=The third expedition= In 1519, Vasco was named count of Vidigueira by king Manuel I. He became count without being a nobleman; he was the first Portuguese to achieve this. In 1524, he went on another expedition to India to replace the viceroy Duarte de Meneses. However, short after arriving to Goa, he caught malaria, and died on the 24th December of 1524.

This video explains the route Vasco da Gama and his crew followed to get to India:

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=His descendants and legacy=

Vasco de Gama and his wife, Catalina de Ataide, had six sons and one daughter > >
 * Francisco da Gama (count of Vidiqueira)
 * Estevao de Gama (11th the governor of India)
 * Paulo da Gama
 * Cristovao de Gama (martyr in Ethiopia )
 * Pedro de Silva da Gama
 * Alvaro de Ataide (captain of Malaca) [[image:VASCO_DE_GAMA_5000_ESCUDOS.jpg width="231" height="108" align="right" caption="Bill of 5,000 shields"]]
 * Isabel de Ataide da Gama

Vasco da Gama appears in the Portuguese bills of **5,000 shields**.

=Religious achievements=

In India, he tried to convert the people into Christians, and brought monks with him to preach. However, most of them did not want to follow him, so Vasco tortured them.