Vasco da Gama

Introduction & Top Questions
Life
The first voyage
The second voyage
The third voyage

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images

Map tracing Vasco da Gama's first voyage from Portugal to India between 1497 and 1499. The red line shows his route departing Lisbon, passing the Canary and Cape Verde Islands, rounding the Cape of Good Hope at Africa's southern tip, stopping at locations along Africa's east coast such as Mozambique and Malindi, and then crossing the Arabian Sea to reach Indian ports including Calicut, Cochin, and Goa. The return route follows a similar path back to Portugal. Major geographic features and coasta

Stone monument featuring Vasco da Gama and other figures standing in a row on a stylized ship's prow, commemorating Portuguese maritime exploration.

At a Glance

Vasco da Gama, 1st count da Vidigueira summary

Quizzes

Vikings. Viking warriors hold swords and shields. 9th c. AD seafaring warriors raided the coasts of Europe, burning, plundering and killing. Marauders or pirates came from Scandinavia, now Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. European History

European History

Buzz Aldrin. Apollo 11. Apollo 11 astronaut Edwin Aldrin, photographed July 20, 1969, during the first manned mission to the Moon's surface. Reflected in Aldrin's faceplate is the Lunar Module and astronaut Neil Armstrong, who took the picture.

Exploration and Discovery

Related Questions

How did Bartolomeu Dias’s voyage help make Vasco da Gama’s expedition possible?
How did Francisco de Almeida and Afonso de Albuquerque expand Portuguese power after Vasco da Gama’s voyages?
How did Muslim merchants in Calicut respond to Vasco da Gama’s arrival?
How did Vasco da Gama first gain the attention of King John II of Portugal?
How did Vasco da Gama force the ruler of Kilwa to submit to Portugal?
How did Vasco da Gama’s advice influence Pedro Álvares Cabral’s route to Brazil?
How did Vasco da Gama’s voyages affect the history of Mozambique and East Africa?
How did scurvy affect Vasco da Gama’s crew in Mozambique?
How did the Zamorin of Calicut receive Vasco da Gama?
How long did Vasco da Gama’s fleet take to cross the Indian Ocean from Malindi to Calicut?
How many of Vasco da Gama’s original crew members survived the first voyage to India and back?
How many ships sailed with Vasco da Gama on his first voyage?
What did Vasco da Gama learn at the Island of Mozambique?
What difficulties did Vasco da Gama encounter while rounding the Cape of Good Hope?
What happened when Vasco da Gama attacked Calicut during his second voyage?
What lasting effects did Portuguese expansion have on Indian trade and culture?
What rewards did King Manuel I give Vasco da Gama after his first voyage?
What were the names and purposes of the ships in Vasco da Gama’s first fleet?
When and where did Vasco da Gama die?
When and where was Vasco da Gama born?
When did Vasco da Gama arrive at Calicut in India?
When did Vasco da Gama lead his second voyage to India?
When did Vasco da Gama leave Lisbon on his first voyage to India?
Which places in southern Africa did Vasco da Gama visit during his first voyage?
Which route did Vasco da Gama take from Portugal to the Cape of Good Hope?
Who were Vasco da Gama’s parents?
Why did King Manuel I send Pedro Álvares Cabral to India after Vasco da Gama’s first voyage?
Why did Vasco da Gama fail to make a trade treaty at Calicut in 1498?
Why did Vasco da Gama form an alliance with Cochin against Calicut?
Why did Vasco da Gama form an alliance with the ruler of Cannanore?
Why did Vasco da Gama sail far into the South Atlantic before rounding Africa?
Why did Vasco da Gama’s fleet carry Arabic and Bantu-language interpreters?
Why did Vasco da Gama’s sailors erect padrões during the voyage?
Why did a pilot supplied in Mozambique leave Vasco da Gama’s expedition?
Why did the Portuguese mistakenly expect to find Christians in India?
Why is the Vasco da Gama Bridge in Lisbon named after Vasco da Gama?
Why was Vasco da Gama made Portuguese viceroy in India in 1524?
Why was Vasco da Gama’s return voyage from India so dangerous?
Why was the Gujarati pilot from Malindi important to Vasco da Gama’s voyage?
Who were Vasco da Gama’s parents?
What was Vasco da Gama best known for?
What did Vasco da Gama discover?
What was the JP movement?
What is S. Jaishankar’s background?
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What were Bal Gangadhar Tilak’s beliefs?
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What was Subhas Chandra Bose’s impact?
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History Global Exploration

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External Websites

Digital Commons at Kennesaw State University - Vasco da GamaÂ’s Voyages to India: Messianism, Mercantilism, and Sacred Exploits (PDF)
Live Science - Vasco da Gama: Facts and Biography
IndiaNetzone - Vasco da Gama
The Mariner's Musem and Park - The Ages of Exploration - Biography of Vasco da Gama
ABC News - The end of the Vasco da Gama era
World History Encyclopedia - Biography of Vasco da Gama
University of Delaware - Vasco da Gama: Round Africa to India, 1497-1498

Britannica Websites

Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.

Vasco da Gama - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)
Vasco da Gama - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

Vasco da Gama

Portuguese navigator

Also known as: Vasco da Gama, 1er conde da Vidigueira

Written by

Felipe Fernandez-Armesto

Prince of Asturias Professor, History Department, Tufts University. Author of Pathfinders: A Global History of Exploration (2006), and others.

Felipe Fernandez-ArmestoAll

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

Britannica Editors

History

Vasco da Gama (born c. 1460, Sines, Portugal—died December 24, 1524, Cochin, India) was a Portuguese navigator whose voyages to India (1497–99, 1502–03, 1524) opened up the sea route from western Europe to the East by way of the Cape of Good Hope. The famed bridge named in his honor in Lisbon, the Vasco da Gama Bridge that crosses over the Tagus River estuary, spans 17.2 km (10.7 miles) and was the longest bridge in...

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