Vasco da Gama
Vasco da Gama
Discoverer of the sea-route to the East Indies; born Sines, Portugal , 1469 ; died Cochin, India, 1524 . After distinguishing himself against the French, 1490 , on the coast of Guinea, Da Gama was commissioned by King Manuel I to complete the discoveries of Dias and De Covilhao. He sailed from Lisbon, 8 July 1497 , reached the coast of Natal on Christmas Day, hence its name, and after touching at Mozambique, Mombasa, and Melinda, reached Calicut, India, 20 May 1498 . Sailing for home, 5 October 1498 , he arrived at Lisbon in September 1499 . His second voyage in 1502 , during which he destroyed 29 Arab ships-of-war at Calicut, was a brilliant commercial success. In 1524 he was sent out as viceroy to India, and died shortly after his arrival. The story of his discoveries forms a large part of Camoes’s “Lusiad.”