Vasco da Gama

Portuguese explorer

• Born: c. 1460
• Birthplace: Sines, Portugal
• Died: December 24, 1524
• Place of death: Cochin, India

Da Gama was the first European during the Age of Discovery to reach India by sailing around Africa. His voyage culminated decades of Portuguese efforts at exploration and began Portugal’s era as a spice empire.

Early Life

Vasco da Gama (VAHS-koh dah GAH-muh) was born in a small coastal town in southern Portugal. His parents, Estevano da Gama and Isabel de Sodre, were members of ancient but poor families of the lower nobility. Their marriage produced four children, of whom Vasco was the third son. His two elder brothers were Paulo and Estevano (or Ayres), and there was a sister named Theresa. When he reached the proper age, Vasco was sent to school at the inland town of Evora. What he studied, however, is not known, and little other information survives concerning his early life.

All da Gama men had a reputation for bravery. That reputation was supplemented by a certain notoriety for being quarrelsome and unruly people. According to tradition, Vasco da Gama repelled by sheer force of personality the alcalde and night watch of Setubal during a nocturnal confrontation. His first documentable appearance occurred in 1492, during a diplomatic crisis between King John II of Portugal and Charles VIII , the king of France. As part of the effort to prepare Portugal for the possibility of a war, the king sent da Gama to Setubal to take care of affairs in the Algarve.

The Portuguese king’s choice for this important assignment reflected his great confidence in da Gama, which was based on the young man’s successful but unspecified service in the fleet, probably against pirates. Some historians also speculate that various undocumented and secret Portuguese voyages of exploration in the southern Atlantic and along the East African coast took place during the last years of the 1480’s and the first years of the 1490’s. If so, da Gama may have commanded one or more of these expeditions.

Life’s Work

King John II had long planned a follow-up expedition to Bartolomeu Dias’s discovery of the Cape of Good Hope in 1488, but various circumstances had delayed it. Originally the king wanted to appoint Estevano da Gama as commander of the expedition, and when he died the post devolved on his son Vasco by at least December, 1495. It may even have been first offered to da Gama’s elder brother Paulo, who may have declined because of ill health.

Da Gama’s expedition consisted of four ships, which departed from Portugal on July 8, 1497. His objectives were to find a sea route to India, to engage in the Eastern spice trade, and to make contact and treaties with local Christian rulers. The expedition was primarily one of exploration and not trade. Arriving at Santiago in the Cape Verde Islands on July 27, the expedition rested and then took to the high seas on August 3, steering a southwesterly course and ignoring the coastal route used by Diogo Cão and Dias.

The Portuguese were attempting to take advantage of favorable wind patterns that, on this occasion, turned out to be abnormally weak. Turning eastward after a long passage, they did not sight land until November 4, at about the region of Santa Helena Bay. It was an impressive navigational accomplishment for that age. Next, da Gama’s fleet rounded the Cape of Good Hope on November 22, after which they broke up their supply ship and distributed its contents. As they sailed up the eastern coast of Africa, scurvy began to appear in the crew, but they soon contacted Arab traders and obtained supplies of fresh fruit.

On March 29, 1498, they arrived at the hospitable city of Malindi, where they took on a skillful pilot, probably the famous Ahmed ibn Madgid. With his aid, they proceeded northward and caught the monsoon, which quickly transported the expedition to the Malabar coast of India on May 18. They arrived at the town of Capocate on May 20, and on May 21 went ashore, where they met two Spanish-speaking Tunisian merchants, who exclaimed, “May the Devil take you! What brought you here?” The Portuguese replied, “Christians and spices.” That exchange foreshadowed the type of reception that they would continue to receive in India during their visit.

It was not until May 30, 1498, that da Gama managed to get an audience with the samorin of Calicut, the most powerful local ruler and controller of the spice trade. By that time, the Portuguese had discovered that their trade goods were better suited for the Hottentots of southern Africa, while the sophisticated Hindus held the scruffy Portuguese and their goods in contempt. At the same time, da Gama remained hopeful because of his mistaken belief that the Hindus were Christians of some sort. Mutual suspicions grew, however, and the Portuguese only managed with the greatest of difficulty to trade their shoddy cargo for some spices and precious stones. About August 12, they asked the samorin for permission to depart; he refused and instead took some hostages. The Portuguese retaliated by taking some Indian hostages on August 19. An exchange was negotiated and then made on August 29. Da Gama sailed the next day, although he had to fight a short battle with some of the samorin’s navy. Steering north, the expedition stopped at Angediva Island for a rest.

Da Gama and his fleet left Angediva Island on October 5. Unfortunately on this passage, they encountered very unfavorable winds as the monsoons had not yet shifted, and so little progress was made. Scurvy broke out with great intensity, and eventually thirty men died. After the monsoons arrived, the Portuguese finally sighted Africa on January 2, 1499. Losses among the crew forced them to abandon one vessel at Malindi before they went on to Portugal. Da Gama split the expedition at the Cape Verde Islands and rushed his ailing brother Paulo to the Azores in the vain hope of saving his life. Meanwhile, another captain, Nicolau Coelho, sailed for Portugal and arrived on July 10. It was not until late August or early September, 1499, that da Gama reached Lisbon, where he received an enthusiastic reception.

King Manuel rewarded da Gama with the title of Admiral of the Sea of the Indies and made him proprietary owner of his birthplace, Sines. Sometime between 1499 and 1502, da Gama married Catarina d’Atayde. He also prepared detailed sailing instructions for the expedition of his successor, Pedro Álvares Cabral, in 1500. That expedition resulted in even greater hostilities between the Portuguese and the Muslim merchants of Calicut. Apparently dissatisfied with Cabral’s performance, Manuel named da Gama commander of the next expedition to India. This expedition’s purpose was conquest, not trade, and employed the most powerful fleet yet sent to the Indian Ocean.

The fleet consisted of fifteen ships under the command of da Gama and another five ships under his brother Estevano. They sailed for India in February and March, respectively. Arriving off the Malabar coast, da Gama intercepted a Muslim ship full of pilgrims returning from Mecca; he massacred the passengers and burned the ship. He proceeded to Calicut on October 30, where he demanded the expulsion of the hostile Muslim merchant community. When the samorin refused, the Portuguese shelled the city. Next, they visited the friendly cities of Cochin and Cananore and picked up a cargo of spices. They then returned to Portugal and arrived home on September 1, 1503. Da Gama left five ships behind under the command of Vincente Sodre to protect Cochin and the Portuguese factory there. These expeditions of Cabral and da Gama forced the Portuguese into a policy of conquest, as the Muslim merchants persuaded the Mamlūks of Egypt and the Gujaratis to form an alliance to drive the intruding Portuguese from the Indian Ocean.

After the expedition of 1502-1503, da Gama returned to private life. His resentment over what he considered inadequate rewards for his great achievements simmered. In 1518, Manuel managed to placate him somewhat by appointing him count of Vidigueira. Meanwhile, the Portuguese empire in the East, which had been established by his great successors Francisco de Almeida and Afonso de Albuquerque, began to flounder under a series of incompetent and corrupt governors. In 1524, King John III appointed da Gama viceroy of India. Da Gama left for India on April 9, 1524, and, immediately on his arrival at Goa, began restoring discipline and harassing Portugal’s enemies. Traveling to Cochin, he arrested the departing governor Duarte de Menezes, but overexertion and the tropical climate worked their ill effects on the now elderly da Gama. He died on December 24, having barely begun the much-needed reformation of the Portuguese spice empire.

Significance

The years 1498 to 1945 have been dubbed the “Vasco da Gama Epoch” in Asian history. That era basically consisted of Europe’s navies dominating Asian coastlines, which further resulted in European control of the Asian economy and politics. Da Gama began this domination. The goods he brought to Calicut may have been inferior; he and his men may have been almost intolerably dirty and rude by Hindu standards. Yet they possessed decisive superiority in one crucial area: Their ships were more seaworthy and far more heavily armed with cannons than any Asian ships. As a result, da Gama and his successors were able to create a vast spice empire in spite of vigorous Muslim and Hindu resistance. Only similarly and even more heavily armed European rivals, the Dutch, were able to dislodge the Portuguese from their monopoly of the spice trade.

Da Gama served the Portuguese crown as well as any person, exhibiting bravery, cunning, and authority. Yet he was not indispensable; Portugal possessed many individuals like da Gama. It was da Gama’s good fortune to be at the right place to obtain the assignment that would make his name live forever. In fact, if he held the same opinions as his descendants, the immediate material rewards of his voyages mattered far more to him than a permanent and respected place in history based on his achievements in Asia.

Bibliography

Cortesão, Armando. The Mystery of Vasco da Gama. Coimbra, Portugal: Junta de Investigacoes do Ultramar, 1973. The “mystery” is whether any Portuguese voyages of exploration took place between Dias’s discovery of the Cape of Good Hope in 1487 and da Gama’s voyage to India in 1497. Cortesão contends that such voyages did take place and that da Gama actually commanded at least one of them.

Diffie, Bailey W., and George D. Winius. Foundations of the Portuguese Empire, 1415-1580. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1977. This detailed and authoritative survey of the early phase of Portuguese trading and colonial enterprise is excellent for obtaining a reasonably detailed introduction to da Gama’s career, along with placing it firmly in its historical context. Particularly useful for debunking various misconceptions and myths associated with the Age of Discovery.

Disney, Anthony, and Emily Booth, eds. Vasco da Gama and the Linking of Europe and Asia. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. Anthology of essays originally presented at the Vasco da Gama Quincentenary Conference held in Australia in 1997. The focus of the essays varies greatly, ranging from daily life aboard da Gama’s ship to a survey of five hundred years of European relations with Southeast Asia. Includes bibliographic references and index.

Hart, Henry H. Sea Road to the Indies: An Account of the Voyages and Exploits of the Portuguese Navigators, Together with the Life and Times of Dom Vasco da Gama, Capitão-Mor, Viceroy of India, and Count of Vidigueira. New York: Macmillan, 1950. Covers both the background to and the substance of da Gama’s explorations and the conquests in the Indian Ocean. Detailed and contains many interesting anecdotes. Unfortunately, the author takes an uncritical approach to the sources and should be read with caution.

Jayne, Kingsley Garland. Vasco da Gama and His Successors, 1460-1580. Reprint. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1970. Originally published in 1910, this well-written study is still worth consulting. The account of da Gama’s first voyage is quite detailed. Furthermore, unlike most books dealing with the founding of the Portuguese spice empire, Jayne’s narrative supplies information about da Gama’s years of retirement between his second voyage to India in 1502-1503 and his viceroyalty in 1524.

Nowell, Charles E. “Vasco da Gama First Count of Vidigueira.” Hispanic American Historical Review 20(August, 1940): 342-358. This useful article discusses why da Gama has been neglected by biographers and blames the situation on the lack of information about his youth and personality. Existing printed primary sources are then described and evaluated. Da Gama is assessed as a product of his time.

Pearson, M. N. The Portuguese in India. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1988. Largely dealing with the late fifteenth through the mid-seventeenth centuries, this authoritative volume examines Portuguese activity in India. Supplies the Asian context for da Gama’s voyages along with a bibliography for further reading on the topic.

Sanceau, Elaine. Good Hope: The Voyage of Vasco da Gama. Lisbon: Academia Internacional da Cultura Portuguesa, 1967. This well-written book details da Gama’s first heroic voyage to India. Its author has written extensively on the history of Portuguese exploration.

Subrahmanyam, Sanjay. The Career and Legend of Vasco da Gama. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997. Equal parts biography of the actual Vasco da Gama and cultural analysis of the legendary Vasco da Gama. Addresses the relationship between myth and nationalism, as well as the historical accomplishments of da Gama himself for his nation. Includes illustrations, maps, bibliographic references, and index.

Watkins, Ronald. Unknown Seas: How Vasco da Gama Changed the East. London: John Murray, 2003. An attempt to bring da Gama’s voyage to life by chronicling the experience of his minor crewmen. Highly detailed discussion of every aspect of life aboard ship and the ingenuity of the crew in using then-cutting-edge technology, and even refitting and rebuilding their ship during the voyage. Includes illustrations, map, bibliographic references, index.