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Life and Times Admiral Don Vasco da Gama, Knight Commander of the Military Order of Christ (most of his full title gained over time by his accomplishments) was born in Sines, Portugal in 1469. He died on Christmas Eve, 1524 in Cochin India as the governor. His main claim to fame was being the first to form a trade route between India and Europe which had never been done before. He had to take a wide route around the cape of good hope at the most southern point of Africa and then up to India. He and his fleet left Lisbon on July 8th, 1497 and saw their first glimpse o fthe Indian coast almost a year later on May 18th, 1498 (only 6 years after Colombus sailed the ocean blue). Da Gama landed in Calicut 3 days later. Vasco's father was actually originally chosen for this mission but died before he could take off so his son took it on for him. When Vasco reached India he bought multiple tons of spices. In India he was over charged adn ripped off but it didnt matter because when he came back to Europe he made a 300% profit on the spices. The Europeans up to this point had food with no flavor besides the natural ones that came within the meat that they were eating. Spices gave the European's food more taste and turned eating into a good experience rather than somehting that had to be done to survive. His Fleet There were 4 ships in the whole fleet of Vasco Da Gama. The flagship, the Sao Gabriel, was commanded by Goncalo Alvares. The Sao Rafael was commanded by Paulo Da Gama, Vasco's brother. The other 2 ships were called the Berrio and the Starship. Most of the crew was made up on convicts who were treated as expendable and if one of them died it wasnt a very big concern. It took so long to get to India because of all of the stops made on the African coast at Mombasa, Mozambique, Kenya and others. Trade Conflicts Along the East coast of Africa Da Gama and his fleet were not welcomed by the Muslims who had already established trade centers there. Muslim traders in Mozambique and Mombasa tried to seize the ships and they were unsuccessful, but in Malindi Da Gama was welcomed and from Malindi they were accompanied by the famous Arab pilot, Ahmad Ibn Majid. Influence Vasco Da Gama lead the first
successful spice trade route between Europe and India. He was
also from Portugal which is a very small country and thats a pretty
big deal for someone from a small country to do something that pretty
much chagned the world. He was also famous for making through
the wind free doldrums on the east coast of Africa. The Indian
trade route also ended up helping Europe become more of a luxurious
place to be around this time as opposed to how it used to be with horrible
food and hygene. Bibliography www.angelfire.com |
