Exploration · 1497–1499 CE
Vasco da Gama reaches India by sea
Kappad, near Kozhikode (Calicut), Kerala (India)
Following Bartolomeu Dias, who had rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 1488, Vasco da Gama left Lisbon on 8 July 1497 with four ships, sailed around southern Africa and, with a pilot hired at Malindi on the Swahili coast, crossed the Indian Ocean on the monsoon winds. He landed near Calicut in May 1498, but talks with its ruler, the Zamorin, went badly, and only about 55 of his men survived the voyage home in 1499.
Why it mattered
It opened the first sea route from Europe to Asia, breaking Venice's hold on the spice trade and launching Portugal's maritime empire in the Indian Ocean; with Columbus's voyages it marks the start of the Age of Exploration.
Related
- The world in 1492: Worlds About to Collide chapter
- Columbus crosses the Atlantic previous moment · 1492 CE
- The Columbian Exchange next moment · 1492 onwards