Vasco da Gama
Vasco da Gama | |
---|---|
Viceroy of Portuguese India | |
In office 5 September 1524 – 24 December 1524 | |
Monarch | John III of Portugal |
Preceded by | Duarte de Menezes |
Succeeded by | Henrique de Meneses |
Personal details | |
Born | c. 1460 Viceroy of India |
Signature | |
Vasco da Gama, 1st
His initial voyage to India by way of Cape of Good Hope[4] (1497–1499) was the first to link Europe and Asia by an ocean route, connecting the Atlantic and the Indian oceans. This is widely considered a milestone in world history, as it marked the beginning of a sea-based phase of globalization.[5] Da Gama's discovery of the sea route to India opened the way for an age of global imperialism and enabled the Portuguese to establish a long-lasting colonial empire along the way from Africa to Asia. Traveling the ocean route allowed the Portuguese to avoid sailing across the highly disputed Mediterranean Sea and traversing the dangerous Arabian Peninsula. The sum of the distances covered in the outward and return voyages made this expedition the longest ocean voyage ever made until then.[6]
After decades of sailors trying to reach the Indies, with thousands of lives and dozens of vessels lost in shipwrecks and attacks, da Gama landed in Calicut on 20 May 1498. Unopposed access to the Indian spice routes boosted the economy of the Portuguese Empire, which was previously based along northern and coastal West Africa. The main spices at first obtained from Southeast Asia were pepper and cinnamon, but soon included other products, all new to Europe. Portugal maintained a commercial monopoly of these commodities for several decades. It was not until a century later that other European powers, first the Dutch Republic and England, later France and Denmark, were able to challenge Portugal's monopoly and naval supremacy in the Cape Route.
Da Gama led two of the Portuguese India Armadas, the first and the fourth. The latter was the largest and departed for India four years after his return from the first one. For his contributions, in 1524 da Gama was appointed Governor of India, with the title of Viceroy, and was ennobled as Count of Vidigueira in 1519. He remains a leading figure in the history of exploration, and homages worldwide have celebrated his explorations and accomplishments. The Portuguese national epic poem, Os Lusíadas, was written in his honour by Luís de Camões.
Early life
Vasco da Gama was born in 1460 in the town of Sines,[3] one of the few seaports on the Alentejo coast, southwest Portugal, probably in a house near the church of Nossa Senhora das Salas.
Vasco da Gama's father was Estêvão da Gama, who had served in the 1460s as a knight of the household of Ferdinand, Duke of Viseu.[7] He rose in the ranks of the military Order of Santiago. Estêvão da Gama was appointed alcaide-mór (civil governor) of Sines in the 1460s, a post he held until 1478; after that he continued as a receiver of taxes and holder of the Order's commendas in the region.
Estêvão da Gama married Isabel Sodré, a daughter of João Sodré (also known as João de Resende), scion of a well-connected family of English origin.
Little is known of da Gama's early life. The Portuguese historian
Around 1480, da Gama followed his father (rather than the Sodrés) and joined the Order of Santiago.[11] The master of Santiago was Prince John, who ascended to the throne in 1481 as King John II of Portugal. John II doted on the Order, and the da Gamas' prospects rose accordingly.
In 1492, John II dispatched da Gama on a mission to the port of Setúbal and to the Algarve to seize French ships in retaliation for peacetime depredations against Portuguese shipping – a task that da Gama rapidly and effectively performed.[12]
Exploration before da Gama
From the earlier part of the 15th century,
Upon becoming king in 1481, John II of Portugal set out on many long reforms. To break the monarch's dependence on the feudal nobility, John II needed to build up the royal treasury; he considered royal commerce to be the key to achieving that. Under John II's watch, the gold and slave trade in west Africa was greatly expanded. He was eager to break into the highly profitable spice trade between Europe and Asia, which was conducted chiefly by land. At the time, this was virtually monopolized by the Republic of Venice, who operated overland routes via Levantine and Egyptian ports, through the Red Sea across to the spice markets of India. John II set a new objective for his captains: to find a sea route to Asia by sailing around the African continent.[15]
By the time Vasco da Gama was in his 20s, the king's plans were coming to fruition. In 1487, John II dispatched two spies,
An explorer was needed who could prove the link between the findings of Dias and those of da Covilhã and de Paiva, and connect these separate segments into a potentially lucrative trade route across the Indian Ocean.
First voyage
This section needs additional citations for verification. (February 2020) |
On 8 July 1497 Vasco da Gama led a fleet of four ships
The four ships were:
- São Gabriel, commanded by Vasco da Gama; a carrack of 178 tons, length 27 m, width 8.5 m, draft 2.3 m, sails of 372 m2
- São Rafael, commanded by his brother Paulo da Gama; similar dimensions to the São Gabriel
- Berrio (nickname, officially called São Miguel), a caravel, slightly smaller than the former two, commanded by Nicolau Coelho
- A storage ship of unknown name, commanded by Gonçalo Nunes, destined to be scuttled in Mossel Bay (São Brás) in South Africa[7]
Journey to the Cape
The expedition set sail from Lisbon on 8 July 1497. It followed the route pioneered by earlier explorers along the coast of Africa via Tenerife and the Cape Verde Islands. After reaching the coast of present-day Sierra Leone, da Gama took a course south into the open ocean, crossing the Equator and seeking the South Atlantic westerlies that Bartolomeu Dias had discovered in 1487.[18] This course proved successful and on 4 November 1497, the expedition made landfall on the African coast. For over three months the ships had sailed more than 10,000 kilometres (6,000 mi) of open ocean, by far the longest journey without landfall made by that time.[16][19]
By 16 December, the fleet had passed the
Mozambique
Vasco da Gama spent 2 to 29 March 1498 in the vicinity of
Mombasa
In the vicinity of modern Kenya, the expedition resorted to piracy, looting Arab merchant ships that were generally unarmed trading vessels without heavy cannons. The Portuguese became the first known Europeans to visit the port of Mombasa from 7 to 13 April 1498, but were met with hostility and soon departed.
Malindi
Vasco da Gama continued north, arriving on 14 April 1498 at the friendlier port of
Calicut, India
The fleet arrived in
Return
Vasco da Gama left Calicut on 29 August 1498. Eager to set sail for home, he ignored the local knowledge of monsoon wind patterns that were still blowing onshore. The fleet initially inched north along the Indian coast, and then anchored in at
Da Gama saw land again only on 2 January 1499, passing before the coastal Somali city of Mogadishu, then under the influence of the Ajuran Empire in the Horn of Africa. The fleet did not make a stop, but passing before Mogadishu, the anonymous diarist of the expedition noted that it was a large city with houses of four or five storeys high and big palaces in its center and many mosques with cylindrical minarets.[25]
Da Gama's fleet finally arrived in Malindi on 7 January 1499, in a terrible state – approximately half of the crew had died during the crossing, and many of the rest were afflicted with scurvy. Not having enough crewmen left standing to manage three ships, da Gama ordered the São Rafael scuttled off the East African coast, and the crew re-distributed to the remaining two ships, the São Gabriel and the Berrio. While there he was also granted permission by the Sultan to set up a padrão. The Vasco da Gama Pillar, as it is still known locally, seems to be the only one of the many padrões set up by Da Gamma to survive to the present day.[26]
After leaving Malindi, the sailing was smoother. By early March, the fleet had arrived in Mossel Bay, and crossed the Cape of Good Hope in the opposite direction on 20 March, reaching the west African coast by 25 April.
The diary record of the expedition ends abruptly here. Reconstructing from other sources, it seems they continued to Cape Verde, where Nicolau Coelho's Berrio separated from Vasco da Gama's São Gabriel and sailed on by itself.
The expedition had exacted a large cost – two ships and over half the men had been lost. It had also failed in its principal mission of securing a commercial treaty with Calicut. Nonetheless, the small quantities of spices and other trade goods brought back on the remaining two ships demonstrated the potential of great profit for future trade.[29] Vasco da Gama was justly celebrated for opening a direct sea route to Asia. His path would be followed up thereafter by yearly Portuguese India Armadas.
The spice trade would prove to be a major asset to the Portuguese royal treasury, and other consequences soon followed. For example, da Gama's voyage had made it clear that the east coast of Africa, the Contra Costa, was essential to Portuguese interests; its ports provided fresh water, provisions, timber, and harbors for repairs, and served as a refuge where ships could wait out unfavorable weather. One significant result was the colonization of Mozambique by the Portuguese Crown.
Rewards
In December 1499, King
In the meantime, da Gama made do with a substantial hereditary royal pension of 300,000 reis. He was awarded the noble title of Dom (lord) in perpetuity for himself, his siblings and their descendants. On 30 January 1502, da Gama was awarded the title of Almirante dos mares de Arabia, Persia, India e de todo o Oriente ("Admiral of the Seas of Arabia, Persia, India and all the Orient") – an overwrought title reminiscent of the ornate Castilian title borne by Christopher Columbus (evidently, Manuel must have reckoned that if Castile had an 'Admiral of the Ocean Seas', then surely Portugal should have one too).[31] Another royal letter, dated October 1501, gave da Gama the personal right to intervene and exercise a determining role on any future India-bound fleet.
Around 1501, Vasco da Gama married Catarina de Ataíde, daughter of Álvaro de Ataíde, the
Second voyage
This section needs additional citations for verification. (July 2020) |
The follow-up expedition, the Second India Armada, launched in 1500 under the command of Pedro Álvares Cabral with the mission of making a treaty with the Zamorin of Calicut and setting up a Portuguese factory in the city. However, Pedro Cabral entered into a conflict with the local Arab merchant guilds, with the result that the Portuguese factory was overrun in a riot and up to 70 Portuguese were killed. Cabral blamed the Zamorin for the incident and bombarded the city. Thus war broke out between Portugal and Calicut.
Vasco da Gama invoked his royal letter to take command of the
On the outgoing voyage, da Gama's fleet opened contact with the East African gold trading port of
Pilgrim ship incident
On reaching India in October 1502, da Gama's fleet intercepted Mirim,
Calicut
After stopping at Cannanore, Gama drove his fleet before Calicut, demanding redress for the treatment of Cabral. Having known of the fate of the pilgrims' ship, the Zamorin adopted a conciliatory attitude towards the Portuguese and expressed willingness to sign a new treaty but da Gama made a call to the
Seabattle
The violent treatment meted out by da Gama quickly brought trade along the Malabar Coast of India, upon which Calicut depended, to a standstill. The Zamorin ventured to dispatch a fleet of strong warships to challenge da Gama's armada, but which Gama managed to defeat in a naval battle before Calicut harbor.
Cochin
Da Gama loaded up with spices at
Vasco da Gama arrived back in Portugal in September 1503, effectively having failed in his mission to bring the Zamorin to submission. This failure, and the subsequent more galling failure of his uncle Vicente Sodré to protect the Portuguese factory in Cochin, probably counted against any further rewards. When the Portuguese king Manuel I of Portugal decided to appoint the first governor and viceroy of Portuguese India in 1505, da Gama was conspicuously overlooked, and the post given to Francisco de Almeida.
Interlude
For the next two decades, Vasco da Gama lived out a quiet life, unwelcome in the royal court and sidelined from Indian affairs. His attempts to return to the favor of Manuel I (including switching over to the Order of Christ in 1507), yielded little. Almeida, the larger-than-life Afonso de Albuquerque and, later on, Albergaria and Sequeira, were the king's preferred point men for India.
After
Third voyage and death
After the death of King Manuel I in late 1521, his son and successor, King John III of Portugal set about reviewing the Portuguese government overseas. Turning away from the old Albuquerque clique (now represented by Diogo Lopes de Sequeira), John III looked for a fresh start. Vasco da Gama re-emerged from his political wilderness as an important adviser to the new king's appointments and strategy. Seeing the new Spanish threat to the Maluku Islands as the priority, Vasco da Gama advised against the obsession with Arabia that had pervaded much of the Manueline period, and continued to be the dominant concern of Duarte de Menezes, then-governor of Portuguese India. Menezes also turned out to be incompetent and corrupt, subject to numerous complaints. As a result, John III decided to appoint Vasco da Gama himself to replace Menezes, confident that the magic of his name and memory of his deeds might better impress his authority on Portuguese India, and manage the transition to a new government and new strategy.
By his appointment letter of February 1524, John III granted Vasco da Gama the privileged title of "Viceroy", being only the second Portuguese governor to enjoy that title (the first was Francisco de Almeida in 1505).[43] His second son, Estêvão da Gama was simultaneously appointed Capitão-mor do Mar da Índia ('Captain-major of the Indian Sea', commander of the Indian Ocean naval patrol fleet), to replace Duarte's brother, Luís de Menezes. As a final condition, Gama secured from John III of Portugal the commitment to appoint all his sons successively as Portuguese captains of Malacca.
Setting out in April 1524, with a fleet of fourteen ships, Vasco da Gama took as his flagship the famous large carrack Santa Catarina do Monte Sinai on her last journey to India, along with two of his sons, Estêvão and Paulo.
The underwater quake
After a troubled journey[clarification needed] in which four or five of the ships were lost en route, he arrived in India in September.
Early on the morning of September 8, as the ships laid becalmed near Dabul the sea began to boil and the vessels pitched and rocked violently for about an hour as the result of an submarine earthquake.[44] The Portuguese crews were frightened and one death occurred as a sailor jumped overboard in panic and drowned.[44] Gama capitalized on the situation and so as to reassure his men cried out:
Friends, rejoice and be happy, for even sea trembles before us![44]
Death
Vasco da Gama immediately invoked his high viceregent powers to impose a new order in Portuguese India, replacing all the old officials with his own appointments. But da Gama contracted malaria not long after arriving, and died in the city of Cochin on Christmas Eve in 1524, three months after his arrival. As per royal instructions, da Gama was succeeded as governor of India by one of the captains who had come with him, Henrique de Menezes (no relation to Duarte). Da Gama's sons Estêvão and Paulo immediately lost their posts and joined the returning fleet of early 1525 (along with the dismissed Duarte de Menezes and Luís de Menezes).[45]
Vasco da Gama's body was first buried at
The
Marriage and descendants
Vasco da Gama and his wife, Catarina de Ataíde, had six sons and one daughter:[46]
- Dom Francisco da Gama, who inherited his father's titles as 2nd Count of Vidigueira and the 2nd "Admiral of the Seas of India, Arabia and Persia". He remained in Portugal.
- Dom Estevão da Gama, after his abortive 1524 term as Indian patrol captain, he was appointed for a three-year term as captain of Malacca, serving from 1534 to 1539 (includes the last two years of his younger brother Paulo's term). He was subsequently appointed as the 11th governor of India from 1540 to 1542.
- Dom Paulo da Gama (having the same name as his uncle Paulo), captain of Malacca from 1533 to 1534, killed in a naval action off Malacca.
- Dom Ethiopian-Adal warin 1542.
- Dom Pedro da Silva da Gama, appointed captain of Malacca from 1548 to 1552.
- Dom Álvaro de Ataíde da Gama, appointed captain of Malacca fleet in the 1540s, captain of Malacca itself from 1552 to 1554.
- Dona Isabel de Ataíde da Gama, only daughter, married Dom Ignacio de Noronha, son of the first Count of Linhares.
His male-line issue became extinct in 1735, when the 7th Count of Vidigueira, Dom Vasco Baltasar José Luís Gama died, leaving only one daughter from his marriage, Dona Maria José da Gama, who inherited the Vidigueira estate. The title thus continued through this female-line.[47]
Intergenerations
- Dom Vasco da Gama, 3rd Count of Vidigueira, the nobility and military personnel, son of Francisco (2nd Count) and grandson of Vasco da Gama.
- Dom Francisco da Gama, 4th Count of Vidigueira, the viceroy (1597–1600) and governor (1622–1628) of India, son of Vasco (3rd Count) and great-grandson of Vasco da Gama.
Legacy
Vasco da Gama is one of the most famous and celebrated explorers from the
However, his fame is tempered by such incidents and attitudes as displayed in the notorious Pilgrim Ship Incident previously discussed.
The Portuguese
The 1865 grand opera L'Africaine: Opéra en Cinq Actes, composed by Giacomo Meyerbeer from a libretto by Eugène Scribe, prominently includes the character of Vasco da Gama. The events depicted, however, are fictitious. Meyerbeer's working title for the opera was Vasco da Gama. A 1989 production of the opera by the San Francisco Opera featured noted tenor Plácido Domingo in the role of da Gama.[49] The 19th-century composer Louis-Albert Bourgault-Ducoudray composed an eponymous 1872 opera based on da Gama's life and exploits at sea.
The port city of
A few places in Lisbon's Parque das Nações are named after the explorer, such as the Vasco da Gama Bridge, Vasco da Gama Tower and the Centro Comercial Vasco da Gama shopping centre.[50] The Oceanário in the Parque das Nações has a mascot of a cartoon diver with the name of "Vasco", who is named after the explorer.[51]
Vasco da Gama was the only explorer on the final pool of Os Grandes Portugueses. Although the final shortlist featured other Age of Discovery related people, they were not actually explorers nor navigators for any matter.
The
The Portuguese government erected two navigational beacons, Dias Cross and da Gama Cross, to commemorate da Gama and Bartolomeu Dias who were the first modern European explorers to reach the Cape of Good Hope. When lined up, these crosses point to Whittle Rock, a large, permanently submerged shipping hazard in False Bay.
South African musician Hugh Masekela recorded an anti-colonialist song entitled "Colonial Man", which contains the lyrics "Vasco da Gama was no friend of mine", and another song entitled "Vasco da Gama (The Sailor Man)". Both songs were included in his 1976 album Colonial Man.
Vasco da Gama appears as an antagonist in the Indian film Urumi. The film, directed by Santosh Sivan, depicts atrocities and progression to establish the Portuguese empire by da Gama in India.
In March 2016, archaeologists working off the coast of
See also
References
Citations
- ISBN 978-1-4058-8118-0.
- ISBN 978-0-521-15255-6.
- ^ a b "Vasco da Gama | Biography, Achievements, Route, Map, Significance, & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 3 October 2021.
- ^ "Vasco da Gama | Biography, Achievements, Route, Map, Significance, & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
- ^ Nigel, Cliff (2011). Holy War: How Vasco da Gama's Epic Voyages Turned the Tide in a Centuries-Old Clash of Civilizations. Harper.[page needed].
- ^ Diffie, Bailey W. and George D. Winius, Foundations of the Portuguese Empire, 1415–1580, p. 176
- ^ ISBN 978-0-13-193388-0..
- ^ The Sodrés were said to have been descended from Frederick Sudley, of Gloucestershire, who accompanied the Earl of Cambridge to Portugal in 1381, and subsequently settled there (Subrahmanyam, 1997, p. 61).
- ^ Subrahmanyam, 1997, p. 61.
- ^ Subrahmanyam, 1997, p. 62.
- ^ Subrahmanyam, 1997, pp. 60–61.
- ^ Subrahmanyam, 1997, p. 63.
- ISBN 0-231-03159-9, pp. 158–160, 362–370.
- ^ Parry, 1981, pp. 132-135
- ^ a b Scammell, 1981, p. 232
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8166-0850-8.
- ^ Da Gama's Round Africa to India Archived 28 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine, fordham.edu Retrieved 16 November 2006.
- ^ Gago Coutinho, C.V. (1951–52) A Nautica dos Descobrimentos: os descobrimentos maritimos visitos por um navegador, Lisbon: Agencia Geral do Ultramar; pp. 319–363; Axelson, E. (1988) "The Dias Voyage, 1487–1488: toponymy and padrões", Revista da Universidade de Coimbra, Vol. 34, pp. 29–55 offprint; Waters, D.W. (1988) "Reflections Upon Some Navigational and Hydrographic Problems of the XVth Century Related to the voyage of Bartolomeu Dias", Revista da Universidade de Coimbra, Vol. 34, pp. 275–347. offprint.
- ISBN 978-0-393-06259-5.
- ^ "Vasco da Gamma Seeks Sea Route to India" Archived 22 December 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Old News Publishing, Retrieved 8 July 2006.
- ISBN 978-0-393-06259-5.
- ^ Ames, Glenn J. (2005). Vasco da Gama: Renaissance Crusader. New York: Pearson/Longman. p. 50.
- ^ Castaneda, Herman Lopes de, The First Book of the Historie of the Discoveries and Conquests of the East India by the Portingals, London, 1582, in Kerr, Robert (ed.) A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels Vol. II, London, 1811.
- The Lusiads, wherein it is stated that the Zamorin "showed no signs of treachery" and that "on the other hand, da Gama's conduct in carrying off the five men he had entrapped on board his ships is indefensible.").
- ^ Da Gama's First Voyage p. 88.
- ^ Eric Axelson (1981). 'Prince Henry the Navigator and the discovery of the sae route to India', The Geographical Journal, 137, pp. 153-54.
- ^ Subrahmanyam, 1997, p. 149.
- ^ João de Barros, Da Asia, Dec. I, Lib. IV, c. 11, p. 370.
- ^ Diffie & Winius, 1977, p. 185.
- ^ Subrahmanyam, 1997, p. 168.
- ^ João de Barros (1552, pp. 23–24) dates this appointment in January 1502, just before da Gama's departure on his second voyage. But Subrahmanyan (1997, p. 169), following Braancamp Freire, conjectures this award may have been made as early as January 1500.
- ^ Catarina de Ataíde's mother, Maria da Silva, was the sister of Beatriz da Silva, mother of Francisco de Almeida. The Almeidas provided a substantial part of Catarina's dowry (Subrahmanyan, 1997, p. 174).
- ^ ISBN 9781408705391.
- ^ Nambiar O.K, The Kunjalis – Admirals of Calicut, Bombay, 1963.
- ^ "Vasco da Gama Arrives in India 1498". Archived from the original on 18 January 2004. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) Dana Thompson, Felicity Ruiz, Michelle Mejiak; 15 December 1998. Retrieved 8 July 2006. - ^ Prof. Roger Crowley: Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire, Faber & Faber, 2015, p.131.
- ^ M. G. S. Narayanan, Calicut: The City of Truth (2006) Calicut University Publications.
- ^ Sreedhara Menon. A. A Survey of Kerala History (1967), p. 152. D. C. Books Kottayam.
- ^ Roger Crowley, in Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire, Faber & Faber, 2015, p.134.
- ^ Subrahmanyam, 1997, p. 278.
- ISBN 81-206-1136-5.
- ^ At this time in Portugal, there were only twelve counts, one count-bishop, two marquises and two dukes (Subrahmaynam, 1997, p. 281).
- ^ Subrahmanyam, 1997, p. 304.
- ^ a b c Patricia Calvert: Vasco da Gama: So Strong a Spirit, Marshall Cavendish, 2005, pp. 75-76.
- ^ Subrahmanyam, 1997, pp. 343–345.
- ^ See also Diogo do Couto (Decadas de Asia, Dec. IV, Lib. 8, c. 2); Teixeira de Aragão pp. 15–16, and Castanhoso (1898: p. viiff.).
- ^ Freire, Anselmo Braamcamp (1921). Brasões da Sala de Sintra, Livro Segundo. Robarts - University of Toronto. Coimbra : Imprensa da Universidade. p. 93.
- ^ "The Lusiads". World Digital Library. 1800–1882. Retrieved 31 August 2013..
- ^ Subrahmanyam, 1997, p. 2.
- ^ "Centro Vasco da Gama". Centrovascodagama.pt. Retrieved 29 January 2009..
- ^ "Vasco participa na maior Parada das Mascotes em Portugal". Lisbon Oceanarium. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
- ^ Romey, Kristin (14 March 2016). "Shipwreck Discovered from Explorer Vasco da Gama's Fleet". National Geographic. Archived from the original on 16 March 2016. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
Bibliography
- Ames, Glenn J. (2004). Vasco da Gama: Renaissance Crusader. Longman. ISBN 978-0-321-09282-3.
- Ames, Glenn J. (2007). The Globe Encompassed: The Age of European Discovery, 1500–1700. Prentice Hall. ISBN 978-0-13-193388-0.
- Axelson, Eric (1981) 'Prince Henry the Navigator and the discovery of the sea route to India', The Geographical Journal, 137, pp. 145-155.
- Castanhoso, M. de (1898) Dos feitos de D. Christovam da Gama em Ethiopia Lisbon: Imprensa nacional. online
- ISBN 978-1-4021-9543-3. Facsimile reprint of an 1869 edition by the Hakluyt Society, London.
- Diffie, Bailey W.; Winius, George D. (1977). Foundations of the Portuguese Empire 1415-1580. University of Minnesota Press.
- Disney, Anthony; Booth, Emily (2000). The Indian Ocean in World History. New Delhi and New York: Oxford University Press.
- ISBN 978-0-7432-0248-0.
- Fernández-Armesto, Felipe (2006). Pathfinders: A Global History of Exploration. W.W. Norton. pp. 177–181. ISBN 978-0-393-06259-5.
- Jayne, Kingsley Garland (1910). Vasco Da Gama and His Successors 1460 to 1580. London: Meuthen & Co. Ltd. ISBN 978-0-548-00895-9.
- ASIN B000Q5T6X6.
- Parry, J. H. (1981). Age of Reconnaissance. University of California Press.
- ISBN 978-1-108-01296-6)
- Russell-Wood, A.J.R. (1993). A World on the Move: The Portuguese in Africa, Asia, and America, 1415–1808. Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-312-09427-0.
- Scammell, G. V. (1981). The World Encompassed. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520044227.
- Subrahmanyam, Sanjay (1997). The Career and Legend of Vasco da Gama. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-47072-8.
- Teixeira de Aragão, A.C. (1887) Vasco da Gama e a Vidigueira: um estudo historico. Lisbon: Sociedade de Geografia de Lisboa online
- Towle, George Makepeace (c. 1878). Vasco da Gama, his voyages and adventures. Boston: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard.
Further reading
- Vasco da Gama (Ernst Georg Ravenstein, Gaspar Corrêa, Alvaro Velho) [2011] Viartis ISBN 978-1-906421-04-5
- Vasco da Gama: Renaissance Crusader (Glen J.Ames) [2004] Longman ISBN 0-321-09282-1
- The Career and Legend of Vasco da Gama (Sanjay Subrahmanyam) [1997] Cambridge University Press ISBN 978-0-521-47072-8
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 11 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 433–434.