Editing Vasco da Gama (section)

== Early life ==
Vasco da Gama was born in the town of [[Sines]], one of the few seaports on the [[Alentejo]] coast in southwest Portugal.<ref>Jayne, 1910, p. 34.</ref> According to the Portuguese historian [[Teixeira de Aragão]], he was born in a house near the church of Nossa Senhora das Salas.<ref>Subrahmanyam, 1997, pp. 61–62.</ref> Some authors write that he was born in or around 1460, while others give 1469 as the year of his birth.<ref>Subrahmanyam, 1997, p. 58.</ref>

Vasco da Gama's paternal grandfather and namesake was born in [[Olivenza|Olivença]].<ref name=":1">Subrahmanyam, 1997, p. 59.</ref> Vasco's father was [[Estêvão da Gama (15th century)|Estêvão da Gama]], who had served in the 1460s as a knight of the household of [[Ferdinand, Duke of Viseu]].<ref name="ames">{{cite book|title=The Globe Encompassed|author=Ames, Glenn J.|page=27|isbn=978-0-13-193388-0|year=2008|publisher=Pearson Prentice Hall }}.</ref> He rose in the ranks of the military [[Military Order of Saint James of the Sword|Order of Santiago]]. Estêvão da Gama was appointed {{Lang|pt|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.<ref name=":1" />

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 descent.<ref>The Sodrés were said to have been descended from Frederick Sudley, of Gloucestershire, who accompanied the [[Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York|Earl of Cambridge]] to Portugal in 1381, and subsequently settled there (Subrahmanyam, 1997, p. 61).</ref> Her father and her brothers, [[Vicente Sodré]] and Brás Sodré, had links to the household of [[Infante Diogo, Duke of Viseu]], and were prominent figures in the military [[Military Order of Christ|Order of Christ]]. Vasco da Gama was the third of five sons of Estêvão da Gama and Isabel Sodré – in (probable) order of age: [[Paulo da Gama]], João Sodré, Vasco da Gama, Pedro da Gama and Aires da Gama. Vasco also had one known sister, Teresa da Gama, who married Lopo Mendes de Vasconcelos.<ref>Subrahmanyam, 1997, p. 61.</ref>

[[File:Sines06 edit1.jpg|thumb|Bronze statue of Vasco da Gama at his birthplace, [[Sines]], Portugal]]

Little is known of da Gama's early life. Teixeira de Aragão suggests that he studied at the inland town of [[Évora]], which is where he may have learned mathematics and navigation. Da Gama's near-contemporary [[Gaspar Correia]] and others have claimed that he studied under [[Abraham Zacuto]], an astrologer and astronomer, but da Gama's biographer [[Sanjay Subrahmanyam]] thinks this dubious.<ref>Subrahmanyam, 1997, p. 62.</ref>

Around 1480, da Gama followed his father (rather than the Sodrés) and joined the Order of Santiago.<ref>Subrahmanyam, 1997, pp. 60–61.</ref> 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 [[Kingdom of France|French]] ships in retaliation for peacetime depredations against Portuguese shipping – a task that da Gama rapidly and effectively performed.<ref>Subrahmanyam, 1997, p. 63.</ref>