Editing Vasco da Gama (section)

== First voyage ==
{{more citations needed|section|date=February 2020}}
[[File:Gama route 1.svg|thumb|The route followed in Vasco da Gama's first voyage (1497–1499)]]

On 8 July 1497 Vasco da Gama led a fleet of four ships<ref name="Foundations">{{cite book|last1=Diffie|first1=Bailey W.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vtZtMBLJ7GgC&pg=PA176|title=Foundations of the Portuguese Empire, 1415–1850|last2=Winius|first2=George D.|year=1977|isbn=978-0-8166-0850-8|series=Europe and the World in the Age of Expansion|volume=1|pages=176–177}}</ref> with a crew of 170 men from Lisbon. The distance traveled in the journey around Africa to India and back was greater than the length of the equator.<ref name="Foundations" /><ref>[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1497degama.html Da Gama's ''Round Africa to India''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110828160915/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1497degama.html |date=28 August 2011 }}, fordham.edu Retrieved 16 November 2006.</ref> The navigators included Portugal's most experienced, [[Pero de Alenquer]], [[Pedro Escobar]], {{ill|João de Coimbra|pt}}, and Afonso Gonçalves.{{sfn|Subrahmanyam|1997|pp=79-80}} It is not known for certain how many people were in each ship's crew but approximately 55 returned, and two ships were lost. Two of the vessels were [[carrack]]s, newly built for the voyage; the others were a [[caravel]] and a supply boat.<ref name="Foundations"/>

The four ships were:
* ''[[São Gabriel (ship)|São Gabriel]]'', commanded by Vasco da Gama; a [[carrack]] of 178 tons, length 27 m, width 8.5 m, [[draft (hull)|draft]] 2.3 m, sails of 372 m<sup>2</sup>
* ''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<ref name="ames"/>

=== Journey to the Cape ===
[[File:Cross daGama2.jpg|thumb|Monument to the Cross of Vasco da Gama at the [[Cape of Good Hope]], South Africa]]
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.<ref>[[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 [https://books.google.com/books?id=hcMp9hZ_8yAC&pg=PA29 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. [https://books.google.com/books?id=UKK-b3If-78C&dq=rota%20entre%20santiago&pg=PA333 offprint].</ref> 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 {{convert|6000|mi|km|sigfig=1|order=flip}} of open ocean, by far the longest journey without landfall made by that time.<ref name="Foundations"/><ref>{{cite book |last= Fernandez-Armesto |first= Felipe |title= Pathfinders: A Global History of Exploration |year= 2006 |publisher= [[W. W. Norton & Company]] |isbn= 978-0-393-06259-5 |pages= [https://archive.org/details/pathfindersgloba00fern/page/177 177–178] |url= https://archive.org/details/pathfindersgloba00fern/page/177 }}</ref>

By 16 December, the fleet had passed the [[Great Fish River]] ([[Eastern Cape]], South Africa) – where Dias had anchored – and sailed into waters previously unknown to Europeans. With Christmas pending, da Gama and his crew gave the coast they were passing the name [[KwaZulu-Natal Province|Natal]], which carried the connotation of "birth of Christ" in Portuguese.

=== Mozambique ===
Vasco da Gama spent 2 to 29 March 1498 in the vicinity of [[Mozambique Island]]. Arab-controlled territory on the East African coast was an integral part of the network of trade in the Indian Ocean. Fearing the local population would be hostile to Christians, da Gama impersonated a Muslim and gained audience with the Sultan of Mozambique. With the paltry trade goods he had to offer, the explorer was unable to provide a suitable gift to the ruler. Soon the local populace became suspicious of da Gama and his men. Forced by a hostile crowd to flee Mozambique, da Gama departed the harbor, firing his cannons into the city in retaliation.<ref>[http://www.oldnewspublishing.com/dagamma.htm "Vasco da Gamma Seeks Sea Route to India"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111222043247/http://www.oldnewspublishing.com/dagamma.htm |date=22 December 2011 }}, Old News Publishing, Retrieved 8 July 2006.</ref>

=== 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.{{fact|date=May 2024}}

=== Malindi ===
[[File:Pillar of Vasco da Gama.jpg|thumb|[[Vasco_da_Gama_Pillar,_Malindi|Pillar of Vasco da Gama]] in [[Malindi]], in modern-day [[Kenya]], erected on the journey]]

Vasco da Gama continued north, arriving on 14 April 1498 at the friendlier port of [[Malindi]], whose leaders were in conflict with those of Mombasa. There, da Gama and his crew contracted the services of a pilot who used his knowledge of the [[monsoon]] winds to guide the expedition the rest of the way to [[Kozhikode]], located on the southwest coast of India. Sources differ over the identity of the pilot, calling him variously a Christian, a Muslim, or a [[Gujarati people|Gujarati]] Hindu. One traditional story describes the pilot as the famous Arab navigator [[Ibn Majid]], but other contemporaneous accounts place Majid elsewhere, and he could not have been near the vicinity at the time.<ref>{{cite book |last= Fernandez-Armesto |first= Felipe |title= Pathfinders: A Global History of Exploration |year= 2006 |publisher= W.W. Norton & Company |isbn= 978-0-393-06259-5 |pages= [https://archive.org/details/pathfindersgloba00fern/page/178 178–179] |url= https://archive.org/details/pathfindersgloba00fern/page/178 }}</ref> None of the Portuguese historians of the time mentions Ibn Majid. Vasco da Gama left Malindi for India on 24 April 1498.{{fact|date=May 2024}}

=== Kozhikode, India ===
[[File:A chegada de Vasco da Gama a Calicute em 1498.jpg|thumb|The arrival of Vasco da Gama at Calicut (Kozhikode), by [[Roque Gameiro]], 1900.]]
[[File:Vasco da Gama perante o Samorim de Calecute.png|thumb|Vasco da Gama before the [[Zamorin]] of Calicut (Kozhikode), by [[Veloso Salgado]], 1898.]]
[[File:Vasco Memo Kappad.jpg|thumb|Landmark in Kappad, near [[Kozhikode]]]]

The fleet arrived in [[Kappad]]u near [[Kozhikode]] (known as Kozhikode at the time, subsequently known as Calicut and now renamed Kozhikode) on the [[Malabar Coast]] (present-day [[Kerala]] state of India) on 20 May 1498. The [[Zamorin]] (Samoothiri) of Kozhikode, who was at that time staying in his second capital at [[Ponnani]], returned to the city on hearing the news of the foreign fleet's arrival. The navigator was received with traditional hospitality, including a grand procession of at least 3,000 armed [[Nair]]s, but an interview with the Zamorin failed to produce any concrete results. When local authorities asked da Gama's fleet, "What brought you hither?", they replied that they had come "in search of Christians and spices."<ref>{{Cite book|title=Vasco da Gama: Renaissance Crusader|last=Ames|first=Glenn J.|publisher=Pearson/Longman|year=2005|location=New York|page=50}}</ref> The presents that da Gama sent to the Zamorin as gifts from Dom Manuel&nbsp;– four cloaks of scarlet cloth, six hats, four branches of corals, twelve {{lang|es|almasares}}, a box with seven brass vessels, a chest of sugar, two barrels of oil and a cask of honey&nbsp;– were trivial, and failed to impress. While the Zamorin's officials wondered at why there was no gold or silver, the Muslim merchants who considered da Gama their rival suggested that the latter was only an ordinary pirate and not a royal ambassador.<ref>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.</ref> Vasco da Gama's request for permission to leave a factor behind him in charge of the merchandise he could not sell was turned down by the King, who insisted that da Gama pay customs duty&nbsp;– preferably in gold&nbsp;– like any other trader, which strained the relation between the two. Annoyed by this, da Gama carried a few Nairs and sixteen fishermen (''mukkuva'') off with him by force.<ref>[[M.G.S. Narayanan]], ''Calicut: The City of Truth'' (2006) Calicut University Publications (The incident is mentioned by [[Luís de Camões|Camoes]] in [[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.").</ref>

=== Return ===
Vasco da Gama left Kozhikode 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 [[Anjediva]] island for a spell. They finally struck out for their Indian Ocean crossing on 3 October 1498. But with the winter monsoon yet to set in, it was a harrowing journey. On the outgoing journey, sailing with the summer monsoon wind, da Gama's fleet crossed the Indian Ocean in only 23 days; now, on the return trip, sailing against the wind, it took more than 90 days.

Da Gama saw land again only on 2 January 1499, passing before the coastal [[Somali people|Somali]] city of [[Mogadishu]], then under the influence of the [[Ajuran Sultanate|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.<ref>Da Gama's First Voyage p. 88.</ref>

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 {{Lang|pt|[[padrão]]}} (a stone pillar). [[Vasco da Gama Pillar, Malindi|The Vasco da Gama Pillar]], as it is still known locally, seems to be the only one of the many {{Lang|pt|padrões}} set up by da Gama to survive to the present day.<ref>Eric Axelson (1981). 'Prince Henry the Navigator and the discovery of the sea route to India', ''The Geographical Journal'', 137, pp. 153–154.</ref>

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 western coast of Africa 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.<ref>Subrahmanyam, 1997, p. 149.</ref> The ''Berrio'' arrived in Lisbon on 10 July 1499 and Nicolau Coelho personally delivered the news to King Manuel I and the royal court, then assembled in [[Sintra]]. In the meantime, back in Cape Verde, da Gama's brother, Paulo da Gama, had fallen grievously ill. Da Gama elected to stay by his side on [[Santiago, Cape Verde|Santiago]] island and handed the ''São Gabriel'' over to his clerk, [[João de Sá]], to take home. The ''São Gabriel'' under Sá arrived in Lisbon sometime in late July or early August. Da Gama and his sickly brother eventually hitched a ride with a Guinea caravel returning to Portugal, but Paulo da Gama died en route. Da Gama disembarked at the [[Azores]] to bury his brother at the monastery of São Francisco in [[Angra do Heroismo]], and lingered there for a little while in mourning. He eventually took passage on an Azorean caravel and finally arrived in Lisbon on 29 August 1499 (according to Barros),<ref>João de Barros, ''Da Asia'', Dec. I, Lib. IV, c. 11, p. 370.</ref> or early September<ref name="Foundations" /> (8th or 18th, according to other sources). Despite his melancholic mood, da Gama was given a hero's welcome and showered with honors, including a triumphal procession and public festivities. King Manuel wrote two letters in which he described da Gama's first voyage, in July and August 1499, soon after the return of the ships. [[Girolamo Sernigi]] also wrote three letters describing da Gama's first voyage soon after the return of the expedition.

[[File:Map of Portuguese Carreira da India.gif|thumb|350px|Outward and return voyages of the Portuguese India Run (''Carreira da Índia''). The outward route of the South Atlantic westerlies that Bartolomeu Dias discovered in 1487, followed and explored by da Gama in the open ocean, would be developed in subsequent years.]]

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 Kozhikode. 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.<ref>Diffie & Winius, 1977, p. 185.</ref> 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 [[Portuguese Mozambique|Mozambique]] by the Portuguese Crown.