Vasco da Gama

by Paul Lunde

The ten years before Vasco da Gama set sail in 1497 were some of the most critical in the history of navigation. Bartholomeu Dias had rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 1487 and returned to Portugal with the welcome news that beyond that point the coast of Africa trended to the north-east. The way to India and its spices now lay open and the geographical mystery that had bedevilled man since the time of Herodotus had been solved at last: Africa could be circumnavigated and the waters of the Atlantic flowed into the Indian Ocean.

For various reasons, the Portuguese crown took no action on this epoch-making discovery for ten years. Aside from the confusion that followed Columbus’ return from the New World in 1493, the main reason was probably navigational. Dias had beaten south against strong contrary winds and rounded the Cape with difficulty. For the sea route to India around Africa to be viable, a better way needed to be found. The Portuguese probably spent the intervening years studying the south Atlantic winds. When da Gama set forth in 1497, he did not hug the west African coast as Dias had done, but headed south-west at the equator, then turned to catch the westerlies that would carry him around the Cape. Although he did not sail quite far enough south, and made landfall at the bay of Santa Helena just north of the Cape, there is no doubting his intention, and this must have been the result of increased knowledge of the south Atlantic wind system.

Another reason for delay was the powerful opposition within Portugal to engaging in direct trade with India, even if it proved economically viable. By definition it would be a crown monopoly, and many merchants considered that this would work to their detriment. Other factions wished to concentrate on North and West Africa. These reasons may partly explain why a relatively unknown nobleman, Vasco da Gama, was chosen to lead the first Portuguese fleet to India. Though he was not a sailor, and may have had no previous experience of the sea, he had been a soldier and diplomat and knew something of navigational theory. He sailed from Lisbon with three 20-gun square-rigged ships, a supply ship and 170 men. Despite its small size, this was clearly a well-thought-out commercial embassy, designed to impress.

The fleet successfully rounded the Cape after 13 weeks on the open sea out of sight of land. They proceeded with difficulty through the Mozambique Channel, and in early March 1498 dropped anchor at Mozambique Island. Here they first encountered the sophisticated Muslim trading network that linked East Africa with India. They noted that the inhabitants were black Muslims who wore fine striped and embroidered multicoloured cotton and linen garments, and gold-embroidered tasselled caps. These men were merchants, who traded regularly with ‘white’ Muslim merchants, four of whose ships were anchored in the harbour with cargoes of gold, silver, cloth, cloves, pepper and ginger. Relations between the locals and the Portuguese, initially good, swiftly degenerated into mutual suspicion, culminating in battle.

The Portuguese fleet moved on to Mombasa, where their reception was hostile, and then to Malindi where they were well received. There they took on a Gujarati pilot who guided them across the Indian Ocean to Calicut, where they dropped anchor on 20 May 1498. The zamorin (local chief, samudra in Sanskrit, meaning ‘Lord of the Sea’), a Hindu, was unimpressed with the gifts sent by King Manuel – bits of coral, cloth and hats. Da Gama then showed him the goods he had brought to trade: cutlery, cheap cloth and beads. The zamorin was disappointed in such ‘rubbish’, and told him there was no market in India for such things, advising him to bring gold and silver instead. In spite of this hostile reception, Vasco da Gama was able to lay in a cargo of pepper and cinnamon. After three uneasy months in Calicut, he lifted anchor and sailed for home, arriving in September 1499.

His navigation and use of winds on the way back was brilliant, and laid the course for subsequent Portuguese voyages east. The sea route to India (carreira da India) had at last been found and shown to be commercially viable. For better or for worse, the world was now a smaller place.

Vasco da Gama led a second, larger expedition of 14 ships in 1502, during the course of which he fought the first European naval engagement against a Muslim fleet. Unable to compete commercially with Indian Ocean merchants, the Portuguese saw force as their only means of entry to the trading network of that region. This policy was carried through by da Gama’s successor, Alfonso d’Alboquerque (Albuquerque). Vasco da Gama himself died in 1524.