GAMA, Vasco da. visit& di. Portuguese navigator: b. Sines, Portugal, 1450; d. Cochin, India, 24 Dec. 1524. He was the first navigator who made the voyage to the East Indies by the Cape of Good Hope. Bartholomew Dias, a Portuguese explorer, having visited the cape, which he called Cabo Tormentoso, or stormy cape, brought back such interesting accounts of his discoveries that the Portuguese sovereign, Emanuel, following the policy of his prede cessor, John II, determined to urge discovery beyond the point where Dias left it, and if possible to reach by sea the countries of the Indies. Accordingly an expedition was placed tinder the command of Vasco da Gama, a gen tleman of the king's household and a skilful and experienced mariner. The fleet consisted of the San Gabriel, flagship of 120 tons, the Sax Rafael of about 100 tons, a caravel of 50 tons and a store-ship, with a total force of 160 men. On 8July 1497 Gama's expedition departed from Lisbon for the Cape Verde Islands, whence it set sail on 3 August southward along the African coast. On 7 November they put into a bay called Saint Helena, and departed on the 16th. They then encountered a succession of tempests such as had gained for the southern promontory of Africa the name of the Cape of Storms. The courage of Gama's companions failed, and they besought him to put back, which he not only refused to do, but put the ringleaders of the movement in irons, and held on his course into the stormy sea. On Wed nesday, 20 November, they doubled the Cape of Good Hope. On Christmas Day having sighted the coast, it was named Natal, in honor of the day. Further north they discovered Mozambique; the island of Agoutado; the island of Mombassa, and Melinda, where the king gave them a pilot to conduct them across the Indian Gulf. The Melindese pilot is reported to have been acquainted with the astrolabe, compass and quadrant. Under his guidance the voyagers steered 750 leagues across the open sea. In 23 days they arrived off the Malabar coast, and on 20 May 1498 they reached Calicut, the object of their search. Their mission was thus accom plished, and a new route to the East established. Gama's relations with the ruler of Calicut were not cordial; and, therefore, leaving the Indian coast on 15 October, Gama returned to Lisbon, calling at Melinda on the way to take on board an ambassador to Emanuel's court, and arriving in the Tagus September 1499, after an absence of two years and two months. He brought
back one ship, a caravel which he had chartered at Cape Verde, and 55 men. The king received Gama most cordially.
Emanuel immediately fitted out a second fleet of 13 ships, with 1,200 men, under the com mand of Pedro Alvarez Cabral, to establish trading posts; but failing in its ends, another fleet of 20 ships was placed under command of Gama. This expedition, which was warlike in its character, sailed early in 1502. On reaching Calicut, Gama immediately bombarded the town, enacting deeds of inhumanity and savagery too horrible to detail. From Calicut he proceeded to Cochin, and, having made favorable trading terms with it and other towns on the coast, he returned to Lisbon in September 1503 with richly laden ships. He and his captains were welcomed with great rejoicing; Da Gama him self having great privileges conferred on him, and being made admiral. Soon after his return Vasco retired to his residence in Evora, and for 20 years took no part in public affairs, either from pique at not obtaining, as is supposed by some, so high rewards as he expected, or be cause he had in some way offended Emanuel. During this time the Portuguese conquests in creased in the East, and were presided over by successive viceroys. The fifth of these was so unfortunate that Gama was recalled from his seclusion by Emanuel's successor, Joao III, cre ated count of Vidigueira, and nominated vice roy of India, an honor which in April 1524 he left Lisbon to fill. Arriving at Cochin in Sep tember of the same year, he immediately set himself to correct, with vigor and firmness, the many abuses and evil practices which had crept in under the rule of his predecessors. He was not destined, however, to prosecute far the re forms he had inaugurated, for on Christmas eve following his arrival he died, and. was buried in the Franciscan monastery there. In 1538 his body was conveyed to Portugal and en tombed in the town of Vidigueira, of which he was count. The important discoveries of Vasco da Gama had the result of enriching Portugal, and raising her to one of the fore most places among the nations of Europe. Con sult Correas, (The Three Voyages of Vasco da Gama' (Hakluyt Society 1869) ; the of his first voyage, edited by Ravenstein (Hakluyt Society 1898) ; Jayne, da Gama and His Successors 1460-1568' (London 1910).