Remember when European explorers tried their very best to find a route to India? Well, we present you, the famous Vasco da Gama. A Portuguese sailor and the very first European to find a sea route to India. He made Portugal a great power in the 1500’s, his discoveries rally round open trade between western Europe and Asia. By the times of 1460, Portuguese sailors had already begun to explore the west coast of Africa and by which time Da Gama was born in Sines, Portugal. Bartholomeu Dias aspired the route to India when he sailed around the Cape of Good Hope, at the southern tip of Africa in 1487. Eventually, King Manuel I of Portugal asked Da Gama to continue Dias’ explorations in 1497. With the order from his king, Da Gama sailed from Lisbon on July 8, 1497 with four ships and about 170 men. Instead of following the African coast, as previous explorers had done, he sailed bravely into the South Atlantic. After three months out of eyesight of land, Da Gama r...
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