Although his exact route is unknown, da Gama sailed through the open ocean rather than inching his way along the coast. The voyage built on years of Portuguese exploration along Africa's coasts, including the voyage of Bartolomeu Dias nine years earlier around the Cape of Good Hope on the southern tip of Africa.ĭa Gama headed south from Portugal, paused at the Cape Verde Islands off western Africa, and then moved out into the Atlantic.
By sailing around Africa to India, da Gama opened the door to trade, conquest, and a Portuguese empire in East Africa and Asia.ĭa Gama's career as an explorer began in 1497, when the Portuguese king Manuel I named him captain of a fleet of four ships and sent him to find a route across the Indian Ocean to India. Instead, da Gama pioneered a new route to Asia, a place known to Europeans but very difficult to reach. Unlike Christopher Columbus, he did not discover new lands unknown to Europeans. Vasco da Gama made one of the most important voyages of exploration in the Renaissance.
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