VASCO DA GAMA

Da Gama was born in about 1460 into a noble, soldiering family. His career as an explorer began after his father was chosen to lead an expedition to open the sea route to Asia and to outflank the Muslims, who enjoyed a monopoly of trade with India and other eastern states. Vasco took command when his father died and sailed from Lisbon in July 1497. He arrived at Calicut the following year, via Natal, Mozambique and Mombasa. Initially welcomed by the Zamorin (Hindu ruler) of Calicut, tension gradually mounted and da Gama left at the end of August. They arrived back in Lisbon in September, where he received titles, estates and an annual pension. Following a massacre of Portuguese expatriates in Calicut by local Hindus, following Muslim incitement, a new fleet was sent to establish Portuguese control. Command was given to da Gama, who set sail in February 1502. On arriving at Calicut, he seized an Arab ship carrying merchandise and hundreds of passengers, including women and children. After taking the cargo, da Gama locked the passengers into the captured ship and set it alight, killing them all. He then formed an alliance with the ruler of Cannanore, an enemy of the Zamorin, before sailing to Calicut, where he demanded that the Muslims be banished from the port. To underline his demands, he bombarded the port and killed 38 Hindu fishermen who had sailed out to trade with his ships. He then sailed to the port of Cochin and formed an alliance with the local ruler. A brief but victorious battle with Arab ships preceded the fleet's departure home, in February 1503. On his return home, da Gama was eventually granted further privileges and revenues and continued to advise the King on Indian matters. In 1519, he was created count of Vidigueira and, in 1524, was nominated as Portuguese viceroy in India. Arriving in Goa, he fell ill and died in December 1524. By the middle of the 15th century, Portugal was the leading maritime nation in Europe, thanks largely to the legacy of Prince Henry the Navigator, who had brought together a talented group of mapmakers, geographers, astronomers and navigators at his school of seamanship at Sagres, in southern Portugal. It was not until 1487 that Bartholomew Diaz set off on the voyage that finally reached the southern tip of Africa. By rounding the Cape of Good Hope, Diaz proved that the Atlantic and Indian Oceans were not landlocked, as many European geographers of the time thought, and rekindled the idea that a sea route to India might indeed be feasible. To complement the sea voyages of Diaz, the Portuguese monarch King John II also sent Pedro da Covilha, a fluent Arabic speaker, out on a dangerous overland journey to India. Disguised as an Arab, Covilha gathered vital information on the ports of the east African and Indian coasts during his three-year journey. It would, however, be a further ten years before the Portuguese were able to organise a voyage to exploit the discoveries of these two explorers. In the meantime, Christopher Columbus, sponsored by the Spanish, had returned to Europe in 1493 to announce that he had successfully found a route to the Orient by sailing west across the Atlantic. Various aids to navigation were available on ships during the Renaissance. The Navigational aids that Vasco da Gama would have used on his ships included: o Astrolabes o Charts o Compasses o Cross-staffs o Nocturnals o Traverse boards o Almanacs All of the navigational aids used by Vasco da Gama on the Sao Gabriel, the Sao Rafael and the Berrio were used to measure the angle between objects above the ocean, such as the stars or the sun, with the horizon. This would have enabled Vasco da Gama to calculate the ship's position at sea Conditions on the Vasco da Gama ships would have been very basic. Food provisions would have included bread, beer, fish and salted meat. The Captain would have had some private stores which might include wine and fresh livestock * The Sao Gabriel, the Sao Rafael and the Berrio were all small ships, about 80 tons * The overall length of the ships would have been about 80 feet * The sail area of the ships would have been about 2500 square feet Shalom Besings