The King thus praised GamaвЂ™s success, and gave him huge sums of money and the title of admiral.

And with the known riches of the Orient came new ones, like spices such as pepper and cinnamon. They had made the longest ocean travel until then and had just boosted the Portuguese economy immensely, since they now had the monopoly over the Indian spice routes. The tactic employed by the Portuguese was then adapted by the rest of the Europeans that set foot on the Indian subcontinent and throughout the world in their quest for lands to colonize.ДЇinally, two years after setting sail, in 1499, the fleet arrived home, with at least 54 out of the 170 men that made the fleetвЂ¦ Vasco da GamaвЂ™s own brother died on the roadвЂ¦ But after 300 days spent at sea and 24,000 miles travelled, the surviving men were considered heroes and had made history, for better or for worse. In fact, Gama himself had the fame of being violent with the natives and of taking hostages, something that continued to happen with those that followed him. A conquest that would, with rare exceptions, encompass all parts of the world in one way or another, and would lead to awful creations and the subjugation of peoples. However, it also started the era of global imperialism and colonization, first with the full-blown conquest of territories by the Portuguese Empire and then by the other European powers. It is considered by many to be the root to todayвЂ™s Globalization, as it initiated a global cultural, economic and historic connection as it had never existed before. Gama thus had to leave without making a treaty with the locals. But soon the mood soured when GamaвЂ™s gifts were considered cheap by the local ruler and the local Muslim traders understood the reason for their presence there and became hostile to the Portuguese. Initially, the local Hindus welcomed the Portuguese, making them think they were Christians. The navigator and his fleet continued to travel along the African coast, stopping in todayвЂ™s Mozambique and Kenya for supplies, sicknesses and to ask for directions, even getting the help of an Arab navigator in one of their stops, that travelled with them and showed them the way to cross the Indian Ocean until they finally reached Calicut (now Kozhikode) in 1498. When reaching the Southern part of Africa, in what is now Cape Town, the fleet passed through the Cape of Good Hope, probably the hardest part of the voyage as it had only been crossed one time before!

They travelled along the coast of Africa until he reached the South Atlantic, when they decided to adventure into the open sea, as a way to avoid unfavorable currents. Gama commanded the SГЈo Gabriel ship, Paulo da Gama, his brother, commanded the SГЈo Rafael, and there was also the caravel Berrio, and a storeship SГЈo Maria. The explorer set sail in July with 4 ships from the port of Lisbon. This was to continue the work already started by Bartolomeu Dias, who was the first navigator to have rounded the Cape of Good Hope. This made all of Europe dependent on them since gold, spices and many other Eastern riches were well appreciated in all the continent, and they knew this so they charged high prices to the Europeans and for their ships to pass through their ports.ДЄs a way to counterbalance this, the Portuguese king, King Manuel I, decided to send a fleet that would search for the maritime route to India and chose Vasco da Gama to lead it. At the time the Muslims, especially the Ottoman Empire, held in their control the trade routes from the East, including India. The Historic Voyage Photo by Bruno Martins on Unsplash His career must have been very remarkable, since almost 20 years later, he would be sent to command one of the most historic voyages in the world. It is supposed that, due to his stature, he had a good education and, since he was living on the coast, he also probably learned about sea navigation.Д«y 15, he was familiar with the trading ships that were docked in the ports and by 20 he had already managed to become the captain of a ship. His father was a knight in charge of the Sines Fortress, in the Alentejo coast, and his mother was a noblewoman. He was born in the 1460s, he was the third son in a minor noble family. Not much is known about GamaвЂ™s early life. Besides that, he is an unavoidable figure in History. He is a controversial historical figure, with the explorer being known to have committed several atrocities and being a violent person, besides the consequences of his travels. His first voyage was the longest ocean travel in the world at the time and he was always briefly the Viceroy of India, before dying. Known for being the first European to reach India by sea and thus connecting, for the first time, Europe and Asia by maritime trade, Vasco da Gama, the 1 st Count of Vidigueira, was a Portuguese explorer.

Who was vasco da gama