On this day in 1497, the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama set off at the head of an expedition from the port of Lisbon to find a sea route from Europe to India through the Cape of Good Hope, NOVA reported.
The reason for Vasco da Gama's expedition was the concern of King Manuel I of Portugal that the discoveries of the Spanish navigator Christopher Columbus in the west threatened Portugal's commercial interests. At the time, it was not yet clear that Christopher Columbus had not actually discovered a western route to India, but America. The expedition included a flotilla of four ships with a crew of 170 people.
Da Gama himself commanded the ship "San Gabriel", his brother Paulo - "San Rafael", Nicolau Coelho - "Beriu", and the fourth ship was used to carry the supplies needed for the expedition. The ships reached St. Helena Bay in South Africa on November 7, 1497.
After rounding the Cape of Good Hope on November 25, 1497, they reached Mossel Bay, where the ship with the supplies was unloaded. On January 25, 1498, the three ships reached Mozambique, and on April 7 of the same year - Kenya.
After a 23-day voyage across the Indian Ocean, on May 20, 1498, the ships dropped anchor near Calicut, India. In August the flotilla sailed back to Portugal. After three months of sailing in the Arabian Sea, most of the crew members died of scurvy.
The ship "Beriou" docked in Lisbon, Portugal, on July 10, 1499, and Vasco da Gama with the ship "San Gabriel" - on September 9, 1499. Of the 170-person crew, 55 people survived.