# Identifications & Discussion Questions 1.1.1-5

Imperialisms, Ancient and Modern, Identifications & Discussion Questions, 1.1.1 to 1.1.5. Latin.

Canonical: https://interlinea.aeterna-institute.org/library/latin/imperialisms-ancient-and-modern/identifications-discussion-questions-7/1.1.1

Vasco da Gama (c. 1460 - 1524) Portuguese navigator whose voyages to India (1497-99, 1502-03, 1524) opened up the sea route from western Europe to the East by way of the Cape of Good Hope and thus ushered in a new era in world history. He also helped make Portugal a world power. Life. The third son of Estêvão da Gama, a nobleman who was commander of the fortress of Sines on the coast of Alentejo province in southwestern Portugal, Vasco was born in about 1460. Little is known of his early life; he may have studied at the inland town of Évora—somewhere he learned mathematics and navigation. In 1492 King John II of Portugal sent him to the port of Set�bal, south of Lisbon, and to the Algarve, Portugal's southernmost province, to seize French ships in retaliation for French peacetime depredations against Portuguese shipping—a task that Vasco rapidly and effectively performed. In accordance with the policy of Prince Henry the Navigator, King John was planning to send a Portuguese fleet to India to open the sea route to Asia and to outflank the Muslims, who had hitherto enjoyed a monopoly of trade with India and other eastern states. Estêvão da Gama was chosen to lead the expedition, but after his death Vasco took his place. Accounts of his appointment differ; whether he was chosen by King John and this choice confirmed by King Manuel, who ascended the throne in 1495, or whether it was King Manuel who first chose him, remains unclear. According to one version, the appointment was first offered to his eldest brother Paulo, who declined because of ill health. The first voyage. Da Gama sailed from Lisbon on July 8, 1497, with a fleet of four vessels—two medium-sized three-masted sailing ships, each of about 120 tons, named the "São Gabriel" and the "São Rafael"; a 50-ton caravel, named the "Berrio"; and a 200-ton storeship. They were accompanied to the Cape Verde Islands by another ship commanded by Bartolomeu Dias, the Portuguese navigator who had discovered the Cape of Good Hope a few years earlier and who was en route to the West African castle of São Jorge da Mina on the Gold Coast (now Ghana). With da Gama's fleet went three interpreters—two Arabic speakers and one who spoke several Bantu dialects. The fleet also carried padr�es (stone pillars) to set up as marks of discovery and overlordship.

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