Maria de Belem, afterwards built to commemorate the event.
The fleet, consisting of four vessels specially built for this mission, sailed down the Tagus on the 9th of July 1497, after prayers and confession made by the officers and crews in a small chapel on the site where now stands the church of S.
The condition of John's health and concerns of state, however, prevented the fitting out of the intended expedition and it was not until nine years later, when Emanuel I had succeeded to the throne, that the preparations for this great voyage were completed - hastened, doubtless, by Christopher Columbus' discovery of America in the meanwhile.įor, the supreme command of this expedition the king selected Vasco da Gama, who had in his youth fought in the wars against Castille, and in his riper years gained distinction as an intrepid mariner. That there was in truth an ocean highway to the East was proved by Diaz, who returned in December 1488 with the report that when sailing southward he was carried far to the east by a succession of fierce storms, past - as he discovered only on his return voyage - what he ascertained to be the southern extremity of the African continent. For this purpose Pedro de Covilham and Affonso de Payva were despatched eastward by land while Bartholomew Diaz, in command of two vessels, was sent westward by sea. Explorers sent out at his instigation discovered the Azores and unknown regions on the African coast, whence continually came reports of a great monarch, "who lived east of Benin, 350 leagues in the interior, and who held both temporal and spiritual dominion over all the neighboring kings", a story which tallied so remarkably with the accounts of Prester John which had been brought to the Peninsula by Abyssinian priests, that John II of Portugal steadfastly resolved that both by sea and by land the attempt should be made to reach the country of this potentate. In that year died Prince Henry the Navigator, to whose intelligence and foresight must be traced back all the fame that Portugal gained on the seas in the 15th and 16th centuries. His descent, according to the Nobiliario of Antonio de Lima, was derived from a noble family which is mentioned in the year 1166 but the line cannot be traced without interruption farther back than the year 1280, to one Alvaro da Gama, from whom was descended Estevão da Gama, civil governor of Sines, whose third son Vasco was born probably about the year 1460.
Of da Gama's early history little is known.
Portuguese navigator and discoverer of the sea route to India, was born at Sines, a small seaport in the province of Alemtejo. Remains: Buried, Jeronimos Monastery, Lisbon, PortugalĮxecutive summary: Explorer, conqueror, privateer
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