Vasco da Gama reaches Calicut
Da Gama's fleet anchored off Calicut on the Malabar coast, completing the first voyage from Europe to India by sea. The crossing from Malindi had been made with a pilot engaged in East Africa who knew the monsoon. The reception was cool: the Portuguese trade goods were unsuited to a wealthy market already served by established merchant networks, and the fleet left with a modest cargo and no agreement. The route, however, was now proven in both directions, and the second Portuguese fleet sailed with guns.
Historical — it happened, and the record is settled.
Subjects
- Vasco da Gama · person · Portugal · not located
- The Cape route (Carreira da Índia) · trade route · Atlantic and Indian Oceans — Lisbon to Malabar via the Cape of Good Hope · not located
- Pepper · trade good · Malabar coast and Sumatra; sold across Europe · not located
Evidence
Partly verified — Core facts are sourced; some optional detail is deliberately absent.
Roteiro da primeira viagem de Vasco da Gama
Supports the dates and course of the first Cape-route voyage to India and the reception at Calicut. V55 verification basis: NOT consulted in this session. The dates 8 July 1497 and 20 May 1498 are given from the author's knowledge of the standard editions. The Roteiro's authorship is unknown and its account is one-sided.
anonymous manuscript; published editions and English translations widely available · compiled 1497–1499 · Partly verified
Anonymous journal of the first voyage of Vasco da Gama to India, 1497–1499, the principal contemporary account of the voyage
Recorded on Vasco da Gama
- Dias rounds the southern tip of Africa
- Vasco da Gama reaches Calicut
- Cabral sights the coast of Brazil
- Albuquerque takes Malacca
Related
Related because they share a subject in the Atlas — never because the text looks similar.
- Albuquerque takes Malacca · 1511-08
- Cabral sights the coast of Brazil · 1500-04-22
- Dias rounds the southern tip of Africa · 1488