Mombasa

Mombasa

In the vicinity of modern Kenya, the expedition resorted to piracy, looting Arab merchant ships - generally unarmed trading vessels without heavy cannons. The Portuguese became the first known Europeans to visit the port of Mombasa but were met with hostility and soon departed.

Malindi

Pillar of Vasco da Gama in Malindi, 3°13′25″S 40°7′47.8″E.

In February 1498, Vasco da Gama continued north, landing at the friendlier port of Malindi - whose leaders were then in conflict with those of Mombasa - and there the expedition first noted evidence of Indian traders. Da Gama and his crew contracted the services of a pilot whose knowledge of themonsoon winds allowed him to bring the expedition the rest of the way to Calicut (Kozhikode), located on the southwest coast of India. Sources differ over the identity of the pilot, calling him variously a Christian, a Muslim, and a Gujarati. One traditional story describes the pilot as the famous Arab navigator Ibn Majid, but other contemporaneous accounts place Majid elsewhere, and he could not have been near the vicinity at the time.^[14] Also, none of the Portuguese historians of the time mention Ibn Majid.

Calicut, India

The fleet arrived in Kappad near Calicut, India on 20 May 1498. The King of Calicut, theSaamoothiri (Zamorin), who was at that time staying in his second capital at Ponnani, returned to Calicut on hearing the news of the European fleets's arrival. The navigator was received with traditional hospitality, including a grand procession of at least 3,000 armed Nairs, but an interview with the Zamorin failed to produce any concrete results. The presents that da Gama sent to the Zamorin as gifts from Dom Manuel—four cloaks of scarlet cloth, six hats, four branches of corals, twelve almasares, a box with seven brass vessels, a chest of sugar, two barrels of oil and a cask of honey—were trivial, and failed to impress. While Zamorin's officials wondered at why there was no gold or silver, the Muslim merchants who considered da Gama their rival suggested that the latter was only an ordinary pirate and not a royal ambassador.^[15] Vasco da Gama's request for permission to leave a factor behind him in charge of the merchandise he could not sell was turned down by the King, who insisted that da Gama pay customs duty—preferably in gold—like any other trader, which strained the relation between the two. Annoyed by this, da Gama carried a few Nairs and sixteen Mukkuva fishermen off with him by force.^[16] Nevertheless, da Gama's expedition was successful beyond all reasonable expectation, bringing in cargo that was worth sixty times the cost of the expedition.

Return

Vasco da Gama lands atCalicut, May 20, 1498.

Vasco da Gama set sail for home on 29 August 1498. Eager to leave, he ignored the local knowledge of monsoon wind patterns which were still blowing onshore. Crossing the Indian Ocean to India, sailing with the monsoon wind, had taken da Gama's ships only 23 days. The return trip across the ocean, sailing against the wind, took 132 days, and da Gama arrived in Malindi on 7 January 1499. During this trip, approximately half of the crew died, and many of the rest were afflicted with scurvy. Two of da Gama's ships made it back to Portugal, arriving in July and August of 1499.^[17]

Vasco da Gama returned to Portugal in September 1499 and was richly rewarded as the man who brought to fruition a plan that had taken eighty years to fulfill. He was given the title "Admiral of the Indian Seas,"^[18]and his feudal rights to Sines were confirmed.^[19] Manuel I also awarded the perpetual title of Dom (lord) to da Gama, as well as to his brothers and sisters and to all of their descendants.

However, da Gama's achievements were somewhat dimmed by his failure to bring any trade goods of interest to the nations of India. Moreover, the sea route was fraught with its own perils - his fleet went more than thirty days without seeing land and only 60 of his 180 companions, on one of his three ships, returned to Portugal in 1498. Nevertheless, da Gama's initial journey opened a direct sea route to Asia.

The spice trade would prove to be a major asset to the Portuguese economy, and other consequences soon followed. For example, da Gama's voyage had made it clear that the east coast of Africa, the Contra Costa, was essential to Portuguese interests; its ports provided fresh water, provisions, timber, and harbors for repairs, and served as a refuge where ships could wait out unfavorable weather. One significant result was the colonization of Mozambique by the Portuguese Crown.

Second voyage

Main article: 4th Portuguese India Armada (Gama, 1502)

On 12 February 1502, da Gama commanded the 4th Portuguese Armada to India, a fleet of fifteen ships and eight hundred men, with the object of enforcing Portuguese interests in the east. On reaching India in October 1502, da Gama started capturing any Arab vessel he came across in Indian waters. While the Zamorin was willing to sign a treaty,^[20] da Gama made a preposterous call to the Hindu King to expel all Muslims from Calicut which was naturally turned down. He bombarded the city destroying several houses on the sea shore. He also captured several rice vessels and barbarously cut off the crew's hands, ears and noses.^[21] He then sailed south to Cochin, a small vassal kingdom of Calicut where he was given a warm welcome. Da Gama continued north on his return path. Once he had reached the northern parts of the Indian Ocean, da Gama waited for a ship to return from Mecca and seized all the merchandise on it. He then ordered the hundreds of passengers be locked in the hold and the ship - named Mîrî, and which contained many wealthy Muslim merchants — to be set on fire.^[22] Da Gama assaulted and exacted tribute from the Arab-controlled port of Kilwa in East Africa, one of those ports involved in frustrating the Portuguese. His ships engaged in privateer actions against Arab merchant ships. He returned to Portugal in September 1503 with silk and gold.

Third voyage

Tomb of Vasco da Gama in the Jerónimos Monastery in Belém, Lisbon

St. Francis CSI Church, in Kochi. Vasco da Gama, died in Kochi in 1524 when he was on his third visit to India. His body was originally buried in this church.

In 1519 he became the first Count of Vidigueira, a counttitle created by King Manuel I of Portugal on a royal decree issued in Évora on December 29, after an agreement with Dom Jaime, Duke of Braganza, who ceded him on payment the towns of Vidigueira and Vila dos Frades. This decree granted Vasco da Gama and his heirs all the revenues and privileges related,^[23] thus establishing da Gama as the first Portuguese count (earl) who was not born with royal blood.

Having acquired a fearsome reputation as a "fixer" of problems that arose in India, Vasco da Gama was sent to the subcontinent once more in 1524. The intention was that he was to replace the incompetent Eduardo de Menezes as Viceroy (representative) of the Portuguese possessions, but da Gama contracted malaria not long after arriving in Goa and died in the city of Cochin on Christmas Eve in 1524.

His body was first buried at St. Francis Church, which was located at Fort Kochi in the city ofKochi, but his remains were returned to Portugal in 1539. The body of Vasco da Gama was re-interred in Vidigueira in a casket decorated with gold and jewels.

The Monastery of the Hieronymites, in Belém was erected in honor of his voyage to India.

Pilgrim ship incident

Vasco da Gama inflicted acts of cruelty upon competing traders and local inhabitants.^[24][25] During his second voyage to Calicut, da Gama intercepted a ship of Muslim pilgrims at Madayi travelling from Calicut to Mecca. Described by the Portuguese historian Gaspar Correia as one that is unequalled in cold-blooded cruelty, da Gama looted the ship with over 400 pilgrims on board including 50 women, locked in the passengers, the owner and an ambassador from Egypt and burnt them to death. They offered their wealth which 'could ransom all the Christian slaves in the Kingdom of Fez and much more' but were not spared. Da Gama looked on through the porthole and saw the women bringing up their gold and jewels and holding up their babies to beg for mercy.'^[26]

After demanding the expulsion of Muslims from Calicut to the Hindu Zamorin, the latter sent the high priest Talappana Namboothiri (the very same person who conducted da Gama to the Zamorin's chamber during his much celebrated first visit to Calicut in May 1498) for talks. Da Gama called him a spy, ordered the priests' lips and ears to be cut off and after sewing a pair of dog's ears to his head, sent him away.^[24]