* 1498 – Vasco da Gama decides to depart Calicut and return to Portugal.

The city's status was further diminished after Vasco da Gama discovered a sea route around the Cape of Good Hope, thereby allowing spice traders to avoid Cairo.

* António da Costa de Albuquerque de Sousa Lara, 2nd Count de Guedes, Vasco de Bettencourt de Faria Machado e Sampaio and Marcelo Olavo Correia de Azevedo, Ascendências Reais de Sua Alteza Real a Senhora Dona Isabel de Herédia Duquesa de Bragança, I, pelos Costados Herédia, Bettencourt e Meneses da Ilha da Madeira " ( Universitária Editora, 1999 )

* 1497 – Vasco da Gama rounds the Cape of Good Hope, the point where Bartolomeu Dias had previously turned back to Portugal.

* 1502 – Vasco da Gama sets sail from Lisbon, Portugal, on his second voyage to India.

In exchange, the Portuguese received gold ( transported from mines of the Akan deposits ), pepper ( a trade which lasted until Vasco da Gama reached India in 1498 ) and ivory.

* 1497: Vasco da Gama departs to India starting direct trade with Asia.

In 1498, Vasco da Gama successfully discovered a new sea route from Europe to India, which paved the way for direct Indo-European commerce.

" In 1498, Vasco da Gama was the first sailor to travel from Portugal to India.

In 1497, Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope and became the first European to sail to India and later the Far East.

From there, they sailed to Kozhikode ( Calicut ), where Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama would land two centuries later.

Later, starting in 1497, Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama made the first open voyage from Europe to India.

* 1499 – Portuguese explorer Nicolau Coelho returns to Lisbon, after discovering the sea route to India as a companion of Vasco da Gama.

* 1497 – Vasco da Gama sets sail on the first direct European voyage to India.

The Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama reached Mombasa in 1498.

The Portuguese were the first Europeans to explore the region of current-day Kenya, Vasco da Gama having visited Mombasa in 1498.

When Vasco da Gama, exploring for Portugal, reached the coast of Mozambique in 1498, Arab trading settlements had existed along the coast and outlying islands for several centuries, and political control of the coast was in the hands of a string of local sultans.

* 1498 – Vasco da Gama reaches the port of Calicut, India.

* 1498 – Vasco da Gama's fleet visits the island of Mozambique Island.

* 1498 – Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama discovers the sea route to India when he arrives at Kozhikode ( previously known as Calicut ), India.

Portuguese expansion into the Indian Ocean in the early 16th century following Vasco da Gama's voyages of exploration saw them battle the Ottomans up the coast of the Persian Gulf.

The control of trade routes and the spice-producing regions were the main reasons that Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama sailed to India in 1499.

In 1498, by reaching India, Vasco da Gama proved that the access to the Indian Ocean from the Atlantic was possible.

Portuguese expansion into the Indian Ocean in the early 16th century following Vasco da Gama's route of exploration saw them battle the Ottomans up the coast of the Persian Gulf.

* 1497 – 1499: Vasco da Gama's first voyage from Europe to India and back.

* July 8 – Vasco da Gama's fleet departs from Lisbon, beginning his expedition to India.

Portuguese expansion into the Indian Ocean in the early 16th century followed Vasco da Gama's voyages of exploration in which the Portuguese battled the Ottomans up the coast of the Persian Gulf.

Numerous homages have been made worldwide in Vasco da Gama's honour for his explorations and accomplishments.

Little is known of Vasco da Gama's early life.

The task, originally given to Vasco da Gama's father, was finally offered to Vasco by Manuel I on the strength of his record of protecting Portuguese trading stations along the African Gold Coast from depredations by the French.

The route followed in Vasco da Gama's first voyage ( 1497 – 1499 )

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.

Vasco da Gama's fleet finally arrived in Malindi on 7 January 1499, in a terrible shape-approximately half of the crew had died during the crossing, and many of the rest were afflicted with scurvy.

Reconstructing from other sources, it seems they continued to Cape Verde, where Nicolau Coelho's Berrio separated from Vasco da Gama's São Gabriel, and sailed on by itself.

King Manuel wrote two letters in which he described Vasco da Gama's first voyage, in July and August 1499, soon after the return of the ships.

Malabar Coast of India, c. 1500, showing the path of Vasco da Gama's 4th Portuguese India Armada ( Gama, 1502 ) | 4th India Armada in 1502.

Vasco da Gama's body was first buried at St. Francis Church, which was located at Fort Kochi in the city of Kochi, but his remains were returned to Portugal in 1539.

The Portuguese national epic, the Lusíadas of Luís Vaz de Camões, largely concerns Vasco da Gama's voyages.

Vasco da Gama's signature

* Vasco da Gama's Round Africa to India, fordham. edu

* Brief description of Vasco da Gama's journeys, sify. com

Vasco da Gama's companion Tomé Lopes reasoned that Ophir would have been the ancient name for Great Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe, the main center of sub-African trade in gold in the Renaissance period — though the ruins at Great Zimbabwe are now dated to the medieval era, long after Solomon is said to have lived.

The first naval action in defense of the new colonies was just ten years after Vasco da Gama's epochal landing in India.

He was appointed to head an expedition to India in 1500, following Vasco da Gama's newly opened route around Africa.