Da Gama, Magellan, Bartolomeu Dias
The Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama made three sea voyages to India between 1497 and 1524. His voyages opened a sea route from Western Europe to the East and made Portugal a world power.
In 1495 the Portuguese king asked da Gama to lead an expedition eastward to India. In da Gama’s time, Europeans wanted many goods from the East, particularly spices. Muslim traders controlled the land routes to the East. The Portuguese and Spanish monarchs knew that if they could control another trade route to the East, they would gain great wealth and power. They were eager to find a sea route to India. Another Portuguese explorer, Bartolomeu Dias, had earlier discovered that there was a passage around the bottom of Africa called the Cape of Good Hope. But he had not made it to India.Da Gama made three voyages to India. On the first voyage, from 1497 to 1499, he and his fleet reached Calicut, an important trading center in southern India. However, da Gama was unable to make a trade agreement with the ruler of the city. Da Gama returned to Portugal with samples of spices and precious stones. On his second trip, in 1502–03, da Gama returned to Calicut but also went on to Cochin, where he made an agreement with the ruler of that city. In 1524 da Gama was sent back to India as the Portuguese viceroy, or governor. His task was to improve the administration of the Portuguese colony at Goa, on the west coast of India. Da Gama reached Goa in September 1524. He soon fell ill, possibly because of overwork. Da Gama died in Cochin on December 24, 1524. Ferdinand Magellan was an explorer from Portugal. He and his sailors were the first Europeans to cross the Pacific Ocean. One of his ships made the first trip around the world, though he did not live to complete the voyage.
Magellan sailed from Spain in 1519 with five ships. He sailed across the Atlantic Ocean and down the coast of South America. In 1520 he found a passage to the ocean that the Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa had first seen in 1513. Magellan named it the Pacific Ocean. The passage, at the southern tip of South America, is now called the Strait of Magellan. With three ships left, Magellan crossed the Pacific. After about 100 days he reached the islands now called the Philippines. On April 27, 1521, he was killed in a fight with the people of the islands. After Magellan’s death two of his ships continued westward. One ship made it across the Indian Ocean and around the southern tip of Africa. It returned to Spain on September 8, 1522. Bartolomeu Dias of Portugal was one of the most important European explorers before Christopher Columbus. He led the first European expedition around the southern tip of Africa. This opened the way for sea trade between Europe and Asia.Bartolomeu Dias (also spelled Bartholomew Diaz) was born in about 1450 near Lisbon, Portugal. In August 1487 Dias took three ships in search of the southern tip of Africa. In January 1488 he passed the tip, but he did not see it. It was very stormy at the time. After he turned around and reached the southern coast of Africa he realized what had happened.
Dias wanted to go on to India, but his crew would go no farther. Upon rounding the tip of Africa again, Dias named it the Cape of Storms because of the weather he had battled on the voyage out. It was later renamed the Cape of Good Hope. Dias returned to Portugal in December 1488. In 1497 another Portuguese explorer, Vasco da Gama, continued along the same route and reached India. In 1500 Dias commanded a ship in an expedition led by Pedro Álvares Cabral. Cabral’s fleet veered far from Africa and landed on the eastern shore of South America. The explorers claimed the land that is now Brazil for Portugal. Dias died at the Cape of Good Hope in May 1500, when his ship sank in a storm.
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