The discovery of India by Vasco Da Gama is one of the biggest milestones in the field of maritime navigation. Additionally, he found silk and spices which started the greed of the European countries.New Delhi: Land of rich heritages, cultural treasures, and brilliant engineering and civilisation, India was richer than all the known world put together in ancient times. There is evidence that suggests we had known maritime trade during the Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC) and in the first millennium of the common era. However, Vasco Da Gama, a Portuguese explorer and sailor, has been given the credit for discovering a maritime trade route to India on May 17, 1498. Before him, many voyaged to discover India but no one succeeded. Christopher Columbus started his voyage to discover India in 1492, around five years before Vasco Da Gama. Columbus, however, went to the opposite side and discovered the Americas, a land which was completely secluded and untouched before then.
When the maritime route was discovered, India had already witnessed many foreign invasions from the northeast such as Alexander the great, the Arabs, Turks, etc. But they all came here via the Hindukush mountains.
In this article, we will discuss the maritime route that Portugues discovered.
How Vasco Da Gama discovered the route?
Vasco Da Gama was born in 1460 in Sines, Portugal, to Estevao, who was an explorer himself. Later in his life, Da Gama joined the Portugal army and learned how to navigate.
At the time when Portugal was looking to project itself as a great colonial power and a maritime leader.
The discovery of India by Da Gama is one of the biggest milestones in the field of maritime navigation. Additionally, he found silk and spices which started the greed of the European countries.
It all started with the curiosity of Da Gama to extend beyond North and West Africa where the Portuguese had conducted several successful voyages under the reign of King Manuel I of Portugal. In 1487, Bartolomeu Dias discovered that the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet at the edge of the African peninsula.
Learning from Dias, Vasco Da Gama knew that if both oceans meet at the edge of Africa, he could find a maritime route to India. And in this attempt, he reached the edge of Africa which is knowns as the ‘Cape of Good Hope’ because here Da Gama felt that he could find India.
Da Gama also met with local people who had travelled to Indian coasts and he knew that the direction was correct.
From the Cape of Good Hope, he voyaged for 20 days in the Indian Ocean and reached the Western Ghats of India. On May 17, 1498, he became the first European to land on India’s Calicut port.
From here, the maritime route via the Indian Ocean was opened for Europe.
Da Gama initiated negotiations with the local governor and the Zamorins. They were pleased with the letters of King Manuel I and Da Gama could obtain letters from them as well for rights to trade.
During the first visit, the Portuguese were able to sell goods and acquire spices and jewels to carry back to Europe. He voyaged to India three times 1497-98, 1502-03, and 1524 when he died in India.
Portuguese traded spices and goods from India for the next couple of centuries. Later, the East India Company also came to India for trade. Spices, resources, natural treasures and raw materials have always been at the core of invasions or searches for new places. Later, Britain established its colony in India and exploited the country’s resources and dragged India to the brink of poverty, slavery, and collapse between the 1600s and 1947. This, however, Da Gama never could have known.
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