How did Vasco da Gama Reach India?

one day I will come up with a decent intro but for now you're gonna have to deal with this what's up today we're talking about Portuguese explorers the nation of Portugal emerged out of the shadows after liberating themselves from Muslim rule they would conquer the great city of Ceuta and conduct a series of expeditions that would change the world following the conquest of Ceuta Prince Henrique of Portugal began to sponsor expeditions down the western coastline of Africa in search of gold spices and slaves voyage by voyage Portuguese explorers continued south along the coast began to map the shape of a continent each voyage was characterized by several vessels carrying a few soldiers after crossbows and crab swords ready to reach unknown shores the vessels themselves known as caravels were developed by the Portuguese they were small with limited space for supplies but had triangular sails that could sail against the wind in a zigzag fashion allowing faster travel the city of Lisbon became the frontier of exploration where Caravels return with slaves gold ivory and crafted maps and beautifully coloured parrots Portuguese motivations for exploration were mixed Portugal was a relatively resource poor nation relying mostly on trade to grow there was a distinct lack of manpower as the population a small number in less than two million people Henrique himself was motivated by medieval cartographers who showed it was possible to reach the legendary kingdom of Mansa Musa who ruled the extremely wealthy kingdom of Mali early in the 14th century exploration of Africa halted for a while upon Henriques death until prince Joao pushed for more projects in the 1470's when Joao became King as Joao the second in 1481 he had a desire to do great deeds he began to fund many explorers to complete two objectives the first was to bypass trade around the despised Muslim enemies the Ottomans the second reason was to seek out a legendary Christian King Prester John to link up and help them in crusade one of these explorers was Diogo cão who journeyed further along the west coast of Africa planting a series of pillars engraved for the Portuguese coat of arms Diogo cão sailed up the uncharted Congo River became the first European to encounter the Congo Kingdom initially good relations were established with the Congo Kingdom and it became a major source of slaves for Portuguese traders for all his achievements Diego Coe failed to find a route around Africa and he supposedly died malaria while sailing up the Congo River on his second voyage upon hearing the news of köves death she while the second appointed a knight of his household Bartolomeu Dias to command the next expedition with two caravels and a storage ship Dias sailed down the coast of Africa and became the first European to sail around South Africa but no further he named this region the Cape of storms although it laid to be changed the Cape of Good Hope by the king Dias returned to Lisbon with his battered caravels after a 16 month voyage and revived the idea that it was still possible to reach the Indies via sea routes and ultimately reached the source of the spice trade the man who would accomplish the sea route to India was Vasco de Gama for his first voyage in July 14 97 he set sail from Lisbon with four ships down the western coast of Africa but unlike previous explorers he sailed out into the southern Atlantic from here he used the prevailing southern winds to stir past the Cape of Good Hope and sail up the east coast of Africa he stopped at Mozambique for a while before resorting to piracy at Mombasa looting several Arab merchant ships who are unarmed and slow at the town of Malindi good relations were established together they signed a trade agreement and received a guide for the voyage to India the ship set sail and they arrived to the Indian trading port of Calicut on the 20th of May 1498 upon his arrival garma met with the ruler of Calicut in an effort to establish commercial trade terms the vasco da gama presented goods per proved insufficient to impress the ruler and his representatives this conflict of interest in hostility from Muslim traders led to Gama to leave without concluding a treaty or they did eventually manage to trade the Portuguese sold their goods at a low price in order to acquire small amounts of spices and jewels upon his return to Portugal Vasco da Gama was welcomed as a hero he had sailed 24,000 miles 54 of the 170 crew returned home but the goods he had bought back from India made profit 60 times that of his journey such was the success that King Manuel ordered a much larger fleet to sail to India under the command of pedro álvares cabral Pedro's instructions were simple to capitalise on to Gardner's discoveries and secure a trading post At calicut upon his arrival however Pedro would see 50 of his men murdered by Muslim traders he would retaliate by burning 10 Muslim cargo vessels and killing the nearly 600 sailors aboard before moving on to Cochin where he established the first Portuguese trading post in India but this would not be the end of Pedro's explorations though as he in fact managed to discover Brazil King Manuel ordered Vasco de Gama to dispatch a second voyage in 1502 Vasco da gama set sail for India again with the fleet of 20 ships but this time he forced his way into the markets the Portuguese fleet bombarded the city for nearly two days severely damaging the unfortified city after attacking a number of Arab merchant ships he reached an agreement with calicut's ruler and made peace on their return voyage along the east African coast they established Portuguese trading posts in what is now Mozambique Vasco de Gama would return to India for a third and final time becoming the Viceroy of India but soon after his arrival he contracted malaria and died in the city of Cochin further explorations were continued by the Portuguese and they reached Malacca in Japan and it is also speculated that the Portuguese discovered Australia and Canada Ferdinand Magellan also supposedly circumnavigate the globe under the patronage of Spain but he didn't really because he died in Indonesia but his fleet did manage to make it back to Spain however Portugal would never truly be able to take control of the Indian Ocean spice trade network instead they captured have controlled a number of coastal cities and set up Trading Post laying the foundations for the Portuguese Empire vasco da gama had opened the sea route to reach india for Europeans and in doing so placed the steps for colonization globalization his voyages had a lasting impact on the world even though his methods were brutal it played a significant role in leading up to today thanks for watching next week we look at the Akkad in Empire Reading recording time.... Song..... Singing