Vasco da Gama's arrival in India
Llegada de Vasco da Gama a la India
- Date
- 20 de mayo de 1498 · confidence high
- Place
- Calicut (Kozhikode), Kerala, India
- Credited to
- Vasco da Gama, in the service of Manuel I of Portugal
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What was discovered
The first European sea voyage to India, rounding the Cape of Good Hope and crossing the Indian Ocean with a local pilot from Malindi. It opened the direct sea route between Europe and Asia without crossing the eastern Mediterranean.
The identity of the pilot who guided the crossing from Malindi is disputed (it has been said to be Ahmad ibn Majid, without solid basis).
What it led to
- the Estado da Índia and the Portuguese network of Indian Ocean forts
- relative decline of the spice trade via the Levant
- the meeting of European cartography with Asian routes