Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama
was the first European explorer to reach India by sea, helping to establish
Portugal as a colonial power and changing the previous dependence Europe had on
trade overland.
On 8 July 1497, Vasco da Gama led a fleet of four sheets with
a crew of 170 men from Lisbon, Portugal, on his first voyage. He rounded the
Cape of Good Hope and travelled up the African coast. Arriving in the trading
port of Calicut, India in May of 1498 he was warmly received, though failed to
establish permanent relations.
After an arduous journey home, he returned to
Portugal in August of 1499 to a hero's welcome, including the noble title of
Dom.
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