The achievements of the Portuguese explorers left deep traces in world history. Among them was Vasco da Gama – intrepid navigator, explorer and later even Viceroy of India.

Da Gama was born in 1460 or 1469 (historians disagree about the date) in the fishing village of Sines. We know little about his childhood and youth, but in 1492 he already made a name for himself when he seized French ships along the Portuguese coast in retaliation for French violations of a peace treaty with Portugal.

The next highlight in his life that we know of is that King Manuel I appointed him as leader of an expedition instructed to find a sea route to India. The connection with the East was of great importance to Portugal due to, among other things, the spice trade. Bartolomeu Dias had already sailed around the Cape of Good Hope, but the last part of the sea route had yet to be discovered. The king had four ships equipped for the task. One of them, the São Gabriel, was commanded by Da Gama and another, the São Raphael, by his brother Paulo da Gama. On 8 July 1497, the ships departed from Lisbon, with Portugal’s most experienced navigators on board.

What an adventure it was – a voyage into the unknown! Within three months they had covered more than 10 000 kilometres across the open sea. As far as could be determined, it had been the longest sea voyage without going ashore at that stage in history! From 7 November, the ships anchored for a while in what we know today as St Helena Bay. Here Da Gama had a narrow escape when due to a misunderstanding, he was wounded with a spear while trading with members of the local population!

By 25 November, they had landed at São Bras (the present-day Mossel Bay). Here, the interaction with the local inhabitants was initially more pleasant: bartering took place and the locals and the Portuguese made music and danced together! Later, however, distrust set in and when the locals arrived armed and tried to prevent the Portuguese from replenishing their drinking water supply, the sailors fired two salvos to scare them away.

On 16 December 1497, the expedition passed the Great Fish River. This was the furthest point that Dias had reached on his voyage around the Cape, and now Da Gama and his fellow sailors were literally in uncharted waters where European navigators had never been before. With Christmas approaching, Da Gama named the coastal area along which they sailed Natal, a place name that KwaZulu-Natal still bears 528 years later.

After many adventures, the group finally reached India on 20 May 1498, and with that Vasco da Gama’s name was immortalised in history as the discoverer of the sea route from Europe to the East. However, the victory came at a high price. By the time they returned to Lisbon on 29 August 1499, more than half of the group had died, including da Gama’s brother, Paulo. Two of the ships also had to be scuppered en route because there were too few sailors to sail and maintain them.

King Manuel I bestowed many honours on Da Gama, including the hereditary title Dom. More expeditions, achievements, conflicts and defeats followed. Some of Da Gama’s actions in the East were extremely cruel, but typical of the customs of the time.

In about 1501 he married Catarina de Ataíde, who came from a very influential Portuguese family. The couple had six sons and one daughter.

For almost two decades, Da Gama fell out of favour with the king, but when he threatened to enter the service of Spain, he was appeased with further honours, including the title of Count of Vidigueira. After the death of Manuel I, King John III appointed Da Gama as Viceroy of India in February 1524, and in April he set sail for India once more with a fleet of fourteen ships. Shortly after their arrival in India, however, Da Gama contracted malaria. He passed away on 24 December 1524 in Kochi, India.

He was initially buried there, but in 1539 his remains were returned to Portugal and reinterred in Vidigueira. In 1880 it was decided that Portugal’s two great heroes, the poet Luis de Camões and Vasco da Gama, should be entombed in the church of the Jerónimos Monastery in Lisbon. Their stately tombs are in chapels on either side of the entrance to the church, where the tombs of Kings Manuel I and John III, under whom Da Gama served, can also be found. It is uncertain whether the remains in the impressive marble coffin in this church really are those of Vasco da Gama, but one should never spoil a beautiful story with facts …

For the Portuguese, Da Gama remains a hero from their country’s golden age, and his image appears all over – from on the Monument of the Discoveries and on a façade above Praça do Comércio in Lisbon, to in a stained-glass window at Pena Palace in Sintra. The Portuguese navy even named a class of frigates after him.

Locally, a monument in the form of a padrão was erected in his honour at Cape Point, where he landed in 1497.

A similar padrão was erected in Da Gama’s honour at Nazaré in Portugal in 1939. According to legend, before setting off on his first voyage to India, he stopped here as a pilgrim to pray for the protection of Our Lady of Nazaré. He exchanged a precious gold chain for beads of the Virgin. At the Cape of Good Hope, a storm threatened to destroy the expedition’s ships, but Da Gama threw the beads into the sea and the storm subsided. After his return to Portugal, he went back to Nazaré to express his gratitude. The 1939 padrão commemorates his pilgrimages to this town.

Whatever may be fact or fiction, Vasco da Gama and his voyages provide the stuff the gives birth to legends, and he undeniably contributed to shaping the world we live in today.

Photos: Alana Bailey