Age of Discovery and the New WorldTravel and discovery
Vasco da Gama arrives at Calicut
Vasco da Gama’s ships anchored off Calicut on the Malabar Coast: for the first time Europeans had reached India by sea around Africa.
- Date
- 20 May 1498exact dateDate in the Julian calendar
- Place
- Calicuttoday: Kozhikode, India · South Asia
- Participants
- Vasco da Gama, Kingdom of Portugal
- Threads
- Age of Discovery and the New World, History of Portugal since the Battle of Aljubarrota
The ruler of Calicut, the Zamorin, received the Portuguese, but their modest gifts failed to impress, and the Muslim merchants who controlled the spice trade opposed the arrival of competitors. Da Gama obtained only a vague permission to trade and sailed away after buying a small quantity of spices. The opening of the sea route undermined the intermediary spice trade through Egypt and Venice.
Connections
Part of
- Vasco da Gama’s first voyage to India8 July 1497 – between August and September 1499 · Western and Central Europe
Related events
- Afanasy Nikitin’s Journey Beyond the Three Seasbetween 1466 and 1468 – between 1472 and 1474 · South AsiaNikitin was in India about a quarter of a century before the Portuguese reached it by sea
Same participants
- Expulsion and forced conversion of the Jews of Portugal5 December 1496 – October 1497 · Western and Central Europevia Kingdom of Portugal
Adjacent events in the thread
- John Cabot’s voyage to North AmericaMay 1497 – 6 August 1497 · North America
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within a year of this event
Western and Central Europe
- Vasco da Gama’s first voyage to India8 July 1497 – between August and September 1499
- Expulsion and forced conversion of the Jews of Portugal5 December 1496 – October 1497
- Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supperc. 1495 – 1498
Eastern Europe
- Sudebnik of 1497September 1497
Africa
- Askia Muhammad’s pilgrimage to Meccabetween 1495 and 1497 – between 1497 and 1498
North America
- John Cabot’s voyage to North AmericaMay 1497 – 6 August 1497
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Portuguese discovery of the sea route to India
- Wikipedia (Russian): Васко да Гама
- Subrahmanyam S. The Career and Legend of Vasco da Gama. — Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.