GAMA, VASCO da. – Portuguese navigator, born in 1469 at Sinea in Estremadura, into a noble family that had already produced valiant men of the sea and of war. Very little is known of his life before 1495, the year in which he was designated by Giovanni II to complete the undertaking of Bartolomeo Dias, who seven years earlier had discovered the southern extremity of Africa. But owing to the king’s death, the expedition was postponed: only in 1496 did Giovanni’s successor, Emanuele, revive the plan. Five small ships, armed by the Florentine house of Sernigi, one branch of which resided in Lisbon, carefully fitted out and provisioned, departed from Belem on the estuary of the Tagus on 25 March 1497.
Dias accompanied the flotilla as far as Cape Verde. On 22 November the southern extremity of Africa was reached: Dias’s Cabo tormentoso, renamed Cape of Good Hope according to the auspicious name bestowed on it by the Portuguese sovereign. On Christmas Day the shore of the country now called Natal was reached; then the expedition continued, by way of Delagoa and Mozambique, as far as Mombasa, where it was received with hostility by the inhabitants, influenced by the Arab merchant class. The reception at Melinde was more favorable, and from there, on 24 April 1498, under the guidance of a skillful local pilot, the crossing of the Indian Ocean began, bringing the ships to Calicut (18 May), in the realm of the Samurin (Samorino). The initially favorable reception later turned hostile, again under Arab influence; nevertheless, the expedition was able to take on a good cargo of precious goods and, departing on 5 October, after a difficult crossing of the Ocean, reached Melinde again, rounded the Cape of Good Hope only on 20 May 1599, diverted as far as the Azores, and returned to Lisbon in mid-September. Although the expedition had suffered severe losses (even the commander’s brother, Paolo da G., had died during the return, at Terceira in the Azores), it had fully achieved its objectives and received a grand and well-deserved welcome. Appointed admiral of the Indies, V. da G. was given command in 1502 of a new expedition, during which, after carrying out cruel reprisals against elements hostile to the Portuguese in India, he laid the foundations for the construction of a first Portuguese trading post. On his return, however, he lost interest in colonial enterprises and withdrew to Evora, until Giovanni III again turned to him to restore Portuguese influence in India, which had been compromised after the death of Albuquerque. He departed in 1524 at the head of a powerful fleet, with the title and powers of viceroy, but a few months after his arrival he died at Coccin, at Christmas 1524. His undertaking inspired, as is well known, the poem I Lusiadi by Camoens; it is commemorated by a great votive temple erected at Belem.
V. da G. left no personal account of his expedition: its narrative is known chiefly from Portuguese historians, such as Barros and Castanheda. There is also the account of a Florentine gentleman who witnessed the return to Lisbon, as well as the simple but faithful logbook (roteiro) of a sailor and a few other sources of lesser importance.
BIBLI. E. Ravenstein, V. da G., London 1898; S. Ruge, Die Entdeckungen des Seeswegs nach Ostindien durch V. da G., Dresden 1898; F. Hümmerich, V. da G. und die Entdeckung des Seeswegs nach Ostindien, Munich 1898; Ch. von Rohr, Neue Quellen zur zweiten Indienfahrt V. da G., Leipzig 1939. In addition: Diária da viagem de V. da G. com uma introdução por D. Perea, 2 vols., Porto 1945 (vol. I facsimile of the original codex and transcription. Vol. II critical examination of G. Coutinho’s voyage). Roberto Almagia