Da Gama decided to rest at this location, and the crew, many of whom were suffering from scurvy, spent a month recuperating from their long voyage. Here, they erected a statue to commemorate Portugal and their voyage. They sailed further along the coast, reaching Mozambique in January 1498, and further still until they reached the mouth of the River of Good Omens (now the Zambezi River). Today, this province of South Africa carries the name “ KwaZulu-Natal.” As Christmas approached, da Gama decided to name the coast they were traveling past in honor of the birth of Christ.
They rounded the Cape, and on December 16, they passed the Great Fish River and into territory that no European had sailed into before. The four ships managed to avoid any serious trouble and made several stops along the way, anchoring along the coast and resupplying their vessels with whatever they could find. The expedition was beset by storms, but they did not prove to be much of a problem. Two of them spoke Arabic, and the third spoke a number of Bantu dialects. Also joining the expedition were three interpreters. Accompanying da Gama was his brother Paulo and the famed navigator Bartolomeu Dias, who was the first explorer to round the southern tip of the African continent and provided invaluable advice as they sailed down the western coast of Africa. On July 8, 1497, Vasco da Gama, with a fleet of four ships and 170 men, departed from Lisbon on a journey to round the Cape of Good Hope on the southern tip of Africa, and travel into the Indian Ocean towards the Indian subcontinent. The First Voyage Vasco da Gama’s carrack, the São Gabriel, via His success was rapid and effective, and da Gama gained a reputation as being extremely competent. He was sent to seize French ships that had attacked Portuguese shipping. In 1482, da Gama was given his first mission as a commander. The king invested heavily in the order, and Vasco da Gama’s prospects looked good.
When da Gama came of age, he followed in his father’s footsteps and joined the chivalric Order of Santiago. His father was a household knight who rose through the ranks of civil service, and his mother was part of a well-connected and wealthy family. Vasco da Gama was born into minor nobility in 1460. Vasco da Gama’s Early Life Portrait of Vasco da Gama, via
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