During his journey to India, he killed hundreds of Muslims to show their power over the trade route ("Vasco da Gama - A Portuguese Explorer"). He also went to claim land in India during his second expedition.
His main goal for this journey was to enforce Portuguese interests in the East. Therefore, da Gama realized he needed more sailors and ships to obtain more goods from India.ĭa Gama's second voyage was carried out in 1502, and he took 20 ships and 400 passengers with him. Scurvy is a disease that is caused by lack of vitamin C ("Scurvy"). When he sailed back to Portugal, he was left with two ships and only 54 sailors survived while most of them were dead from scurvy (Szalay). However, Indians were not very satisfied with the goods he was offering them, which strained the relationship between the two countries. After all, he brought back Asian products and spices by trading them for trinkets. Also, three experienced pilots, Pedro de Alemquer, Joao de Coimbra, and Pero de Escolar, helped da Gama's first expedition by sailing the ships. With the help of Prince Henry's support of navigational instruments, such as a compass, an astrolabe, and a compass rose, Da Gama's exploration became more efficient ("Vasco Da Gama"). He made few stops along Africa, which caused some troubles with the Muslim traders who did not want any other people to interfere with their already profitable trade routes. Luckily, da Gama took the privilege of the monsoon wind and reached India in less than a year ("Vasco Da Gama Facts"). Vasco da Gama left for India on Jwith four ships and about 170 sailors with the aim of finding a direct trade route to India. Da Gama had sailed twice to India because of two reasons (Winser). Prince Henry also supported his exploration by working with a group of mapmakers, geographers, astronomers, and navigators. However, in 1487, Bartolomeu Dias, a Portuguses explorer, found out that the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean were actually connected, which led to the start of da Gama's exploration. Therefore, they thought it woul d not be possible for da Gama to explore. They thought Indian Ocean was not connected to any other seas.
Vasco da Gama's exploration did not start very smoothly because some people disagreed with the journey.
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