It helped the Portuguese rulers revive their economy, which until then relied heavily on trade with coastal Africa. Starting with spices like pepper and cinnamon, the Portuguese traders gradually diversified into other products, cementing a commercial monopoly. Gama's discovery heralded a new age of European imperialism in Asia. The next three centuries, however, were noted for the struggle among the Europeans for the monopoly of spice trade with India, especially Malabar, which was known as the “land of pepper”
It helped the Portuguese avoid the Mediterranean, the Persian Gulf and the Arabian peninsula and ensure monopoly over the lucrative spice trade.
Gama’s new route opened up a wide range of possibilities. Pepper and other spices were denied to the Europeans by the Arabs. The occupation of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks in 1453 had shut the European trade routes to India. With his voyage, Gama showed the western world the immense possibilities of trade with the east. He set sail from Lisbon on July 8, 1497, and braving several hardships, managed to reach the Malabar coast on May 20, 1498. Several expeditions were mounted to open up a new route to the east, and Gama, with his proven seafaring capability, was among the chosen ones to lead one of those. Spice trade with the east was one of their prime targets. The Portuguese kings at the time were in search of newer options to build up the royal treasury in order to reduce their dependence on the feudal nobility. Gama was born in 1460 as the third son of Estêvão da Gama, a minor provincial nobleman, who was commander of the fortress of Sines, a coastal town in Alentejo province in southwestern Portugal. Historians describe Gama’s arrival as an entente cordial that allowed the east and the west to meet without an intermediary. Gama started from Lisbon in 1497 and reached Panthalayani Kollam, a port on the Malabar coast near Calicut, after sailing for ten and a half months.Īccording to Adam Smith, “the two greatest incidents in world history” are the discovery of America by Columbus and the finding of the new sea route to India by Gama. He discovered a new sea route from Europe to the far east around the Cape of Good Hope on the southern tip of Africa.
Vasco da Gama is known as the hero of the age of discoveries, the European historical era from the 15th to 18th centuries.
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