Late Middle Ages · Europe · Exploration
1497
Vasco da Gama Departs Lisbon
July 8, 1497
Four small ships carrying one hundred seventy men left the Tagus with orders to reach India by sea. Da Gama carried an Arab pilot, samples of trade goods thought suitable for sophisticated markets, and a lingering sixteenth-century assumption that he could bluff his way across the Indian Ocean. He was partially right.
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Also in 1497 (3 other events on record)
- Cabot Reaches North America · North America · Exploration
- Bonfire of the Vanities · Europe · Religion
- Cornish Rising · Europe · Politics
Before and after in Europe
Before and after in Exploration
Era
Late Middle Ages (1301–1500), one of 874 events from that era on Saeculum.
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