Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope toward India
On this day · 22 November 1497
On November 22, 1497, Vasco da Gama rounded Africa's southern tip, opening the first sea route from Europe to India.
On November 22, 1497, the Portuguese commander Vasco da Gama steered his small fleet around the Cape of Good Hope, the storm-lashed southern tip of Africa, and turned his bows toward the unknown waters of the Indian Ocean.
Da Gama had sailed from Lisbon on July 8, 1497 with four ships, pushing far out into the Atlantic to catch favorable winds before swinging back to the African coast. Rounding the cape was the hard part; nine years earlier Bartolomeu Dias had reached it but turned back. Da Gama pressed on, reaching India at Calicut on May 20, 1498.
For the first time, Europe and Asia were joined by an unbroken sea road.
The voyage cracked open the lucrative spice trade and reshaped global commerce, handing Portugal a maritime advantage that would last for generations.
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