Vasco de, born at Synis, a sea-port in Portugal, was admiral of the fleet which first doubled the Cape of Good Hope in 1497, and arrived on the coast of India. The historians who have transmitted to us his discoveries, have contented themselves with informing us of the facts connected with his first voyage, and the establishment of the Portuguese in India, but they have left us in ignorance of the details of his private life. This is the more to be regretted, as Gama is one of those men who, by important discoveries, have contributed to the prosperity of their country and the increase of human knowledge. The progress of the art of navigation, and the desire of exploring our globes, excited by the prospect of gain, had about this time taken possession of the minds of men; and the success of the expedition of Christopher Columbus had given a fresh stimulus to this spirit of adventure. This extraordinary man had taught navigators the means of conducting themselves with safety across the ocean; and his example had encouraged them to brave all dangers. The Portuguese who, under the guidance of Prince Henry, had been the first to turn their views in this direction, observed with jealousy that the fruits of their researches were about to enrich the Spaniards, and they sought to indemnify themselves by pursuing, with more activity than ever, their discoveries on the side of Africa, in the hope of passing to the south of that continent, and penetrating into India, or into the kingdom of Abyssinia, of which they had acquired some notion by the relations which they maintained with the Moors. As they believed that the inhabitants of this last kingdom were Christians, they gave to the sovereign thereof the name of Prester John, by which people had hitherto designated a powerful prince whom they believed to be Christian, without, however, knowing where his dominions were to be found. It appears, indeed, from what has been said on the subject, that this name has been applied to the great Khan of Tartary, and to the Grand Lama of Tibet, as well as to the king of Abyssinia. The existence of this Christian king was confirmed by Peter of Covilham, who, in 1487, had set out with Alfonso de Paiva, in order to reach India by the Red Sea. The latter, however, proceeded to Abyssinia, where he remained some time, but he died soon after his return to Cairo. Having visited Goa, Cananor, Calicut, and acquired some knowledge of the coast of Sofala, situated in the canal of Mozambique, Covilham, on returning to Cairo, found the narrative of Paiva's voyage, which he transmitted to Portugal, together with an account of what he had himself done. He descended the Red Sea a second time, touched at Ormus, and lastly penetrated into Abyssinia, where he was detained during twenty years. His first voyage had been conceived on a very wise plan; and the information which he procured put him in a condition to enter the Indian Seas, with the certainty of deriving great advantages from such an enterprise, if it should only be found practicable to pass to the south of the continent of Africa. In fact, some knowledge had already been obtained of great cities in India, abounding in wealth derived from commerce; and it was also known that, on the eastern coast of Africa, at a great distance from the places where the Indian Sea might be entered, were commercial nations, amongst whom it would be possible to refit and procure pilots for proceeding further. Bartolomeo Diaz, having sailed from Lisbon in 1486, proceeded in search of the southern extremity of Africa, and had the good fortune to discover it. The storms which he had encountered, however, induced him to designate the promontory by which the African continent is terminated, the Cape of Tempests; but this name was changed by the king of Portugal into that of the Cape of Good Hope, with the intention of obviating the unfavourable impression likely to be produced by a sinister name. Diaz returned to Lisbon in December 1487. There seemed now to be no obstacle calculated to prevent navigators entering the Indian Sea; but daring enterprises remain long in suspense, until men are found capable of carrying them into execution. It was not until five years after the discovery of the New World by Columbus, and ten years after that of the Cape of Good Hope by Diaz, that Emanuel king of Portugal resolved to send a fleet into India, and chose as its commander a gentleman of his own household, named Vasco de Gama, already known by his prudence, firmness, and ability in navigation.

The expedition destined for this great enterprise consisted of three vessels, having on board as crews a hundred and sixty men. Vasco de Gama sailed from the Tagus on the 8th of July 1497. He first shaped his course towards the Cape de Verd Islands, which he doubled, and making his way to the southward, anchored in the bay of St. Helena, situated on the western coast of Africa, at a little distance to the north of the Cape of Good Hope. On the 16th of November he quitted this bay, and in two days after arrived at the extremity of Africa; but in attempting to make his way to the eastward, his little squadron had to contend with the south-eastern monsoon, which blows almost continually during that season of the year, and generally with great impetuosity. His crews, discouraged by the boisterous weather, attempted to force him to return; but he managed to allay their mutinous despondence, and by his firmness succeeded in overcoming all obstacles. He made to the eastward along the southern coast of Africa, stood in to the bay of St Blaise, and, on the 17th of December, arrived at the rock of Cruz, where Diaz had terminated his discoveries. It is at this point where the eastern coast of Africa begins to trend towards the north, and here the Portuguese for the first time entered the Indian Sea. Vasco de Gama, whose intention it was to go in quest of the countries which had been visited by Covilham, kept in sight of land; he proceeded northward, and several times sent his people to visit places where he observed inhabitants. He also went ashore himself as often as the population appeared considerable; but not finding any people who could give him information, he continued his voyage, passed the Cape of Currents, situated nearly under the tropics, and advanced beyond the coast of Sofala, including the city of that name, where Covilham was believed to have touched, but without discovering any establishment which could induce him to stop. At length, in one of the first days of March 1498, he anchored before the city of Mozambique, then inhabited by Moors or Mahommedan Arabs, who lived under the authority of a prince of their religion, and carried on a considerable trade with the Red Sea and the Indies. The hope of trafficking with the new-comers procured the Portuguese a favourable reception; but as soon as it became known that they were Christians, snares were laid for them, with the intention of massacring them. Obliged to withdraw from the perfidy of these fanatics, Gama set out from Mozambique, and sailed northward, along the coast for Quiloa, conducted by a pilot of Mozambique, whom he had carried along with him; but having approached the land to the north of that city, the currents prevented him from returning southward, and accordingly he veered away towards Monbaze, still following the line of the coast. This city, which was better built than Mozambique, and carried on a more extensive commerce, was also inhabited by Mahommedan Moors, who evinced the same hostility towards the Portuguese as those of Mozambique had done. Gama therefore withdrew without obtaining anything, and advancing eighteen leagues further, reached Melinda, which is only three degrees south of the equator. Here he was more fortunate. Although this city was also peopled with Mussulmans, commerce appeared to have softened their manners; the prince of the country gave the strangers a most favourable reception, and went on board the Portuguese squadron, where he was received with the greatest honours. At this place Gama obtained a pilot, one of the most skilful navigators of the country, called Malemo-Cana, an Indian of Guzerat, to conduct him to Calicut; and having left Melinda, he, in twenty-three days, reached the coast of Malabar, and cast anchor before Calicut on the 20th of May 1498. Here Gama, as his custom was, sent ashore several of the convicts he carried along with him, accompanied by a Moor who happened to be on board his fleet, and who fortunately discovered a countryman of his own who was then in attendance at the court of Calicut. They were favourably received by the prince or zamorin, who granted the Portuguese permission to enter the port, and consented to receive Gama with the same honours which he rendered to the ambassadors of the greatest monarchs. But this good understanding was soon interrupted. The Mahommedan Moors and Arabs, inflamed with a fierce and bigoted hatred of all Christians, represented the strangers to the zamorin as pirates, who came to disturb the tranquillity of his dominions, with the intention of pillaging them. Distrust and suspicion were thus excited in the mind of the prince; and at length a plot was formed to burn the Portuguese ships and massacre their crews. Apprised of this design by Malemo-Cana, the pilot who had conducted him to Calicut, Gama, who had gone ashore, sent intelligence to his brother Paul de Gama, to be on his guard, and at the same time to keep a considerable offing; and having, by a rare mixture of firmness and address, managed to withdraw his people in safety, he immediately set sail, and having repaired his vessels at the Angedive Isles, situated on the coast to the north of Calicut, he proceeded on his return to Europe. In passing Melinda, he took on board an ambassador of the prince of that country, the only friend whom the Portuguese had yet acquired in India; and coasting along the African continent in the opposite direction to that which he had followed in the voyage outwards, he doubled the Cape of Good Hope in the month of March 1499, and arrived at Lisbon in the September following, after an absence of more than two years. The king, Emanuel, received Gama with the greatest magnificence, celebrated his return with festivities, gave him the title of Dom, and created him admiral of the Indies.

A second Portuguese fleet was immediately fitted out, and sent to India under the command of Alvarez Cabral, who succeeded in establishing a factory at Calicut; but in his absence the Portuguese were massacred at the instigation of the Moors. Cabral, however, managed to obtain the friendship of the king of Cochin, with whom he contracted an alliance; but the reports made by him on his return convinced Emanuel that he would never succeed in establishing the Portuguese power in India except by open force. A more considerable armament was accordingly fitted out, consisting of twenty vessels, which were divided into three squadrons, the most numerous of which, consisting of ten ships, sailed under the conduct of Gama, whilst the two others, of five each, under the orders of Vincent de Sodre and Stephen de Gama, left Portugal separately, with instructions to effect a junction in India. In this expedition Gama spread the terror of the Portuguese name along the whole eastern coast of Africa; formed establishments at Mozambique and Sofala; punished the zamorin and people of Calicut for their meditated treachery during the former voyage; renewed the treaty which Cabral had concluded with the king of Cochin; and, in conjunction with Albuquerque, founded the port and factory of Cochin, the first of the Portuguese settlements in India, and the cradle of their power in the east. They began by violence, and nothing but the heroic and enterprising spirit with which they were animated could have enabled them to perform the prodigies of valour by which they signalised their proceedings, and triumphed over every effort made for their expulsion. Gama left the squadron of Vincent de Sodre on the coast of Malabar, and returned to Lisbon, where he arrived on the 20th December 1503, with thirteen ships. His title of Admiral of the Indies was now confirmed, and the king added to it that of Conde de Videgueyra.

Vasco de Gama, covered with glory, now remained in absolute repose during the long period of twenty years. At length the court of Portugal having, in 1524, come to the resolution of appointing a viceroy of India, Vasco de Gama was the first person invested with that dignity. But he died soon after his arrival at Cochin, where his body was deposited until 1558, at which period it was transported to Portugal, where John III. caused the greatest honours to be paid to it. Gama was a man of the middle height, extremely corpulent, and with a red and inflamed visage, which, under the excitement of passion, assumed an expression of downright ferocity. In too many instances, particularly during his second voyage, he allowed himself to be betrayed into an excess of cruelty as impolitic as it was unrelenting; but it is nevertheless just to add, that this may in part at least be attributed to the harsh and severe manners of the times in which he lived. The history of his discovery of India has been transmitted to us by Barros, in his Decades, printed at Lisbon in 1628, and also by Hernan Lopez de Castanheda, in an extended account of the conquests of the Portuguese in the East Indies. In the Collection of Ramusio, in the works of Faria y Sousa, and in the history of Lafitau, the reader will also find detailed narratives of this memorable event in the Portuguese annals. All the world knows that Camoes made it the subject of his Lusiad.