On the day after we had cast anchor, that is to say on Thursday (November 9), we landed with the captain-major, and made captive one of the natives, who was small of stature like Sancho Mexia. The climate is healthy and temperate, and produces good herbage. The birds of the country, likewise, are the same as in Portugal, and include cormorants, gulls, turtle doves, crested larks, and many others. Their numerous dogs resemble those of Portugal, and bark like them. They are armed with poles of olive wood to which a horn, browned in the fire, is attached. They are dressed in skins, and wear sheaths over their virile members. Their food is confined to the flesh of seals, whales and gazelles, and the roots of herbs.

The inhabitants of this country are tawny-colored. It comes from the interior (sertao), is about a stone’s throw across at the mouth, and from two to three fathoms in depth at all states of the tide. Thiago) enters the bay four leagues to the S.E. On Wednesday (November 8) we cast anchor in this bay, and we remained there eight days, cleaning the ships, mending the sails, and taking in wood. It extended east and west, and we named it Santa Helena. The bay was found to be very clean, and to afford shelter against all winds except those from the N.W. The captain-major sent Pero d’Alenquer in a boat to take soundings and to search for good anchoring ground. On Tuesday (November 7) we returned to the land, which we found to be low, with a broad bay opening into it. Round Africa to India, 1497-1498 CEġ497 The Bay of St. His expedition turned the commerce of Europe from the Mediterranean cities to the Atlantic Coast, and opened up the east to European enterprise. Vasco da Gama was sent on a mission of vengeance in 1502, he bombarded Calicut (virtually destroying the port), and returned with great spoil. A force left by a second expedition under Cabral (who discovered Brazil by sailing too far west), left behind some men in a “factory” or trading station, but these were killed by the Moors in revenge for Cabral’s attacks on Arab shipping in the Indian Ocean. The Moors in Calicut instigated the Zamorin of Calicut against him, and he was compelled to return with the bare discovery and the few spices he had bought there at inflated prices.

They set sail July 8, 1497, rounded the Cape of Good Hope four months later, and reached Calicut May 20, 1498.

Both Prince John and Prince Manuel continued the efforts of Prince Henry to find a sea route to India, and in 1497 Manuel placed Vasco da Gama, who already had some reputation as a warrior and navigator, in charge of four vessels built especially for the expedition. Vasco da Gama was born about 1460 at Sines, Portugal.

What nation did vasco da gama represent