Historical person
Vasco da Gama
c. 1460s–1524
Vasco da Gama was the Portuguese navigator whose 1497–1499 voyage opened a direct European sea route from the Atlantic around the Cape of Good Hope to India.
Da Gama returned to India in 1502 with a heavily armed fleet and used coercion and violence as Portugal sought to force its way into regional trade. He was appointed viceroy of Portuguese India in 1524 and died soon after reaching Cochin.
Roger Crowley’s Conquerors places Vasco da Gama at the opening of Portugal’s violent push into the Indian Ocean. His 1497 voyage around the Cape of Good Hope establishes the sea route to India; his later return with an armed fleet shows how quickly exploration became coercive commercial and military policy. Crowley uses da Gama’s expeditions to explain the transition from Atlantic navigation to an imperial system built around fortified ports, naval force and control of long-distance trade.
Non Fiction
Non Fiction featuring Vasco da Gama (1 book)
Biographies, histories and other non-fiction are listed separately from the historical novels above.