Gabriel, the flag-ship commanded by Vasco da Gama S. As the captain-major of the journey, Gama commanded four ships towards India, filled with around 170 men. His journey started from the coastal village of Restelo near Lisbon in Portugal on Saturday, 8 th July 1497. Vasco da Gama started his voyage towards India with the support of Dom Manuel (r.1495-1521), the king of Portugal. In this regard, this text provides a European eyewitness account of Indian courtly culture and south India’s socio-economic and religious conditions at the turn of the 15 th century.

Driven by his commercial interests, da Gama made attempts to understand the ways of the land and its peopl e. Here, Gama was given a warm reception by the Zamorin ( samoodiri ), the ruler of Calicut. After eleven months of journey, he landed on the western coast of the Indian peninsula, in present-day Kerala, on May 20, 1498. Throughout the voyage, da Gama tried his best to establish a good relationship with kings, chiefs, common people, local merchants, and also with the Muslim (Moor) merchants on the African Coasts and on the islands. Ravenstein’s English translation, I summarize the pages in the manuscript which convey the experience and perceptions of da Gama in the region today known as Kerala. Prabu gives us a snapshot of the events that eventually determined the course of European colonialism in the Indian subcontinent.Ī Journal of the First Voyage of Vasco da Gama in 1497-1499 1 is a travelogue originally written in Portuguese by an anonymous author who had accompanied Vasco da Gama. Drawing from the translation of an anonymous, first-hand account of Vasco da Gama’s historical visit to present-day Kerala, B.

Picture of vasco da gama