Vasco da Gama died on 24 December 1524 in Kochi, aged about 55. A Portuguese explorer, da Gama was chosen by King Manuel I to lead a fleet to India. He sailed around the Cape of Good Hope in 1497 and arrived at Calicut on the Malabar coast in May 1498, opening the first direct sea route from Europe to Asia. The voyage let Portugal enter the spice trade and break the Arab and Venetian control of it. He returned to India in 1502 with a large fleet and used force against ships and towns, and in 1524 he was sent back as viceroy of Portuguese India. He died in Cochin soon after arriving.
Before and after
- from 26 June 1522 to 22 December 1522Siege of Rhodes
- from 27 August 1522 to 6 May 1523Knights' War
- 6 September 1522Magellan's expedition completes the first circumnavigation
- from 1524 to 1525German Peasants' War
- 24 December 1524Death of Vasco da Gama
- 1525Birth of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
- from 1525 to 1947Prussia
- 1525Birth of Pieter Brueghel the Elder
- from 1526 to 1857Mughal Empire
More in Exploration & discovery
- 22 February 1512Death of Amerigo Vespucci
- from 10 August 1519 to 8 September 1522Magellan-Elcano expedition
- 28 January 1596Death of Francis Drake
- 1603Birth of Abel Tasman
- 24 November 1605Janszoon voyage of 1606
- May 1607Jamestown
The era
This moment belongs to the Early modern world (1500 CE to 1760 CE), voyages, printing and new ideas. You can also browse everything in the 16th century.