On This Day

Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama departs on his first voyage and becomes the first European to reach India by sea

Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama departs on his first voyage and becomes the first European to reach India by sea

Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama departs on his first voyage and becomes the first European to reach India by sea

Key People

Vasco da Gama

explorer

Portuguese explorer

Events Before

  1. Leonardo da Vinci unsuccessfully tests a flying machine

    Leonardo da Vinci unsuccessfully tests a flying machine

  2. Joanna of Aragon marries Philip of Flanders, future King Philip I of Castile

    Joanna of Aragon marries Philip of Flanders, future King Philip I of Castile

  3. English King Henry VII grants John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto) a commission to explore for new lands

    John Cabot was an Italian navigator and explorer. His 1497 voyage to the coast of North America under the commission of Henry VII, King of England is the earliest known European exploration of...

  4. Jews are expelled from Carintha, Austria

    Jews are expelled from Carintha, Austria

  5. Jews are expelled from Syria

    Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian...

Events After

  1. Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama arrives in Calicut, India, becoming the first European to reach India by sea

    Vasco da Gama ( VAS-koo də GA (H)M-ə, European Portuguese: [ˈvaʃku ðɐ ˈɣɐmɐ]; c. 1460s – 24 December 1524) was a Portuguese mariner, explorer and nobleman.

  2. Cesare Borgia, son of Pope Alexander IV, 1st man to resign the cardinalate marries Charlotte d'Albret of Navarre

    Cesare Borgia, son of Pope Alexander IV, 1st man to resign the cardinalate marries Charlotte d'Albret of Navarre

  3. Crowd storms Savonarola's convent San Marco Florence, Italy

    Crowd storms Savonarola's convent San Marco Florence, Italy

  4. Jews are expelled from Nuremberg, Bavaria, by Emperor Maximillian

    Jews are expelled from Nuremberg, Bavaria, by Emperor Maximillian

  5. Charles VIII dies

    Charles VIII dies

More from the 1490s

Frequently Asked Questions

What happened on July 8, 1497?
Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama departs on his first voyage and becomes the first European to reach India by sea
Who was involved in Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama departs on his first voyage and becomes th...?
Key figures include Vasco da Gama (explorer).

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