Vasco da Gama arrives in India. Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama landed in Calicut on the Malabar Coast, the first European to reach India by sea. Da Gama had departed from Lisbon in July 1497 and, after rounding the Cape of Good Hope, stopped at Malindi, on the east coast of Africa. From there, he set out again to cross the Indian Ocean, aided by an Indian merchant he had met. Da Gama was not welcomed by Calicut’s Muslim merchants and in 1499 barely managed to set sail on his return journey. In 1502, he led a squadron of ships to Calicut to avenge the massacre of Portuguese explorers and succeeded in subduing the population. In 1524, he was sent as viceroy to India, but fell ill and died in Cochin.
