Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira, was a Portuguese explorer and the first European to reach India by sea.
Anonymous portrait, c. 1525
Bronze statue of Vasco da Gama at his birthplace, Sines, Portugal
Vasco da Gama leaving the port of Lisbon, Portugal
Monument to the Cross of Vasco da Gama at the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa
History of Portugal (1415–1578)
The history of the Kingdom of Portugal from the Illustrious Generation of the early 15th century to the fall of the House of Aviz in the late 16th century has been named the "Portuguese golden age" and the "Portuguese Renaissance". During this period, Portugal was the first European power to begin building a colonial empire as during the Age of Exploration Portuguese sailors and explorers discovered an eastern route to India as well as several Atlantic archipelagos and colonized the African coast and Brazil. They also explored the Indian Ocean and established trading routes throughout most of southern Asia, sending the first direct European maritime trade and diplomatic missions to Ming China and to Japan, at the same time installing trading posts and the most important colony: Portuguese Macau. The Portuguese Renaissance produced a plethora of poets, historians, critics, theologians, and moralists. The Cancioneiro Geral by Garcia de Resende is taken to mark the transition from Old Portuguese to the modern Portuguese language.
Prince Henry, the Navigator
Conquest of Tangier in 1471, from the Pastrana series of tapestries
King Afonso V of Portugal
The Padrão dos Descobrimentos ("Monument to the Discoveries") in Lisbon