VASCO DA GAMA

Vasco Da Gama holds a key place in the history of the World largely for his temerity to explore a sea route to India all the way from  Portugual and being successful at it.   Leaving  Lisbon in the July of 1497 and reaching Calicut in the May of  1498 almost ten months braving the sea and largely following a hunch. Somewhere this link established by Vasco Da Gama was the forerunner of many events that would unfold in this part of the world bringing in European colonization of India ; good and bad in many ways for the Indian subcontinent. Somewhere it must be pointed out  that for several years the route followed or created by Vasco Da Gama was the maritime highway for europeans urging to visit India.

If one studies Europe one would see many surprises and eventualities. Somewhere Europe seems to me to be a hotbed of conflict and conflicts dwelling on various axes. It is only now that Europe is coming closer and getting better knit and for good and had this happened many centuries ago the progress of the world would have borne a more endearing and prosperous tone. Europe needs to understand this sooner the better. Europe is composed of several small countries somewhere bordering the Mediterranean (and an instant remnant of the Roman empire) facing cold weather and a dispersed population and in such a set-up has a favorable ground for economic distress. And we see it today too.

Why was Vasco Da Gama desperate to discover a sea route to India. The embargo imposed on the land route by the Turks put the European economy into deep distress. The trade of spices over Europe was a key activity which employed many into sources of income and economic gains and discovery of a sea link to India would re-ignite the spice trade which lay sullen due to the blockade of the land route. The sooner they discovered the better off they would be. It appears to me that Vason Da Gama analysed various maps of the day and had a faint idea of how a sea link between Europe and India would look like. He planned to skirt the African coast on leaving Portugual and head upwards to a vantage point where from travel straight Eastwards and he could hit the Indian coast and he was right. Possibly guided by magnetic compasses he made a success of the final lap of his journey travelling straight eastwards until he hit the Indian coast a risky journey by many standards as you are far away from land with little breather in the event of some irregularity. Vasco Da Gama had three ships with him and 170 people and he touched some 18 kilometers north  of Calicut. Must have been very eventful in many ways and the Zamorin of   Calicut who was away at Ponnani heads to meet the visitors. 

The spirit of Vasco Da Gama needs to be appreciated largely his firm belief that a sea route to India was plausible. Various other Europeans use this route thereafter virtually flooding the western coast of India with their occupation and enterprise entering into conflicts and alliances in an attempt to displace one another and take control of the spice trade for themselves.What happenned in europe of those times replicated itself in far-off India.

Why did I choose to write about Vasco Da Gama ? Firstly something is amiss about the way his name is treated and looked upon by various stake holders of his momemtous journey. More than anything else I find not much enthusiasm for  his name or what he did at Calicut itself and the place where he landed in calicut assuming a callous reaction. Many who visit calicut I presume fail or are not enthusiastic about visiting the Kappad beach where he set foot. His first step on land at Calicut has momentous and far -reaching implications. When Neil Armstrong landed on the moon he said " a step for man ..but a giant leap for mankind" and similarly it could be said " a step for Vasco Da Gama ..but a giant leap for Europe of his times". It is said that the subsequent relation between the Portuguese and the local rulers soared leading to many wars and the invaders progressing southwards into cochin and northwards toward Goa for their future ventures. However I believe it is time to turn a blind eye to unsavory incidents and to look with sagacity the arduous journey that this sailor undertook transforming without retreat the fundamental equations of this part of the world and that the name of Vasco Da Gama would not just remain idle in the text books of the land and that any person who makes a visit to the place called Calicut facilitate himself into visiting this place where he once landed after a 10 month voyage facing the rough seas and spend a moment of solitude reminiscing the efforts of this man and his persistence which would be a tribute to the adventurous spirit of mankind as a whole and the verve of a portuguese sailor who bet all odds and the skeptics into finding a sea-route to this great land.