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India: Vasco da Gama lands at Kozhikode (Calicut), May 20, 1498

India: Vasco da Gama lands at Kozhikode (Calicut), May 20, 1498

Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira (1460 or 1469 – 1524) was a Portuguese explorer, one of the most successful in the European Age of Discovery and the commander of the first ships to sail directly from Europe to India. For a short time in 1524 he was Governor of Portuguese India under the title of Viceroy. Painting by Ernesto Casanova, Illustration for Os Lusíadas by Luís de Camões, edition of 1880.