(1460-1524) Vasco da Gama was a Portuguese navigator who discovered a new sea route to the East around the tip of Africa's Cape of Good Hope. His first voyage reached Calcutta in 1498, but he was prevented from establishing a Portuguese base there by hostile Muslim traders who controlled the area. On his second voyage in 1502, he scored a decisive victory over Muslim forces at Calcutta and solidified the Portuguese hold on the area. King John III, impressed with da Gama's successes, nominated him in 1524 as Portuguese viceroy in India. The explorer died in Cochin later that year.
