Vasco Da gama sailed for Prince Henry of Portugal.He was born in Sines, Alentejo, SW Portugal and was a well known explorer. Da gama was born in 1469. The "da" prefix in Da gama  suggests that he was Portuguese. His first name Vasco suggest that he might also be of an Basque origin.

 

     Vasco Da gama led the expedition which discovered the route to India round the Cape of Good Hope and in 1502 led a squadron of ships to Calicut to avenge the murder of a group of Portuguese explorers left there by Cabral. In 1524 he was sent as viceroy to India, but he soon fell ill, and died at Cochin. Then he died on December 24, 1524 and was brought home to Portugal.

 

 

 

Da gama was in route to many different places. He extended the sea route exploration of his predecessor Bartolomeu Dias, who had first rounded Africa's Cape of Good Hope in 1488, taking a generation of Portuguese sea exploration fostered by the school of Henry the Navigator. Da Gama's exploration was successful in establishing a sea route from Europe to India that would permit trade with the Far East, without the use of the costly and unsafe Silk Road caravan routes, of the Middle East and Central Asia.

              His journey led directly to a several-hundred year era of European sailing through sea power and commerce, and 450 years of Portuguese colonialism in India that brought wealth and power to the Portuguese throne. He found jewels, spices, and silks during his exploration.

     Vasco Da gama discovered a trade route people can use to trace his tracks. Possibly for research.