Vasco da Gama Reaches India: Global Trade Opens
Vasco da Gama drops anchor in Kozhikode, shattering the Venetian monopoly on spice trade and compelling European powers to sail directly around Africa for Asian goods. This arrival launches a century of Portuguese naval dominance in the Indian Ocean that transforms global commerce and redraws the map of colonial empires.
May 20, 1498
528 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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