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| A painting of Vasco Da Gama's first arrival in Calicut, India in 1498 by Roque Gameiro (1864–1935), from the National Library of Portugal. It shows him being welcomed by an Indian ruler of the region or his representative at that time. |
The port city of Vasco da Gama in Goa is named after him, as is the crater Vasco da Gama on the Moon. There are three football clubs in Brazil (including Club de Regatas Vasco da Gama) and Vasco Sports Club in Goa that were also named after him. There exists a church in Kochi, Kerala called Vasco da Gama Church, and a private residence on the island of Saint Helena. The suburb of Vasco in Cape Town also honours him. The Portuguese Navy has a class of frigates named after him. There are three Vasco da Gama class frigates in total, of which the first one also bears his name. [Wikipedia]
Indian education taught every student that Vasco Da Gama was the first European voyager who found a sea route from Europe to India in 1498. He was portrayed in a halo of greatness, with nothing negative about him. Due to research In recent years, details of his ruthless battles to colonize the southwestern coast of India (Kerala and Goa) and barbaric cruelties unleashed on Indians have emerged. Here are some details from his second visit to India as commander of the 4th India Armada, excerpted from Wikipedia:
𝐏𝐢𝐥𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐦 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭
On reaching India in October 1502, da Gama's fleet intercepted Mirim,[33] a ship of Muslim pilgrims at Madayi travelling from Calicut to Mecca. Described in detail by eyewitness Thomé Lopes and chronicler Gaspar Correia, da Gama looted the ship with over 400 pilgrims on board including 50 women, locked in the passengers, the owner, and an ambassador from Egypt and burned them to death. They offered their wealth, which "could ransom all the Christian slaves in the Kingdom of Fez and much more" but were not spared. Da Gama looked on through the porthole and saw the women bringing up their gold and jewels and holding up their babies to beg for mercy.[34] The lives of twenty children were spared against a forced conversion to Christianity[33]
𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐭
After stopping at Cannanore, Gama drove his fleet before Calicut, demanding redress for the treatment of Cabral. Having known of the fate of the pilgrims' ship, the Zamorin adopted a conciliatory attitude towards the Portuguese and expressed willingness to sign a new treaty but da Gama made a call to the Hindu king to expel all Muslims from Calicut before beginning negotiations, which was turned down.[35] At the same time however, the Zamorin sent a message to his rebellious vassal, the Raja of Cochin urging cooperation and obedience to counter the Portuguese threat; the ruler of Cochin forwarded this message to Gama, which reinforced his opinion of the Indians as duplicitous.[36] After demanding the expulsion of Muslims from Calicut to the Hindu Zamorin, the latter sent the high priest Talappana Namboothiri (the very same person who conducted da Gama to the Zamorin's chamber during his much celebrated first visit to Calicut in May 1498) for talks. Da Gama called him a spy, ordered the priest's lips and ears to be cut off and after sewing a pair of dog's ears to his head, sent him away.[37] The Portuguese fleet then bombarded the unfortified city for nearly two days from the sea, severely damaging it. He also captured several rice vessels and cut off the crew's hands, ears and noses, dispatching them with a note to the Zamorin, in which Gama declared that he would be open to friendly relations once the Zamorin had paid for the items plundered from the feitoria as well as the gunpowder and cannonballs.