So, what is the story of Vasco da Gama? What did he do to arouse such contrasting and extraordinary responses? Leading 18th century economist and philosopher Adam Smith looked upon his voyage as one of the two most important events that shaped the modern world: “The discovery of America and that of a passage to the East Indies by the Cape of Good Hope are the two greatest and most important events recorded in the history of mankind.” Indian historian K M Panikkar called the period 1497-1947 as the Vasco Da Gama epoch of Asian history. In all these four histories, he is bound to figure in very important roles.
These multiple and contrasting perspectives can only be explained by the fact that Vasco da Gama left his stamp on four different histories - of Portugal, of modern Europe, of modern India, and also of modern world. “This undertaking Vasco da Gama faithfully carried out, and to this day we enjoy the fruits of his labour.” The same European source goes on to credit da Gama for undertaking to save Europe from barbarism. It was he who taught Europe how to conquer and how to hold the East.” Many Europeans still look upon him as “one of the chief saviour of our modern civilisation. The Indian records are generally silent on him. After da Gama’s arrival, the Portuguese destroyed the Arab navigation and eliminated their trade. Before Vasco da Gama’s discovery of the European route to India, the Arab merchants enjoyed a monopoly of trade in the Indian Ocean. In the Arab records, he is clearly a villain, for good reasons.
In a survey done in Portugal in the 1980s, on the most admired person in Portuguese history, Vasco da Gama topped the list, getting nearly 60 per cent of the votes. The Portuguese records praise him to the sky. Different records and data speak very differently about him. Given the mist surrounding da Gama, it is quite likely that he will go on living these many lives. The other lives have been constructed for him by historians from different parts of the world. One was his individual life as he lived it, about which we know very little. Vasco da Gama, the Portuguese sailor who came to India in 1498, lived many lives. SALIL MISRA attempts to analyse the Portuguese sailor who also evoked contrasting and extraordinary responses Vasco da Gama’s unprecedented feat of navigating from Lisbon in Portugal to Calicut in India, connecting Europe with Asia through sea route, was an event that came to have momentous, long-term consequences for the modern world.
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