EXPLORER

Vasco da Gama

1460 - 1524

Photo of Vasco da Gama

Icon of person Vasco da Gama

Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira (; European Portuguese: [ˈvaʃku ðɐ ˈɣɐ̃mɐ]; c. 1460s – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and nobleman who was the first European to reach India by sea. His initial voyage to India by way of Cape of Good Hope (1497–1499) was the first to link Europe and Asia by an ocean route, connecting the Atlantic and the Indian oceans. This was a milestone in Portuguese maritime exploration as and marked the beginning of a sea-based phase of globalization. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Vasco da Gama has received more than 9,206,815 page views. His biography is available in 162 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 154 in 2019). Vasco da Gama is the 4th most popular explorer, the 2nd most popular biography from Portugal and the 2nd most popular Portuguese Explorer.

Vasco da Gama is most famous for being the first European to sail around Africa to India.

Memorability Metrics

  • 9.2M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 89.42

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 162

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 19.14

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 4.35

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among EXPLORERS

Among explorers, Vasco da Gama ranks 4 out of 498. Before him are Marco Polo, Christopher Columbus, and Ferdinand Magellan. After him are Amerigo Vespucci, Ibn Battuta, Roald Amundsen, Bartolomeu Dias, Hernán Cortés, James Cook, Zheng He, and Francis Drake.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1460, Vasco da Gama ranks 1. After him are Juan Ponce de León, Vicente Yáñez Pinzón, Johann Tetzel, Tristão da Cunha, Lorenzo Costa, Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples, Bartholomew Columbus, Andrea Solari, Juan de la Cosa, Konstanty Ostrogski, and Tilman Riemenschneider. Among people deceased in 1524, Vasco da Gama ranks 1. After him are Ismail I, Giulia Farnese, Claude of France, Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, Joachim Patinir, Marko Marulić, Isabella of Aragon, Duchess of Milan, Andrea Solari, Salaì, Pierre Terrail, seigneur de Bayard, and Hans Holbein the Elder.

Others Born in 1460

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Others Deceased in 1524

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In Portugal

Among people born in Portugal, Vasco da Gama ranks 2 out of 633. Before him are Ferdinand Magellan (1480). After him are Bartolomeu Dias (1450), Anthony of Padua (1195), José Saramago (1922), Cristiano Ronaldo (1985), António de Oliveira Salazar (1889), António Guterres (1949), Prince Henry the Navigator (1394), Pedro Álvares Cabral (1467), Fernando Pessoa (1888), and Luís de Camões (1524).

Others born in Portugal

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Among EXPLORERS In Portugal

Among explorers born in Portugal, Vasco da Gama ranks 2. Before him are Ferdinand Magellan (1480). After him are Bartolomeu Dias (1450), Prince Henry the Navigator (1394), Pedro Álvares Cabral (1467), Diogo Cão (1440), Diogo Dias (1450), Diego Columbus (1479), Tristão da Cunha (1460), João Gonçalves Zarco (1390), Fernão Mendes Pinto (1509), and Pedro Fernandes de Queirós (1565).

Portuguese born Explorers

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