When Sanjay visited Vidigueira in 1994, a member of the family that owns the estate told him that the Except that it is not quite certain that they were his real remains. So on the 400th anniversary of Vasco Da Gama's arrival in Calicut in 1898, his real remains were similarly transported and reburied with ceremony. Francisco was distinguished, having twice been Viceroy of (Portuguese) India, but not distinguished enough. Before long, however, it was discovered that the remains were not those of Vasco Da Gama but of his grandson Francisco da Gama. On June 7, 1880, they were taken from Vidigueira to a more impressive mausoleum up the River Tagus from Lisbon and reburied with honours. But in 1538 Dom Pedro da Silva Gama, a son of Vasco Da Gama, took the remains from Cochin and buried them on Da Gama's estate in Vidigueira in Portugal. He died on Christmas Eve in 1524 in Cochin, and was buried in the monastery of Santo Antonio, later renamed the Church of San Francisco. It is not even certain where he is buried. In later portraits the scowl is absent, and the face that peers out of a huge white beard has fine features and sad, reflective eyes. In one he is a glowering, low-browed, grouchy, fierce fellow. Sanjay reproduces three portraits of him, which look utterly different. History is what happened and the consequences of Vasco Da Gama's arrival in India have been so portentous for our country that he deserves at least one headline.ДЄs it happens, Sanjay Subrahmanyam has just published an outstanding biography (The Career and Legend of Vasco Da Gama, Cambridge 1997) which makes it easy to follow Vasco Da Gama's career. But 1998 also happens to be the (delayed) 50th anniversary of India's Independence, where our ruling classes have tried to capture some brand equity by reviving the resentments of colonial times. There he is a great hero, and his anniversary was celebrated with enthusiasm. There is no such ambiguity about the name of Vasco Da Gama, however, who was born in Sines, lived and died in Portugal in the service of its kings. They finally financed his voyage he went and discovered America in 1492. So after cooling his heels for eight years at Afonso's court, Columbus went over to the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabel, who ran a co-regency in Castile, a couple of hundred miles away from Lisbon, where he would be known as Cristoval Colon. Afonso I somehow did not finance Columbus's voyage as I shall relate later, a less speculative route beckoned. Known in India and the English-speaking world as Christopher Columbus, Colon was a Genoese and would have been known as Cristoforo Colombo. Hearing of his interest, Cristoval Colon went to his court in 1774.

King Afonso I of Portugal thought of finding this new passage to India, and sought information, such as it was, on global geography. If it was round, then a European could reach India by going west as by going east. The idea that the earth is round goes back a couple of centuries before Christ at least.

This year is the 500th anniversary of Vasco Da Gama's 'discovery' of India.

Where did vasco da gama explore