Vasco Da Gama: The Portuguese Quest for a Sea Route from Europe to India

Following a route pioneered by Bartolomeo Dias around Africa's Cape of Good Hope, Vasco da Gama's fifteenth-century voyage to India virtually changed the global economy and helped Portugal secure its position as a world power. This biography details the explorer's three voyages, his diplomatic problems with African countries, and gives voice to the period using primary and secondary source quotations.