Mondo Knows Facts

Vasco da Gama opened the sea route to India

Four ships rounded the Cape of Good Hope and reached Calicut in 1498 Sailing under Portuguese royal orders, da Gama left Lisbon in July 1497, rounded the Cape of Good Hope and crossed the Indian Ocean with the help of a pilot from the East African coast. He reached Calicut in May 1498. The route broke Venice's grip on the spice trade and made Portugal a maritime power in Asia. It sits in Mondo's history collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.

Where this comes from

Encyclopaedia Britannica

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Tags: portugal, spice-trade, exploration

Vasco da Gama opened the sea route to India: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?
Four ships rounded the Cape of Good Hope and reached Calicut in 1498. The figure is taken from Encyclopaedia Britannica, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a history fact?
Yes. It sits on the History shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?
The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.