Vasco da Gama: Lisbon to Calicut, 1497–99

On 8 July 1497 four ships dropped down the Tagus from Lisbon with 170 men: two newly built carracks, a caravel and a supply boat. The departure point was the sheltered Restelo shore at Belém, where seamen had long found "a safe anchorage and protection from the winds". The Jerónimos Monastery rose here a few years later, and the tombs of Vasco da Gama and the poet Camões now lie in its church, in the lower choir.

Location precision: The monastery was built after the voyage, near the launch point; the pin marks it, not the exact quay.

Visitor guidance: The monastery church and cloister are open to visitors; da Gama's tomb is in the church.

Instead of hugging the African coast, da Gama swung out into the South Atlantic to catch the westerlies Bartolomeu Dias had found in 1487. The ships sailed more than 10,000 kilometres of open ocean, by far the longest voyage without landfall made up to then. They sighted the African coast on 4 November 1497. St Helena Bay is traditionally where he first set foot in South Africa, and where a skirmish with the Khoikhoi left him wounded in the thigh.

Location precision: Sources give 4 and 7 November for the landfall and the bay is wide; the pin marks the town of St Helena Bay.

By 1497 this bay was already on the charts as Aguada de São Brás, the Watering Place of St Blaize. Da Gama bartered for cattle with the local Khoi people, what is generally regarded as the first commercial transaction between Europeans and the indigenous people of South Africa. It was also here that the fleet's supply ship was scuttled. Today a boot-shaped post box stands under the Post Office Tree.

Location precision: The stay is only dated within a window; the pin marks the town, not the exact landing spot.

Visitor guidance: The Post Office Tree stands in the town.

The fleet spent 2 to 29 March 1498 near this small island, about 3 km long. Fearing a hostile reception, da Gama posed as a Muslim to be received by the sultan, but his paltry gifts raised suspicion. A hostile crowd forced the Portuguese out, and da Gama fired his cannons into the town as he left. The sultan, Ali Musa Mbiki, gave the island and later the country its name. The Chapel of Nossa Senhora de Baluarte, built in 1522, is the oldest European building in the Southern Hemisphere.

Location precision: The fleet anchored in the vicinity of the island; the pin marks the island, not an exact anchorage.

Visitor guidance: The Chapel of Nossa Senhora de Baluarte, built in 1522, still stands on the island.

After Mozambique the fleet turned north and became the first known European visitors to Mombasa, from 7 to 13 April 1498. The welcome was chilly: the Portuguese met with hostility and soon departed. The reception shaped the next move, because Malindi's leaders were in conflict with Mombasa's and da Gama sailed on to find a friendlier harbour there.

Location precision: Sources name the port but not where the ships anchored; the pin marks the city centre.

Malindi's sultan received da Gama warmly and supplied food, fresh water and a pilot, a Gujarati who knew the monsoon winds and could guide the fleet across the Indian Ocean. The fleet stayed from 15 to 24 April 1498. A stone padrão, a limestone cross bearing the arms of Portugal, stands in Malindi. Most historians think it was raised on the 1499 return, not in 1498. It is Malindi's most visited heritage site.

Visitor guidance: The pin marks the pillar itself, Malindi's most visited heritage site.

The fleet reached Kappadu near Kozhikode (Calicut) on 20 May 1498. Asked what had brought them, the Portuguese answered that they had come "in search of Christians and spices". The Portuguese took a Brahmin temple for a church; the figure inside turned out to be the Hindu goddess Parvati. His gifts, scarlet cloaks, hats and coral branches, failed to impress, and rival Muslim merchants called him a mere pirate. A government monument at Kappad marks the landing.

Location precision: The monument marks the traditional landing at Kappad; the audience and temple visit took place in and around Kozhikode.

Visitor guidance: Kappad is a beach and village near Koyilandy, with a landing monument.

Da Gama left Kozhikode on 29 August 1498, and the fleet anchored at Anjediva for a spell. On 24 September he claimed this island for the Portuguese Crown. The crossing back began on 3 October, against the monsoon, and took more than 90 days. On the crossing about half the crew had died and many survivors had scurvy.

Location precision: Sources name the island but not the anchorage; the pin marks the island's centre.

Paulo da Gama fell gravely ill on Santiago island and Vasco stayed with him. Paulo died on the passage home. Vasco stopped in the Azores to bury his brother at Angra, and reached Lisbon on 29 August 1499 or in early September. Two ships and over half the men were lost, but the sea route to India was open.

Location precision: Sources disagree on Paulo's burial place, the São Francisco monastery or the Guia church; the pin marks Angra's centre.