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After decades of sailors trying to reach the Indies, with thousands of lives and dozens of vessels
lost in shipwrecks and attacks, da Gama landed in Calicut on 20 May 1498. Unopposed access to
the Indian spice routes boosted the economy of the Portuguese Empire, which was previously
based along northern and coastal West Africa. The spices obtained from Southeast Asia were
primarily pepper and cinnamon at first, but soon included other products, all new to Europe.
Portugal maintained a commercial monopoly of these commodities for several decades. It would
be a century later before other European powers such as the Netherlands and England, followed
by France and Denmark, were able to challenge Portugal's monopoly and naval supremacy in the
Cape Route.
Da Gama led two of the Portuguese armadas destined for India, the first and the fourth. The latter
was the largest and departed for India four years after his return from the first one. For his
contributions, da Gama was appointed the Governor of India in 1524, under the title of Viceroy,
and given the newly created County of Vidigueira in 1519. Vasco da Gama remains a leading
figure in the history of exploration. Numerous homages have been made worldwide to celebrate
his explorations and accomplishments. The Portuguese national epic, Os Lusíadas, was written
in his honour. His first trip to India is widely considered a milestone in world history, as it
marked the beginning of a sea-based phase of global multiculturalism.[2]
In March 2016, researchers announced that thousands of artifacts and vessel remains had been
recovered from the ship Esmeralda, one of da Gama's armada, found off the coast of
Oman.Vasco da Gama was born in 1460 or 1469[4] in Sines, on the southwest coast of Portugal,
probably in a house near the church of Nossa Senhora das Salas. Sines, one of the few seaports
on the Alentejo coast, consisted of little more than a cluster of whitewashed, red-tiled cottages,
occupied chiefly by fisherfolk.Vasco da Gama's father was Estêvão da Gama, who had served in
the 1460s as a knight of the household of Infante Ferdinand, Duke of Viseu.[5] He rose in the
ranks of the military Order of Santiago. Estêvão da Gama was appointed alcaide-mór (civil
governor) of Sines in the 1460s, a post he held until 1478; after that he continued as a receiver of
taxes and holder of the Order's commendas in the region.Estêvão da Gama married Isabel Sodré,
a daughter of João Sodré (also known as João de Resende), scion of a well-connected family of
English origin.[6] Her father and her brothers, Vicente Sodré and Brás Sodré, had links to the
household of Infante Diogo, Duke of Viseu, and were prominent figures in the military Order of
Christ. Vasco da Gama was the third of five sons of Estêvão da Gama and Isabel Sodré – in
(probable) order of age: Paulo da Gama, João Sodré, Vasco da Gama, Pedro da Gama and Aires
da Gama. Vasco also had one known sister, Teresa da Gama (who married Lopo Mendes de
Vasconcelos).[7]Little is known of da Gama's early life. The Portuguese historian Teixeira de
Aragão suggests that he studied at the inland town of Évora, which is where he may have learned
mathematics and navigation. It has been claimed that he studied under Abraham Zacuto, an
astrologer and astronomer, but da Gama's biographer Subrahmanyam thinks this
dubious.[8]Around 1480, da Gama followed his father (rather than the Sodrés) and joined the
Order of Santiago.[9] The master of Santiago was Prince John, who ascended to the throne in
1481 as King John II of Portugal. John II doted on the Order, and the da Gamas' prospects rose
accordingly.In 1492, John II dispatched da Gama on a mission to the port of Setúbal and to the
Algarve to seize French ships in retaliation for peacetime depredations against Portuguese
shipping – a task that da Gama rapidly and effectively performed.From the earlier part of the
15th century, Portuguese expeditions organized by Prince Henry the Navigator had been
reaching down the African coastline, principally in search of west African riches (notably, gold).
They had greatly extended Portuguese maritime knowledge, but had little profit to show for the
effort. After Henry's death in 1460, the Portuguese Crown showed little interest in continuing
this effort and, in 1469, sold off the neglected African enterprise to a private Lisbon merchant
consortium led by Fernão Gomes. Within a few years, Gomes' captains expanded Portuguese
knowledge across the Gulf of Guinea, doing business in gold dust, Melegueta pepper, ivory and
sub-Saharan slaves. When Gomes' charter came up for renewal in 1474, Prince John (future John
II), asked his father Afonso V of Portugal to pass the African charter to him.
A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa. This
misconception was based on the misbelief that the Cape was the dividing point between the
Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Contemporary scientific knowledge instead states the southernmost
point of Africa is Cape Agulhas about 150 kilometres (90 mi) to the east-southeast.[2] The
currents of the two oceans meet at the point where the warm-water Agulhas current meets the
cold water Benguela current and turns back on itself. That oceanic meeting point fluctuates
between Cape Agulhas and Cape Point (about 1.2 kilometres (0.75 mi) east of the Cape of Good
Hope).
When following the western side of the African coastline from the equator, however, the Cape of
Good Hope marks the point where a ship begins to travel more eastward than southward. Thus,
the first modern rounding of the cape in 1488 by Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias was a
milestone in the attempts by the Portuguese to establish direct trade relations with the Far East
(although Herodotus mentioned a claim that the Phoenicians had done so far earlier).[3] Dias
called the cape Cabo das Tormentas ("Cape of Storms"; Dutch: Stormkaap), which was the
original name of the "Cape of Good Hope".[4]
As one of the great capes of the South Atlantic Ocean, the Cape of Good Hope has long been of
special significance to sailors, many of whom refer to it simply as "the Cape".[5] It is a waypoint
on the Cape Route and the clipper route followed by clipper ships to the Far East and Australia,
and still followed by several offshore yacht races.
The term Cape of Good Hope is also used in three other ways:
It is a section of the Table Mountain National Park, within which the cape of the same
name, as well as Cape Point, falls. Prior to its incorporation into the national park, this
section constituted the Cape Point Nature Reserve.[6]
It was the name of the early Cape Colony established by the Dutch in 1652, on the Cape
Peninsula.
Just before the Union of South Africa was formed, the term referred to the entire region
that in 1910 was to become the Cape of Good Hope Province (usually shortened to the
Cape Province).
Ang nasyonalismo sa Kanlurang Asya
ay hindi katulad ng nasyonalismong naipakita ng mga bansa sa Timog Asya. Hindi agad naipakita ng mga
bansa sa Kanlurang Asya ang nasyonalismo dahil karamihan sa mga bansa dito ay hawak ng dating
malakas at matatag na imperyong Ottoman, bago pa man masakop ng mga Kanluraning bansa noong
1918. Matapos bumagsak ang imperyong Ottoman masakop at mapasailalim sa mga Kanluraning
bansa,naipatupad sa mga bansa sa Kanlurang Asya ang sistemang mandato Nagsumikap ang mga bansa
sa Kanlurang Asya na unti-unting makamtan ang kalayaan mula sa Imperyong Ottoman at mga
Kanluraning bansa.Ang nasyonalismo sa Kanlurang Asya ay pinasimulan ng mga Arabo, Iranians at mga
Turko bago pa man ang Unang Digmaang Pandaigdig.
Ang Kuwait ang isa sa mga bansa na unang lumaya sa Kanlurang Asya noong 1759.Natamo
naman ng Lebanon ang kanyang kalayaan mula sa imperyong Ottoman noong 1770, at noong 1926 ito
ay naging ganap na republika sa ilalim ng mandato ng bansang France.
Isa ang bansang Turkey, na humingi ng kalayaan sa pamumuno ni Mustafa Kemal na nagsulong sa
pagkakaroon ng isang republika. Sa pamamagitan ng Kasunduang Lausanne noong 1923 naisilang ang
Republika ng
Turkey.
Taong 1926 din ipinahayag ni Abdul ang sarili bilang hari ng Al Hijaz, matapos niyang malipol ang
lahat ng teritoryo ay pinangalanan niya itong Saudi Arabia.