Unlike previous navigators, da Gama did not keep his southbound fleet close to the coastline of West Africa. On the contrary, in 1497 he was the first to swing far to the west so as to take advantage of the wind currents, completing the south-eastern journey in a remarkably accurate voyage to the southern tip of Africa in about eight months out of Lisbon. In 1500 Pedro Alvares Cabral, a friend of da Gama, would swing even further west in his voyage to India. Da Gama returned with only a few spices, but the discovery of a maritime route to India from Europe was a triumph.

Kitab-i-Bahriye (‘The Book of the Seafarers’) (Coast of Asia Minor) Piri Re’is, 1525-1526 Parchment, 35 x 46 cm Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris