Q 01/05

What is Vasco da Gama most famous for?

A) The first sea route from Europe to India

B) The first circumnavigation of the globe

C) Being first round the Cape of Good Hope

D) The European discovery of Brazil

Answer · why

A) The first sea route from Europe to India

His 1497-99 voyage round Africa and across the Indian Ocean opened Europe's sea trade with Asia and is counted a turning point in world history.

Q 02/05

In which small port town in southwest Portugal was Vasco da Gama born?

A) Setúbal

B) Lagos

C) Sines

D) Sagres

Answer · why

C) Sines

His father Estêvão was the town's civil governor; King Manuel later tried to give da Gama the town as a fief, and the knightly order that owned it ref...

Q 03/05

Which Portuguese captain rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 1488, a decade before da Gama sailed on to India?

A) Diogo Cão

B) Bartolomeu Dias

C) Fernão Gomes

D) Pedro Álvares Cabral

Answer · why

B) Bartolomeu Dias

He got as far as the Fish River and proved the coast turned northeast; da Gama's job was to join that discovery to the spy reports from India.

Q 04/05

Which king dispatched two spies overland via Egypt in 1487 to scout India's spice markets ahead of a sea voyage?

A) Manuel I of Portugal

B) Henry the Navigator

C) Ferdinand of Aragon

D) John II of Portugal

Answer · why

D) John II of Portugal

Pero da Covilhã and Afonso de Paiva went east; the king wanted to break the Venetian near-monopoly on the overland spice trade.

Q 05/05

What was the size of the fleet da Gama led out of Lisbon on 8 July 1497?

A) Four ships and 170 men

B) Two ships and 60 men

C) Twelve ships and 800 men

D) Seven ships and 400 men

Answer · why

A) Four ships and 170 men

Only about 55 men and two vessels came home; the round trip covered more distance than the length of the equator.