The end of the 15th century was the beginning of the ' Age of Discoveries' with a number of European powers searching for a nautical route to India and its riches via the Atlantic. He may have studied in Evora before he was sent by the monarchy to Setubal and the Algarve to intercept French shipping raiding the Portuguese coast. Vasco da Gama (1460-1524) is Portugal's most renown navigator, explorer and adventurer.īorn in Sines in 1460 (although 1469 is an alternative date) little is known of Vasco da Gama's early life.
