Before the war.

When I had moved here, we passed by the natives… I did not know Kumari yet but it was shortly after when we had met… we became pretty good friends.

One really hot day, I was out in my field farming, when my wife yelled to me,

“Vasco, can you go and get some wood for the fire place, please?… We are running a little bit low.”

As I was cutting wood Kumari came up to me, this is when he freaked out on me for cutting the wood that he thought was his.

I will be writing in here again shortly.

The war against Kumari.

Today, I was out in the woods cutting trees down for my fire, when Kumari came and started to complain that the wood was his, I just kept on telling him that it was all of our wood… he did not agree one little bit, so he said…

“I declare a war upon you and your armies, we will attack exactly when the sun goes down.”

“We will be ready for you and the 46 men you have!” He turned around and walked away.

 So what I did was I asked the king if I could have some of his men… he just said,

“No.” so I went to the bar and asked anyone if they wanted to come and help-out with the war against those natives, all of them started yelling saying,

“YES!” I gathered all the men up and sat in my field waiting for the natives.

We saw them about 1 hour later, and we all sat there in neat rows… there was about 150 men on my side, on there side there was almost too many to count, it looked like about 1500 men! I said to my men,

“You all know you are going to die! But… what I want you to do is give them the best you got!” they all started cheering, we started to run, but then thousands of men on horses rumbled right by us, before we even got to the natives, they were already swinging sword slicing at people… after about 10 minutes of war a white flag blasted up in the air…it was by our men! I yelled…

“What is going on here” as the weapons had stopped clashing together on shields and bright silver plate armour…

“They are too strong!” yelled back one of my men.

The war had stopped and many were left lying in my field.

Kumari and me had shook hands after everyone had left, either to go home or go to the bar, or go back to the kings castle.

That night my family and I sat by the fireplace once again, just like we do every night.I didn’t eat supper that night.

 After everyone was done supper I went to bed… my family stayed up and sat by the fire for a little bit longer.

I’ll be writing in here again tomorrow night, See you later.

The Meet with Kumari…

On July 26, 1496 me and my youngest son Paulo da Gama were building him and his friend Pablo est Presto a little fort out in the woods, when Paulo heard something a little ways north.

We started to walk along the trail that Pablo had found. We saw something run right by us along the little hill of the right side of the trail, we started to run after it… when I looked back Pablo was gone!

After that I picked up my son and started to run a little bit faster, then I saw something about 27 feet in front of me, it was a native, he had Pablo in his arms… I ran as fast as I could and caught up to them, I said to the native,

 ”What is your name? And what business do you have in kidnapping my sons best friend?” The native replied back…

“My name is Kumari, we are having a little bit of trouble back in my village, I took your son so you would chase me to my village, and then once you got there you would be able to help me.” although he was not my son and I really did not like to help people with villages, marriages, etc. I went to take a look at it, the only things i had to help them with is homes… I just had to draw them plans for them.

When we were leaving my son was playing with Abooksigun, (meant bonfire in cree), Abooksigun was Kumari’s son.

After we got home we sat down and had supper, after that we sat around the fireplace, and then we all went to bed.

I’ll be writing in here again tomorrow, See you then!

Legacy

 My wife, Catarina de Ataide and I, had six sons and we only had one daughter, there names were: Francisco da Gama, Estevão da Gama, Paulo da Gama, Cristovão da Gama, Pedro da Silva da Gama, Álvaro de Ataíde, Isabel de Ataíde da Gama.

I was responsible for Portugal’s success as an early colonizing power, I was the one that put Portugal in the Indian Ocean channel of trade.

There were large concerns from Luis Vaz de Camoes about my voyages.

After my voyages, the crown of Portugal realized that putting their outposts on the coast of Africa would make their trade route better.

2nd voyage

On February 12th, 1502 I sailed again with another fleet of ships, but this time there were 20 warships instead of 4! We did it to enforce Portuguese interests. Pedro Alvares Cabral was sent to India 2 years before, when he had officially discovered Brazil, even though some had said that it didn’t mean to happen. 

I sailed South of Calicut to reach a small kingdom called Cochin, I was given a very warm welcoming, to prove I had been in India I brang back silk and gold.I had to wait for a ship to return from Mecca. Once it had arrived we stole all of their stuff and then locked all of the 380 passengers in the hold, and then we lit the ship on fire. All of the men, women, and children had died in the fire.I returned to Calicut on October 30th, in the year 1502, I got the Zamorin to sign a treaty.On my return home back to Portugal in the year 1503 I became the leader of Vidigueira.

That was my second voyage… stay tuned in for my third voyage! XD 

1st Voyage

First Voyage:

On July 8, 1497 the fleet of ships left Lisbon. By December 6th we had passed by the White River, in South Africa, where one of the ships turned back… but he did go into waters unknown by any Europeans.

Christmas was near, we passed through a place… it didn’t have a name, so everyone decided to name it Natal.

The Arab controlled the territory on the East coast of Africa was also part of the Indian Ocean’s channel of trade. Instead of scaring the people, I dressed up as a Muslim and gained friendship with the Sultan of Mozambique. With the trade goods I had to offer to the people, I was unable to get a suitable gift for the ruler, and soon as the people started to see through our disguises.

We arrived in Calicut in the year 1498 on May 20th. When I left, I took all of my goods, and left some of the Portuguese men with orders to set up a trade post.

On the return… I found that my brother Paulo da Gama had passed away, but when I returned in the year 1499 I was rewarded greatly with money, and everyone called me the “Admiral of the Indian Ocean”… I also got the rights to rule Sine’s, (Which is in Portugal), I was also rewarded the dignity of Dom (which is a lord).

That was my first voyage, I will be writing about the second voyage shortly.

About myself

My name is Vasco da Gama, I was born in the year 1469 and died on December 24, 1524 in Kochi, India… I was one of the most successful people in the Age of Discovery. My fathers name was Estevao da Gama, he was married to a women named Dona Isabel Sodre.  I studied at the inland town of Evora. On February 12, 1502 I sailed with a heard of 20 warships, to enforce the interest of the Portuguese On July 8^th 1497 the group of 14 ships left Lisbon. The ships names were: The Sao Gabriel, it was commanded by me. It weighed 178 tons, it was 27 meters long, it was 8.5 meters wide, and the sails were 372 meters squared, It could hold up to 150 crew members on board. The other 3 ships were: The Sao Rafael, the commander of that ship was my brother Paulo da Gama, the dimensions for his boat are the same as Sao Gabriel, and the last ship was The caravel Barrio, it was commanded by Nicolau Coelho, the ship is slightly smaller than my ship and my brother Paulo da Gama, and last there was a storage ship, its name is unknown, it was commanded by Goncalo Nunes, the ship was lost on the bay of Sao Bras, which is on the east coast of Africa. That’s pretty much everything about me.