Vasco da Gama, the sailor who found India , the first European to reach the Indian subcontinent by sea, sailed under the Portuguese flag and circled the southern tip of Africa to become the first European to do so. The Portuguese nobleman Vasco da Gama (1460-1524) sailed from Lisbon in 1497 on a mission to reach India and open a s... Who first discovered India ? Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira (/ˌvæsku də ˈɡɑːmə, ˈɡæmə/; European Portuguese: [ˈvaʃku ðɐ ˈɣɐ̃mɐ]; c. 1460s – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and the first European to reach India by sea. The Portuguese discovery of the sea route to India was the first recorded trip directly from Europe to the Indian subcontinent, via the Cape of Good Hope. [1] Under the command of the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama, it was undertaken during the reign of King Manuel in 1497–1499.
