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Vasco da Gama - A Carreira e a Lenda do Maior Navegador de Sempre
Nem Colombo nem Fernão de Magalhães se lhe comparam. Vasco da Gama foi o homem que fez o mundo passar da Idade Média para a Idade Moderna.
Depois de muitas décadas a tentar chegar à Índia, após tentativas em que morreram milhares de portugueses e se perderam dezenas de navios, Vasco da Gama foi o navegador que fez o impossível: uniu, pela primeira vez na História, a Europa e a Ásia pelo mar.
Circum-navegar África e o desconhecido foi heroico. Enfrentar as tempestades do Oceano Índico foi lendário. Liderar a mais longa viagem marítima de sempre foi incomparável. Mas descobrir a rota marítima para as Índias e, com isso, aceder às fabulosas riquezas do Oriente foi o que verdadeiramente mudou a História do mundo para sempre.
A viagem de Vasco da Gama foi um choque comercial, uma revolução religiosa, um terramoto cultural. Sem o saber, ele foi o primeiro homem a sair da Idade Média e a entrar na Idade Moderna. E, no entanto, o que se sabe verdadeiramente sobre o maior navegador de sempre? Baseando-se em documentos clássicos e em fontes inéditas, Sanjay Subrahmanyam apresenta nos, pela primeira vez, a verdadeira vida e contexto social de Vasco da Gama, focando-se no equilíbrio frágil entre a sua «carreira» e a sua «lenda», tocando temas como a construção de mitos e o nacionalismo, sem nunca se esquecer da verdadeira grandeza do maior navegador de sempre.
Depois de muitas décadas a tentar chegar à Índia, após tentativas em que morreram milhares de portugueses e se perderam dezenas de navios, Vasco da Gama foi o navegador que fez o impossível: uniu, pela primeira vez na História, a Europa e a Ásia pelo mar.
Circum-navegar África e o desconhecido foi heroico. Enfrentar as tempestades do Oceano Índico foi lendário. Liderar a mais longa viagem marítima de sempre foi incomparável. Mas descobrir a rota marítima para as Índias e, com isso, aceder às fabulosas riquezas do Oriente foi o que verdadeiramente mudou a História do mundo para sempre.
A viagem de Vasco da Gama foi um choque comercial, uma revolução religiosa, um terramoto cultural. Sem o saber, ele foi o primeiro homem a sair da Idade Média e a entrar na Idade Moderna. E, no entanto, o que se sabe verdadeiramente sobre o maior navegador de sempre? Baseando-se em documentos clássicos e em fontes inéditas, Sanjay Subrahmanyam apresenta nos, pela primeira vez, a verdadeira vida e contexto social de Vasco da Gama, focando-se no equilíbrio frágil entre a sua «carreira» e a sua «lenda», tocando temas como a construção de mitos e o nacionalismo, sem nunca se esquecer da verdadeira grandeza do maior navegador de sempre.
384 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
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About the author
Sanjay Subrahmanyam
69 books75 followersHe taught Delhi School of Economics, then EHESS (Paris), then Oxford, before becoming Holder of Navin and Pratima Doshi Chair of Indian History at UCLA which he joined in 2004.
In 2013, he became Holder of Early Modern Global History Chair at Collège de France.
In 2013, he became Holder of Early Modern Global History Chair at Collège de France.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 25, 2014
Caravan magazine, in a recent review of one of Subrahmanyam's collection of essays quoted his response in the context of the debate between writing popular/readable history versus academic history. The quote is reproduced here:
“such readable books cannot replace or do away with the proper academic monograph, which is based on textual or archival research, and can’t be read that easily by non-academics ... we are constantly trying to push the frontiers of research, rather than those of readability”.
Full review can be found here: http://caravanmagazine.in/books/maste...
After browsing through "The career and legend of Vasco da Gama', I've got a fair understanding of what historiography means, what it means to be a 'historian' in the classical sense and my own inadequacy in grasping the amount of detail which Subrahmanyam gathers and disburses through the pages. But somehow, being a native of Calicut, this was one book that had to be on my shelf. Someday, I might revisit it once again.
da Gama's three voyages to India, his ruthlessness towards the Zamorin of Calicut, alliances with Cochin and Cannanore (Kannur), the visceral hatred of the Portugese towards the Moors (Muslims), the dynamics over the Arabian sea trade of the Mamluk dynasty in Egypt etc were some of the takeaways for me from this dense piece of academic work. Planning to systematically approach the history of Portugese imperialism in India soon. :)
“such readable books cannot replace or do away with the proper academic monograph, which is based on textual or archival research, and can’t be read that easily by non-academics ... we are constantly trying to push the frontiers of research, rather than those of readability”.
Full review can be found here: http://caravanmagazine.in/books/maste...
After browsing through "The career and legend of Vasco da Gama', I've got a fair understanding of what historiography means, what it means to be a 'historian' in the classical sense and my own inadequacy in grasping the amount of detail which Subrahmanyam gathers and disburses through the pages. But somehow, being a native of Calicut, this was one book that had to be on my shelf. Someday, I might revisit it once again.
da Gama's three voyages to India, his ruthlessness towards the Zamorin of Calicut, alliances with Cochin and Cannanore (Kannur), the visceral hatred of the Portugese towards the Moors (Muslims), the dynamics over the Arabian sea trade of the Mamluk dynasty in Egypt etc were some of the takeaways for me from this dense piece of academic work. Planning to systematically approach the history of Portugese imperialism in India soon. :)
November 24, 2014
"Salientamos a grande desconfiança de Vasco da Gama em Calecute.Ele espera que os navios indianos se aproximem das suas naus em vez de tomar a iniciativa e ir a terra.Manda a terra um degredado (condenado) em vez de alguém com autoridade.
Os portugueses- com os seus insignificantes presentes de tecidos,chapéus e produtos agrícolas-não conseguiram criar uma impressão favorável no Samorim.De facto,havia um sentimento de desconfiança mútua nos contactos." (adaptado)
Os portugueses- com os seus insignificantes presentes de tecidos,chapéus e produtos agrícolas-não conseguiram criar uma impressão favorável no Samorim.De facto,havia um sentimento de desconfiança mútua nos contactos." (adaptado)
April 25, 2025
Obra de referência que agitou as águas da historiografia portuguesa, ao revelar como foi construída a lenda de Vasco da Gama, sempre contextualizando os acontecimentos na realidade portuguesa e na realidade do Índico.
April 27, 2017
Subramanyam sets out to do - in this book - what he claims traditional Portuguese philosophers have seldom done: contextualise.
He shows how Vasco da Gama has become a part of the Portuguese national legend and how he occupied a place in the pantheon of national heroes. How - Subramanyam asks - was he a "national" hero when Portugal was still in the midst of squabble between the three christian knightly orders of his time and Portugal itself was not an independent unit.
Subramanyam argues that Vasco da Gama was more a man of feudal times with landholdings than a chivalrous knight. He was more a suspecting warmonger than a warrior himself. He was driven largely by religious and sectarian xenophobia. In fact, even before he struck a trade deal with the Samudri of Kozhikode he tried flushing out all Muslims (or who the Europeans called "Moors").
Subramanyam demands from historians a critical analysis of history. His own critical analysis take him to look closely at courtly affairs in Lisbon, often making the book excessively exhaustive. Nationalism he feels makes the historian parochial. Parochial historians are no better than bards.
He shows how Vasco da Gama has become a part of the Portuguese national legend and how he occupied a place in the pantheon of national heroes. How - Subramanyam asks - was he a "national" hero when Portugal was still in the midst of squabble between the three christian knightly orders of his time and Portugal itself was not an independent unit.
Subramanyam argues that Vasco da Gama was more a man of feudal times with landholdings than a chivalrous knight. He was more a suspecting warmonger than a warrior himself. He was driven largely by religious and sectarian xenophobia. In fact, even before he struck a trade deal with the Samudri of Kozhikode he tried flushing out all Muslims (or who the Europeans called "Moors").
Subramanyam demands from historians a critical analysis of history. His own critical analysis take him to look closely at courtly affairs in Lisbon, often making the book excessively exhaustive. Nationalism he feels makes the historian parochial. Parochial historians are no better than bards.
September 21, 2025
Sanjay Subrahmanyam’s The Career and Legend of Vasco da Gama is an incisive and brilliantly researched work that strips away the layers of myth surrounding one of Europe’s most celebrated explorers. Rather than repeating the heroic narratives of empire, Subrahmanyam situates Vasco da Gama in the messy realities of 15th–16th century global trade, diplomacy, and violence. The book shows how da Gama’s career was shaped as much by propaganda and legend as by actual achievement, revealing the complexities of early modern cross-cultural encounters. Scholarly yet accessible, it is a must-read for anyone interested in colonial history, the Indian Ocean world, and the making of historical memory.
May 21, 2025
Really enjoyed this neutral stance on such a figure of European colonialism. Each page you read makes you hate de Gama a little bit more, as one should when actually discovering what colonisers did
June 24, 2025
Wow, this is not friendly for the layman at all! But I guess I did learn a few things.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews