He returned to the East with the aim of fulfilling the nanban trade (the 'voyage of Japan'), between Macau ( China) and Nagasaki (Japan), a trade route monopolized by Portugal. He was accused of harming the interests of Malacca and called to Lisbon to answer for his actions and expose his defense. He had numerous political conflicts within his mandate, caused by alleged personal irregularities that had brought him into political confrontation with the administrative bodiesof the city, which led to a Judicial process.

He received cordially the Portuguese representative who brought the news of the coronation of Philip II of Spain as king of Portugal, but only recognized the new order later, after indication of the Viceroy of India. João da Gama became the captain of Malacca between 15. He was married with Joana de Menezes and had one son, Vasco da Gama, who later became captain in Chaul. His parents were Guiomar de Vilhena, Countess of Vidigueira and Francisco da Gama, 2nd Count of Vidigueira, son of the explorer Vasco da Gama, the discoverer of the sea route to the East. Not much is known of his childhood and youth, though is believed that he was born around 1540. The lands northeast of Japan which João da Gama discovered were the target of legend and speculation in the centuries that followed, inspiring its search by European powers.Įarly years and voyages to the East Forced by the circumstances of his voyage, he became also a circumnavigator (one of the first to do it eastwards). He crossed the Pacific Ocean at the northernmost latitudes taken until then by Europeans. João da Gama sailed from Macau to northeast and rounded Japan by north. 1540 – after 1591) was a Portuguese explorer and colonial administrator in the Far East in the last quarter of the 16th century.

What land did Vasco da Gama