瓦斯科·達(dá)·伽馬

張超

Vasco da Gama was the person who discovered the sea route1 from Portugal to the East Indies.

瓦斯科·達(dá)·伽馬開辟了從葡萄牙到東印度群島的海上通道。

In 1469， Vasco da Gama was born in Portugal. His father was an important officer at court2. When he was 20 years old， he was famous as a warrior3 and sailor. At that time， Arabs and Indians controlled the commercial4 activities between the East and the West. In order to get the spices5， precious6 stones and pearls directly， in 1497， da Gama led the fleet to India. They sailed along the west coast of Africa and reached the Cape of Good Hope， then turned north towards northeast. On May 20， 1498， they got to India. In the July， 1499， they returned to Portugal.

1469年瓦斯科·達(dá)·伽馬出生于葡萄牙。其父是葡萄牙的朝廷顯貴。20歲時(shí)，達(dá)·伽馬就成為葡萄牙聲名顯赫的戰(zhàn)士和水手了。那時(shí)，東西方的貿(mào)易控制在阿拉伯人和印度人手里。為了搶奪香料、寶石、珍珠等，1497年達(dá)·伽馬帶領(lǐng)艦隊(duì)前往印度。他們沿非洲西海岸南下，到達(dá)好望角，然后掉頭朝東北方向北上，于1498年5月20日到達(dá)印度。1499年7月，他們回到了葡萄牙。

This is the first sea route from Europe to Asia.

這是從歐洲至亞洲的第一條海上航線。