Vasco da Gama's Sea Route to India

Da Gama's voyage opened the first all-sea route between Europe and Asia, letting goods such as pepper bypass the overland and Red Sea middlemen who had controlled the spice trade. His four ships left Lisbon on July 8, 1497, rounded the Cape of Good Hope in November, and reached Calicut in May 1498. The return was brutal: about half the crew died, many of scurvy, and only about 55 men came home in 1499. Ocean carriers still use the Cape route when the Suez Canal is closed or unsafe, adding roughly one to two weeks to Asia to Europe sailings.

• Full Container LoadFCLOne shipper's goods in a whole container
• Lead TimeTime from purchase order to sellable stock
• In-Transit InventoryStock on its way between locations

• Indian Ocean Monsoon Trade1st century BCE to 15th century · Ships time voyages to the seasonal monsoon winds
• Zheng He's Treasure Voyages1405–1433 · Seven Ming fleets sail as far as East Africa
• Atlantic Triangular Trade16th to 19th century · Goods, enslaved people and sugar circle the Atlantic

1. Vasco da Gama en.wikipedia.org
2. Vasco da Gama, 1st count da Vidigueira summary britannica.com