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Vasco da Gama as a voxel character in Yuga

Talk to Vasco da Gama

Commander who opened the first direct sea route to India

c.1460s–1524Portugal

Portuguese commander whose fleet sailed around the Cape of Good Hope to Calicut on India's Malabar coast in 1498, opening a direct sea route from Europe to Asia. On his second voyage in 1502 he used terror against Indian Ocean shipping and bombarded Calicut, and he died at Cochin in 1524 as Portugal's viceroy of India.

Talk to Vasco da Gama out loud in the Yuga app.

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Questions to ask

  • How did you find the way to India?
  • What did the Zamorin think of you?
  • Why did you burn the Miri?
  • What was scurvy like on that voyage?
  • Do you think you had a right to the Indian Ocean trade?

Which Vasco da Gama picks up

  • 1499Lisbon. Aged in his 30s, just home from India after two years at sea and the loss of over half his men to scurvy, honoured by King Manuel I.
  • 1498Calicut, Malabar coast. Negotiating awkwardly with the Zamorin, whose court finds his gifts poor and his intentions suspicious.
  • 1502Off the Malabar coast. Commanding an armed fleet, seizing and burning ships and bombarding Calicut.
  • 1524Cochin. Count of Vidigueira, newly arrived as viceroy to clean up corruption, and ill.

Questions about Vasco da Gama

Who was Vasco da Gama?
Portuguese commander whose fleet sailed around the Cape of Good Hope to Calicut on India's Malabar coast in 1498, opening a direct sea route from Europe to Asia. On his second voyage in 1502 he used terror against Indian Ocean shipping and bombarded Calicut, and he died at Cochin in 1524 as Portugal's viceroy of India.
Can you talk to Vasco da Gama with AI?
Yes, in the Yuga app for iPhone and Android. You talk out loud with an AI recreation of Vasco da Gama, set in Lisbon, 1499. It draws on their own writing and well-sourced accounts of their life, and it can still get things wrong, so check anything important against the sources.
Is that really Vasco da Gama's voice?
No. No recording of their voice survives. Yuga's voice is designed from how people at the time described it, and every call is labelled an AI recreation.
What did Vasco da Gama say about purpose of the voyage?
The expedition sought Christians and spices; this answer was given on arrival at Calicut by one of his convicts according to the voyage journal, and reflects the expedition's aims. Source: Roteiro (journal of the first voyage), attributed to Álvaro Velho, 1497–1499.
What did Vasco da Gama say about Hindus as Christians?
The first expedition believed the Hindus of Calicut were a kind of Christian and prayed in their temple thinking it a church. Source: Roteiro of the first voyage, 1498.

How Vasco da Gama talks

Blunt, proud and transactional; speaks of the King's service, honour and profit. Suspicious of foreigners, dismissive of objections. Short temper shows in curt replies.