There are times when it is difficult, almost impossible, to become the first. If you are a Greek philosopher, you had better not be born at the same time as Socrates and Plato; if you are a Dutch artist of the 17th century, you cannot outshine Rembrandt, Vermeer and Hals. The same can be said about Spain and Portugal at the turn of the 15th-16th centuries. The name of any pioneer will be in the shadow of Columbus and Magellan, Amerigo Vespucci and Hernando Cortez. Anyone, but not Admiral Vasco da Gama (1469-1524). This desperate, determined, tireless, cruel, greedy and brave Portuguese did what he wanted, but Columbus failed to do; he went in the right direction, around Africa and opened a direct route to India. Da Gama undertook three expeditions, one larger than the other, for the sake of India, devoted half his life to its colonization (1497-1524), became the viceroy of this wonderland and died in it. Without Vasco da Gama's book it is impossible to imagine a library of geographical bestsellers. Two events for centuries determined the course of world history and became its brightest pages: the discovery in 1492 by Christopher Columbus of the sea route to America and the discovery five years later by Vasco da Gama of the sea route to India. That is why for 500 years they have attracted such close, lively, interested attention. The personality of the Portuguese admiral, like a drop of dew at dawn, at the dawn of the era of great geographical discoveries, reflected the era itself: contradictory, indomitable, terrible and grandiose. Read this story, and you will learn more not only about ancient geographical exoticism, but also better understand how desperate, greedy, reckless, cruel, brave, unstoppable our ancestors were: they not only discovered, but also created the world in which we we live.Chasing gold and spices, sailors and conquistadors returned to Europe with new knowledge about the world around them. Spices were used for food, gold was spent, but knowledge accumulated and multiplied. The great project of globalization has been launched. The book offered to your attention is a story not only about the travels of Vasco da Gama. This is a story about the daily feat that people perform to achieve their goal. The wind fills the sails, the currents pull the caravels, but everything in the world moves by the power of human passions. The electronic publication includes all the texts of the paper book and the main illustrative material. But for true connoisseurs of exclusive publications, we offer a gift classic book. The paper edition, exceptionally complete in composition and beautifully illustrated, allows readers to gain a comprehensive understanding of one of the brightest chapters in the annals of incredible, but completely real adventures, which are abundantly generous in the history of geographical discoveries. This book, like the entire Great Journeys series, is printed on beautiful offset paper and elegantly designed. Editions of the series will adorn any, even the most sophisticated library, and will be a wonderful gift for both young readers and discerning bibliophiles.