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Secondary sourceBook1869 (English translation of 16th-century text)

The Three Voyages of Vasco da Gama, from Lendas da India

Gaspar Corrêa · 1869 (English translation of 16th-century text)

A 16th-century Portuguese chronicle by Gaspar Corrêa covering all three of Vasco da Gama's voyages and his time as viceroy of India, reprinted in English translation in 1869.

This chronicle is a major early source for the events of Vasco da Gama's three voyages and his viceroyalty.

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About this source

What it is

This is an edition of the Lendas da India, a chronicle written in the 1500s by Gaspar Corrêa, translated into English and published in 1869 by the Hakluyt Society with notes by Henry E. J. Stanley. It covers all three of Vasco da Gama's voyages to India and his later role as viceroy there.

Why it matters

Corrêa's chronicle is one of the main Portuguese sources historians use to reconstruct da Gama's expeditions and his rule in India. It shows how early Portuguese writers recorded and shaped the story of their own overseas empire, mixing eyewitness-style detail with the chronicler's own point of view.

Look closer

  • Why might a Portuguese chronicler of this period want to record da Gama's voyages in such detail?
  • What parts of the story might be missing because it was written only from the Portuguese side?
  • How does an old printed translation change the way we read a 500-year-old text?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Vasco da Gama on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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