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Secondary sourcePaintingc. 1880

Vasco da Gama lands at Calicut

Ernesto Casanova · c. 1880

A watercolor painting from around 1880 imagining Vasco da Gama's landing at Calicut in 1498.

Depicts Vasco da Gama as the central figure landing at Calicut, the climax of his first voyage to India.

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Watercolor painting of a bearded man in a red hat and red and blue robes with gold trim, standing in a wooden rowboat and pointing toward the shore. He holds a white flag with red emblems. Other men in caps sit in boats, and tall sailing ships with furled sails stand in the background under a pale sky with birds. The artist's signature appears in the lower left corner.
Ernesto Casanova, Vasco da Gama lands at Calicut, May 20, 1498, c. 1880.

About this source

What it is

This watercolor by Ernesto Casanova, painted around 1880, shows a bearded man in red robes standing in a rowboat and pointing toward shore, surrounded by sailors and tall ships. It depicts the moment traditionally remembered as Vasco da Gama's landing at Calicut in May 1498.

Why it matters

Painted nearly four centuries after the event, this image reflects how later artists imagined and celebrated da Gama's arrival in India, a moment seen as the opening of a direct European sea route to Asia. It tells us more about how the nineteenth century remembered exploration than about the actual scene in 1498.

Look closer

  • What details did the artist choose to emphasize about the central figure?
  • Why might an artist in 1880 want to paint this scene?
  • What is missing from this image about the people already living in Calicut?

This painting 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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