This Day in History: 1497-12-16

Rounding the Cape of Good Hope The intrepid Portuguese explorer Vasco De Gama rounds Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of the African continent. Commanding three ships, De Gama continues sailing to India on this day in 1497, opening a direct sea route to Asia from Europe. The return trip is marked by misfortune when De Gama fails to heed local knowledge about the monsoons and loses half his crew in a journey back across the Indian Ocean.