Vasco da Gama (?1469 1524) is well known as one of a generation of discoverers, along with Magellan, Cabral, and Columbus. Yet little is known about his life, or about the context within which he discovered the all-sea route to India in 1497 99. This book, based on a mass of published and unpublished sources in Portuguese and other languages, delineates Gama s career and social context, focusing on the delicate balance between career and legend . The book addresses broad questions of myth-building and nationalism, while never losing sight of Gama himself.