When did Vasco da Gama reach India?

Da Gama set out from Lisbon in July 1497 with four ships and sailed around the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa. Along the East African coast he took on a local pilot who guided the fleet across the Indian Ocean. His arrival in Calicut on India's Malabar Coast opened a direct sea route between Europe and Asia, bypassing overland trade routes. The return journey was brutal, and many of his crew died of scurvy. His voyage laid the foundations of the Portuguese empire in Asia and the spice trade.