it took 11 months to reach Calicut coast of Kerala
On this day in 1497, Vasco da Gama set out on his first visit to India. It took about 11 months for Vasco da Gama to reach India with 4 huge ships and hundreds of boats carrying 170 people. With this Vasco da Gama found a sea route from Europe to India. This was a great achievement for the Portuguese.
Actually, tea and spices of India have always been famous all over the world. Even at that time European countries used spices and tea from India. From India, these goods used to reach Europe via Arab countries. Arab countries never told European countries where these goods came from. This was a major source of income for the Arabs.
The Europeans knew that India was somewhere far away, but did not know the sea route to reach there. India could not be reached through Arab countries, so Europeans started looking for a way to reach India by sea.
Christopher Columbus of Italy first set out to find a sea route to India, but wandered in the Atlantic Ocean and reached America.
After 5 years, Vasco da Gama set out to find a sea way to reach India. He was accompanied by a large convoy in which the necessary items and other things were kept for the journey. During the journey, 3 linguists were also kept along to interact with the local people, of whom 2 spoke Arabic and one spoke the Bantu language of Africa. Pillars of big stones were also kept with them to mark the way.
Vasco da Gama was an excellent captain and had a good knowledge of sea routes. On 26 July da Gama’s convoy reached Santiago. Spent a week here. The journey continued for months and in November the convoy entered the Indian Ocean through the Cap of Good Hope. In such a long and tiring journey, many of his companions also fell ill, many were killed and their food items were also running out. In view of this, Vasco da Gama decided to stay in Mozambique. Here boats were repaired and food items were collected. It is said that he gave many prized gifts to the Sultan of Mozambique, in return for which the Sultan gave him 2 sailors, who knew about the sea routes to India.
By April the convoy had reached Kenya. After a long journey, on 20 May 1498, Vasco da Gama touched the soil of Calicut, India.
Here he met the king of Calicut and persuaded him to trade, but the Muslim merchants opposed Vasco, as a result of which he had to return to Portugal within three months. When the convoy left for Portugal in August, only 55 out of 170 people survived due to extremely bad weather.
After this Vasco da Gama came to India twice more. It was during his third and last visit that his health deteriorated and he died on 24 May 1524. Vasco da Gama’s body was buried in Kochi. In 1538 his grave was excavated and his remains were taken out and taken to Portugal.
1954: Inauguration of Bhakra Canal Project
While chasing a leopard in Bhakra, Himachal, British General Louis Dane reached the foothills of the Sutlej River. Here, when he saw the flow of the Sutlej river, he thought that it could be used to generate electricity.
In 1908, he sent a proposal to the British government for this, but the government refused citing lack of funds. About 10 years later, the then Chief Engineer F.E. Vader’s efforts led to a detailed report, which proposed to build a dam 395 feet high.
This dam was to be built about 69 km from Ropar. Till now the purpose of building the dam was only to hold water for irrigation. During this several times the project report was prepared but every time due to some reason it could not be passed. Eventually the project report was passed in 1948. In this report it was proposed to build Bhakra Dam, Nangal Dam and canals.
Work on the project began in 1951. A team of engineers was called from America. It was decided that first a canal would be built so that farmers could get water for irrigation at the earliest. A 60-km long rail line was laid from Ropar to Nangal, roads were also built and a 50-bed hospital was also built to carry goods.
It is said that Pandit Nehru was very proud of the Bhakra-Nangal canal project. He visited the project 10 times during its construction. Nehru inaugurated this project on this day in 1954.
paris birthday today
Today is the birthday of Paris, the beautiful capital of France. It is believed that Paris was founded on this day in 250 BC. Some people of the Parisi tribe settled on the banks of the Seine river around 250 BC. This river currently passes through Paris.
Gradually, the population of these people increased on the banks of the river and after the name of the tribe, this area came to be called Paris. Paris emerged as a center of art, architecture and science during the 15th to 17th centuries. In the middle of the 18th century, Napoleon III decided to modernize Paris, the responsibility of which was given to the engineer and planner George Eugene.
In recent Paris, many things have been built under the planning of Eugene. Today Paris is counted among the beautiful cities of the world.
The day of 8th July is remembered in history because of what other events…
- 2007: After 42 years, rail traffic between India and Bangladesh started. Rail traffic between the two countries was closed since 1965.
- 2007: Former Prime Minister of India Chandra Shekhar passed away.
- 1994: Kim Jong Un takes over as the Supreme Leader of North Korea after the death of his father.
- 1889: The American newspaper ‘The Wall Street Journal’ was started. Today it sells 20 lakh copies every day.
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