The first European to reach India by sea sailing around the tip of Africa was who?

• A. Christopher Columbus
• B. Ferdinand Magellan
• C. Vasco da Gama
• D. John Cabot

Answer: (C)

The main idea here is how Europe first opened a direct sea route to India by sailing around the southern tip of Africa. Vasco da Gama achieved this in 1498, leading a Portuguese voyage that rounded the Cape of Good Hope and reached Calicut on India’s Malabar coast. This established the long-sought direct sea route from Europe to Asia and enabled direct spice trade, transforming global commerce and European involvement in the Indian Ocean. The voyage built on Bartolomeu Dias’s earlier rounding of the Cape, but it was da Gama who actually made it to India and back with a cargo, proving the route viable.

Columbus was aiming for a westward path to Asia and ended up reaching the Americas; Magellan initiated the first circumnavigation, which demonstrated global sailing but did not establish the India-to-Europe route around Africa; John Cabot explored parts of North America. None of these opened the African-to-India route, making Vasco da Gama the correct figure.