24. Which Portuguese explorer sailed around Africa and across the Indian Ocean to reach India?

A Bartolomeu Dias

B. Pedro Cabral

C. Vasco da Gama

D. Prince Henry

C. Vasco da Gama

Explanation:

The Portuguese nobleman Vasco da Gama (1460-1524) sailed from Lisbon in 1497 on a mission to reach India and open a sea route from Europe to the East. After sailing down the western coast of Africa and rounding the Cape of Good Hope, his expedition made numerous stops in Africa before reaching the trading post of Calicut, India, in May 1498. Da Gama received a hero's welcome back in Portugal, and was sent on a second expedition to India in 1502, during which he brutally clashed with Muslim traders in the region. Two decades later, da Gama again returned to India, this time as Portuguese viceroy; he died there of an illness in late 1524

Vasco de Gama