what country did vasco da gama came from?
Portugal
entailment
 In 1808 , the Portuguese Royal Family arrived in Brazil , settling in Rio de Janeiro . The Hispanic @-@ American colonies became easy prey , as they were engulfed in turmoil and beset by wars of independence against Spain . In 1811 Prince Regent Dom João ( later King Dom João VI ) ordered the invasion of the Banda Oriental ( Eastern Bank ) , which bordered Rio Grande do Sul . João 's attempt at conquering the entire region met with failure . He launched another invasion a few years later , in 1816 , who counted among their ranks Marques de Sousa 's father and paternal grandfather . In 1817 , around age 13 , he asked his grandfather to allow him to fight in the war . The elder Marques de Sousa agreed , and the youngster learned guerrilla hit @-@ and @-@ run tactics on horseback near the border town of Jaguarão . 

entailment
 A controversy that has occupied scholars for more than a century concerns whether Cabral 's discovery was by chance or intentional . If the latter , that would mean that the Portuguese had at least some hint that a land existed to the west . The matter was first raised by Emperor Pedro II in 1854 during a session of the Brazilian Historic and Geographic Institute , when he asked if the discovery might have been intentional . 

entailment
 When Vasco da Gama landed in Calicut , on the southwestern Malabar coast of India , in 1498 , the Vijayanagara empire was about to reach its apex . During the 16th century the chieftaincies , or Nayaka principalities , of Keladi ( and later of Ikkeri and Bednur ) were established in the western part of what later became Shimoga district . ( See Map 2 and Map 9 . ) Sadasiva Raya Naik , the first of the Keladi chiefs , was granted permission by the Vijayanagara emperor to administer some towns on the western Kanara coast . In the decade after the fall of the Vijayanagara empire , the Portuguese , who until then had pursued their pepper trade entirely on the Malabar coast farther south , decided as a commercial strategy , to hedge their bets , and commenced purchasing some pepper from the Kanara region . During 1568 – 1569 , they took possession of the coastal towns of Onor ( now Honavar ) , Barcelor ( now Basrur ) , and Mangalore and constructed fortresses and factories at each location . ( See Map 1 and Map 8 . ) 

entailment
 The arrival of the Portuguese Royal Family in Rio de Janeiro in 1808 changed the lives of the Lima family . King Dom João VI embarked upon a series of wars of conquest which resulted in the expansion of Brazil 's territory with the annexation of Cisplatina to the south and of French Guiana to the north . By 1818 , Luís Alves ' relatives , who were military officers and had served in the wars , had been ennobled . His grandfather , José Joaquim , became a member of the Order of Christ and Fidalgo Cavaleiro da Casa Real ( Knight Nobleman of the Royal House ) . His father , Francisco de Lima , and uncles were also granted honors . Within two generations , the Lima family had risen from mere commoners to the ranks of Portugal 's untitled nobility . 

entailment
 His fleet of 13 ships sailed far into the western Atlantic Ocean , perhaps intentionally , where he made landfall on what he initially assumed to be a large island . As the new land was within the Portuguese sphere according to the Treaty of Tordesillas , Cabral claimed it for the Portuguese Crown . He explored the coast , realizing that the large land mass was probably a continent , and dispatched a ship to notify King Manuel I of the new territory . The continent was South America , and the land he had claimed for Portugal later came to be known as Brazil . The fleet reprovisioned and then turned eastward to resume the journey to India . 
