A few months ago, we took you aboard the “Santa Maria”, “Niña” and “Pinta” with Christopher Collomb. The Genoese dreamed of opening a route to the west and exploring Asia. He would discover the shores of the New World. In this new edition of our special edition collection “The Great Explorers”, on sale this Wednesday, we traverse in the footsteps of Vasco da Gama, another giant of the seas. Commissioned by King Manuel I to open the spice route, the sailor sailed on July 8, 1497 from Lisbon, commanding a fleet of four ships and 200 men.

Towards India, through Africa. A ten-month maritime epic in which the Portuguese benefited from the knowledge of the explorers of the Empire, who, for almost a century, traversed the western coast of this continent. On December 16, 1497, the expedition passed the last padrão, a granite pillar with a cross on top, installed by Diaz—near what is now the Cape of Good Hope—before it sank to an unknown location…

What a trip

The adventure begins. This marked the beginning of Portugal’s conquest of maritime empires to the East, with the establishment of the first trading posts in Asia. Vasco da Gama would never stop, during these three journeys, told here from the inside, to consolidate the commercial routes that would find colossal riches from a modest kingdom of one million souls.

These extraordinary journeys are at the heart of this collection from Le Parisien-Aujourd’hui en France: letting you relive the greatest expeditions based on sailors’ notebooks. As close as possible to historical reality, using the best sources. By separating the true from the false, by tracking the lies and their guesses. With the help of historians and rich iconography, the characteristics of our special edition. Welcome to the club !

On sale at all newsagents, 6.50 euros.