"Later, King Manuel of Portugal sent another explorer, Vasco da Gama, on an expedition around the Cape of Good Hope. Da Gama left Lisbon, Portugal, in July 1497 and arrived in Southwestern India the next year Portugal had won the European race for a sea route to Asia."
www.peaster.net/cms/lib/TX01000798/Centricity/Domain/359/Ch.2Sec.1.pdf