Today in History, May 20th
On May 20, 1498, Vasco da Gama reached Calicut, India, by sailing around Africa. Plus the Homestead Act and the patent for blue jeans.
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May 20 is best known for 1498, when Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama reached Calicut, India, opening a sea route from Europe to Asia around Africa. The date also saw President Abraham Lincoln sign the Homestead Act in 1862 and Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive their patent for riveted work pants, the first blue jeans, in 1873.
The big story: Vasco da Gama reaches India (1498)
Da Gama left Lisbon on July 8, 1497, with four ships and about 170 men. Their job was simple to say and brutal to do: sail around Africa and find the way to India. The fleet rounded the Cape of Good Hope and worked up Africa’s east coast to Malindi. There, in April 1498, a Gujarati pilot who knew the route to Calicut joined them and guided the ships across the Indian Ocean. On May 20, 1498, they arrived off Calicut on India’s Malabar Coast, the first Europeans to reach India by sailing around Africa. The welcome was chilly. The local ruler, the Zamorin, was unimpressed by da Gama’s gifts, Muslim merchants opposed him, and he left without a trade deal. The trip home was grim. Scurvy and other hardships cut the crew to 55 survivors by the time he reached Lisbon in September 1499. Still, Portugal now had a direct route to the spice markets of the East, and the king rewarded da Gama handsomely.
More events on May 20
| Year | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1506 | Christopher Columbus died in Valladolid, Spain, convinced his achievements had never been properly valued. |
| 1774 | King George III approved three of the four Coercive Acts, Parliament’s punishment of Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party. Colonists called them the Intolerable Acts. |
| 1862 | President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act, which let heads of families claim 160 acres of public land if they farmed it for five years. |
| 1873 | Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis received a patent for strengthening work pants with copper rivets, the start of blue jeans. |
| 1927 | Charles Lindbergh took off from Roosevelt Field on Long Island at 7:52 a.m. in the Spirit of St. Louis, bound nonstop and alone for Paris. |
| 1940 | German armored columns under Heinz Guderian reached the English Channel at Abbeville, France, cutting off British forces in the north from the main French army. |
| 1946 | English poet W.H. Auden became a U.S. citizen. |
| 1969 | U.S. and South Vietnamese troops took Hill 937 after 10 days and 10 assaults. Soldiers called it “Hamburger Hill” for its heavy casualties. |
| 1996 | In Romer v. Evans, the U.S. Supreme Court voted 6-3 to strike down a Colorado constitutional amendment that barred local laws protecting gay and lesbian people. |
| 2002 | East Timor officially became an independent nation, nearly three years after its people voted for independence from Indonesia. |
| 2007 | The Simpsons, created by Matt Groening, aired its 400th episode on Fox. |
Born on May 20
- 1799: Honoré de Balzac, French novelist of La Comédie humaine, born in Tours.
- 1806: John Stuart Mill, English philosopher, economist and champion of utilitarianism, born in London.
- 1946: Cher, American singer and Oscar-winning actress, born in El Centro, California.
Sources
- Vasco da Gama, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Vasco da Gama reaches India, History.com
- This Day in History: May 20, History.com
- On This Day: May 20, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- East Timor, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Honoré de Balzac, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- John Stuart Mill, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Cher, Encyclopaedia Britannica
