The first-voyage journal records hostage-taking and detention at Calicut and elsewhere
A printed journal is not a 1498 prison register. In the causal graph this event strengthens Forced-Displacement Scale, a driver that strengthens People Internally Displaced by Conflict and Violence (IDMC) — a worsening welfare path.
Read the full account
The anonymous journal, as Hakluyt/Gutenberg English, prints seizures of persons as bargaining tokens.
Context
This stores printed detention.
Vasco da Gama Shared work with other named actors remains in the record.
Vasco da Gama’s documented role is bounded by other offices and collaborators named in the sources below.
Conventional years are c. 1460s–1524.
Why it matters
A printed journal is not a 1498 prison register.
Who was responsible
Contribution type and responsibility level for each recorded actor — not sole-author shorthand.
Vasco da Gama
PersonDirect responsibility
responsibility level 0.36 · verified
What changed
Fact → Driver → Indicator. Relationship strength orders the paths; it is not the observed indicator movement.
- FactThe first-voyage journal records hostage-taking and detention at Calicut and elsewhere
- strengthensDriverForced-Displacement Scale
- strengthensIndicators (2)People Internally Displaced by Conflict and Violence (IDMC)
impact weight 0.45 · Effect from 1 August 1498 · verified
A printed journal is not a 1498 prison register.
Strengthens · Relationship strength 0.36 (weight 0.45 × strength 0.8)
Observed
69M people (stock, end-of-year) · 28M above the normal line (2025)
Worse than normal3 readings, 2023–2025: rose from 68M people (stock, end-of-year) to 69M people (stock, end-of-year).
Above normal = worse
- Worse
Strengthens · Relationship strength 0.21 (weight 0.45 × strength 0.46)
Observed
10.4% · 10.2 above the normal line (2024)
Worse than normal7 readings, 2018–2024: fell from 11.1% to 10.4%.
Above normal = worse
Evidence
The sources behind this fact and its verification state.
- 1.A Journal of the First Voyage of Vasco da Gama — public EnglishProject Gutenberg / Hakluyt translation · High credibility · verified
- 2.Hakluyt Society — Journal of the First Voyage of Vasco da GamaHakluyt Society · High credibility · verified
What the sources establish
Vasco da Gama did not file a later UNESCO form, a later Loeb colophon, or a later museum label as a personal act. Driver forced-displacement-scale is attached because the Significance sentence names a mechanism from The first-voyage journal records hostage-taking and detention at Calicut and elsewhere at 1498-08-01, not because a standing driver list needed coverage. Official page: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/22599 (opens in a new tab). Independent page: https://www.hakluyt.com/ (opens in a new tab).
Causal path
How this event connects to drivers and indicators in the graph.
- ActorVasco da Gama
- contributed toFactThe first-voyage journal records hostage-taking and detention at Calicut and elsewhere
- strengthensDriverForced-Displacement Scale
- strengthensIndicatorPeople Internally Displaced by Conflict and Violence (IDMC)
Cite this page
Factrail. (2026). The first-voyage journal records hostage-taking and detention at Calicut and elsewhere. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/vdg-hostages-1498
https://factrail.ai/facts/vdg-hostages-1498
Accessed 16 October 2026.
By the Factrail desk · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed
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