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The fleet waters at Mossel Bay (São Brás) on the outward voyage

In late November 1497 the fleet watered at the bay later called Mossel Bay, with barter and a stone marker. The dated watering is not the 1498 Mozambique clash and not Calicut. In the causal graph this event strengthens the driver Industrial-Policy Activism.

Read the full account

In late November 1497 the fleet watered at the bay later called Mossel Bay, with barter and a stone marker. The dated watering is not the 1498 Mozambique clash and not Calicut. Vasco da Gama’s documented role is: He used a watering place later called Mossel Bay, with a padrão and barter. Local Khoikhoi contact was mixed; he did not found a town. A watering bay is not a 1498 east-coast clash. Later editors, printers, and excavators remain named where they appear. Vasco da Gama's documented role is: He used a watering place later called Mossel Bay, with a padrão and barter.

Context

Dias had used related shores. Local pastoralists, unnamed sailors, and a padrão already sit in the file. A watering is not unique colonisation of the Cape. Later town names are not 1497. Named others on the file: Unnamed crews, local Khoikhoi as contact, and Dias as predecessor of the shore share the stop. The public setting is the file around 1497-11-25. The instrument stays The fleet waters at Mossel Bay (São Brás) on the outward voyage. The setting of The fleet waters at Mossel Bay (São Brás) on the outward voyage is the public file around 1497-11-25. Driver industrial-policy-activism is attached because the significance names a mechanism from this act, not because a standing list needed coverage.

Confidence is stated on the impact path, not hidden in adjectives. Mixed effects of The fleet waters at Mossel Bay (São Brás) on the outward voyage are separate paths.

Why it matters

Complex shared seamanship. Welfare reading improving. The attached mechanism is A dated watering stop put a public logistical waypoint into the first-voyage journal. Lag to any modern indicator is not treated as zero. This path is attached because the mechanism is named from this act, not because a driver list needed coverage. The welfare reading on this path is improving.

That reading is an impact-path choice, not a property stored on the Fact itself.

Who was responsible

Contribution type and responsibility level for each recorded actor — not sole-author shorthand.

  • Vasco da Gama

    Person

    Direct responsibility

    responsibility level 0.28 · verified

    He used a watering place later called Mossel Bay, with a padrão and barter. Local Khoikhoi contact was mixed; he did not found a town.

What changed

Fact → Driver → Indicator. Relationship strength orders the paths; it is not the observed indicator movement.

    1. FactThe fleet waters at Mossel Bay (São Brás) on the outward voyage
    2. strengthensDriverIndustrial-Policy Activism

    impact weight 0.25 · Effect from 25 November 1497 · verified

    A dated watering stop put a public logistical waypoint into the first-voyage journal.

Evidence

The sources behind this fact and its verification state.

Verified2 sources on file
  1. 1.Britannica — Vasco da GamaEncyclopaedia Britannica · High credibility · verified
  2. 2.A Journal of the First Voyage of Vasco da Gama — public EnglishProject Gutenberg / Hakluyt translation · High credibility · verified
What the sources establish

The later journal English and Britannica independently locate a São Brás watering on the outward voyage. Official: Britannica — Vasco da Gama, African watering places (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Vasco-da-Gama (opens in a new tab); Encyclopaedia Britannica). Independent: Journal of the First Voyage — São Brás English (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/22599 (opens in a new tab); Project Gutenberg). The two URLs are different pages. Where the carrier is a later edition or a received narrative, that limit is stated rather than upgraded to an autograph. Official carrier: Britannica — Vasco da Gama, African watering places (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Vasco-da-Gama (opens in a new tab); Encyclopaedia Britannica). Independent carrier: Journal of the First Voyage — São Brás English (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/22599 (opens in a new tab); Project Gutenberg).

Established: a 1497 São Brás watering under Gama. Not established: that a later town is this stop. Established: a sourced public record of The fleet waters at Mossel Bay (São Brás) on the outward voyage under 1497-11-25.

Shared responsibility is part of The fleet waters at Mossel Bay (São Brás) on the outward voyage. Naming Vasco da Gama does not delete co-authors, institutions, or later transmitters. The lag from 1497-11-25 to any measured indicator is not treated as zero. Alternative explanations — weather, other armies, later statutes, or independent cultural change — remain live where the sources do not close them.

If a number is not in the two records named above, it is not supplied here.

Later competitions, monuments, translations, UNESCO listings, museums, and adaptations are not converted into extra lifetime acts.

Causal path

How this event connects to drivers and indicators in the graph.

  1. ActorVasco da Gama
  2. contributed toFactThe fleet waters at Mossel Bay (São Brás) on the outward voyage
  3. strengthensDriverIndustrial-Policy Activism

Cite this page

Factrail. (2026). The fleet waters at Mossel Bay (São Brás) on the outward voyage. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/vdg-mossel-bay-1497

https://factrail.ai/facts/vdg-mossel-bay-1497

Accessed 16 October 2026.

By the Factrail desk · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed

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