Team photo from the 1934 season Club de Regatas Vasco da Gama is a Brazilian football club that was founded on August 21, 1898 (although the professional football department started on November 5, 1915), by Portuguese immigrants, and it is still traditionally supported by the of Rio de Janeiro. It is one of the most popular clubs in Brazil, with more than 20 million supporters. Its statute defines the club as a ' sportive, recreative, educational, assistant and philanthropic non-profit organization of public utility'. Their home stadium is, with a capacity of 21,880, the third biggest in (after and ), but some matches (especially the ) are played at the (capacity of about 80,000). They play in black shirts with a white diagonal sash that contains a (famously, though mistakenly, identified as a ), black shorts and black socks. The club is named after the explorer.

The Portuguese nobleman Vasco da Gama (1460-1524) sailed from Lisbon in 1497 on a mission to reach India and open a sea route from Europe to the East. Toyota Tech Stream Keygenguru. After sailing down the western coast of Africa and rounding the Cape of Good Hope, his expedition made numerous stops in Africa before reaching the trading post of Calicut, India, in May 1498.

Vasco shirt 2008 Campeonato Brasileiro [ ] The team finished the championship in a disastrous 18th place and was relegated to the second division of the championship for the first time since its foundation, 110 years before. Up until the relegation, it was one of the only six clubs to have never been removed from the first division, along with,, and, though the last two (even they never played any of the lower divisions), didn't participate in the, in order to avoid conflicts with Paulista Championship schedule.

2009 Campeonato Brasileiro [ ] After almost one year out of the first division, Vasco played the second division and on November 7, was promoted to the first division after a victory against in stadium by the score of 2–1. 2011: the Redemption Year [ ].

This section does not any. Unsourced material may be challenged and. (February 2012) () From the earlier part of the 15th century, organized by Prince had been reaching down the African coastline, principally in search of west African riches (notably, gold).

They had greatly extended Portuguese maritime knowledge, but had little profit to show for the effort. After Henry's death in 1460, the Portuguese Crown showed little interest in continuing this effort and, in 1469, sold off the neglected African enterprise to a private Lisbon merchant consortium led.

Within a few years, Gomes' captains expanded Portuguese knowledge across the, doing business in gold dust,, ivory and. When Gomes' charter came up for renewal in 1474, Prince John (future John II), asked his father to pass the African charter to him. Monument to the Cross of Vasco da Gama at the, South Africa The expedition set sail from Lisbon on 8 July 1497.

It followed the route pioneered by earlier explorers along the coast of Africa via and the Islands. After reaching the coast of present-day, da Gama took a course south into the open ocean, crossing the and seeking the South Atlantic that had discovered in 1487. This course proved successful and on 4 November 1497, the expedition made landfall on the African coast. For over three months the ships had sailed more than 10,000 kilometres (6,000 mi) of open ocean, by far the longest journey out of sight of land made by that time. By 16 December, the fleet had passed the (, South Africa) – where Dias had turned back – and sailed into waters previously unknown to Europeans. With Christmas pending, da Gama and his crew gave the coast they were passing the name, which carried the connotation of 'birth of Christ' in Portuguese.

Mozambique Vasco da Gama spent 2 to 29 March 1498 in the vicinity of Mozambique Island. -controlled territory on the East African coast was an integral part of the network of trade in the Indian Ocean. Fearing the local population would be hostile to Christians, da Gama impersonated a and gained audience with the Sultan of. With the paltry trade goods he had to offer, the explorer was unable to provide a suitable gift to the ruler. Soon the local populace became suspicious of da Gama and his men. Forced by a hostile crowd to flee Mozambique, da Gama departed the harbor, firing his cannons into the city in retaliation. Mombasa In the vicinity of modern, the expedition resorted to, looting Arab merchant ships that were generally unarmed trading vessels without heavy cannons.