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Article: Times & tides. (1997 celebrations for the voyage of the Portuguese traveler Vasco Da Gama who circled Africa to reach India, and for Elvis Presley's death, are justified)(Cross Currents)(Column)
- Article from:
- History Today
- Article date:
- December 1, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 History Today Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Five hundred years after Vasco da Gama's fist departure for India, I joined a commemorative conference, which began rolling at La Trobe University in Melbourne, and ended on the shores of the Indian Ocean at Fremantle. Vasco specialists will reconvene at intervals over the next two years, in Calicut, Lisbon, Kuala Lumpur, San Marino and I don't know where else. Does da Gama deserve this attention? To set his achievement in context, it is worth recalling other quincentenaries, forgotten or neglected over the past year.
In 1497, for instance, King Hans of Denmark made his triumphal entry into Stockholm. No interest in the anniversary has been reported; yet when ...