But in 1538 Dom Pedro da Silva Gama, a son of Vasco Da Gama, took the remains from Cochin and buried them on Da Gama's estate in Vidigueira in Portugal. He died on Christmas Eve in 1524 in Cochin, and was buried in the monastery of Santo Antonio, later renamed the Church of San Francisco. It is not even certain where he is buried. They finally financed his voyage he went and discovered America in 1492.
So after cooling his heels for eight years at Afonso's court, Columbus went over to the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabel, who ran a co-regency in Castile, a couple of hundred miles away from Lisbon, where he would be known as Cristoval Colon. Afonso I somehow did not finance Columbus's voyage as I shall relate later, a less speculative route beckoned. Known in India and the English-speaking world as Christopher Columbus, Colon was a Genoese and would have been known as Cristoforo Colombo. Hearing of his interest, Cristoval Colon went to his court in 1774. King Afonso I of Portugal thought of finding this new passage to India, and sought information, such as it was, on global geography. If it was round, then a European could reach India by going west as by going east. The idea that the earth is round goes back a couple of centuries before Christ at least. This year is the 500th anniversary of Vasco Da Gama's 'discovery' of India.
