Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira (; c. 1460s – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and the first European to reach India by sea. His initial voyage to India (1497–1499) was the first to link Europe and Asia by an ocean route, connecting the Atlantic and the Indian oceans and therefore, the West and the Orient. Da Gama's discovery of the sea route to India was significant and opened the way for an age of global imperialism and for the Portuguese to establish a long-lasting colonial empire in Asia. Traveling the ocean route allowed
The Portuguese in Dhaka Khan allowed the Portuguese to make a settlement on the bank of Ichamati River (about 25 km south of Dhaka) as the Portuguese showed loyalty to the Mughals. The place where they made settlement located in present-day Muktarpur–Mirkadim area of Munshiganj is still known as "Firingibazaar". Narinda church is thought to be functioning again at this time as Father Anthony Barbier mentioned to spend Christmas at the church in his visit to Dhaka in 1713. From documents of 1789 it can be seen that the only church active at that time is the one in Tejgaon (current Holy Rosary Church,