GAMA GAMBETTA 605 the astrolabe, compass, and quadrant. Under his guidance the voyagers steered 750 leagues across the open sea. In 23 days they arrived off the Malabar coast, and on May 20, 1498, they reached Calicut, the object of their search. Their mission was thus accomplished, and a new route to the East established. Gama met with a cordial reception at the court of Samou- dri Eajah (abbreviated to Zamorin); but the Arabs at that place, foreseeing that the Portu- guese would eventually take the trade with the East out of their hands, instigated Zamorin against them, and Gama narrowly escaped. He immediately set sail on his homeward voy- age, calling at Melinda on the way to take on board an ambassador to Emanuel's court, and arriving in the Tagus on Aug. 29, 1499, after an absence of 26 months. He brought back only 55 men and one ship, a caravel which he had chartered at Cape Verd. The San Rafael had been lost on the coast of Africa, the store ship burned according to Gama's instructions, the Sao Gabriel condemned at Cape Verd, and Nicolao Coelho had slipped away with the re- maining vessel, in order to be the first to tell the great news in Portugal. The king received Gama splendidly, and permitted him to bear the title of "lord of the conquest of Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia, and India." Emanuel imme- diately fitted out a second fleet of 13 ships, with 1,200 men, under the command of Pedro Alvarez Cabral, to establish trading posts. The most remarkable incident of the voyage was the accidental discovery of Brazil. From there Cabral got to India, and established a factory at Calicut ; but on the departure of the fleet the inhabitants massacred all the Portuguese who had been left behind. The Portuguese govern- ment now sent out a fleet of 20 ships under command of Gama, which sailed early in 1502. On reaching the Indian seas Gama made a treaty with the kings of Sofala and Quiloa, the latter agreeing to pay tribute to Portugal. Determined now to strike terror into the hos- tile kings of the Indian coast, he seized a large ship containing 300 male and female pilgrims of the highest rank and of various nationalities on their way to Mecca, and killed them all, ex- cepting 20 children, whom he saved to bring up in the Christian faith, as an atonement for one of the Portuguese who had apostatized to Mohammedanism. This affair at once opened to him the port of Cananore, whence he sailed to Calicut, seizing on the way 50 of the natives. Here he demanded the right to trade, with im- mediate reparation for past indignities, and, not receiving it promptly, he hung his 50 prisoners at the yard arm and burned the town. Thence he proceeded to Cochin, where he entered into friendly relations with the king, and presented him a golden crown from the king of Portugal. The Calicut Zamorin, however, made war on Cochin for his alliance with the strangers. Gama, leaving five ships to cruise on the coast, returned home with 13 ships, having a battle on the way with the Calicut fleet, which he utterly routed. On his return the king created him admiral of the Indian ocean and count of Vidigueira. For the next 21 years Gama lived in retirement. In 1524, the Portuguese do- minion having largely expanded in the East, John III. appointed him viceroy of the Indies. He proceeded to his seat of government, but died at the close of the year. In 1528 his body was brought to Portugal and interred with honor. Barros has published an account of his voyages, and Camoens celebrates them in his "Lusiad." GAMALIEL, a Jewish doctor of the law, mem- ber of the sanhedrim, and teacher of Saul, the future apostle Paul, died about A. D. 52. In the Talmud he is surnamed Hazzaken, "the Elder," to distinguish him from his grandson, who after the destruction of Jerusalem presided over the sanhedrim at Jamnia. He was grand- son of Hillel, the renowned teacher of the Mishnah. He held a seat, and probably the presidency, in the sanhedrim during the reigns of Tiberius, Caligula, and Claudius, being suc- ceeded by his son Simeon. When Peter and the other apostles were brought before the council in Jerusalem (Acts v.), he recommend- ed to " let them alone, for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought ; but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it ; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God." He was the author of many religious and civil reforms, and remarkable for humanity, charity, and tolerance. He was the first to be distin- guished by the title ratiban (our master). The respect with which his opinions are always quoted by the rabbis is irreconcilable with the tradition that he was converted to Christianity. GAMBETTA, Leon, a French statesman, of Genoese-Jewish descent, born in Cahors, Oct. 30, 1838. He studied law, and became a mem' ber of the Paris bar in 1859. In 1863 he ac- quired eminence as an ultra liberal, in 1868 became still more famous by his denunciations of the arbitrary measures of Louis Napoleon, and in 1869 he was elected deputy by the so- called party of " irreconcilables " for Paris and Marseilles. He meant to take his seat for Marseilles, but was prevented by illness until the beginning of 1870, when he protested in the corps legislatif against the imprisonment of his friend and colleague Rochefort (Feb. 7), and shortly after against Louis Napoleon's new plebiscite, which he declared to be a violation of the constitution. On the news of the sur- render of Louis Napoleon at Sedan he pro- posed to depose the imperial dynasty, and was among the first to proclaim the republic, Sept. 4; and on the 5th he became minister of the interior in the provisional government of na- tional defence. He took measures for convo- king the electoral colleges; but Paris being invested by the Germans, no election could take place. Early in October he escaped in a balloon to join his colleagues at Tours. Here, and afterward at Bordeaux, he assumed the general direction of movements outside the
Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/617
This page needs to be proofread.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/98/The_American_Cyclop%C3%A6dia_%281879%29_Volume_VII.djvu/page617-1024px-The_American_Cyclop%C3%A6dia_%281879%29_Volume_VII.djvu.jpg)