Which country sponsored Vasco da Gama's voyage to India in 1498?

Portugal sponsored Vasco da Gama's voyage to India in 1498. King Manuel I of Portugal commissioned the expedition as part of Portugal's long effort to find a sea route to the profitable spice markets of India by sailing around Africa.

Da Gama's fleet left Lisbon on 8 July 1497 with four ships and about 170 men. After rounding the Cape of Good Hope, the expedition crossed the Indian Ocean with help from a pilot obtained at Malindi on the East African coast. The fleet reached Kappadu, near Calicut—now Kozhikode, India—on 20 May 1498.

The voyage built on earlier Portuguese exploration, especially Bartolomeu Dias's rounding of the Cape in 1488. A common mix-up is to credit Spain, England, or France because those countries later sponsored major voyages during the Age of Exploration. Portugal, however, organized and financed this expedition, and its success opened a direct European maritime route to India. The return journey was far more difficult because the ships faced unfavorable monsoon winds.