RAS question
Calicut (Kozhikode) was the port where which European explorer first landed in India?
Correct answer: (C) Vasco da Gama (1498).
Vasco da Gama first landed in India at Calicut, now Kozhikode, in 1498.
Explanation
Vasco da Gama is the answer because the event asked about is the Portuguese arrival at Calicut in 1498, not a general European voyage. He reached Calicut on 20 May 1498, an Arab navigator guided him, and the Zamorin of Calicut received him. Britannica supports the core identification by describing Vasco da Gama as the Portuguese navigator who landed at Calicut, now Kozhikode, in 1498. The significance is also clear: this voyage opened the direct sea route from Europe to India, linking the spice-trade motive to the later expansion of European power in India.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Magellan's 1521 date is later than the 1498 Calicut landing, and Vasco da Gama, not Magellan, is identified with that event.
- (B) Columbus is linked to the 1492 Spanish search for Asia through the New World, not to the first European landing at Calicut.
- (D) Britannica treats Marco Polo as an occasional earlier traveller between Europe and India, not as the Portuguese explorer who landed at Calicut in 1498 and opened the direct sea route.
Concept
This tests the beginning of European activity in India, especially the Portuguese breakthrough in the Indian Ocean trade. RAS repeats it because it anchors later questions on coastal trade, colonial entry, and European rivalry in India.