What was Vasco da Gama's goal and what tools did he use?
Vasco da Gama's ultimate goal was to discover the route from Europe to India by traveling around the Cape of Good Hope, which is the tip of Africa ("Vasco Da Gama"). He is best known for the first European to India by sea. Also, part of the goal for the expedition was to bring back spices and jewels to make his country, Portugal, a powerful nation ("Vasco Da Gama and the Gateway to India"). Even before his exploration, Portugal was actually desperate to sail to Asia so they could buy spices at a cheap price ("Age of Exploration"). Therefore, his reason for the exploration was to gain goods for his nation. Tools that helped his trip were specially constructed ships and navigational instruments such as a compass and an astrolabe. One of his specially constructed ships, Naos, weighed 200 tons that had a shallow draught. The other ship was a lateen-rigged caravel, which weighed 100 tons. Some navigational instruments he used were a compass, time keeping, lead line, and astrolabe (Winser).
an astrolabe ("TheASTROLABE")