This week in history spans five centuries of turning points: Vasco da Gama sets sail for India, Althea Gibson breaks Wimbledon's colour barrier, John Lennon meets Paul McCartney at a church fete, and the world gets its first communications satellite. Eight remarkable historical events, one unforgettable week.
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On July eighth, fourteen ninety-seven, in Lisbon, Portugal, a fleet of four ships and roughly one hundred seventy men slipped out of the harbor under the command of Vasco da Gama, bound for a destination no European vessel had ever reached by sea. Da Gama's mission was to find a direct ocean route to India, bypassing the overland spice trade that had made middlemen rich for centuries.
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