Cristóvão da Gama, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Cristóvão da Gama

Portuguese soldier in Ethiopia

Date of Birth: 01-Jan-1516

Place of Birth: Kingdom of Portugal, Portugal

Date of Death: 29-Aug-1542

Profession: condottiero, explorer

Nationality: Portugal

Zodiac Sign: Capricorn

Cristóvão da Gama (c.
1516 – 29 August 1542), anglicised as Christopher da Gama, was a Portuguese military commander who led a Portuguese army of 400 musketeers on a crusade in Ethiopia and Somalia (1541–1543) against the far larger Adal Muslim army of Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi (also known as Ahmad Gragn) aided by the Ottoman Empire.
He, along with the allied Ethiopian army, was victorious against larger forces in four battles, but was seriously wounded in his last battle and was captured, tortured, and executed.
Sir Richard Burton, in his First Footsteps in East Africa, referred to him as "the most chivalrous soldier of a chivalrous age."