A Gujarati changed the course of history when he navigated Portuguese explorer
Vasco Da Gama to Calicut. Sea trade between India and the western world flourished linking the two regions in an inseparable way. The rest is history.

Gujarat's ports became launchpads of Indian enterprise. The British signed their first business deal with the Mughals in Ahmedabad. Be it Malik Ayaz who resisted the Portuguese armies securing the state's seas or entrepreneur Ranchhodlal Chhotalal, who, taking advantage of a British legislation allowing export of machinery, set up the first textile mill in Ahmedabad, Gujarat's ties with Europeans have been a roller-coaster ride.

Even Mahatma Ghandhi chose to make Gujarat his first base in India to fight the British. But, it all started with Kanji Malam, a sailor from ship-building town of Mandavi. Vasco Da Gama's crew roped in Malas as pilot to guide them to Calicut from Malindi on the east African coast in 1497. While Vasco was lucky to have Malam by his side, another Portuguese aristocrat and explorer Bartolomeu Dias was not so fortunate. In search of Indian shores, he had to return from the Cape of God Hope in 1488.

Historians have differed over the identity of the sailor who guided Vasco, calling him a Christian, a Muslim and a Gujarati. According to another account, he was the famous Arab navigator Ibn Majid. Some historians suggest Majid could not have been in the vicinity at the time. German author Justus says it was Malam who accompanied Vasco. Italian researcher Sinthia Salvadori too has concluded that it was Malam who showed Vasco the way to India.