Vasco da Gama Pillar, Malindi

The Vasco da Gama Pillar in Malindi, Kenya, is a stone padrão erected by the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama during his pioneering maritime expedition from Lisbon to India via the Cape of Good Hope (1497–1499). It is the only one of the padrões erected along the African coastline by Portuguese seafarers to have survived in its original settlement. The pillar was constructed in 1498 or 1499, though historians disagree on whether it was placed during Vasco da Gama's first visit to Malindi (15–24 April 1498) or on his return from India in 1499. The sultan of Malindi, who had received the explorer and provided food, fresh water, and a pilot for the crossing to Calicut, later had the cross taken down and stored due to discontent among his neighbours. The padrão was eventually set up at its current site on a low rocky promontory overlooking the ocean, and its location appeared on Martin Waldseemüller's world map of 1507. Francis Xavier, visiting in 1542, noted a large, gilded stone cross near the city.