"Ever since 1498, after Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope"
I think one his descendants, Fiasco da Gama, is the captain of the good ship Europa.
Oh come now, don't start dragging the good name De Gama down. Why if Europe had the kind of leadership it used to, with its crusaders and explores, instead of the democratically elected mediocrities it has now, we would not be talking about any kind of western decline.