Was vasco da gama mean

Answer 1

He had quite a reputation for violence and could certainly have been considered "mean":

• On his first voyage to India his ships engaged in piracy against unarmed or lightly armed Musilim trading ships on his way there. Before he left India, he also carried a few Nairs and sixteen fishermen (mukkuva) off with him by force.
• On his second voyage, when they reached India in October 1502, da Gama's fleet set about capturing any Arab vessel he came across in Indian waters. He intercepted a ship of Muslim pilgrims from Calicut to Mecca. Da Gama looted the ship with over 400 pilgrims on board including 50 women, locked in the passengers, the owner and an ambassador from Egypt and burned them to death. They offered their wealth, which (according to contemporary chroniclers) "could ransom all the Christian slaves in the Kingdom of Fez and much more" but were not spared. Da Gama looked on through the porthole and saw the women bringing up their gold and jewels and holding up their babies to beg for mercy. Since they were in open water (far from shore) there was no escaping the burning ship.
• After the Calicut Zamorin (king) turned down his demand that all Muslims be expelled from the city before he began negotiations, his fleet bombarded the city for nearly two days from the sea shore, severely damaging the unfortified city. The Zarmorin sent the high priest Talappana Namboothiri (the very same person who conducted da Gama to the Zamorin's chamber during his much celebrated first visit to Calicut in May 1498) for talks. Da Gama called him a spy, ordered the priests' lips and ears to be cut off and after sewing a pair of dog's ears to his head, sent him away. He also captured several rice vessels and cut off the crew's hands, ears and noses, dispatching them with an insulting note to the Zamorin.