On May 28, 1498, following an audience with the king of Calicut, Samoothiri Maharajas, the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama was caught in a violent storm which forced his party to seek shelter in the house of his Moor guide. This is the earliest mention in literature of a veranda: By that time four hours of the night had already gone … The Moor then took him [Vasco da Gama] to his own house and we were admitted to a court within it, where there was a veranda [em huma varanda] roofed in with tiles. Many carpets had been spread…