Question: Who fathered the leader of the first expedition to reach the continent where Buddhism spread by sailing across the ocean that supplies the warm air mass over the Argentinian Andes.

<P0-S0> Vasco da Gama's father was Estêvão da Gama, who had served in the 1460s as a knight of the household of Infante Ferdinand, Duke of Viseu. <P0-S1> He rose in the ranks of the military Order of Santiago. <P0-S2> Estêvão da Gama was appointed "alcaide-mór" (civil governor) of Sines in the 1460s, a post he held until 1478; after that he continued as a receiver of taxes and holder of the Order's commendas in the region. <SEP> <P1-S0> in the 2nd century ce, mahayana sutras spread to china, and then to korea and japan, and were translated into chinese. <P1-S1> during the indian period of esoteric buddhism (from the 8th century onwards), buddhism spread from india to tibet and mongolia. <SEP> <P2-S0> In Asia, the spread of Buddhism led to large-scale ongoing translation efforts spanning well over a thousand years. <P2-S1> The Tangut Empire was especially efficient in such efforts; exploiting the then newly invented block printing, and with the full support of the government (contemporary sources describe the Emperor and his mother personally contributing to the translation effort, alongside sages of various nationalities), the Tanguts took mere decades to translate volumes that had taken the Chinese centuries to render. <P2-S2> [citation needed] <SEP> <P3-S0> the voyage was commissioned by king george iii and commanded by lieutenant james cook, a junior naval officer with good skills in cartography and mathematics. <P3-S1> departing from plymouth - dock (devonport) in august 1768, the expedition crossed the atlantic, rounded cape horn and reached tahiti in time to observe the transit of venus. <P3-S2> cook then set sail into the largely uncharted ocean to the south, stopping at the pacific islands of huahine, borabora and raiatea to claim them for great britain, and unsuccessfully attempting to land at rurutu. <P3-S3> in september 1769 the expedition reached new zealand, being the second europeans to visit there, following the first european discovery by abel tasman 127 years earlier. <P3-S4> cook and his crew spent the following six months charting the new zealand coast, before resuming their voyage westward across open sea. <P3-S5> in april 1770 they became the first europeans to reach the east coast of australia, making landfall at point hicks, and then proceeding to botany bay. <SEP> <P4-S0> The Portuguese Vasco da Gama, accompanied by Nicolau Coelho and Bartolomeu Dias, is the first European to reach India by an all - sea route from Europe. <SEP> <P5-S0> Although the centre and the eastern parts of the country are mostly flat, the west is mountainous. <P5-S1> Both the Andes and Sierras Pampeanas affect the climate of Argentina, leading to differences in temperature, pressure, and spatial distribution of precipitation depending on the topography and altitude. <P5-S2> Here, the Andes exert an important influence on the climate. <P5-S3> Owing to the higher altitudes of the Andes north of 40 S, they completely block the normal westerly flow, preventing low pressure systems containing moisture from the Pacific Ocean from coming in. <P5-S4> Thus, much of Argentina north of 40 S is dominated by wind circulation patterns from the South Atlantic High. <P5-S5> South of 40 S, the Andes are lower in altitude, allowing much of Patagonia to be dominated by westerly winds and air masses from the Pacific Ocean. <P5-S6> However, the north -- south orientation of the Andes creates a barrier for humid air masses originating from the Pacific Ocean. <P5-S7> This is because they force these air masses upwards, cooling adiabactically. <P5-S8> Most of the moisture is dropped on the Chilean side, causing abundant precipitation and cloudiness while on the Argentine side, the air warms adiabatically, causing it to become drier as it descends. <P5-S9> Thus, an extensive rain -- shadow is present in much of Patagonia, causing it to receive very little precipitation. <P5-S10> The Sierras Pampeanas influences the climate on a much smaller scale than the Andes.