A History of Agriculture in India v2.c72.s7: Portuguese in India
A History of Agriculture in India v2.c72.s7
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Portuguese in India
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Vasco da Gama, *A.D. 1498-1502*. The news of the discoveries of Columbus spurred the Portuguese to reach India by the South African route. King Emmanuel selected Vasco da Gama, a nobleman, to find a direct route to India via the Cape of Good Hope. He was assisted by two able captains, Paul da Gama and Nicolas Coelho. With four ships they sailed from the Harbour of Belem on 8 July 1497. At the mouth of the Quelimane River they first saw signs of civilized life, and a little later they came to Mozambique, where Arab ships lay loading in the harbour. The Muslim sheik of the place first gave the Portuguese a good reception, but on learning that they were Christians he changed his attitude and Gama had to leave the port in haste. At the next Muslim city, Mombasa, the whole expedition was nearly destroyed, but managed to escape and reach Malindi, a city in the present Kenya. Here the local sultan treated the Portuguese well. He visited their ships in person, and they spent eleven days in his port before venturing across the Indian Ocean to Hindustan.
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'When Vasco da Gama started the last stage of his voyage, the fleet was piloted by an Indian from Gujarat named Malemo Cana, who had been engaed at Malindi to guide the Portuguese to Calicut on the Malabar coast.'¹³
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¹³ Nowell, C. E. *A History of Portugal*, p. 71
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Vasco da Gama reached Calicut on 20 May 1498, after a voyage of nearly eleven months. There he met Zamorin, the Hindu Raja. When asked what he sought so far away from home, he replied that he came in search of spices and Christians. His religious ardour was such that he mistook an image of Kali for that of Virigin Mary, and paintings of Hindu gods for those of saints. The news of his arrival in India reached Portugal on his return from that country. After visiting Cochin and Cannanore, Vasco da Gama turned for home and reached Lisbon in late August 1499. The success of Vasco da Gama thrilled the Portuguese, and Camoen, their poet, celebrated his exploits in the *Lusiad*.
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When Vasco da Gama reached India, Sikander Lodi was the King of northern India; Ahmad Nizam Shah ruled Ahmadnagar and Yusaf Adil Shah was the King of Bijapur. The Portuguese were lucky to have established their commercial supremacy before Babur invaded India and established the Mughal Empire.
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In A.D. 1502, Vasco da Gama arrived for the second time on the Malabar coast with twenty ships, and after cannonading Calicut, and destroying all the shipping in the port, he strengthened the factories at Cochin and Cannanore and returned to Portugal.
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Albuquerque, A.D. 1506-1515. Albuquerque, the Portuguese Viceroy, conquered Malacca, the market-town for spices, in A.D. 1511. This firmly established the Portuguese mastery of the Indian ocean and also opened the way for expansion into the Pacific. Albuquerque developed Goa into a thriving metropolis. Camoens, the Portuguese poet, described Goa as the Babylon of the East as it had earned enough notoriety for its luxury and degeneracy. In A.D. 1515 Albuquerque occupied the island of Ormuz, in the Persian Gulf, and built a fortress there. Malabar, Malacca, and entrances to the sea in East Africa were already under their control. Thus the mastery of the Indian Ocean by the Portuguese was complete and effective, and their rivals, the Arabs, were at their mercy. No ship could sail in the Indian Ocean without a Portuguese carta (pass).
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Albuquerque encouraged his soldiers to marry Indian women and thus built up a loyal hybrid population. Soldiers were recruited from among these people. Though he was neutral towards the Hindus, he was intensely hostile to the Muslim Moplas, the progeny of the Arabs who had settled in Malabar and married Hindu women. They were the chief rivals of the Portuguese in maritime trade.