Portugese in India

1. Portugese in India
1. The arrival of vascoda Gama at calicut
on 20 may 1498 marked the
inaugration of a new era in the history
of Euro-Asian trade
2. The rounding of the cape of Good
Hope by Bartolomeu Dias in 1488
under the support of Henry the
Navigator providing for the first time
the potential of an all water route
connecting Europe to Asia
3. Since it was the portuguese who had
discoverol the cape Route, they

2. 4. The future implications of this mission
was fully perceived by contemporaries
5. Portuguese purpose a in coming to the
Indias was to seek for Christians &
spices
6. When Vasco return to Lisbon with the
news of his discoveries & exploits, king
Manual unambiguouly declared
himself, in a letter written to the
Cardinal protector in the Vatican, ‘Lord
over conquests navigators and trade
with Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia and India’

3. 7. For the whole century, until this
arrangement was challenged by the
Dutch and the English in 1590s,
portugeuse Monoplies the trade
through arms and weapons
8. Even the Cabral, the Commander of
the fleet which sailed for India in 1500;
was instructed the eliminate the
Muslim traders from the Indian
Oceanic trade because of Christian
Muslim amerity
9. Cabral inform the king of Calicut to

4. 10.‘The Moor Merchants who resided in
and traded with Calicut could not
clearly be exempted from that duty and
the king must know that if the
portugese encountered their ships at
Sea, they would take possession of
them, ‘of their merchandise and
property and also of the moons are in
ships
11.During the first two decades of the 16th
cent. There was a rapid transition from
the stage when the Portugese planned
only individual attacks on Muslims
shipping trading between the Red Sea

5. 12.The two essential conditions for the
success of the Portuges plan were a
clear naval superiority over Asian
ships and the establishment of a few
key outposts on land which could act
as strategic bases for the naval fleets
and men left in charge of the trading
operations
13.In 1502 they attack the Zamorin, the
kings of Calicut because they were not
prepared to co-operate in expelling the
Muslim traders from his port

6. 14.Raja of Cochin an enemy of Calicut
proved more pliable and the first
Portuguese fort was built in his
terrctory in 1503
15.In 1510 they captured the Goa from
Sultan of Bijapur under the leadership
of Alfonso de Albuquerque
16.Thus he laid the foundation of
Portugues empire
17.A year before in 1509 Francisco de
Almeeda had defeated and destroyed
at Diu an armada sent by the Mamluk
ruler of Egypt

7. 18.In 1511 they capture Malacca, which
controlled the sea route to the Far East
19.With the conquest of Ormuz in the
Persian Gulf in 1515, the Portugese
Plan was virtually complete
20.This maritime empire later acquired the
name of Estado da India
21.The Portuguese activities represented
several institutional innovations,
22.In the general framework of Asian
trade, a complete state Monopoly of an
important commercial product was not
Known,

8. 23.For Indian merchants and rulers, it
was relatively new experience to
encounter an imperial scheme that
was being directed from a centre of
power which situated thousands of
miles overseas,
24.Pepper and spices were the main
commodities on which the portugese
founded their imperial ambitions
25.For more than a century, since 1506
when Dom Manuel turned the spice
trade of Lisbon into a crown monopoly,
the P. would seek to preserve their
exclusive trade and empire in Asia

9. 26.The absence of naval forces belonging
to Asian powers greatly aided the
policies of the Portuguese
27.Portugese demanded a tribute from
Asian Traders and their ships and on
other hand portuguese allowed their
direct trade with Europe to be
influenced by the coast of obtaining
protection on the overland Carvan
route
28.The first took the form of Cartaze
system

10. 29.Every Indian ship sailing to a
destination not reserved by the
portugese for their own trade had to
buy one of these passes from the
viceroy of Goa, if it was to avoid the
seizere and confiscation of its
Merchandise
30.The sultans of Bijapur had the right
since 1548 of sending a number of
ships fom Dabhol to Mokha under the
cartaze system
31.And the later the agreement was

11. 32.Even the Mughal Empires licenced
their ships sailing fom Surat to Mokha
33.In Lisbon the principal organising unit
was the Case da india
34.It was a royal trading firm entrusted
with the overall charge of the trade
with Asia
35.The Asian enterprise was supervised
by an administrative set up described
from the 1565s as Estado do India

12. 36.This had its headquarters hieratically
in Lisbon but for all practical purposes
in Goa under the Charge of the
Viceroy nominated by the crown
37.Viceroy was assisted by council of
state, which comprised of the
archbishop of Goa, Chief inquisitor, 2-
3 old residents of Goa, chief financial
officials, viceroy had commond over all
38.P. posts as well as military and naval
from Africa to China

13. 39.The P. enterprise comprised a variety
of interest groups which at times
pulled in different directions
40.In keeping with traditional composition
of the Asian imports into Europe,
41.The principal item sought by the
Portugese Crown in Asia was spices –
pepper, though some other goods
were also procured
42.The cargoes sent out from Portugual
to Asia to facilitate the procurement of
pepper and other return goods
included precious metals and stones

14. 43.Portugues dominated the 36% of
the European market for Peppers
for more than century