Exploring Africa
In August 1415 Portuguese fleet sailed across Straits of Gibraltar and storm the Muslim port of Ceuta in Morocco. That marked the beginning of 15. Century that belongs to Portuguese explorers, searching for passage to India, to find spice and other trades, legendary Christian king and to find wealth for kings of Portugal. In their quest with Spain, they were the ones driving abilities of marine capabilities further then every before. Sailors supported by king Henrique, were going further and further down the Western Africa’s coast.
Under king “prince Joao”, they started to move even further. Joao I. was a founder of the ruling house of Aviz. His sons were Duarte, Pedro and Henrique.
It was prince Henrique that was sponsoring expeditions down the coast of Africa, after he went through all the fights in Mediteran with Muslims (Ceuta was the most famous fight). The military courage and power of Portuguese come from fidalgos, literally “the sons of someone”. They fight and die by their honor code.
Diogo Cao was one of the first who moved the known territory of Portugal, down the coast of Africa.
In the Castle of St. George in Lisbon, Fra Mauroe produced a great map of Portuguese ambitions in Indian ocean.
Bartolomeo Dias took in 1488 bold decision to move east from coast into the Atlantic Ocean to catch proper winds and that helped him to move around Cape of Good Hope to reach eastern coast of Africa. Dias helped others to learn how to get around Cape of God Hope and he showed that the way around Africa is the way to India.
During the same time, Pedro de Covilha was traveling to India over lands, he was in Ormuz, Aden, he also visited Mecca and Medina and then he meets Christian king Prester John in Ethiopia and he stayed there.
In 1479 Spain and Portugal tried to solve their disputes on see and they sign an agreement on how to split the world. The Tordesillas treaty did just that.
But in 1492, Columbus, that was actually turn down by Portugal court, find a way to what he claimed to be India, taking different route.
Vasco da Gama
But even if Portuguese were shaken by its claim, they continue searching for a way to India around Africa and they did this under new king Manuel (The Fortunate King) and in 1497 expedition lead by Vasco da Gama went on their way. He was probably the second choice, chosen more to lead mens and negotiate, than to sail. On 18 May 1498 they reached a city called Calicut, city where Hindu rulers allowed Muslim traders to conduct their business and have their posts inside the city and they live in peace together. The first sight of a Hindu monarch was for Portuguese eyes remarkable.
Before Vasco, India was already reached by Chinese under Zheng He leadership, but after his death, there was a void to be filled and Portuguese filled it.
Portuguese came to the Indian coast with their visitors lowered. Hardened by decades of holy war in North Africa.
The Gama expedition on its way back took ninety-three days to reach back to coast of Africa from India on 2 January 1499. It took him only twenty-three days to make the voyage across from Africa to India. The lessons of the seasonal monsoon were hard won.
The result of expedition was that Venetian and Genoese would lose their spice monopoly. Vasco da Gama’s voyage had taken everyone by surprise. As for Manuel, it increased his confidence. To his existing titles, ‘King of Portugal and of the Algraves on this side and beyond the sea in Africa, and Lord of Guinea’, he added ‘Lord of Conquest, Navigation and Commerce of Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia and India’. It was bold claim to the monopoly of trade, and an intimation of Portuguese intentions: that the sea should be owned.
Monopolies and Holy War 1500-1510
Next expedition was more an armada, led by Pedro Alvares Cabral. They departure from Belem on 9 March 1500 and they took a bigger loop around Africa and finished in Brasilia in April. They continued forward and travel all the way to India and return to Lisbon in the summer of 1501. In India they attack Calicut. They took on new samudri, that was a nephew of the one Gama met. They were also attacked from locals and some of the Cabral’s ship were burnt. Cabral traveled forward to Cochin (modern Kochi). Ful of spices, he didn’t return back to fight samudri, who returned to Calicut, but he instead went back to Portugal.
The expedition brought more information regarding people in India. It was clear, that majority were not Christian and so the strategy towards India changed. The samudri, clearly revered as a heaten. In the Portuguese eyes he was patently under the sway of the Muslims of Mecca.
The Fate of the Miri
Manuel sent new fleet from Restelo on 10 February 1502. It was led by Gama, when Cabral declined. By August the whole fleet was at the Anjediva islands having raided some nearby ports.
Miri was a Muslim ship with 240 mens. It was attacked by Gama’s fleet, but the people on the boat defend with everything they got and it took a long time for Portuguese to finish it.
Along the Malabar coast the Miri incident was neither forgotten or forgiven. It would be remembered for centuries: great sins cast long shadows, in the Spanish proverb. But Gama had only just started. His blood was up.
Fury and Vengeance
Gama sailed on to Cannanore. On 26 October, he was approaching Calicut and then he went forward to Cochin. He left blood trail everywhere. In February 1503 he set sail back to Portugal, leaving behind two fragile toeholds on the Indian coast – the trading post at Cannanore and Cochin – and a furious and humiliated samudri in Calicut.
Toeholds
Toeholds in India were now under heavy pressure from samudri and locals. The help came from few ships under command of Francisco de Albuquerque and his cousin Afonso de Albuquerque. The last one was destined to irreversibly alter the course of events in the Indian Ocean, to shape and shock the world. During 1502 and 1505, the Portuguese fight the locals and succeed in defending the permanents posts in India.
The Kingdom of India
On 27 February 1505 Dom Francisco d’Almeida was named as captain-major in charge of all the fleet and armada of the India for three years. He strengthens ports around Africa and on the coast of Red Sea. His military power overpowered all Muslim rulers across East Africa Coast.
The Great Whore of Babylon
Almeida’s mission was already ambitious, but back in Lisbon Manuel’s strategic thinking about the Indian Ocean was undergoing continuous development. Manuel was being encouraged by his inner circle to assume the title of emperor.
The Mamelukes were not a maritime power.
Almeida was still on his way to Cochin, which was an important key to Manuel’s India plans.
The Terrible
While Almeida worked to stabilize a profitable Indian Empire, in Lisbon King Manuel had been changing his mind about the command structure. He was promoting Afonso de Albuquerque instead of Almeida. But this created momentary problems of double authority structure.
During this time Almeida sent his son all the way to Ceylon. And Albuquerque was on his way, taking care of west Africa coast and posts around Red Sea.
But on the other hand, Egyptian fleet was also growing and, on its way, to face Portuguese. They reached Diu. It was led by Husain Musrif. Diu was led by Malik Ayaz. He also was in possession of a fleet. Mainly fustas – small galleys.
Husain’s and Lorenzo de Almeida’s (the son) fleets clashed at Chaul. Husain fleet being supported by Ayaz’s fustas, but not with full support. In the fight Lorenzo was killed. The Portuguese ships fled towards Cochin to face the wrath and grief of the viceroy.
The Wrath of the Franks
Almeida lost confidence of Manuel and in 1508 Albuquerque was finally coming to Cochin to claim his governorship.
Almeida claiming that his mandate will finish in January 1509, he decided to go to war. He took the fleet and went to Diu to claim revenge. By the end of December, he reached Dabul and the massacre was a black day in the history of European conquest. This massacre stood beside Gama’s destruction of the Miri as an unforgiven act that lingered long in the memory.
Diu
Almeida then went towards Diu to fight Mamluks. The Muslim fleet consisted of six Mamluk carracks and six galleys, four Gujarati carracks, Ayaz’s fustas, now reduced to thirty, and possibly seventy light vessels from Calicut.
The battle started with Portuguese traditional war cry ‘Santiago’. The spirit of the Mamluks and the skill of their archers were not enough. Hussain’s flagship surrendered and Hussain run away.
Almeida come back to Cochin and refused to hand over the power. It was Dom Fernando Coutinho that resolved the situation and brought Albuquerque back to Cochin.
The Doors of Samudri
Albuquerque was sent to finish business in Calicut as ordered by Manuel. He was supported by Coutinho. The casualties on both sides had been heavy.
What the Portuguese Win They Never Give Up
Albuquerque decided to attack Goa. In next three years he launched huge campaign in Indian ocean.
Almeida list of objectives he didn’t achieve was long: the destruction of Calicut, capture of Ormuz, blockade of the Red Sea, control of Malacca, exploring the seas beyond, also the destruction of Mamluks and retaking of Jerusalem.
The city of Goa, situated on a fertile island between two rivers was the most strategically positioned trading post on the west coast of India. The capture of Goa was easy. Holding it not that much. Portuguese fled but they were too late, monsoon season was on.
Prisoners of the Rain
For Albuquerque everything was at stake. Only a small group supported him. His captains were against him. They finally made their way to Anjediva. But Albuquerque woved to return to Goa.
The Uses of Terror
At the islands of Anjediva Albuquerque meet four ships under the command of Diogo Mendes de Vasconcelos. He used them to go back to Goa. This time it was not just a matter of conquest. Goa was to be utterly purged of a Muslim presence. They succeed.
In April 1511 set sail for a new conquest.
The Eye of the Sun
In their first decade in the Indian Ocean, time, for the Portuguese, moved both fast and slow.
Albuquerque next move was Malacca. To the Portuguese, Malacca was an Arabian Nights’ treasure house of the wealth of the further Orient.
After the conquest, some ships were sent back with a treasure and were lost to monsoons in the sea. Albuquerque also sent some embassies from Malacca further to Pegu (Burma), Siam and Sumatra. Among those at Malacca was Fernao de Magalhaes (Magellan).
The Wax Bullet
Albuquerque idea of consolidate concept of empire was the concept of flexible sea power tied to the occupation of defendable forts and a network of bases.
Albuquerque again defended Goa in 1512 and he himself was the first European since Alexander the Great to establish an imperial presence in Asia.
Albuquerque realized that he needs to establish political and trade relationship and establish some connections with Muslims around Indian Ocean. The wealth started to pour in the Lisbon.
In the winter of 1513 in Goa, Albuquerque was preparing the final encirclement of the Indian Ocean: entry into the Red Sea.
All the Riches of the World in Your Hands
The sheik of Aden and the sultan in Cairo were not on the best terms.
The incursion into the Red Sea stunned the Islamic world. After the attack on Aden its sheik had dispatched fast racing camels with the news up the Arabian Peninsula to Jeddah and Mecca.
The blockade lasted in 1514 and 1515. Albuquerque was projecting the idea that tiny Portugal could control the center of the world, that Manuel might be the greatest of Christian kings, and the indicated how it should be done. India was left behind as main goal, it was just a post, Goa will keep affairs peaceful and Islam was a main target.
Last voyage
In 1515 Albuquerque wanted to go back to Red Sea, take Aden and continue with a fight against Islam. But the matter of Ormuz intervened. He left Goa with his fleet in February 1515. He reached Ormuz in March. He installed Turan as Portuguese puppet.
He has been in the Indian Ocean for nine years. He was wounded in Calicut, shipwrecked on Sumatra, imprisoned in Cannanore, poisoned in Goa and now in the atomizing heat of Ormuz, he was dying.
He was still alive in November, and he learnt the name of his successor Lopo Soares de Albergaria.
They Never Stop in One Place
Manuel died in December 1521. With Manuel’s death, India ceased to be the launch pad for the destruction of the Islamic world.
The spice trade would be shared between Cairo and Lisbon.
