PORTUGUESE ST. ANGELO FORT, KANNUR, AND A MIRACLE ON ST. MARY’S DAY
Curieux, à l'analyse d'événements dans l'histoire du Kerala (Inquisitive analysis of events in Kerala History)
Abraham Yeshuratnam.
Vasco da Gama's departure to
India, in 1497
Fort St Angelo is a historic monument built by the Portuguese at a tip
of land in Kannur which juts out into the sea.
This fort was built in 1505 by Dom Francisco de Almeida, the first Portuguese Viceroy of India. Beginning in the 1400s, the Portuguese,
led by famous explorers like Bartolomeo Dias and Vasco de Gama and financed by Prince
Henry the Navigator, explored, and settled in South
America, Africa, and Asia. Vasco
da Gama was the first European to open a sea-based trade route to India and in
an epic voyage, he sailed around Africa's Cape of Good Hope and succeeded in
breaking the monopoly of Arab and Venetian spice traders. At that time, the Arabs held a monopoly of
trade with India and other Eastern nations. Vasco da Gama’s expedition turned the commerce
of Europe from the Mediterranean cities to the Atlantic Coast, and opened up
the east to European enterprise. His discovery was monumental in the history of navigation
as well as instrumental in establishing Portugal as a major colonial empire. The profitable trade in eastern
spices was seized by the Portuguese in the 16th century to the detriment of
Venice. Venice had a virtual monopoly of
these valuable commodities which were brought overland through India and
Arabia, and then across the Mediterranean by the Venetians for distribution in
Western Europe. But once the Portuguese had discovered their new route to
India, they displayed considerable zeal in seizing the most profitable ports of
East Africa, the Persian Gulf, Gujarat, Konkan, Sri Lankan and Malabar regions in India. A chain of
fortified coastal settlements backed by regular naval patrols allowed the
Portuguese to eliminate gradually many rivals, and enforce a semi-monopoly in
the spice trade by the middle of the 16th century. Local traders were coerced
into buying safe passes and paying customs duties to the Portuguese and by this
process the Portuguese succeeded in blocking Malabar’s link to Arabia
and to redirect the trade via Lisbon. This success had come about mainly
because, unlike the trading ships of the Arabs, the Portuguese ships were
extremely well-armed for their times.
As the second half of the fifteenth century unfolded, Portugal created a
complex trade structure connecting India and the African coast to Portugal and,
then, to the north of Europe. This consisted of a net of trading posts (feitorias)
along the African coast, where goods were shipped to Portugal, and then
re-exported to Flanders. In Flanders also the Portuguese opened a feitoria.
Luciano Amaral
observes, “The Portuguese established a virtual monopoly of these African
commercial routes until the early sixteenth century. The only threat to that
trade structure came from pirates originating in Britain, Holland, France and
Spain. One further element of this trade structure was the link established with
Atlantic Islands (Madeira, the Azores and the African archipelagos of Cape
Verde and São Tomé). These islands contributed such goods as wine, wheat and
sugar cane. After the sea route to India was discovered and the Portuguese were
able to establish regular connections with India, the trading structure of the
Portuguese empire became more complex. Now the Portuguese began bringing
multiple spices, precious stones, silk and woods from India, again based on a
net of feitorias they had
established. The maritime route to India acquired an extreme importance to
Europe, precisely at this time, since the Ottoman Empire was then able to block
the traditional inland-Mediterranean route that supplied the continent with
Indian goods.”[i] The Portuguese attempted to block Malabar’s
link to Arabia and to redirect the trade via Lisbon.
Vasco da Gama's passage to India
Vasco Da Gama’s fleet sailed for 23 days and landed at Calicut on May 20, 1498. Although Calicut was the prime trading centre, the Zamorin was under the influence of the Arab traders and local Moplah merchants. He had no knowledge of the expanding maritime trade in Europe. . He believed the biased account of the Arabs and was not friendly with the Portuguese even after Vasco da Gama met him in his palace. There was even treachery and deceit and the Nair captain of the guard of the Zamorin even imprisoned da Gama and some Portuguese sailors. Vasco Da Gama and other Portuguese were ignorant of the landscape and language. They were taken through thickets and strange lanes by Zamorin’s men. The Arabs who had bribed the chief guard had even persuaded him to kill Da Gama as he went through the lonely thicket; but the chief guard was afraid to do so, fearing the consequences. Towle says: “The afternoon was far spent; yet the captain of the guard, as he led the company through the long, low streets, seemed to be in no haste. They made many turnings, and were so long on their way, that Vasco da Gama began to suspect foul play. His suspicions were ere long amply verified. They kept going from street to street until the afternoon deepened into twilight, and twilight into night.”[ii] In this manner Da Gama and others were taken through lanes and villages for a day and another night. After all this hardship, the Nair guard took them to a strange house and imprisoned them. The Portuguese were quite uncomfortable in the room because the weather was sultry and hot. There was no furniture and only coarse straw mats were in the room and the Portuguese had to use the straw mats for sitting and sleeping. Towle gives a sordid account of imprisonment: “Vasco passed a lonely and sleepless night in the solitude of his new prison, and was relieved when, in the morning, he was at last led to the captain of the guard. The captain was sitting on a couch. When Vasco entered, he neither offered him a seat, nor spoke to him: a surly frown was on his dark face. In a moment or two Joan Nunez was brought in to interpret what was said. After shifting them to another village, the Nair chief summoned Gama and spoke in an insolent tone, through Nunez, to Vasco da Gama. "We have heard," he said, "from Mombaza, that you Portuguese are robbers, going about the seas plundering; and the Zamorin has ordered that your ships should be taken, and all of you kept prisoners till you confess the truth. Now, you had better tell me the truth, and I will go and relate it to the Zamorin."[iii] It was a bitter experience for him and he and other Portuguese feared that they would be killed by these men. The Arabs had bribed the Nair guard and were instigating him to kill Vasco Da Gama. Towle says: “In the middle of the night some Nairs came in and, deposited on the floor some boiled rice, with fig-leaves for plates, some boiled fish which was not very savory, and a large jar of water. Several of the Portuguese ate and drank, but others were too much agitated to be hungry; and Vasco da Gama did not touch the food.”[iv]
Vasco da Gama kept as a prisoner.
To add to their discomforts, the night was very hot, and the room in which they were imprisoned was very narrow. Vasco da Gama was expecting his death at any moment. “At this juncture Paulo da Gama (Vasco’s brother who was in the ship) released the hostages on board honorably and with rich presents, and made pretence to sail away. The hostages demanded to be put to death by the king if Da Gama were to be slain, and their demands were backed up by both the Treasurer and the king’s Justice out of envy at the rich presents offered by the Moors to the Chief Officer of the Palace Guard.”[v] The Palace Guard stood fully exposed by the revelation of the hostages. The Zamorin freed Vasco da Gama with apologies. This incident also shows the rampant corruption, jealousy and treachery in Zamorin’s palace. When the Zamorin came to know later the full story from the Castilian who returned after seeing Da Gama on board, the Zamorin sent off a boat with a Brahmin asking Da Gama to return to see the punishment given by him to the Palace Guard. Vasco da Gama declined the offer but vowed in his mind that he would wreak vengeance on the Zamorin and the Arabs for the manner in which he had been treated. Probably this was the reason for the brutal action taken by Da Gama during his second visit on the Arabs and the Zamorin.
Vasco Da Gama’s fleet sailed for 23 days and landed at Calicut on May 20, 1498. Although Calicut was the prime trading centre, the Zamorin was under the influence of the Arab traders and local Moplah merchants. He had no knowledge of the expanding maritime trade in Europe. . He believed the biased account of the Arabs and was not friendly with the Portuguese even after Vasco da Gama met him in his palace. There was even treachery and deceit and the Nair captain of the guard of the Zamorin even imprisoned da Gama and some Portuguese sailors. Vasco Da Gama and other Portuguese were ignorant of the landscape and language. They were taken through thickets and strange lanes by Zamorin’s men. The Arabs who had bribed the chief guard had even persuaded him to kill Da Gama as he went through the lonely thicket; but the chief guard was afraid to do so, fearing the consequences. Towle says: “The afternoon was far spent; yet the captain of the guard, as he led the company through the long, low streets, seemed to be in no haste. They made many turnings, and were so long on their way, that Vasco da Gama began to suspect foul play. His suspicions were ere long amply verified. They kept going from street to street until the afternoon deepened into twilight, and twilight into night.”[ii] In this manner Da Gama and others were taken through lanes and villages for a day and another night. After all this hardship, the Nair guard took them to a strange house and imprisoned them. The Portuguese were quite uncomfortable in the room because the weather was sultry and hot. There was no furniture and only coarse straw mats were in the room and the Portuguese had to use the straw mats for sitting and sleeping. Towle gives a sordid account of imprisonment: “Vasco passed a lonely and sleepless night in the solitude of his new prison, and was relieved when, in the morning, he was at last led to the captain of the guard. The captain was sitting on a couch. When Vasco entered, he neither offered him a seat, nor spoke to him: a surly frown was on his dark face. In a moment or two Joan Nunez was brought in to interpret what was said. After shifting them to another village, the Nair chief summoned Gama and spoke in an insolent tone, through Nunez, to Vasco da Gama. "We have heard," he said, "from Mombaza, that you Portuguese are robbers, going about the seas plundering; and the Zamorin has ordered that your ships should be taken, and all of you kept prisoners till you confess the truth. Now, you had better tell me the truth, and I will go and relate it to the Zamorin."[iii] It was a bitter experience for him and he and other Portuguese feared that they would be killed by these men. The Arabs had bribed the Nair guard and were instigating him to kill Vasco Da Gama. Towle says: “In the middle of the night some Nairs came in and, deposited on the floor some boiled rice, with fig-leaves for plates, some boiled fish which was not very savory, and a large jar of water. Several of the Portuguese ate and drank, but others were too much agitated to be hungry; and Vasco da Gama did not touch the food.”[iv]
Vasco da Gama kept as a prisoner.
To add to their discomforts, the night was very hot, and the room in which they were imprisoned was very narrow. Vasco da Gama was expecting his death at any moment. “At this juncture Paulo da Gama (Vasco’s brother who was in the ship) released the hostages on board honorably and with rich presents, and made pretence to sail away. The hostages demanded to be put to death by the king if Da Gama were to be slain, and their demands were backed up by both the Treasurer and the king’s Justice out of envy at the rich presents offered by the Moors to the Chief Officer of the Palace Guard.”[v] The Palace Guard stood fully exposed by the revelation of the hostages. The Zamorin freed Vasco da Gama with apologies. This incident also shows the rampant corruption, jealousy and treachery in Zamorin’s palace. When the Zamorin came to know later the full story from the Castilian who returned after seeing Da Gama on board, the Zamorin sent off a boat with a Brahmin asking Da Gama to return to see the punishment given by him to the Palace Guard. Vasco da Gama declined the offer but vowed in his mind that he would wreak vengeance on the Zamorin and the Arabs for the manner in which he had been treated. Probably this was the reason for the brutal action taken by Da Gama during his second visit on the Arabs and the Zamorin.
THE BACKSTORY OF ST ANGELO FORT
After the bitter and harrowing experience in
Calicut, Da Gama did not want to prolong his stay in India and decided to leave
for Lisbon at once. He intended to sail directly for the African coast, and
thence around the Cape of Good Hope home. But he could not carry out his plan
because no sooner the ships reached open sea than they were struck by violent
winds, and were forced to proceed slowly along the Malabar Coast. As they moved slowly northwards along the
coast, one fine morning Da Gama sighted
Kannur (Cannanore). The old name Cannanore is the anglicized form of the Malayalam name Kannur. “Running up the coast they were met by boats
sent out by the king of Cannanore (the Kolathiri Raja) to intercept them and da
Gama decided to visit the place, but declined to land.”[vi]
Probably Kolathiri Raja would have come to know how da Gama was treated in Calicut
and how the Zamorin later realized his mistake and apologized by sending a
Brahmin to the ship. As soon as the ships appeared off Cannanore, therefore, the
Kolathiri Raja sent out boats with messengers who requested da Gama to meet the
king. They had also offered da Gama presents of jars of food and water, figs,
fowls, fish, and butter. “Vasco da Gama was greatly pleased at this, and
displayed his flags and fired his cannon in token of his good will At first he hesitated about going ashore; but
the king sent messengers to him so many
times, and urged him so earnestly, that at last he yielded.”[vii] Da Gama was suspicious of the character of
Indian kings, especially after the treachery he experienced at the hands of the
Zamorin.. He was hesitant to land because he narrowly escaped at Calicut, but
the Koalthiri .”
then sent him ships loaded with water, lumber, figs, poultry, coconuts dried
fish, coconut oil and butter. With these deeds the king wanted to show his
interest to make peace and friendship with the Portuguese.”[viii] Da Gama was moved by this friendly gesture of
the Kolathiri and decided to meet him. Vasco da Gama sent Nicolau Coelho with a
gift to Kolathiri. . Kolathiri constructed a pavilion on the
beach to receive Vasco da Gama and his brother Paulo Gama. They went in their
boats fully dressed in Portuguese style and carrying with them presents.
Kolathiri expressed his willingness to conclude a treaty of peace and
friendship with the King of Portugal. What is more, he gave them whatever goods
they wished to complete the cargoes of the ships. This offer was a great relief
for Da Gama because in Calicut he was not allowed to buy good spices but was
given only goods of low standard. As Towls says: “Their stay at Cananor, which
continued for nearly three weeks, was full of pleasant incidents, and
interchanges of friendly acts between the king and the captains. They gave him
a splendid sword enameled with gold, coral, silver, brass, and copper basins,
and silks and cotton cloths; and he, in return, presented each of them with a
large gold collar set with rare gems, and a heavy gold chain with a jewel
hanging from it crusted with diamonds and rubies.”[ix]
Vasco da Gama’s accidental visit to Cannanore had historical importance in
Kerala history. Calicut and Zamorin were
in the minds of the Portuguese when they started to India. Now da Gama had new
ideas and he planned to have a fort in Cananore (the future Angelo fort) and to
use Kolathiri to fight the Zamorin. By the time Vasco da Gama returned from his first
voyage to India in 1499, he had spent more than two years away from home,
including 300 days at sea, and had traveled some 24,000 miles. Only 54 of his
original crew of 170 men returned with him; the majority (including da Gama's
brother Paolo) had died of illnesses such as scurvy.
What was the overall importance of Vasco's
voyage and what effect does it have on history? Da Gama was totally
disappointed when he could not buy enough goods at Calicut because of the
ignorance of the Zamorin about international trade and the treachery of his
officers and Arabs. But it was fully compensated when the Kolathiri made
generous offer to the Portuguese and it ‘helped them to purchase a cargo
which, less than a year later in Lisbon, was sold at prices that brought in
sixty times the cost of the expedition.” [x] K.M. Panikkar, whose judgments
are coloured by parochial spirit, says “There
is nothing in Vasco da Gama’s discovery which entitles him to the claim of a
great explorer or navigator.”[xi] On the other hand, the world-renowned
historian, Will Durant, is of the view that Vasco da Gama's voyage helped one
of the greatest commercial revolutions before the invention of the airplane:
"The discoveries begun by Henry the Navigator, advanced by Vasco da Gama,
culminating in Columbus, and rounded out by Magellan effected the greatest
commercial revolution in history before the coming of the airplane.".[xii] Another outcome of da Gama's
voyages was the Muslims' loss of control of the Indian Ocean to the Portuguese
in trade. Because of this, many Arab nations entered a state of economic
decline.
Panikkar has sidelined the
revolution in international trade by ignoring the fact that direct access to India
allowed the Portuguese to eliminate the Arab and Levantine middlemen who had
controlled the European export market till about 1440 from Cairo and
Alexandria. George M. Towle’s view is totally opposed to the opinion of Panikkar. “Chosen by accident to
make a difficult and dangerous voyage, to sail into unknown and savage regions,
and to discover a distant and splendid empire, he (Vasco da Gama) fulfilled his
task with such glorious success, that, on his return, all Europe rang with his
praises.”[xiii] Panikkar debunks Malabar History when he declares
that “the historical role of the Zamorin, which was to resist foreign
aggression”[xiv] But there are
concrete evidences to show the Zamorin appeasing foreign powers that helped
them to strengthen their position. He forged many alliances and
fought several battles in 1516, 1616 with the support of Mamluks ,Ottomans
and even Venetians, but the Zamorin repeatedly failed in
the battles. The Zamorin even sought the help of the Portuguese when Kunjali IV defied the Zamorin by
declaring himself ‘the king of the Moslems and Lord of the India seas’ and by
cutting off the tail of one of Zamorin’s state elephants as a token of
abandoning his allegiance with the Zamorin. Panikkar gives
excessive and undeserving praise for the Zamorin’s victory at Chailiyam,
ignoring his humiliating defeat at the key battles of Cannanore and Diu. “With their
expulsion from Chaliyam,” Panikkar gloats, “ it may be said that the Portuguese
effort to control Kerala came to an end.” But the battle at Chaliyam was a minor
skirmish where the siege lasted from June to September when owing to heavy
monsoon rains, the Portuguese ships could not bring reinforcements to the besieged
factors. Besides, the Portuguese lost interest in
Calicut because they were getting adequate pepper from Cochin and Kollam, the
richest pepper-growing regions. Contrary
to Panikkar’s claim the Portuguese control over Calicut did not come to an end
after the Battle of Chaliyam. The Zamorin sought the help of the Portuguese
when he had to face the challenge of the Kunjalis. In 1584 the Zamorin allowed
the Portuguese to establish a fort at Ponnani in his own kingdom . In 1587
Portuguese were allowed to live in Calicut and even to build a church there. ‘Matri Dei Cathedral’, also known as
‘Mother of God Cathedral’ at Calicut was built with the financial help and personal supervision of the Zamorin.
CRAVING FOR
SPICES.
The spice
trade was
hugely important for Portugal and soon after da Gama’s return, King Manuel
dispatched a much larger fleet, commanded by Pedro Alvares Cabral to
capitalize on da Gama’s discoveries and secure a trading post at Calicut. The treachery experienced by Da Gama from the Zamorin of Calicut
made it still more necessary for the Portuguese to be strong enough to punish,
as well as to invade, the enemy; and when Pedro Alvarez Cabral sailed in 1500
in command of the second expedition to India his vessels were formidably armed
with artillery.
Cabral was more successful than Vasco da Gama had been at developing a friendly relationship with the Zamorin. This
time the Portuguese were better prepared and brought lavish goods with which to
tempt the Zamorin into a trade. The Zamorin agreed to let Cabral’s carpenters build a
factory and warehouse. But the Arabs were fuming with anger when they saw a
Portuguese warehouse and a fierce mob of between 300 and several thousand
(reports vary a lot) attacked the factory and killed fifty Portuguese. The
surviving Portuguese scrambled back to their ships – some had to swim. Cabral was shocked at the sudden turn of
events. “Cabral waited twenty-four hours for an apology
from the Zamorin. When he heard nothing, Cabral ordered his soldiers to
seize ten Arab merchant ships that were at anchor in the harbor. The Portuguese
killed over 600 Arab crew members, confiscated their cargoes, and then set the
ships on fire. Cabral finished his display of power by ordering his ships to
bombard Calicut for an entire day.”[xix] Cabral was not at all satisfied with the
behavior of the Zamorin and he suspected treachery. The Zamorin was ignorant,
short sighted and flippant . He lacked administrative ability by
allowing the Arabs to control trade, he
was also incompetent at planning
military campaigns which led to many defeats in major battles and had
many personality flaws which made regional rulers such as the Kolathiri
and Kochi Raja hate him. He was under the
influence of the Arabs and his own Brahmin advisers. He was totally in the dark
about the emerging maritime enterprise of the Portuguese and he still believed
that the Arabs were in control of the sea route to Arabia. (It was this foolish
dependence on the support of the local Muslims and Arabs that led to the
decline of Zamorin’s power in later years and finally to the suicide by one of the Zamorins at the time
of Hyder’s invasion. Tipu had links with the Ottoman sultan). So the perfidious and vacillating character of the Zamorin prompted Cabral
prepare a plan for action for future
voyages and came to the conclusion that the Portuguese “were few in
numbers and that those who would come to India in the future fleets would
always be at numerical disadvantage; so that this treachery must be punished in
a manner so decisive that the Portuguese would be feared and respected in the
future. It was their superior artillery which would enable them to accomplish
this end.”[xx]
Cabral then sailed to Kochi and the Kochi raja
permitted Cabral to build another factory and load his ships with spices. Cabral’s voyage is remembered for the
establishment of the first Portuguese trading post in India. This
Portuguese trading post adversely affected the spice trade linking India to
Egypt and Venice and the price for this essential commodity shot up.[xxi] Arab
shipping also suffered and the sea was no more safe for the Arabs. In 1503, an
Egyptian ship returning from India was attacked for the first time and it was
robbed and finally sunk by the Portuguese.[xxii] Later Arab
ships were also attacked and destroyed by the Portuguese in the Indian harbor
of Panaji. [xxiii]
Cabral afterwards moved on to Kannur to renew the friendly
ties with the Kolathiri established earlier by Vasco da Gama. His visit to
Kannur shows the importance given by the Portuguese to Kannur. Kolathiri
welcomed him with open arms and asked him
“to
take rest from his tasks at sea.” Cabral
requested the Kolathiri to give the Portuguese a comfortable and safe place for
the crew to stay and even pointed the tip of the bay as a suitable place for
their settlement. Kolathiri readily agreed and a fitting site selected by
Cabral was given for building the quarters and a stockade. In addition to the
quarters for the crew, a house with a porch was also built which was used as a
chapel for Our Lady of Conception,
and attached to it another building was also constructed to house the clergy.[xxiv].
Cabral
left Gonçalo Gomes Ferreira at Cannanore as the factor in 1501 and laid the
foundation for a factory there.[xxv]
. Pai Rodrigues the factor of Alvaro who came to
Malabar in the fleet of João da Nova in 1501 remained at Cannanore till the
arrival of Vasco da Gama in 1502.[xxvi]. During the second visit of da Gama, Cananore
was again given prominence overlooking Calicut
by establishing a factory there
in 1503[xxvii] He also appointed Gonçalo Gil Barbosa and to
assist him Sebastião Alvares and Diogo Alvares were made copyists. In addition
to these postings, a group of twenty men were also put in charge of the
factory.[xxviii].
King Manuel was deeply upset by the
murder of fifty Portuguese by the Muslims at Calicut in collaboration with the
Zamorin. To avenge this deed a new fleet was fitted out in Lisbon and sent
against Calicut to establish Portuguese hegemony in the Indian Ocean. At first
the command was given to Cabral, but it was later transferred to da Gama, who in
January 1502 was given the rank of admiral. Da Gama himself commanded 10 ships,
which were in turn supported by two flotillas of five ships each, each flotilla
being under the command of one of his relations.
During this interval, Arab traders had
become dominant in Malabar and controlled the sea-trade of the region with the
Persian Gulf. After reaching the Indian shore, Gama called
at Goa before proceeding to Kannur, where it is alleged by some
writers he lay in wait for Arab shipping.
It is related that after several days an Arab ship arrived with
merchandise and between 200 and 400 passengers, including women and children.
After seizing the cargo, da Gama is said to have shut up the passengers aboard
the captured ship and set it afire, killing all on board.[xxix] But there is no
documentary or eyewitness evidence to this cruel deed. Portuguese records have no reference to this
ghastly deed. This occurrence is linked only to late and
unreliable sources and may be legendary or at least exaggerated. Most probably
Muslim writers would have invented the story to incite the locals against the
Portuguese.[xxx]
It may be worthwhile to ponder the causes for the deep hostility between
the Portuguese and Arabs. Portuguese had bitter memories of Muslim invasion of their country in the eighth century. The Islamic rulers
imposed restrictions on building new churches and synagogues. In addition, the Christian and Jewish
population had to pay a special tax, and in some areas they were treated as
slaves. There was also a brief period of
Christian persecution in the 8th century. Islam ruled the Peninsula from then until the
fifteenth century till the Christian Reconquista started
repelling it with growing efficiency. Reconquista in English is Reconquest, and
in medieval Spain and Portugal, a series of
campaigns by Christian states to recapture territory from the Muslims (Moors), who had occupied
most of the Iberian Peninsula in the early 8th century. Modern Portugal is a direct result of the Reconquista,
the Christian fight against Muslim rule in the Iberian Peninsula. That
successful fight was followed by the period when Portugal as a nation came to
existence. It is against this backdrop that we have to comprehend the causes
for the bitter antagonism between Muslims and the Portuguese from the very
moment Vasco da Gama met the Arab merchants at the Zamorin’s court.
After
da Gama formed an alliance with the ruler of Kannur, the fleet sailed to Calicut, with the aim of
wrecking its trade and punishing the Zamorin for murdering fifty Portuguese
sailors and for the favour he had shown to Muslim traders. Da Gama bombarded
the port and seized and massacred 38 hostages. The Portuguese then sailed south
to the port of Kochi, with whose ruler they formed an alliance. After an
invitation to da Gama from the Zamorin had proved to be an attempt to entrap
him, the Portuguese had a brief fight with Arab ships off Calicut and put them
to full flight. Then he came to Kannur and the Kolathiri received
da Gama enthusiastically and expressed his admiration for defeating Zamorin’s
navy and sinking his ship. From that time onward, the Portuguese wanted to keep
the alliance with the Kolathiri on a permanent basis to control the trade in
Malabar and, more importantly, to subdue the Zamorin. Da Gama boldly entered the interior region of
Kannur and with other Portuguese sailors he attended a mass in the church.[xxxi] Kolathiri also made a courtesy call and he
was accompanied by his nephew and four thousand Nayar swordsmen. Vasco da Gama
concluded a treaty of commerce with the Kolathiri and it was agreed by the
Kolathiri to supply goods at fixed prices.[xxxii] Portuguese factors
were allowed to stay in Kannur and the Kolathiri allotted ten Nayars as guards
and to work as messengers. Gaspar Correia points out this is the
treaty where the Portuguese _cartaz _ system was first introduced. Henceforth,
every merchant ship along the Malabar Coast had to present a certificate signed
by a Portuguese factor (in Cannanore, Cochin, etc.), or else be subject to
attack and seizure by a Portuguese patrol.[xxxiii] Kolathiri Raja was pleased with the agreement
signed with the Portuguese and he gave da Gama more gifts and after loading his
ships with more spices , the fleet sailed to Melinde at the end of November
1498[xxxiv].It
was this friendly contact that da Gama
made with the Kolathiri that made Cannanore a major trading centre. The
strategic importance of the cape of Cannanore helped the Portuguese to expand
their maritime activates to lands beyond Malabar ,to Gujarat and to Sri Lanka..
Almeida
Francisco de Almeida
became famous after he won many wars against the Moors. In 1503 Portuguese king Manuel I appointed Almeida as the first governor and
viceroy of the Portuguese State of India (Estado da Índia). King
Manuel sent instructions to Viceroy Francisco de
Almeida pointing out that nothing would
serve us better than to have a fortress at the mouth of the Red Sea or near to
it – rather inside it than outside might afford better control – because from
there we could see to it that no spices might pass to the land of the sultan of
Egypt, and all those in India would lose the false notion that they could trade
any more, save through us[xxxv]
. Setting forth with a powerful fleet of 21
ships, he rounded the Cape of Good Hope and, sailing up
Africa’s east coast, took Kilwa (in what is now
Tanzania), where he constructed a fort. He then proceeded to Mombasa where a much more vigorous resistance was
offered by the Moors, but the town was taken and destroyed, and its large
treasures went to strengthen the resources of Almeida[xxxvi]. On his arrival in India he took up his
residence at Cochin, where a Portuguese “feitoria” (factory)
had been built earlier by Cabral.
Trade
with India was exercised almost exclusively by Muslims—Arabs, Persians, Turks
and Egyptians. Almeida’s plan was to drive these ‘infidels’ from the seas, to
make the Indian Ocean Portuguese Lake, and to divert the Indian export-trade to
the Cape route. But Egypt was supreme in the Red Sea, and the Ottoman Empire, which had
access to the Persian Gulf at Basra—possessed naval forces quite strong enough
to cope with any European rival. They had once enjoyed an almost virtual monopoly on
the eastern spice and silk trade via the Red Sea and Levant ports that had
received their goods overland from India
Almeida’s strategy was to change all the rules and to completely upset
the balance - with an open sea route to Indian ports. He established an alternative route to India, without
paying any taxes to Ottoman Empire. The
Ottomans were not prepared to accept this degrading status. This alternate route of
the Portuguese turned out to be the very first step of the decline of the
Ottoman Empire. Determined to make Portugal the paramount power in the East and to
monopolize the spice trade, he erected a series of fortified posts. Almeida
aggressively resisted the Arab traders, seized and sank many of their ships and
forced the Zamorin to agree to a treaty permitting Portuguese trade in the
area. Within
50 years of Vasco Da Gama's arrival the Portuguese had occupied Goa,
Mumbai, Diu, defeated the Sultan of Gujarat and established a long loosely
linked chain of seaport fortresses and trading posts in Onor, Barceló, Mangalore,
Kannur, Cranganore, Cochin, and Kollam . Alongside the age of Columbus, there is an equally
significant Vasco da Gama era of history. Gama's voyage had finally demolished
the ancient authority of Ptolemaic geography, which held the Indian Ocean to be
a closed lake. Poor and small, Portugal
was at the edge of late medieval Europe. But its seafarers created the age of
‘globalization’, which continues to this day, as Roger Crowley explains[xxxvii].
The
Swahili Arab dominance in trade was soon challenged, setting in motion a great
struggle for trade supremacy. The economic fate of Venice Italy,
as well as of Muslim traders, was endangered by Portugal’s breakthrough into
the Indian Ocean. Girolamo Priuli, a noble in Venice, wrote in an entry in his
diary from 1501.” This news, as has been said above, was considered very bad
news for the city of Venice... Whence it is that the King of Portugal has found
this new voyage, and that the spices which were expected which should come from
Calicut, Cochin, and other places in India, to Alexandria or Beyrout , and
later come to Venice, and in this place become monopolized, whence all the
world comes to buy such spicery and carry gold, silver, and every other
merchandise, with which money the war is sustained; today, with this new voyage
by the King of Portugal, all the spices which came by way of Cairo will be
controlled in Portugal, because of the caravels which will go to India, to
Calicut, and other places to take them. And in this way the Venetians will not
be able to take spices either in Alexandria or Beyrout”.[xxxviii]
St ANGELO FORT MOBILIZED.
After da Gama’s discovery of a sea route
to Calicut, the Portuguese were mainly concentrating on the trade with Malabar.
The Portuguese later found that the northern region of Gujarat was very
important for trade. Guajaratis, an essential intermediary in east–west trade,
were bringing spices from the Moluccas as well as silk from China
and then
selling them to the Egyptians and Arabs.[xxxix] The Portuguese decided to expand their
activities to the Gujarat region to monopolize the trade in the Indian
Ocean. As has been pointed out earlier St. Angelo's Fort was built in 1505 by Dom Francisco de Almeida, the first
Portuguese Viceroy of India and it is the first fortress of Portuguese in India
on the Arabian Sea coast about 2 km from Kannur town.[xl] This
is confirmed by the statement of Varthema. “While still seeking a way to cut
himself adrift from the Muhammadans, some of Francisco d’ Almeida’s ships
arrive from Portugal at Cananore showing that the date is now about September,
1505.”[xli] The credit
goes to Vasco da Gama for choosing Cannanore as a good site for a fort. But he could not construct a fort but erected
a stockade which was “a little more than a fence to keep out incendiaries.”[xlii] Pedro Alvares Cabral
left Gonçalo Gomes Ferreira at Cannanore as the factor in 1501 and laid the
foundation for a factory there [xliii]
. Then Pai Rodrigues the factor of Alvaro who came to Malabar in the fleet of
João da Nova in 1501 remained at Cannanore till the arrival of Vasco da Gama in
1502[xliv]. After having concluded peace with the king of
Cannanore, Vasco da Gama established the factory there in 1503.,[xlv] He also appointed Gonçalo Gil Barbosa , Sebastião Alvares and Diogo Alvares as
copyists as well as a group of twenty men were put in charge[xlvi]
Almeida gave the charge of the fort to
Lorenzo
de Brito and left at the fort one hundred and fifty men to assist Brito. They constructed it initially as a makeshift
fortress which consisted of little more than a wall across a promontory. Unlike the Cochin fort which was the first
European fort in India, built with great pomp in 1503 by Albuquerque, Cannanore
fort, in the beginning, served only as an impromptu, emergency fort. From the earliest days the Portuguese had had
friendly relationships with the Kolattri Rajah. After the unforeseen
developments in Kollam, Almeida felt the urgent necessity of having a fort at
Cannanore. As Jerome Osorio says: “ Almeida now resolved to
build a fort at Cananor; he was strongly urged thereto by Gonzalo Agido
Barbosa, who said that the king himself, though ever so willing, was not able
to defend the Portuguese against the
artifices of the perfidious Arabians: the viceroy accordingly determined
not to depart till the fort was
finished.”[xlvii] Along with
the hostile Muslims on land, the Portuguese had to deal with pirates and sundry
other marauders on the coast. And therefore Almeida got the permission of the
Kolathiri and the construction of Fort Angelo was successfully completed in
1505.[xlviii] As Duarte Barbosa says, The Viceroy, F. D'Almeida, having .obtained the Raja's permission, began to dig moats in 1505. The fort, however, was not finished till 1507, when the Viceroy, as Correa tells us, gave it the name of Santao gil, after the castle of St. Angelo at Rome (Correa, 1, pp 583 and 728.)
In this context, the difference between fort and
factory is to be clarified to dispel misapprehension. The first Portuguese factory in Asia was set
up in Calicut (Calecute, Kozhikode), the principal spice entrepot on the Malabar
Coast of India in September 1500, but it was overrun in a riot a couple of
months later. Consequently, the first lasting factory was set up in the nearby
smaller city of Cochin (Cochim,
Kochi) in late 1500. This was followed up by factories in Cannanore (Canonor, Kannur) (1502) and Quilon (Coulão, Kollam) (1503).
Although some Portuguese factories were defended
by palisades that eventually evolved into Portuguese forts garrisoned by
Portuguese troops (e.g. Fort Manuel was erected around the Cochin factory in
1503 Fort Sant’ Angelo around the Cannanore factory in 1505), some remained
merely as factories.. The two concepts are distinct. Factories were commercial
outposts, not political, administrative or military. The factor was formally an
employee of the Casa da Índia (the
trading house), not an officer of the Estado
da Índia (the colonial government).
St. Angelo Fort
St. Angelo Fort
Cannanore fort was also used by Almeida’s son
Lourenco Almeida to patrol the Malabar Coast.
Acting under his father, Lourenço distinguished himself in
the Indian Ocean, and made Ceylon (present Sri Lanka) tributary to Portugal.. The Zamorin could not
stomach the growing power and wealth of his subordinate Kolathiri with the help
of the Portuguese. So he was assiduously planning to attack the Portuguese. The Zamorin’s fleet, consisting of about 200 ships
equipped with cannons manufactured with the help of two Milanese Italians, was
manned by native, Arab and Turkish crews. Ottoman Empire soldiers were also
participating on the Zamorin’s side.[xlix]. Lourenço de Almeida intercepted Zamorin's fleet in a sea battle
at the entrance to the harbour of Cannanore, (the Battle of Cannanore) and inflicted heavy loss. Laurenco
took position at the extreme end of St. Angelo’s fort. A canon was fixed on the
wall to shell continuously on the Zamorin’s forces and the moors. The combined fleet of
the Zamorin was no match against the superior Portuguese naval and cannon
technology. Laurenco won a decisive victory over the
combined forces. In gratitude to Nossa Senhora (Our Lady) and
also to commemorate this great victory, the Portuguese built a chapel in the
end of the fort of St Angelo and it was named Chapel of Our Lady of Victory.[l]
Varthema was probably in Malabar at that time
and he says; “ a large fleet of ‘Moors’ belonging to the Zamorin of Calicut and
the Sultan of Kansuh al-Ghori of Cairo, which had arrived off the west coast of
India with the object of preventing the Portuguese from interfering with Arab
trade of India. The fight, he says, took place on 16 March 1506, the Portuguese
commander being Dom Laurenco d’ Almeida, and was successful.”[li] The Battle of Cannanore, although took place
in the remote corner of India, is hailed as a turning point in world history.
As Mizra says: “The Battle of Cannanore marks the beginning of small maritime
nations like Portugal, Holland and England dominating the globe with naval
power. This domination only ended with the advent of air power after the Second
World War. England became the largest
global empire before the Americans because sea power was more far reaching than
land armies. The Americans became the largest global empire because air power
can reach even further.”[lii].
While Almeida was at
Cannanore , he was surprised to see a delegation of Vira Narasimha of Vijayanagar expressing
their desire to meet him. Castanheda gives a complete description of the proceedings. The
embassy was received on board the personal ship of the viceroy. This was
done so as the Portuguese could retain the advantage in case of a surprise
attack. As soon as the envoy approached the ship, a gunnery salute in his
honour was fired. Unused to such artillery, the embassy was taken aback. They
had arrived with a retinue of trumpeters and drum-beaters who served as
a herald. After assuming a seat worthy of his position, the envoy
congratulated the Portuguese on their recent victory over Calicut.[liii] Vijayanagar was the most powerful Empire in
South India. Italian traveler
Niccolo de Conti who visited Vijaya Nagar Empire
about CE1420, writes: “….. The King is powerful than all the other kings of
India.”[liv] The Portuguese were also eager to have commercial
ties with this Hindu kingdom because Vijayanagar was frequently attacked by
Muslim Sultans of the region. Osorio narrates: “ The
ambassador was received with the highest marks of honour, and after having
produced his credentials, delivered the purport of his embassy as follows,
‘That his royal master being filled with admiration at the fame and reputation
of Emmanuel, was therefore extremely desirous of entering into a league with so
great and worthy a prince: that the exploits performed by the Portuguese in
India was to him a sufficient testimony of what was reported by fame; for he
could not doubt but that the king who ruled over so many brave subjects, must
be a prince endowed with greatest accomplishments, and his friendship worthy to
be cultivated by the most powerful monarchs: that he would therefore most
willingly make a treaty of friendship with his Portuguese majesty, and would
strive to the utmost, to promote his honour and dignity. Moreover, if it was
not disagreeable, he should be extremely glad to betroth his only daughter, a
virgin of reputed beauty, with a considerable dowry, to John the son of
Emmanuel that their friendship might be more strengthened by such an alliance.[lv]. In addition, King Narasimha agreed to furnish them with all the
materials necessary for construction. These terms were reiterated in a letter
meant for the King Emmanuel. The ambassador gave Almeida some precious gifts
which included ‘a couple of bracelets studded with the brightest gems, together
with a parcel of rings set with the finest diamonds.’ Almeida gave a letter to
king Narasimha assuring him ‘that he would do everything in his power to
promote the strictest and most sincere friendship ‘between the two rulers.”[lvi]
Osorio gives graphic description of the events at Canannore. He
says: “After the departure of Narsinguan embassador, Almeed went ashore in a
long boat; and he ordered a tent to be pitched in a grove of palm trees, whence
the king of Cananor visited him. After a deal of friendly conversation, the
viceroy asked leave of his majesty to build a fort: this (he said) would not
only defend the Portuguese against Arabians, but would also be a bulwark for
himself against the invasion of his enemies. His request was already granted;
and the work being set about with great expedition, was in a few days brought
to its full height. Egido Barbosa had, indeed, before laid the foundation, but
he gave out only intended to build a house for the convenience of the
Portuguese merchants. This caution he thought extremely necessary, till Almeed
should, in a formal manner, obtain liberty from the king for building a fort.”[lvii]
. Portuguese historian Barros says, “Upon the completion of Fort Sant' Angelo of Cannanore, Almeida hands it over to the
captain pre-designated originally for Quilon, D. Lourenço de Brito (a high
noble, apparently a cup-bearer of King Manuel I), and a new factor Lopo Cabreira
(replacing the long-serving Gonçalo Gil Barbosa) and a certain Castillian nobleman known as 'Guadalajara' as
magistrate (alcaide-mor) of Cannanore.[3 Almeida leaves Brito with a garrison
of 150 men and two patrol ships, the navetas of Rodrigo Rabello (São Miguel?)
and Fernão Bermudez.”[lviii] At first this was limited to leaving goods and merchants at the
settlement. “The walls of the Cochin
fort were made of double rows of coconut stems securely fastened together and
with earth rammed firmly between; it was further protected by a wet ditch. Thus
was founded the first European fort in India, for the stockade already erected
at Cananore appears to have been little more than a fence to keep out
incendiaries.”[lix] This was probably soon replaced by stone.
The site was built onto a rocky outcrop and the underlying rock of very soft
red ironstone like material that hardened after exposure to air. Using St.
Angelo fort, the Portuguese moved. southwards
and succeeded in establishing a long loosely linked chain of seaport fortresses
and trading posts like Onor, Barcelor, Mangalore, Cranganor, Cochin, and
Quilon. The Naval Battle of Diu, one of the most celebrated in the
history of the Portuguese Navy, was a decisive battle of decimation, where
Gujarat had to lose all its naval power. Almeida burned and pillaged their
ports and smashed the combined fleets of the Sultans of Egypt, Gujarat and the
Zamorin of Calicut.
Meanwhile, political
developments in Malabar placed the Portuguese in a complicated situation. The
friendly Kolathiri Raja died and this paved the way for the Zamorin to
intervene in the succession feud in Koalthiri’s family. As Varthema narrates: “… the old friendly
“King of Canannor” had died and was succeeded by “a great enemy of ours” and an
ally of an inimical Zamorin.”[lx] In Malabar the Portuguese exercised a strong
control over the coastal area through their dummy rajas, but none at all
inland. So they introduced the pass system known as cartaz to monitor and control maritime trade. As Peterson says: “The
Portuguese had armed vessels plying in the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea.
Ships carrying commodities which were not given passes (cartaz) by the
Portuguese officials were confiscated by them. The booty, thus confiscated
yielded a sizeable source of income, which was again invested in trade.”[lxi]. When the Portuguese powers
reached its zenith in Malabar Coast, it enforced passes for native and other
vessels to show their authority and to control maritime trade in the region. Barros attempts
to justify this practice of the Portuguese of intercepting all ships sailing
without their passport, and says, “As to navigation, the power of our fleets
was always so great in those eastern parts, that as we were masters of its
seas, whoever wished to navigate, whether Gentile or Moor, in order to do so
securely and peacefully, asked for a safe-conduct from our captains out there,
which they commonly call Cartaz.”[lxii]
Till now the Kolathiri was a submissive
Raja, but rivalry in the royal family led to the succession of a king with the
active intervention and help of the
Zamorin. The Zamorin used this opportunity to get the support of the new
ruler to fight the Portuguese. He sent a Brahmin to meet the new king and
through him he instigated him to get rid of the Portuguese. To
make the situation worse, the cartaz system of the Portuguese made the new king
a bitter enemy of the Portuguese. Jerome . Ossorio says: “The king of
Cananor now applied himself with the utmost vigour in making preparations
against our people: however, for some time he thought it necessary to keep the
design secret. He ordered a broad trench to be thrown up from shore to shore.
This separated the city from the fort, stretching on a point of land washed by
the sea. This he pretended as a fortification for the city, without any design
against the Portuguese. At a little distance from the fort there was a well,
which used to supply the garrison with water. The king intended, if possible,
to deprive the Portuguese of this convenience. There was a narrow path from the
trench to the well, which he intended to fortify in such a manner, as to cut
off all communication which our people had to the well, that he might by this
means destroy them by thirst.”[lxiii]
It was at this time when
tension was mounting between the Portuguese and the king of Cannanore that Gonzalo
Vaz captured a ship near Cannanore with passes, which he claimed to be forged,
plundered the ship and then had murdered the crew who were sewn up into a sail
and cast into the water. The bodies had floated ashore and included those of
the son in law of Mammali Marakkar one of the most important local merchants.
After confronting Lorenzo de Brito to demand recompense, receiving an unsatisfactory
reponse the merchant went to the Kolattiri Rajah with many supporters and the
Rajah agreed to go to war with the Portuguese. The Siege of Cannanore was a four-month seige, from April to
August 1507, when troops of the Kolattiri Raja of , supported by the Zamorin of Calicut and Arabs, besieged the Portuguese garrison at St. Angelo Fort in Cannanore.
The firepower of
the garrison under Lourenço de Brito allowed it to repulse massive attacks
involving thousands of men.[lxiv] From the 27th April 1507 the fort came under
siege. .Fierce attacks were made by both sides, and it was at this
point that it dawned upon the Portuguese that the builders of the fort had made
a major mistake by having the only
well situated only a" bow
shot" from the wall on the enemy side of the walls. Every time the
Portuguese needed to draw water they had to take great risk to their lives. . This
grave problem was solved when “Fernandez, an engineer, hit upon the expedient
of mining a passage as far as the well and so drawing off the supply
underground.”[lxv] The Portuguese had to face the impact of a
powerful attack from the Kolathiri, assisted by the Zamorin and the Moors. As
Logan puts it: “He (Kolathiri) obtained twenty-one pieces of cannon from the
Zamorin, all communication between the town and fort was cut off by a trench,
and forty thousand Nayars were entertained to besiege the place, and the
Zamorin subsequently sent twenty thousand more to assist.”[lxvi] To make matters worse, another unfortunate
event occurred which deprived the entrenched Portuguese their daily provision
of food. Jerónimo Osório, narrates in his book
written in Latin, The history of the Portuguese, during the reign
of Emmanuel, an
unexpected accident: “There was a row of houses
adjoining to the fort, by which they were protected from the enemy; there were
mostly warehouses; some of which were filled with provisions for the support of
the garrisons. By the carelessness of a boy, who having fallen asleep, left a
lighted candle, one of those houses were set a fire. The flames spread quickly
to the adjoining houses; which being built of wood, and thatched with palm
leaves, were soon burnt to the ground. By this fire our people lost many
valuable effects, but nothing affected them so much as their want of
provisions, most of which were destroyed; and as it was then the winter season,
they had no hopes of getting a supply. In short they were at last so afflicted
by famine, that they were obliged to live upon cats, mice and lizards.”[lxvii] To add to their misery, the Kolathiri had staked and fenced the trenches with cotton
bales to protect them from Portuguese cannon fire. To counter this, “the Portuguese planted a
large piece of ordnance on their ramparts, and lucky shot from it , it is said,
sent the cotton bales flying and killed no less than twenty-two men.”
Miracle at St. Angelo
Although Portuguese king has sent Tristão da Cunha with a fleet of 15 ships to India, he could not reach Cannanore on time to relieve the starving Portuguese inside the fort as he was engaged in a battle at Socotra. The situation inside the fort during this period was becoming extremely calamitous. A large part of the garrison remained wounded and they were being gradually forced into starvation. It was at this grievous stage, a miracle happened to the praying and trapped sailors on 15 August, St. Mary’s Day. They were surprised to see a tidal wave washing ashore large quantities of lobsters and prawns. As Catenhada says with great relief: “… in the day of our Lady Dagosto began to wake up to the sea, very high, and the sea sent to the sea, and to the sea, the great crowd of lobsters that caught them, giving great praise to our lord his glorious mother, through whose intercession it seemed that he gave those lobsters For his sustenance with them all, the spirit will be leavened to him, and the captain will soon read of them to the sick who are in the spiritist, with whom they will, as a matter of course, begin to wear well, if they remain ten or twelve days well.”[lxviii]. It was indeed a miracle to get lobsters and prawns for the starving Portuguese. It was certainly a special treat for the starving Portuguese at the fort to get from the sea huge numbers of lobsters and prawns. They not merely relished the mouthwatering fresh lobsters, they also salted the excessive supply from the sea for future use. Lobsters and prawns are expensive Portuguese cuisine even today at top-notch sea food restaurants in Lisbon..
The Portuguese garrison was on the verge of being
overwhelmed and they had lost hope of any means of escape. As Diffie says, “Beleaguered and battered,
the Europeans were awaiting a final assault.” And again the trapped Portuguese
had a miraculous liberation when on 27
August a fleet of 11 ships under Tristão da Cunha, the 8th Armada, coming from Socotra, appeared. The fleet landed 300 Portuguese
soldiers, forced the lifting of the siege and relieved the fortress. “The
Kolathiri then sued for peace, which was granted on terms advantageous to the
Portuguese.”[lxix]
Miracle at St. Angelo
Although Portuguese king has sent Tristão da Cunha with a fleet of 15 ships to India, he could not reach Cannanore on time to relieve the starving Portuguese inside the fort as he was engaged in a battle at Socotra. The situation inside the fort during this period was becoming extremely calamitous. A large part of the garrison remained wounded and they were being gradually forced into starvation. It was at this grievous stage, a miracle happened to the praying and trapped sailors on 15 August, St. Mary’s Day. They were surprised to see a tidal wave washing ashore large quantities of lobsters and prawns. As Catenhada says with great relief: “… in the day of our Lady Dagosto began to wake up to the sea, very high, and the sea sent to the sea, and to the sea, the great crowd of lobsters that caught them, giving great praise to our lord his glorious mother, through whose intercession it seemed that he gave those lobsters For his sustenance with them all, the spirit will be leavened to him, and the captain will soon read of them to the sick who are in the spiritist, with whom they will, as a matter of course, begin to wear well, if they remain ten or twelve days well.”[lxviii]. It was indeed a miracle to get lobsters and prawns for the starving Portuguese. It was certainly a special treat for the starving Portuguese at the fort to get from the sea huge numbers of lobsters and prawns. They not merely relished the mouthwatering fresh lobsters, they also salted the excessive supply from the sea for future use. Lobsters and prawns are expensive Portuguese cuisine even today at top-notch sea food restaurants in Lisbon..
Portuguese style Lobster dish
The aim of Portugal in the Indian
Ocean was to ensure the monopoly of the spice trade. New technology was used to build
a ship with triangular sails. It was
called the caravel, an ocean-going version of smaller fishing boats. The
caravel revolutionized exploration. St.
Angelo fort played a key role in strengthening Portuguese position in Kerala
and Gujarat. With
this chain of fortified ports of call, and with no vessels in the Indian Ocean
capable of challenging her power at sea, Portugal enjoyed a monopoly of the
eastern spice trade.
After the victorious sea Battle of Diu, Turks and Egyptians withdrew their
navies from India and the Zamorin razed to the ground, setting the Portuguese
trade dominance for almost a century, and greatly contributing to the growth of
the Portuguese Empire. It also marked the beginning of the European colonial
dominance in Asia.
One important fact that many
historians have overlooked is the dominant role played by St. Angelo fort in
the Portuguese commercial expansion in the 15th century. After
establishing naval supremacy, the Portuguese came to make larger and larger
profits from the Asian interport trade, which they controlled through a system
of licensed, unlicensed local traders being liable to arrest and confiscation.
In this way, much of the spices came to be paid for in Coromandel cloth from
the Indian coast: Arabian horses, African gold and ivory, Chinese and Japanese
bullion were carried the relatively short and safe distances from one oriental
entrepôt to another: Ormuz to Goa, Cochin to Colombo, Macao to Nagasaki. Until the late 16th
century St. Angelo fort remained an advanced frontier post for the Portuguese
commercial expansion.
[i] Amaral, Luciano. “Economic History of Portugal”. EH.Net
Encyclopedia, edited by Robert Whaples. March 16, 2008
[ii] Towle George
M, The Voyages and Adventures of Vasco Da Gama, Lee and Shepard, Boston, 1878,
p.227.
[iii] ibid
[iv] ibid
[v] Logan, William, The
Malabar Manual,Government Press, Madras, 1887, p.299
[vi] Ibid, p.300.
[vii] Towle, op.cit., p.228
[viii]
Gaspar Correia, Lendas da Índia, Vol.I, Porto,
1975,pp.114-115.
[ix] Towle, op.cit.,
[x] Woodcock,George, Kerala,Faber And Faber, London, 1967
[xi] Panikkar, K.M. A
History of Kerala, The Annamalai Universiry, Annamalainagar, 1959, p.33
[xii] Durant, Will, The
Story of Civilization: The Age of Reason, Vol.VII, Simon & Schuster,
New York, 1961.
[xiii]
Towle, George
M, op.cit ,p.7
[xiv] Panikkar, KM.
op.cit.p201
[xv] Café Dissensus on
February 15, 2016, https://cafedissensus.com/2016/02/15/four-hundred-years-of-a-letter-calicut-english-relations/
[xvi] Panikkar, K.M. op.cit. p.141
[xvii]
Diffey, Bailey W, Foundations of the Portuguese Empire, 1415-1580, University of
Minnesota Press, Minnesota, 1977, p. 254.
[xviii] Anderson, Perry, Portugal
and the end of ultra Colonialism,p.91 http://www.strongwindpress.com/pdfs/tuijian/perryandersonportugal.pdf
[xix]
Mitchell, Mary Ames, Crossing the Ocean Sea, http://www.crossingtheoceansea.com/OceanSeaPages/OS-78-Cabral.html
[xx] Greenlee, William
Brooks (1995). The voyage of Pedro Álvares Cabral to Brazil and India:
from contemporary documents and narratives. New Delhi: J.
Jetley,.pp. xxiv, xxxiii.
[xxiv] Gaspar Correia, Lendas da Índia, Vol.I, Porto, 1975,pp.167-168.
[xxv]
Cronica
da Descobrimento e Conquista da India pelos Portugueses, Coimbra, 1974, p.25
[xxvi]
Thomé
Lopes, “Navegação as Índias Orientaes” in Collecção de Noticias para a Historia
e Geografia das Nações Uitramarinas que vivem nos Dominos Portugueses, ou lhes
são Visinhas, tom.II, No.1 & 2, Lisbon, 1812,p. 187.
[xxvii]
Cartas
de Afonso de Albuquerque, tom. II, p.400; Simão Botelho, “Tombo do Estado da
India” in Subsidios para a Historia de India Portugueze, Lisbon, 1868, p.28.
The three orders and one receipt, written in Cannanore on 22 and 23 February,
signed by Vasco da Gama, are the more ancient documents written by the
Portuguese in India. Carlos Alexandre de Morais, Cronológia Geral da Índia
Portuguesa, Sociedade de Geografia, Lisboa, 1997, p23.
[xxviii]
João
de Barros, Decadas
da Ásia, Nova Ediçao. (Lisboa 1778-1788),,pp.74-75 Digitized: New York Public Library
[xxx] ibid
[xxxi]
ibid, p.306
[xxxii]
Ibid.
[xxxiii]
Gaspar Correia, Lendas da Índia (Lisbon, 1858), vol. I, p. 298.
[xxxiv]
João de Barros, Década I, book
VI, pp.74-75.
[xxxv]
Foundations of the Portuguese
Empire: 1415-1580 by Bailey Bailey Wallys Diffie, George George Davison Winius
(University of Minnesota, 1977).
[xxxvi]
Snell, Melissa, http://www.about.com/education/
1911, Encyclopaedia.
[xxxvii] History Today, vol. 65,
Issue 10 October 2015.
[xxxviii] Asia in the Making of Europe, Volume I: The Century of Discovery, Volume 1 by Donald F. Lach (University of Chicago, 1965).
[xxxix] Bailey Wallys Diffie, ,Foundations of the
Portuguese empire, 1415–1580
University of Minnesota, 1977, p.230ff
[xl]
Neto, Ricardo
Bonalume (2002-04-01). "Lightning rod of Portuguese India". MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History (Cowles Enthusiast Media Spring).
[xli] Jones, John Winter, The
Itinerary of Ludovico Di Varthema of Bologna, Asian Educational Services,
New Delhi, 1997, p.ixxix.
[xlii]
Logan, op.cit., p. 308
[xliii]
Cronica
da Descobrimento e Conquista da India pelos Portugueses, Coimbra, 1974, p.25
[xliv]
Thomé
Lopes, “Navegação as Índias Orientaes” in Collecção de Noticias para a Historia
e Geografia das Nações
itramarinas
que vivem nos Dominos Portugueses, ou lhes são Visinhas, tom.II, No.1 & 2,
Lisbon, 1812,p. 187.
[xlv]
Cartas
de Afonso de Albuquerque, tom. II, p.400; Simão Botelho, “Tombo do Estado da
India” in Subsidios para a Historia de India Portugueze, Lisbon, 1868, p.28.
The three orders and one receipt, written in Cannanore on 22 and 23 February,
signed by Vasco da Gama, are the more ancient documents written by the
Portuguese in India. Carlos Alexandre de Morais, Cronológia Geral da Índia
Portuguesa, Sociedade de Geografia, Lisboa, 1997, p23.
[xlvi]
João
de Barros, Ásia,Vol.I -VI, Lisbon,1988-1992, pp.74-75.
[xlvii]
Osorio, Jerome, The History of the Portuguese During the Reign of Emmanuel,
A.Millar,in the Strand, London, MDCCLII,
p.240
[xlviii]
Cartas de Afonso de Albuquerque, tomo. II,
P.400-402 (Letter from the King of Cannanore to King Manuel I, dated 6 December
1507.
[xlix]
Bouchon, Genevieve, Regent of the Sea: Cannanore’s Response to Portuguese
Expansion,1507-1528, Oxfore University Presse, Delhi, 1988
[l]
Antónia
da Silva Rêgo, Documentação para Historia das Missões do Padroado Português do
Oriente,Índia, Vol.I (1499-1522),Lisboa,1947,p.321.
[li] Jones, John
Winter,The Itinerary of Ludovico Di
Varthema of Bologna, Asian Educational Services, New Delhi, 1997, p.IXXXI
[liii]
Fernao
Lopes de Castanheda, Historia de Descobrimentos e Conquista da India pelos Portugueses,
cited in GOA-KANARA PORTUGUESE RELATIONS 1498-1763, Charles J. Borges (ed.),cited by Shastry, Bhagamandala Seetharama
Xavier Centre of
Historical Research, 2000, p.58
[liv] Columbia Chronologies of Asian History and Culture, John Stewart Bowman, Columbia University Press, New York, 2013,
p.271,
[lvi] Ibid.,
[lvii] Ibid.,p.244
[lviii]
João de Barros (1552–59) Décadas
da Ásia: Dos feitos, que os Portuguezes fizeram no descubrimento, e conquista,
dos mares, e terras do Oriente.. [Dec. I, Lib 7.]
[lix] Logan, op.cit., p. 308
[lx] Jones, John Winter, The
Itinerary of Ludovico Di Varthema of Bologna, Asian Educational Services,
New Delhi, 1997, p. IXXX!.
[lxi] Pearson M.N., The
Portuguese in India, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1987, p.46.
[lxii]
"The three voyages of Vasco de Gama, and his viceroyalty
:
from the Lendas da India of Gaspar Corrêa. Burt Franklin, Publisher, New York.
[lxiii]
Osorio, Jerome, op.cit, p.263.
[lxiv]
Logan, op.cit, 314ff
[lxv] ibid, p.314.
[lxvi]
Ibid.,p.313
[lxvii]
The History of the Portuguese During
the Reign of Emmanuel. , written originally in Latin by Jerome
Ossorio, translated by James Gibbs A. Millar, London. MDCCLII(1752). . Brandeis University Libraries, p.267.
[lxviii] Castanheda, Fernão Lopes de, Historia do Descobrimento e Conquista da India
pelos Portugueses, Volume 2, Typographia Rollandiana, 1833
