PORTUGUESE

Portuguese in India

• The Portuguese were the first Europeans to arrive in India, and they were also the last to go.
• The spirit of the Renaissance, with its demand for adventure, captivated Europe in  the fifteenth century.
• During this time, Europe achieved significant breakthroughs in shipbuilding and navigation. As a result, there was a strong desire throughout Europe for daring  maritime trips to the East’s unexplored reaches

Discovery of a Sea Route to India

• Historians have noted that discovering an ocean route to India had become an obsession for Prince Henry of Portugal, known as the ‘Navigator,’ as well as a method to sidestep the Muslim dominance of the eastern Mediterranean and all the roads connecting India and Europe.
• The kings of Portugal and Spain split the non-Christian world between them in 1497, under the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494), by an imaginary line in the Atlantic, about 1,300 miles west of the Cape Verde Islands.
• Portugal could claim and occupy anything to the east of the line, while Spain could claim everything to the west, according to the pact.
• As a result, the scene was set for Portuguese intrusions into the Indian Ocean seas. Bartholomew Dias, a Portuguese navigator, crossed the Cape of Good Hope in Africa in 1487 and travelled along the eastern coast, believing that the longsought maritime path to India had been discovered.
• However, an expedition of Portuguese ships set off for India barely 10 years later (in 1497) and reached India in little less than 11 months, in May 1498.

Foreign Powers

Portuguese Administration in India

• The Bahmani Kingdom in the Deccan was dissolving into smaller kingdoms.
• None of the powers possessed a fleet worth mentioning, and they had no plans to improve their maritime capabilities.
• The Chinese emperor’s imperial proclamation limited the nautical reach of Chinese ships in the Far East.
• The Arab merchants and shipowners who had previously controlled the Indian Ocean commerce had nothing on the Portuguese in terms of organisation and cohesiveness.
• The Portuguese also had guns mounted on their ships.
• The viceroy, who ruled for three years, was in charge of the administration, together with his secretary and, subsequently, a council.
• Next insignificance was the Vedor da Fazenda, who was in charge of income, cargoes, and fleet dispatch.

Significance of the Portuguese

• Most historians agree that the arrival of the Portuguese not only signalled the beginning of the European age, but also the growth of maritime power.
• The Cholas, for example, had been a maritime force, but this was the first time a foreign power had arrived in India by water.
• The Portuguese ships were armed with cannons, and this was the first step toward securing a monopoly over commerce by threatening or using force.
• The Portuguese used body armour, matchlock soldiers, and weapons landed from ships in the Malabar in the 16th century, demonstrating military innovation.
• On the other hand, a significant military contribution made by the Portuguese onshore was the system of drilling infantry groups, modelled after the Spanish model, which was implemented in the 1630s as a response to Dutch pressure.
• The Portuguese were masters of advanced maritime tactics.
• Their multi-decked ships were strongly built, as they were meant to fight out Atlantic gales rather than go ahead of the regular monsoons, allowing them to carry more weapons.
• Goa became a centre of complex filigree work, fretted foliage work, and metalwork incorporating diamonds as the silversmith and goldsmith arts thrived.
• However, while the interiors of churches built under the Portuguese include a lot of woodwork and art, as well as painted ceilings, the architectural plans are often plain.

Vasco Da Gama

• The landing of three ships under Vasco Da Gama to Calicut in May 1498, headed by a Gujarati pilot called Abdul Majid, had a significant impact on Indian history.
• Vasco da Gama spent three months in India.
• When he returned to Portugal, he brought a valuable cargo with him and profitably sold the goods on the European market.
• In 1501 Vasco da Gama returned to India.
• When Vasco Da Gama mixed economic avarice with violent hatred and inflicted revenge on Arab commerce everywhere he could, the Zamorin refused to exclude Arab merchants in favour of the Portuguese.
• At Cannanore, Vasco da Gama established a trading factory.
• Calicut, Cannanore, and Cochin gradually became key Portuguese commerce centres.

Francisco De Almeida

• In 1505, King Ferdinand I of Portugal appointed a three-year governor in India and provided him with adequate troops to preserve Portuguese interests.
• The newly appointed governor, Francisco De Almeida, was tasked with consolidating the Portuguese position in India and destroying Muslim trade by conquering Aden, Ormuz, and Malacca.
• The Portuguese squadron was beaten by the combined Egyptian and Gujarat navies in a naval action off the coast of Diu in 1507, and Almeida’s son was slain.
• The next year, Almeida avenged his defeat by annihilating both navies. Almeida’s dream was for the Portuguese to rule the Indian Ocean.
• The Blue Water Policy (cartage system) was his policy.

Alfonso de Albuquerque

• Albuquerque, who took over as Portuguese governor of India when Almeida died, was the true creator of Portuguese authority in the East, a mission he finished before his death.
• By creating strongholds commanding all of the sea’s exits, he ensured Portugal’s strategic control over the Indian Ocean.
• Under Albuquerque’s leadership, the Portuguese tightened their grip by instituting a permission system for other ships and exerting control over the region’s key shipbuilding centres.
• The eradication of sati was a noteworthy element of his reign. 2.6 Nino da Cunha
• In November 1529, Nino da Cunha was appointed governor of Portuguese interests in India, and almost a year later, the Portuguese administration in India moved its headquarters from Cochin to Goa.
• During his struggle with Mughal emperor Humayun, Bahadur Shah of Gujarat enlisted the support of the Portuguese by transferring the island of Bassein, along with its dependents and income, to them in 1534.
• He offered them a base in Diu as well.
• Da Cunha also aimed to enhance Portuguese influence in Bengal by placing a large number of Portuguese nationals in the city of Hooghly.

Decline of the Portuguese

• The governors who succeeded Afonso de Albuquerque were weak and inept, and the Portuguese Empire in India finally fell apart.
• In religious affairs, the Portuguese were intolerant and fanatical. They used coercion to convert the indigenous people to Christianity.
• In this regard, their attitude was vehemently opposed by the people of India, where religious tolerance was the norm.
• The Portuguese administration was more concerned with amassing a fortune for itself, which further alienated the Indian people.
• They were also involved in heinous crimes and defiance of the law. They didn’t even hesitate to engage in piracy and plunder. All of these actions culminated in an anti Portuguese sentiment.
• During the 15th century and the first part of the 16th century, the Portuguese and Spanish had left the English and the Dutch well behind.
• However, throughout the latter part of the 16th century, emerging economic and naval powers England and Holland, and subsequently France launched a determined battle against the Spanish and Portuguese monopoly of international commerce.
• The latter were defeated in this battle. Their authority in India was also diminished as a result of this.
• The Mughal Empire’s and the Marathas’ developing influence also made it difficult for the Portuguese to maintain their commercial monopoly in India for long. For example, in c. 1631 CE, they struggled with the Mughal authorities in Bengal and were forced out of their town at Hughli.
• Brazil was found by the Portuguese in Latin America, and they began to pay considerably more attention to it than to their Indian domains.
• When Portugal was annexed by Spain in 1580 CE, Spanish interests took precedence over Portuguese ones, which were later ignored.