Produced by Ron Swanson
_RULERS OF INDIA_
EDITED BY
SIR WILLIAM WILSON HUNTER, K.C.S.I., C.I.E.
M.A. (OXFORD): LL.D. (CAMBRIDGE)
ALBUQUERQUE
_London_
HENRY FROWDE
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE
AMEN CORNER, E.C.
[_All rights reserved_]
[Illustration: MAP OF THE INDIAN EMPIRE]
[Frontispiece: Portrait signed Afonso de Albuquerque]
RULERS OF INDIA
ALBUQUERQUE
BY H. MORSE STEPHENS
LECTURER ON INDIAN HISTORY AT CAMBRIDGE
AUTHOR OF 'A HISTORY OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION,'
'THE STORY OF PORTUGAL,' etc.
OXFORD
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS: 1892
Oxford
PRINTED AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
BY HORACE HART, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY
PREFACE
Affonso de Albuquerque was the first European since Alexander the
Great who dreamed of establishing an empire in India, or rather in
Asia, governed from Europe. The period in which he fought and ruled
in the East is one of entrancing interest and great historical
importance, and deserves more attention than it has received from the
English people, as the present ruling race in India. Dr. A. C.
Burnell, an authority second to none in Indian historical questions,
says in his prefatory note to _A Tentative List of Books and some
MSS. relating to the History of the Portuguese in India Proper_: 'In
the course of twenty years' studies relating to India, I found that
the history of the Portuguese had been shamefully neglected.... In
attempting to get better information, I found that the true history
of the Portuguese in India furnishes most important guidance for the
present day, and the assertions commonly made about it are utterly
false, especially in regard to the ecclesiastical history.' I
purpose, therefore, to give a short list of the more important works
on the history of the Portuguese in the East during the sixteenth
century, while they were a conquering and a ruling power, in the hope
that it may be useful to any one wishing to investigate the subject
further than it has been possible for me to do in this volume. I
confine myself to the sixteenth century and to books on political
history, as I have not the knowledge to classify the numerous works
on the history of the Roman Catholic Missions in India, which is
closely bound up with the ecclesiastical history of the Portuguese in
the East.
Before mentioning books of general history, I must draw attention to
the _Commentaries of Albuquerque_ on which this volume is chiefly
based, as indeed all biographies of the great governor must
necessarily be. They were published by his son, Braz de Albuquerque,
in 1557, reprinted by him in 1576, and republished in four volumes in
1774. They have been translated into English for the Hakluyt Society
by Walter de Gray Birch in four volumes, 1875-1884, and from this
translation the quotations in the present volume are taken. The
nature and the authority of this most valuable and interesting work
are best shown by quoting the first sentence of the compiler's
dedication of the second edition to the King of Portugal, Dom
Sebastian. 'In the lifetime of the King, Dom Joao III, your
grandfather, I dedicated to Your Highness these Commentaries, which I
have collected from the actual originals written by the great Affonso
de Albuquerque in the midst of his adventures to the King, Dom
Manoel, your great-grandfather.' The _Commentaries_ have been for
three centuries the one incontestable printed authority for
Albuquerque's career. But in 1884 was published the first volume of
the _Cartas de Affonso de Albuquerque, seguidas de Documentos que as
elucidam_, under the direction of the _Academia Real das Sciencias de
Lisboa_, and edited by Raymundo Antonio de Bulhao Pato. This
collection includes a large number of despatches to the King, dated
February, 1508; October, 1510; April, 1512; August to December, 1512;
November, 1513, to January, 1514; October to December, 1514; and
September to December, 1515; of which two, dated 1 April, 1512, and 4
December, 1513, are of great importance, and veritable manifestoes of
policy. It contains also a more correct version of Albuquerque's last
letter to the King than that given in the _Commentaries_. It is to be
hoped that the many and serious _lacunae_, shown by the above dates,
will be filled in the long-expected second volume of the _Cartas_.
Turning to the more general authorities on the history of the
Portuguese in India in the sixteenth century, it will be well to take
them in a rough classification of their importance and authenticity.
Joao de Barros (1496-1570), for many years treasurer and factor at
the India House at Lisbon, published _Asia: dos Feitos que os
Portuguezes fizeram no Descobrimento e Conquista dos Mares e Terras
do Oriente_. This work is a primary authority, as the writer had
access to all documents, and was the recognised historian of the
events he described during his lifetime. It is written in imitation
of Livy, and is divided into Decades. The first Decade was published
in 1552, the second in 1555, the third in 1563, and the fourth after
his death in 1615, and it carries the history down to 1539. The best
edition is that in nine volumes, Lisbon, 1777-78. A German
translation by Dietrich Wilhelm Soltau was published in five volumes
at Brunswick, 1821, and it has been largely borrowed from by
succeeding writers.
Diogo do Couto (1542-1616) was long employed in India, and had access
to documents. He continued the work of Barros in the same style. His
first Decade overlaps Barros, and his history goes from 1526 to 1600.
The best edition is that published as a continuation of Barros, in
fifteen volumes, Lisbon, 1778-1787.
Gaspar Correa (died at Goa between 1561 and 1583) went to India in
1514 and was Secretary to Albuquerque. His _Lendas da India_ treat
the history of the Portuguese from 1497 to 1549, and was published
for the first time at Lisbon, four volumes, 1858-64. His chronology
throughout differs much from Barros, and a critical comparison
between them is much needed. A portion of this work has been
translated by Lord Stanley of Alderley, for the Hakluyt Society,
under the title of _The Three Voyages of Vasco da Gama, and his
Viceroyalty_, 1869.
Fernao Lopes de Castanheda (died 1559) travelled much in India. He
published his _Historia do Descobrimento e Conquista da India pelos
Portuguezes_, which covers from 1497 to 1549, in 1551-1561, and is
therefore anterior to Barros in date of publication.
Damiao de Goes (died 1573), _Commentarius Rerum gestarum in India
citra Gangem a Lusitanis_, Louvain, 1539, is a small but early work.
These are primary authorities, but the following chronicles also
contain some useful information:
Damiao de Goes (died 1573), _Chronica do felicissimo Rey Dom Manoel_,
Lisbon, 1566, 1567.
Jeronymo Osorio (died 1580), _De Rebus Emmanuelis Regis_, Lisbon,
1571.
The historians of subsequent centuries simply use, with more or less
judgment, the materials provided for them by the historians mentioned
above for the sixteenth century, and with one exception are of no
value. The one exception is:
Manoel de Faria e Sousa, who in his _Asia Portugueza_, three volumes,
Lisbon, 1666-75, made use of good MS. materials.
The purely secondary historians, who in spite of their reputation are
better left unread, are: Giovanni Pietro Maffei, _Historiarum
Indicarum Libri XVI_, Florence, 1588; Antonio de San Roman, _Historia
General de la India Oriental_, Valladolid, 1603; Joseph Francois
Lafitau, _Histoire des Decouvertes et des Conquetes des Portugais
dans le Nouveau Monde_, Paris, 1733.
_Os Portuguezes em Africa, Asia, America e Oceania_, published in
Lisbon in 1849, is a lively summary of the best authorities.
In modern times the scientific historical spirit has developed
greatly in Portugal, under the influence of the great historian
Alexandre Herculano de Carvalho e Araujo, and the publication of
documents has taken the place of the publication of historical
summaries. Among these ranks first the _Colleccao de Monumentos
ineditos para a Historia das Conquistas dos Portuguezes em Africa,
Asia e America_, a series of which any nation might be proud, and of
which the _Cartas de Albuquerque_ already described forms a part. It
is published under the superintendence of the _Academia Real das
Sciencias_ of Lisbon, which also brought out, in 1868, _Subsidios
para a Historia da India Portugueza_, containing three valuable early
documents, edited by Rodrigo Jose de Lima Felner. Intelligent and
thoroughly scientific articles have also appeared in the Portuguese
periodicals, especially in the _Annaes Maritimos_ in 1840-44, and in
the _Annaes das Sciencias e Letteras_, in which was published Senhor
Lopes de Mendonca's article on Dom Francisco de Almeida. Mention
should also be made of two books published in India, _Contributions
to the Study of Indo-Portuguese Numismatics_, by J. Gerson da Cunha,
Bombay, 1880, an interesting pamphlet on a fascinating subject, and
_An Historical and Archaeological Sketch of the City of Goa_, by Jose
Nicolau da Fonseca, Bombay, 1878, a most carefully compiled volume.
In conclusion I must express my gratitude to the editor of the series
for much kindly advice and assistance, to Mr. E. J. Wade of the India
Office Library, who has been my ever ready helper, and to Mr. T.
Fisher Unwin for giving the plate of the portrait of Albuquerque,
which appears as a frontispiece.
H.M.S.
LIST OF VICEROYS AND GOVERNORS OF PORTUGUESE INDIA, 1505-1580.
The names of Viceroys are printed in small capitals.
_Assumed Office_.
DOM FRANCISCO DE ALMEIDA 12 Sept. 1505 Killed by Kaffirs at
Saldanha Bay,
1 March, 1510.
Affonso de Albuquerque 4 Nov. 1509 Died off Goa,
16 Dec. 1515.
Lopo Soares de Albergaria 8 Sept. 1515 Returned to Portugal.
Diogo Lopes de Sequeira 8 Sept. 1518 Returned to Portugal.
Dom Duarte de Menezes 22 Jan. 1522 Returned to Portugal.
DOM VASCO DA GAMA 5 Sept. 1524 Died at Cochin,
24 Dec. 1524.
Dom Henrique de Menezes 17 Jan. 1525 Died at Cannanore,
21 Feb. 1526.
Lopo Vaz de Sam Paio Feb. 1526 Returned to Portugal.
Nuno da Cunha 18 Nov. 1529 Died at sea on his way
to Portugal.
DOM GARCIA DE NORONHA 14 Sept. 1538 Died at Goa,
3 April, 1540.
Dom Estevao da Gama 3 April, 1540 Returned to Portugal.
Martim Affonso de Sousa 8 May, 1542 Returned to Portugal.
DOM JOAO DE CASTRO 10 Sept. 1545 Died at Goa,
(Viceroy for 14 days only) 6 June, 1548.
Garcia de Sa 6 June, 1548 Died at Goa,
13 June, 1549.
Jorge Cabral 13 June, 1549 Returned to Portugal.
DOM AFFONSO DE NORONHA Nov. 1550 Returned to Portugal.
DOM PEDRO MASCARENHAS 23 Sept. 1554 Died at Goa,
16 June, 1555.
Francisco Barreto 16 June, 1555 Returned to Portugal.
DOM CONSTANTINO DE BRAGANZA 8 Sept. 1558 Returned to Portugal.
DOM FRANCISCO DE COUTINHO 7 Sept. 1561 Died at Goa,
19 Feb. 1564.
Joao de Mendonca 19 Feb. 1564 Returned to Portugal.
DOM ANTAO DE NORONHA 3 Sept. 1564 Died at sea on his way
to Portugal.
DOM LUIS DE ATHAIDE 10 Sept. 1568 Returned to Portugal.
DOM ANTONIO DE NORONHA 6 Sept. 1571 Returned to Portugal.
Antonio Moniz Barreto 9 Dec. 1573 Returned to Portugal.
Dom Diogo de Menezes Sept. 1576 Returned to Portugal.
DOM LUIS DE ATHAIDE 31 Aug. 1578 Died at Goa,
(_second time_) 10 March, 1581.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGES
PREFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-12
LIST OF VICEROYS AND GOVERNORS OF PORTUGUESE INDIA,
1505-1580 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
I. THE PREDECESSORS OF ALBUQUERQUE . . . . . . . . . . . 15-40
II. THE EARLY CAREER OF ALBUQUERQUE . . . . . . . . . . . 41-63
THE RULE OF ALBUQUERQUE:--
III. THE CONQUEST OF GOA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64-92
IV. THE CONQUEST OF MALACCA AND RELIEF OF GOA . . . . . . 93-117
V. THE EXPEDITION TO THE RED SEA AND CONQUEST OF ORMUZ . 118-144
VI. HIS INTERNAL POLICY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145-169
THE SUCCESSORS OF ALBUQUERQUE:--
VII. NUNO DA CUNHA AND DOM JOAO DE CASTRO . . . . . . . . 170-188
VIII. DOM CONSTANTINO DE BRAGANZA AND DOM LUIS DE ATHAIDE . 189-207
INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209-222
* * * * * *
_NOTE_
The orthography of proper names follows the system adopted by the
Indian Government for the _Imperial Gazetteer of India_. That system,
while adhering to the popular spelling of very well-known places,
such as Punjab, Poona, Deccan, &c., employs in all other cases the
vowels with the following uniform sounds:--
_a_, as in wom_a_n: _a-accent_, as in l_a_nd: _i_, as in pol_i_ce:
_i-accent_, as in intr_i_gue: _o_, as in c_o_ld: _u_, as in b_u_ll:
_u-accent_, as in r_u_le.
{15}
ALBUQUERQUE
CHAPTER I
THE PREDECESSORS OF ALBUQUERQUE
The period of the growth and domination of the Portuguese power in
India is marked by many deeds of bloodshed and by many feats of
heroism; it is illustrated by many great names, among which the
greatest without doubt is that of Affonso de Albuquerque. But the
general and administrator, to whom his countrymen have given the
well-deserved title of _The Great_, was only one of many famous
heroes, and it is impossible to understand the greatness of his
conceptions and of his deeds without having some idea of the general
history of the Portuguese in India.
The importance to Europe of the successful establishment of the
Portuguese in the East was manifested in two widely different
directions. On the one hand, it checked the rapid advance of {16}
Muhammadanism as represented by the Turks. In the sixteenth century
the advance of the Turks was still a terror to Europe; Popes still
found it necessary to preach the necessity of a new Crusade; the
kings of Christendom occasionally forgot their own feuds to unite
against the common enemy of the Christian religion; and the Turks
were then a progressive and a conquering and not, as they are now, a
decaying power. It was at this epoch of advancing Muhammadanism that
the Portuguese struck a great blow at Moslem influence in Asia which
tended to check its progress in Europe.
Of equal importance to this great service to the cause of humanity
was the fact that the Portuguese by establishing themselves in Asia
introduced Western ideas into the Eastern world, and paved the way
for that close connection which now subsists between the nations of
the East and of the West. That connection was in its origin
commercial, but other results have followed, and the influence of
Asia upon Europe and of Europe upon Asia has extended indefinitely
into all departments of human knowledge and of human endeavour.
A wide contrast must be drawn between the Portuguese connection with
Asia and between the English and Spanish connection with America. In
the latter case the exploring and conquering Europeans had to deal
with savage tribes, and in many instances with an uncultivated
country; in the former the Portuguese found themselves confronted
with a {17} civilisation older than that of Europe, with men more
highly educated and more deeply learned than their own priests and
men of letters, and with religions and customs and institutions whose
wisdom equalled their antiquity.
The India which was reached by Vasco da Gama, and with which the
Portuguese monopolised the direct communication for more than a
century, was very different to the India with which the Dutch and
English merchants sought concessions to trade. The power of the
Muhammadans in India was not yet concentrated in the hands of the
great Mughals; there were Moslem kingdoms in the North of India and
in the Deccan, but the South had not yet felt the heavy hand of
Musalman conquerors, and the Hindu Raja of Vijayanagar or Narsingha
was the most powerful potentate in the South of India. The monarchs
and chieftains whom the Portuguese first encountered were Hindus.
Muhammadan merchants indeed controlled the commerce of their
dominions, but they had no share in the government; and one of the
ruling and military classes consisted, on the Malabar coast, where
the Portuguese first touched, of Nestorian Christians.
The concentration of all commerce in the hands of the believers in
the Prophet was not favourably regarded by the wisest of the Hindu
rulers, who were therefore inclined to heartily welcome any
competitors for their trade. The condition of the Malabar coast at
the time of the arrival of the Portuguese was {18} particularly
favourable to the Portuguese endeavours, and, had they been inspired
with nineteenth-century instead of with sixteenth-century ideas of
religion and morality, a prosperous and peaceful commerce might
easily have sprung up between the East and the West.
But if the India which Vasco da Gama reached was favourably inclined
to open relations with the nation to which he belonged, Portugal was
also at that time singularly well fitted by circumstances to send
forth men of daring and enterprise to undertake the task. The
Portuguese nation had grown strong and warlike from its constant
conflict with the Moors in the Peninsula, and the country attained
its European limits in 1263. Since that time it had become both rich
and populous, and a succession of internal troubles had led to the
establishment of a famous dynasty upon the throne of Portugal.
King John I, the founder of the house of Aviz, and surnamed _The
Great_, had won his throne by preserving the independence of the
Portuguese nation against the power of Castile, with the help of the
English, and rested his foreign policy upon a close friendship with
the English nation. He married an English princess, a daughter of
John of Gaunt, and by her became the father of five sons, whose
valour and talents were famous throughout Europe. There being no more
Moors to fight in the Peninsula, the Portuguese, led by their gallant
princes, went to fight Moors in Morocco. The duty of fighting Moors
had {18} from their history sunk deep into the hearts of the
Portuguese people. Their history had been one long struggle with
Muhammadans, and the Christian religion had therefore taken with them
a fiercer and more warlike complexion than in any other country. This
feeling was fostered by King Affonso V, the grandson of John the
Great, who ruled in Portugal from 1438 to 1481, and who, from his
many expeditions to Morocco, obtained the surname of _The African_.
His perpetual wars both with the Spaniards and the Moors continued to
keep the Portuguese a nation of soldiers; and when the conquest of
the East demanded the services of daring men, there was never any
lack of soldiers to go upon the most distant expeditions. It was
fortunate for the great enterprises of Vasco da Gama and of Affonso
de Albuquerque that they had no difficulty in obtaining plenty of
brave and experienced warriors; but it is to be deplored that these
soldiers were possessed by a spirit of fanaticism against the
religion of Islam which stained their victories with cruel deeds.
Such fanaticism is indeed deplorable, but considering the past
history of the Portuguese nation and the century in which they
performed their great feats of arms it was not unnatural.
Commerce with the East sprang up in Europe with civilisation. As soon
as any nation became rich it began to desire luxuries which could not
be procured at home. The Romans in the days of their greatness knew
of the products of Asia, and attained them at a {20} great price.
Throughout the Middle Ages the commodities of Asia were known and
valued, and as civilisation progressed and Europe emerged from
barbarism the demand for pepper and ginger, for spices and silks and
brocades increased.
The original trade routes for the products of India were overland.
The goods were borne in caravans from the North-West frontier of
India across Persia to Aleppo and thence by ship to Italy and to
whatever other country was rich enough to purchase them. But after
the growth of Muhammadanism and of the power of the Turks, the
caravan routes across Central Asia became unsafe. Two new routes then
came into use, the one by the Persian Gulf, and the other by the Red
Sea. Goods which went by the Persian Gulf were carried overland to
Aleppo and other ports in the Levant; goods that went by the Red Sea
were carried across Egypt from Suez to Alexandria. From these two
entrepots of Eastern and especially of Indian trade the articles of
commerce were fetched by Venetian ships, and from Venice were
distributed throughout Europe.
In the days of the Renaissance the products of the East passed
through the hands of Muhammadan merchants from India to the
Mediterranean, and the large profits they made were commensurate with
the risks they undertook. With the rapid growth of civilisation the
value of this trade became enormous: every city through which it
passed was enriched; Venice became the wealthiest State in Europe;
and the cost {21} of all Indian luxuries and spices was extravagantly
high.
All wise kings envied the prosperity of Venice, and schemed to secure
a share of the Eastern trade for their subjects. Mention has been
made of the five illustrious princes, the sons of John the Great and
Eleanor of Lancaster. One of them is known in history as Prince Henry
the Navigator. This prince devoted his life to the discovery of a
direct sea route from Portugal to India. He established himself on
the promontory of Sines, and collected around him the most learned
geographers and mathematicians of the age. With them he discussed the
probability of its being possible to sail round the continent of
Africa and thus reach India. Year after year he sent forth
expeditions to explore the African coast. Many and important
discoveries were made by his navigators, and a generation of skilful
pilots and adventurous sailors was formed by his wise encouragement.
Among the earliest discoveries by the sailors of Prince Henry were
the islands of Madeira and the Azores, and at the time of his death,
in 1460, the Portuguese navigators had learned the way past the River
Senegal. What Prince Henry the Navigator began was continued by the
enterprise of the Portuguese merchants. These men were not actuated
by the high aims of Prince Henry; they were rather inclined to mock
at his belief in the existence of a direct sea route to India. But
with his discoveries along the African coast began the slave trade.
It was found {22} to be excessively profitable to import negroes from
the Guinea coast, and the Portuguese captains and pilots soon
mastered the difficulties of the navigation of the North-West
shoulder of Africa from the frequent voyages which they made in
search of slaves.
In 1481 King John II succeeded his father Affonso V upon the throne
of Portugal. He was one of the wisest monarchs of his age, and was
surnamed by his people John 'the Perfect.' By his internal policy he,
like his contemporaries Louis XI of France and Henry VII of England,
broke the power of his nobility. His people aided him, for they were
wearied of the pressure of feudalism, and he concentrated the whole
power of the realm in his own hands. He took up the projects which
had been left untouched since the death of his great-uncle, Prince
Henry the Navigator. The dream of his life was to find the direct sea
route to India. To achieve this end he collected at his Court all the
learned men he could attract; he improved the methods of
shipbuilding, and began to build full-decked ships of 100 tons; he
did much to perfect the knowledge of navigation; and exploration
became his favourite hobby.
John II dismissed Columbus as a visionary, and thus left it to Spain
to acquire the fame and the profit of discovering the new world of
America. But he was diligent in making enquiries, with regard to the
East. He sent two of his equerries, Joao Peres de Covilhao and
Affonso de Paiva, overland to India, and the former of these two
travellers accompanied the {23} caravans to the East and visited the
Malabar coast. He was refused a passage from Calicut to Africa by the
jealous Muhammadan merchants, but he managed to find his way through
Arabia to Abyssinia, where he died. More important than these
overland expeditions were those which John II sent on the tracks of
Prince Henry's sailors along the African coast. One of his captains,
Diogo Cao or Cam, discovered the Congo in 1484, and in 1486
Bartholomeu Dias and Joao Infante for the first time doubled the Cape
of Good Hope and reached Algoa Bay. John II, like Prince Henry, was
fated not to see the fulfilment of his dearest hopes; but he it was
who designed the expedition which, under the command of Vasco da
Gama, reached India, and who trained the great captains and governors
who were to make illustrious with their valour the name of the
Portuguese in Asiatic seas.
It was in the month of July, 1497, that a fleet of three ships was
placed under the command of Vasco da Gama to follow the route taken
by Bartholomeu Dias and find the way to India. Vasco da Gama was the
third son of Estevao da Gama, who is said to have been the captain
nominated by John II for the command of the expedition. Other
accounts give to King Emmanuel, the successor of John II, the credit
of choosing the successful admiral. Whoever selected him made a wise
choice, for Vasco da Gama showed himself during his eventful voyage
possessed of the highest qualities of constancy and daring. The two
ships which sailed under his command, in addition to {24} his own,
were placed under his elder brother Paulo da Gama and his intimate
friend Nicolas Coelho, who proved themselves worthy of their chief.
The fleet, of which the crews did not number more than 160 men, nor
the tonnage of any ship more than 120 tons, experienced terrific
storms in doubling the Cape of Good Hope, but eventually Vasco da
Gama struck the South-East coast of Africa. He met with opposition
from the rulers of Mozambique and Quiloa (Kilwa), where he first
touched, and it was only with the greatest difficulty that he
suppressed an incipient mutiny among his sailors.
In April, 1498, he reached Melinda, a port situated 200 miles to the
north of Zanzibar, where he was kindly received by the ruling chief.
The passage across the Indian Ocean was well known to the navigators
of the South-East coast of Africa, for there was a considerable
amount of trade conducted between the two localities which was almost
entirely controlled by Muhammadans. At Melinda, Vasco da Gama was
able to obtain experienced pilots, and after a stay there of one
month according to most authorities, and of three months according to
Correa, Vasco da Gama pursued his way to India.
The Portuguese ships arrived off Calicut in June or August, 1498. The
powerful Hindu ruler on the Malabar coast, who was known as the
Zamorin,[1] had {25} his capital in that city. His body-guard and
most of his aristocracy consisted of Nairs and Nestorian Christians,
but all commerce was in the hands of the Muhammadan merchants. These
Muhammadans were Moplas, or descendants of Arab traders who had long
settled upon the Malabar coast. They quickly perceived that if Vasco
da Gama could make his way direct from Portugal to India other
Portuguese ships could do the same, and that then their lucrative
monopoly of the Indian trade with Europe by way of the Red Sea or the
Persian Gulf, would be at an end. They therefore intrigued with the
Hindu ministers of the Zamorin to repulse the endeavours of Vasco da
Gama to procure a cargo of Indian commodities for his ships, and it
was only after much difficulty and some danger that he was able to
take on board an inadequate amount of merchandise. On leaving Calicut
the Portuguese Admiral visited Cannanore, and he eventually reached
Melinda on his way home in January, 1499. He had a long and difficult
passage back to Europe; in the island of Terceira his beloved brother
Paulo da Gama died, and when he got safely to Lisbon at the end of
August, 1499, he had with him but fifty-five of the companions who
had started with him on his adventurous voyage.
[Footnote 1: The title Zamorin is a version of the Malay[a-macron]lim
word _T[a-macron]m[a-macron]tiri_ or _T[a-macron]m[u-macron]ri_,
which is a modification of the Sanskrit _S[a-macron]mundri_ 'the Sea
King.']
King Emmanuel of Portugal, and his people, received Vasco da Gama
with the utmost enthusiasm. The dreams of Prince Henry the Navigator
and of King John II were fulfilled. King Emmanuel took the title of
'Lord of the Conquest, Navigation and {26} Commerce of Ethiopia,
Arabia, Persia and India,' which was confirmed to him by a Bull of
Pope Alexander VI in 1502, and he commenced the erection of the
superb church at Belem as a token of his gratitude to Heaven. On
Vasco da Gama the King conferred well deserved honours. He was
granted the use of the prefix of _Dom_ or Lord, then but rarely
conferred; he was permitted to quarter the Royal Arms with his own;
he was given the office of Admiral of the Indian Seas; and in the
following reign, when the importance of his voyage became more
manifest, he was created Count of Vidigueira.
King Emmanuel determined to take immediate advantage of the trade
route opened to him by Dom Vasco da Gama's voyage. On March 9, 1500,
a fine fleet of thirteen ships was despatched under the command of
Pedro Alvares Cabral, well laden with merchandise, to trade with
India. On his way out this Portuguese fleet was driven far to the
westward, and to Cabral belongs the honour of discovering Brazil,
which was eventually to become far more valuable to Portugal than the
Indian trade. On leaving Brazil, Cabral followed the course taken by
Dom Vasco da Gama, and with the help of pilots from Melinda anchored
safely in the port of Calicut. At that place he established a factory
or agency for the sale of the merchandise he had brought with him and
for the purchase of Indian commodities, and then sailed for Cochin.
But the Mopla merchants were still the declared {27} enemies of the
Portuguese. They raised a riot in the city of Calicut, and Ayres
Correa, the Portuguese agent, was killed with several of his
associates. It is worthy of remark that this murderous attack was
entirely the work of the Arab Moplas. The Hindu Zamorin showed no
disinclination to trade with the Europeans; the Malabar Muhammadans,
that is the natives who had been converted to Islam, did not share in
the outrage, and one of their principal merchants even interfered to
save the lives of Correa's children and of some of the Portuguese
clerks.
Cabral then loaded his ships at Cannanore and Cochin, where Hindu
Rajas, inferior in power to the Zamorin, but not so much subject to
Mopla influence, ruled, and after burning some of the Indian ships in
the harbour of Calicut he returned to Lisbon in July, 1501. Cabral
had not been so fortunate as Vasco da Gama, for he only brought back
five out of the thirteen ships which he had taken with him. But, on
the other hand, he did what Vasco da Gama had feared to do, and in
spite of the fate of Ayres Correa and his associates, Cabral left a
Portuguese factor with a considerable staff at Cochin to purchase
goods for despatch to Portugal by the next fleet which should arrive.
On the return of Cabral from India, King Emmanuel resolved to send
once more to the East the famous captain who had discovered the
direct sea route to India. It was obvious to the king that large
profits were to be made by the Eastern trade, but at this early
period he had formed no distinct idea as to the policy {28} he would
pursue. On one point only he was resolved. It was quite certain that
Portuguese agents would have to be left at the places of export if a
prosperous trade was to be developed, and it was therefore necessary
to give a severe lesson to the Zamorin of Calicut for the murder of
the Portuguese factor at his capital. Adequate protection to
Portuguese agents could only be given by maintaining a strong force
in the Indian Seas. Vasco da Gama was therefore ordered to punish the
Zamorin and to leave a squadron of ships for the defence of the
Portuguese factors.
The establishment of commerce was at this time the chief aim of the
Portuguese in the East, as it was in the succeeding century the chief
aim of the Dutch and the English. But in the same way that the Dutch
and English East India Companies were compelled to become military
powers in order to defend their local agents, so King Emmanuel of
Portugal was obliged to provide for the military defence of the first
Portuguese factors. It was the fierce enmity of the Muhammadan
merchants which caused the early European traders to take the
attitude of invaders. The original Portuguese visitors had no more
idea of establishing a Portuguese power in the East than the original
English adventurers of the reign of Elizabeth foresaw that their
successors would become the rulers of India. The position of a
military and ruling power was forced on the Portuguese as it was
afterwards on the Dutch and the English.
In February, 1502, Dom Vasco da Gama, Admiral {29} of the Indian
Seas, set sail from Lisbon with twenty ships, of which five were
lateen-rigged caravels or lightly built warships which he was
directed to leave behind him in the East. The Admiral followed his
previous course, and after renewing his friendship with the Chief of
Melinda he reached the Indian coast in safety. He found that the
Portuguese factor at Cochin and his clerks had laid in a good store
of Indian commodities, and that they had been kindly treated by the
Raja of that city in spite of the threats of the Moplas of Calicut.
He then proceeded to repeat the lesson which Cabral had given to the
Zamorin, and after destroying, under circumstances of atrocious
cruelty, the crew of a large ship belonging to a wealthy and
important Muhammadan owner, he bombarded the city of Calicut.
The Rani of Quilon, an important pepper port, sent a message
requesting that the Portuguese would come to her port also to obtain
goods. But Dom Vasco da Gama feared to offend the Raja of Cochin by
trading elsewhere, and it was only after receiving the express
consent of the latter monarch that he took two shiploads of pepper
from Quilon. Having taken on board a lucrative cargo Dom Vasco da
Gama returned once more to Portugal, leaving behind him the squadron
designed for that purpose under the command of one of his relations,
Vicente Sodre.
The Admiral also made a treaty with the Raja of Cannanore, a ruler
nearly as powerful as the Raja of Cochin, which provided that the
former should {30} never make war on the Raja of Cochin, and should
refuse to assist the Zamorin in case that powerful ruler undertook
such an attack, and he also established a factory at Cannanore.
Vicente Sodre cruised for some time on the Malabar coast, as he had
been directed to do, and then sailed for the coast of Arabia in order
to intercept the ships of Muhammadan merchants trading between India
and Egypt. He had, however, but small success; for in the summer of
1503 his squadron was wrecked on the Abd-el-Khuri rocks off Socotra,
three of his ships were lost, and Sodre himself was drowned.
In 1503 three separate squadrons were despatched to the East from
Portugal under the command respectively of Affonso de Albuquerque,
the future Governor, Francisco de Albuquerque, his cousin, and
Antonio de Saldanha, the last of whom was ordered to explore the
African coast and gave his name to Saldanha Bay. Francisco de
Albuquerque, who arrived first in India, was only just in time to
succour the Raja of Cochin. The Zamorin of Calicut, as Vasco da Gama
had foreseen, had attacked the Raja of Cochin in force, at the
instigation of the Moplas, as soon as Sodre's squadron had left the
Malabar coast. The situation of the Cochin Raja was one of peril. He
had been driven from his capital and was being besieged in the island
of Vypin, and he welcomed the arrival of the ships of Francisco de
Albuquerque with cries of joy.
The Portuguese met with little difficulty in {31} defeating the army
of the Zamorin and in restoring their ally, the Raja of Cochin, to
his dominions. But the extremity of the danger had been such that the
two Albuquerques built a strong fort of wood and mud, mounted with
artillery, at Cochin; and when they departed they left behind them
not only a squadron of war-ships, as Vasco da Gama had done in the
previous year, but also a garrison of trained soldiers for the new
fort, both under the command of Duarte Pacheco. The two cousins
Albuquerque had more than one difference of opinion, and Affonso,
after sailing to Quilon, where he made a treaty with the Rani and
established a factory, returned to Portugal with his squadron,
without waiting for Francisco.
No more valiant warrior illustrated the glory of the Portuguese name
than Pacheco. The Zamorin of Calicut, as soon as the Albuquerques had
left the coast, advanced against Cochin with a more powerful army
than he had set on foot in the previous year. Pacheco had only 150
Portuguese soldiers, but nevertheless he inspired perfect confidence
into the mind of his ally, the Cochin Raja. That king, at the request
of the Portuguese commander, abandoned his first idea of deserting
his capital, and placed all his resources at the disposition of
Pacheco, who repulsed every assault which the Zamorin made upon
Cochin, and defeated his troops in four pitched battles beneath the
walls of the city. The valour of the Portuguese greatly impressed the
Zamorin, who witnessed the last of these battles, and the Hindu ruler
soon repented his {32} compliance with the demands of the Mopla
merchants.
After defeating the Calicut troops on land Pacheco took the personal
command of his squadron at sea, and defeated the Calicut fleet of
fifty-two ships. The news of these battles spread abroad through
India. Many Rajas in the interior sent envoys to the Portuguese
commander, and the Zamorin himself earnestly sued for peace. The
prestige of the Portuguese was assured by Pacheco's victories, and
from this time forth for nearly a century the inhabitants of Southern
India recognised that the Portuguese were stronger than themselves,
and were eager to trade with them or to make alliances.
Pacheco increased his reputation by a daring march to Quilon, where
he rescued the Portuguese factor from much danger; for at Quilon, as
at all the ports along the coast, the Moplas showed an unrelenting
hatred to the European agents. When Lopo Soares de Albergaria, son of
the Chancellor of Portugal, who commanded the squadron sent from
Portugal in 1504, reached the Malabar coast he found the Indian ports
ringing with news of Pacheco's victories. He once more bombarded
Calicut, and then returned to Portugal, bringing with him a rich
cargo and also the gallant Portuguese commander. It is a lasting
disgrace to King Emmanuel that he neglected to reward the hero of
Cochin according to his merits. He gave his faithful servant a
distinguished reception, and had sermons preached in his honour in
every church of Portugal, {33} but eventually, like Camoens and other
famous Portuguese warriors, Pacheco was left to die in poverty and
misery.
It was after the return of Pacheco, and probably owing to that brave
man's advice, that King Emmanuel in 1505 inaugurated a new departure
in the relations between Portugal and the East. Pacheco's victories
made it evident that it was not only possible for Portuguese
garrisons and local squadrons to defend the Portuguese factors, but
that they could defeat and conquer powerful native monarchs. A
conception of the ease by which a Portuguese empire could be
established in the East was now grasped by King Emmanuel. His ideas
were still mainly commercial, but he began to perceive also that the
safe maintenance of trade and commerce would necessarily involve a
regular war to the death with the Muhammadan powers who had reaped
the greatest profit from the trade of the East with Europe. Hitherto
the Portuguese in India had striven with the Muhammadan Moplas
settled on the Malabar coast; but it now became apparent that the
Muhammadans of Egypt, Persia, and Arabia would come to the help of
their co-religionists. Emmanuel decided therefore to maintain a more
powerful army and navy in Asia than he had yet despatched to the
Eastern seas, and to replace annual expeditions by a local
establishment.
Such a force had to be commanded by an experienced general, who
should also be a man of rank, in order to exercise undisputed sway
over the whole {34} resources of Portugal in the East. For this
important office the king first selected Tristao da Cunha, a daring
and skilful commander and navigator. But Tristao da Cunha was struck
with temporary blindness, and King Emmanuel then chose Dom Francisco
de Almeida, a member of one of the most illustrious families of
Portugal. Almeida when he sailed received only the title of Chief
Captain, but on his arrival at Cannanore on September 12, 1505, he
took the high-sounding title of Viceroy of Cochin, Cannanore, and
Quilon.
The great Portuguese nobleman looked upon the situation of affairs in
a different light to his predecessors. He was not satisfied with the
idea of protecting the Portuguese trade which had been established,
but considered it his duty to destroy the Muhammadan traders and to
secure for his countrymen the entire command of the Eastern seas.
Since it was necessary for the Portuguese fleets to have some safe
ports at which they could refit before and after crossing the Indian
Ocean, he built a strong fortress at Quiloa (Kilwa), about 200 miles
south of Zanzibar, and made the Chief of Mombassa between Zanzibar
and Melinda tributary. He also organised, for the first time, a
regular Portuguese Indian pilot service, for he felt it to be a
weakness to the Portuguese to be dependent on native pilots like the
men who had shown Vasco da Gama the way across the Indian Ocean.
Having firmly established the Portuguese power on {35} the African
coast, Dom Francisco de Almeida continued on his way to India. His
fleet consisted of fourteen ships and six caravels, and carried 1500
soldiers. On reaching the Malabar coast he first punished the Rajas
of Honawar and Cannanore, and then established his seat of government
at Cochin. The Viceroy next sent his son Dom Lourenco de Almeida, who
had been appointed Chief Captain of the Indian Sea, to attack Quilon.
The Moplas in that city, in spite of the lesson taught to them by
Pacheco, had not ceased their intrigues against the Portuguese; and
soon after Almeida's arrival they rose in insurrection and killed
Antonio de Sa, the factor, and twelve other Portuguese subjects. Dom
Lourenco, who was but eighteen years of age, and who soon made for
himself a reputation for daring and valour unequalled in the East,
bombarded and practically destroyed the city of Quilon. The young
captain then visited the island of Ceylon, which had not yet been
explored by the Europeans. The native prince on whose coasts he
landed received Lourenco with great pomp, recognised the suzerainty
of the King of Portugal and promised to provide the Portuguese ships
with cargoes of cinnamon. From Ceylon also Dom Lourenco brought the
first elephant ever sent to Portugal.
After his return to Cochin the Viceroy despatched his gallant son to
meet a fresh fleet which had been prepared by the Zamorin of Calicut.
On March 18, 1506, with but eleven ships of war under {36} his
command, Lourenco de Almeida attacked the Zamorin's fleet of
eighty-four ships and a hundred and twenty prahs or galleys. The
sea-fight which followed was chiefly an artillery combat; most of the
Zamorin's ships were sunk, and it is said that 3000 Muhammadans
perished and not more than six or eight Portuguese. The young captain
sailed northward with his victorious fleet, but was repulsed in an
attack on Dabhol, an important port belonging to the Muhammadan King
of Bijapur. In the following year Dom Lourenco de Almeida continued
his series of victories, and on November 23, 1507, with the
assistance of Tristao da Cunha, who had just arrived in India, he
sacked the port of Ponani, then, as it still is, a religious centre
of the Mopla community.
Meanwhile the danger which King Emmanuel had foreseen was coming to
pass. The Mameluke Sultan of Egypt perceived that his income from the
passage of the Indian trade through Cairo was seriously diminishing,
and he resolved to make a great effort to expel the daring European
intruders from the Eastern seas. He therefore prepared a large fleet,
which was placed under the command of the Emir Husain, an admiral of
high reputation, whom the Portuguese chroniclers call Mir Hocem. This
was the first regular war fleet which the Portuguese had yet met. The
fleets of the Zamorin, which Pacheco and Dom Lourenco de Almeida had
defeated, consisted only of merchant ships roughly adapted for war by
the Mopla traders of Calicut. The fleet of {37} the Emir Husain, on
the other hand, was a regular war fleet; it was largely manned by
sailors who had experience in fighting with Christian fleets in the
Mediterranean, and who understood the use of artillery quite as well
as the Portuguese.
The Egyptian admiral in 1508 sailed from the Red Sea for the coast of
Gujarat, where the Muhammadan King of Ahmadabad and the Muhammadan
Nawab of Diu, Malik Ayaz, had promised to receive and assist him. Dom
Lourenco de Almeida was unable to prevent the junction of the
Egyptian and the Diu fleets, and on their approach to his station in
the port of Chaul he boldly sailed out and attacked them. His numbers
were totally inadequate, but he had received express orders from his
father to endeavour to prevent the allies from coming south to
Calicut to join the Zamorin. For two days the Portuguese maintained a
running fight, but Dom Lourenco de Almeida soon found that he had to
deal with more experienced and warlike foes than the merchant
captains he had so often defeated. His ship was surrounded on every
side; his leg was broken by a cannon-ball at the commencement of the
action; nevertheless he had himself placed upon a chair at the foot
of the mainmast and gave his orders as coolly as ever. Shortly
afterwards a second cannon-ball struck him in the breast, and the
young hero, who was not yet twenty-one, expired, in the words of
Camoens, without knowing what the word surrender meant. Malik Ayaz
treated the Portuguese prisoners whom he took kindly. He {38} wrote
to the Viceroy regretting that he was unable to find Dom Lourenco's
body to give it honourable burial, and congratulated the father on
the glory the son had acquired in his last combat.
At this juncture Affonso de Albuquerque, who had been sent from
Lisbon with a commission to succeed Dom Francisco de Almeida, at the
close of the latter's three years tenure of office, made his claims
known. The Viceroy, however, refused to surrender his office or to
abandon the government until he had avenged his son's death.
Albuquerque told the Viceroy that it was his privilege to fight the
Egyptian fleet, but he felt for the father's feelings and allowed
Francisco de Almeida to sail northwards without further pressing his
rights. The Viceroy first relieved the fortress of Cannanore, which
was being besieged by the Moplas and gallantly defended by Lourenco
de Brito, and he then attacked Dabhol with a fleet of nineteen ships.
He stormed Dabhol and wreaked a horrible vengeance, which passed into
a proverb, on the inhabitants in December, 1508. On February 2, 1509,
Dom Francisco de Almeida came up with the united fleet of the
Muhammadans under Emir Husain and Malik Ayaz off Diu, and after a
battle which lasted the whole day a great victory was won, in which
the Muhammadans are said to have lost 3000 men and the Portuguese
only twenty-two.
After the victory the powerful Muhammadan King of Ahmadabad or
Gujarat, Mahmud Shah Begara, disavowed the conduct of Malik Ayaz, his
tributary, {39} and made peace with the Portuguese. He refused to
surrender the Emir, but he gave up the Portuguese prisoners who had
been taken in the previous engagement as well as the remains of the
Egyptian fleet. On his return to Cochin, Dom Francisco de Almeida
again refused to hand over the government to Albuquerque, and
imprisoned his destined successor in the fortress of Cannanore.
However, on the arrival of Dom Fernao de Coutinho, Marshal of
Portugal, the Viceroy was forced to abandon this attitude, and he
left Cochin on November 10, 1509. On his way home he was obliged to
put in to refit at Saldanha Bay, where his sailors had a dispute with
some Kaffirs whose sheep they had stolen. Dom Francisco de Almeida
went to their help, but he was struck down and killed with an
assegai. Thus died the first Viceroy of Portuguese India on March 1,
1510, and it is a strange irony of fate that the famous conqueror of
the Muhammadan fleet, who by his victory assured the power of the
Portuguese in the East, should die by the hands of ignorant African
savages.
The policy of the first Viceroy of India was not so grandiose as that
of his successor. He did not believe in building many forts or
attempting to establish direct government in the East. He argued that
Portugal had not sufficient inhabitants to occupy many posts, and his
view was that the Portuguese fleets should hold the sea and thus
protect the factories on land. Any idea of establishing a Portuguese
{40} dominion in Asia seemed visionary to the first Portuguese
Viceroy, and in this respect his policy differed entirely from that
of his successor, Affonso de Albuquerque.
A letter from Francisco de Almeida to Emmanuel is published by Senhor
Lopes de Mendonca in the _Annaes das Sciencias e Letteras_ for April,
1858, and reveals the Viceroy's policy. In it he says:--
'With respect to the fortress in Quilon, the greater the number of
fortresses you hold, the weaker will be your power; let all our
forces be on the sea; because if we should not be powerful at sea
(which may the Lord forbid) everything will at once be against us;
and if the King of Cochin should desire to be disloyal, he would be
at once destroyed, because our past wars were waged with animals;
now we have wars with the Venetians and the Turks of the Sultan.
And as regards the King of Cochin, I have already written to your
Highness that it would be well to have a strong castle in
Cranganore on a passage of the river which goes to Calicut, because
it would hinder the transport by that way of a single peck of
pepper. With the force we have at sea we will discover what these
new enemies may be, for I trust in the mercy of God that He will
remember us, since all the rest is of little importance. Let it be
known for certain that as long as you may be powerful at sea, you
will hold India as yours; and if you do not possess this power,
little will avail you a fortress on shore; and as to expelling the
Moors (Muhammadans) from the country, I have found the right way to
do it, but it is a long story, and it will be done when the Lord
pleases and will thus be served.'
{41}