THE SUCCESSORS OF ALBUQUERQUE
_Nuno da Cunha and Dom Joao de Castro_
It is not intended in this volume to give a complete history of the
Portuguese in India. But it is both interesting and instructive to
examine the policy of the successors of Albuquerque, and to note the
growth of the causes which led to the destruction of the empire that
he founded. The following chapters are intended to give a short
sketch of the leading features of the history of the Portuguese in
India, up to the time when Portugal lost its independence and was
united with Spain. Special attention will be given to the points in
which Albuquerque's successors fulfilled or diverged from his ideas
of conquest and government.
Albuquerque's immediate successor, who had been sent out to supersede
him, was Lopo Soares de Albergaria, a powerful nobleman and son of
the Chancellor of Portugal. He came out to India with the express
intention of striking out a line for himself, and his favourite
counsellors were the declared opponents of his predecessor.
Nevertheless he dared not abandon {171} Goa, much as that measure was
urged upon him, in the face of the marked approval that the King had
expressed on the receipt of the important despatch by Albuquerque,
which has been printed in full. The new Governor knew that the only
way in which he could obtain the favour of Emmanuel was by carrying
out the policy of closing the Red Sea. It has been said that the King
of Portugal had eventually decided to leave this task in
Albuquerque's hands, and that these instructions only reached India
after the death of the great captain.
Lopo Soares attempted to fulfil the designs of Albuquerque, and in
1517 sailed with a fleet of over forty ships carrying 3000 soldiers
to the Red Sea. This armament, which far exceeded any that
Albuquerque had ever commanded, could easily have accomplished the
favourite scheme of King Emmanuel. The politics of the Red Sea were
become very complicated since Albuquerque's voyage thither. The Emir
Husain on leaving India had betaken himself to Jeddah, where he was
endeavouring to construct a fresh fleet. But the Sultan of Egypt
suspected the Emir's intentions, and ordered an officer named Rais
Sulaiman to establish his authority in the Red Sea. Sulaiman equipped
a fleet at Suez, and in 1516 attempted to take Aden. The Arab ruler
of that port resisted the Egyptians as sturdily as he had done the
Portuguese, and the Egyptian admiral was forced to retreat. The
rivalry between Sulaiman and Husain weakened the position of the
{172} Muhammadans in the Red Sea. When, therefore, Lopo Soares with
his great armament approached Aden, the Arab ruler, feeling it
impossible to resist, owing to the breaches in the fortifications
made by the Egyptians, offered to surrender his city to the
Portuguese commander. It seems hardly conceivable that Albuquerque's
successor rejected the offer, but so it was. Lopo Soares thought he
would be doing better service by keeping his forces together and
sailing to the attack of one or both of the Muhammadan admirals. But
the fates fought against him. Storms scattered his fleet; famine and
disease decimated his men; and the captains, now that the strong hand
of Albuquerque was removed, were utterly insubordinate.
When the Portuguese Governor got back to Aden he found that the
defences had been repaired, and that the Arabs were not inclined to
repeat their former offer. With his diminished and dispirited force
he dared not attack, and he sailed away to India. On his arrival Lopo
Soares found that a high civil official had been sent out from
Portugal to take charge of judicial and administrative duties, who
was to hold a position independent to the governor. Lopo Soares
declined to recognise the new authority, and its first tenant was
sent back to Portugal. Though Albuquerque's immediate successor had
failed in the Red Sea, he took one important step for the furtherance
of Portuguese commerce and dominion. He sailed to the island of
Ceylon in 1518 and constructed a fortress in the neighbourhood of
Colombo. This was the first {173} step towards the conquest of
Ceylon, which was afterwards to be one of the most wealthy and
important possessions of the Portuguese in the East.
Diogo Lopes de Sequeira, the discoverer of Malacca, who succeeded
Lopo Soares in 1518, and Dom Duarte de Menezes, who held office from
1521 to 1524, did not leave much mark on the history of the
Portuguese in the East. The most important event which occurred
during their rule in India was the death of King Emmanuel in 1521.
The sagacity of this monarch had done much to develop the Asiatic
empire of Portugal. He had chosen his men wisely, and had perceived
quickly the most important obstacles in the way; he had not spared
money, ships or forces to develop his new dominions; and he had had
the wisdom, for some years at any rate, to leave Albuquerque
untrammelled, though he had made the mistake of superseding him at
the last. Yet Emmanuel does not deserve very great credit. It was his
predecessor, John II, who had directed the explorations which led to
such great results, and who had trained the statesmen and captains
who achieved those results. Emmanuel showed by his internal policy in
Portugal that he was not a great king; his one dream was to secure
the thrones of Spain; for this reason he had married in succession
two of the daughters of Ferdinand and Isabella; and for this purpose
he had consented, at their request, to expel the Jews, to whose
commercial enterprise Portugal owed much, from his dominions.
Personally he was an ungrateful and {174} a suspicious ruler. He
never employed Vasco da Gama after his second voyage in 1502, and he
kept the profits of the commerce which had been opened for Portugal
strictly to himself.
John III, Emmanuel's successor, was a more estimable man than
Emmanuel; he knew how to recognise and reward ability and valour. But
he had one defect which proved fatal to the Portuguese power in Asia:
he was a fanatical bigot. He looked upon the Portuguese connection
with the East not only as a lucrative monopoly to increase the wealth
of the Crown, but as an opportunity for spreading Christianity among
the heathen. He sent out missionaries as his father had sent
soldiers; he established the Holy Inquisition in Portugal which
sapped the intellect and vigour of the Portuguese nation; and it was
directly due to his example that the fatal policy of religious
persecution was introduced into India as a branch of Christianity.
The first selection which John III made for the government of the
Portuguese in Asia was an act of reparation. On his accession to the
throne he created Dom Vasco da Gama Count of Vidigueira, and in 1523
he appointed the discoverer of the direct sea route to India to the
office of Viceroy, which had not been held since the days of Dom
Francisco de Almeida. This title carried with it more extensive
powers than were exercised by Albuquerque and his next successors.
Such powers were sorely needed. Complaints came yearly from India of
the oppression {175} and the peculation of the Portuguese officials
in the East. They made use of their positions to pile up fortunes for
themselves, and charges of corruption were even brought against the
Governor.
Under these circumstances a man of strong character and high rank was
needed to remedy such abuses, and no fitter man could be found than
the illustrious admiral of the Indian Seas, Dom Vasco da Gama. He
justified the opinion held of him by the king. He reached Chaul,
where Sequeira had built a fortress, in September 1524; he at once
proceeded to Goa, where he degraded the Captain, Francisco Pereira
Pestana, and directed that his property should be sequestrated until
all charges against him were heard. He then went on to Cochin, and
there demanded and received the resignation of the Governor, Dom
Duarte de Menezes, on the return of the latter from Ormuz. These
salutary examples had a great effect. But the Viceroy was too old to
thoroughly reform the abuses which had sprung up. He only held office
for four months, and died at Cochin on Christmas Eve, 1524. The great
navigator was buried in the Chapel of the Franciscan friars at
Cochin, but in 1538 his bones were removed to Portugal, and were
interred at Vidigueira.
When Vasco da Gama was sent to India as Viceroy a new custom was
inaugurated for the succession of governors. Hitherto much
inconvenience had been caused by the interregnum which followed on
the death or departure of a governor. Vasco da Gama {176} therefore
carried with him sealed packets containing in order the names of
those whom the King nominated to succeed him. The care of the sealed
packets was entrusted to the high civil official who held the title
of Controller (Veador) of Indian affairs and had complete charge of
administrative and judicial matters. Lopo Soares had refused to
recognise this official, but the King insisted on the creation of the
office, and took effective means to secure its entire independence of
the governors.
On Vasco da Gama's death the first sealed packet was found to contain
the name of Dom Henrique de Menezes, who had won golden opinions as
Pestana's successor at Goa. This young nobleman died at Cannanore on
February 21st, 1526. The name contained in the next sealed packet was
that of Pedro Mascarenhas, who was at this time Captain of Malacca.
As he could not arrive for some months, the third packet was then
opened, which contained the name of Lopo Vaz de Sam Paio, Captain of
Cochin and a former officer of Albuquerque. Frequent complaints were
sent to Portugal of the harshness and corruption of this Governor. It
is asserted that he was incapable as well as cruel, and that the
Portuguese fortresses were in a disgraceful state of neglect. He
treated even the royal orders with contempt, and refused to hand over
the government to Pedro Mascarenhas, whom he ordered into custody on
his return from Malacca to claim his rights.
It was further made known to John III that {177} Sulaiman the
Magnificent was setting on foot a great fleet for India. This was
mainly due to the constant requests of the Venetians who were being
ruined by the Portuguese monopoly, and was in general accordance with
the policy of the greatest of the Ottoman rulers of Constantinople.
The war between the Turks and Egyptians, which had allowed the
Portuguese to develop in Asia, ended in 1517 with the overthrow of
the Mameluke dynasty in Egypt. This great conquest of the Sultan
Selim brought with it the submission of Syria and Arabia. Sulaiman
the Magnificent succeeded his father Selim in 1520, and began his
reign by his famous campaigns in Hungary and against Rhodes. He was
quite alive to the importance to Islam of checking the further
advance of the Portuguese in the East, and the news that he was
building a great fleet at Suez was perfectly true. It was placed
under the command of Sulaiman Pasha, and carried many Venetian and
Christian adventurers as well as Turks and Egyptians.
Such being the dangers which threatened the Portuguese empire in
Asia, John III selected to meet them the first really great successor
to the office of Albuquerque, Nuno da Cunha. The new Governor was the
eldest son of Tristao da Cunha, the navigator, and had had a large
experience of Asiatic warfare. He was knighted by his relative, the
great Albuquerque, in 1506, and had ever since been employed in
voyages to the East and in hard-fought campaigns in Morocco. His
chief feat of arms up {178} to this time had been his conquest of
Mombassa on the African coast in 1525, which he had followed up by
exacting the tribute promised by the King of Ormuz to the Portuguese.
He left Lisbon in 1528 with a large fleet, carrying 4000 soldiers. He
reached Goa in October, 1529, after a long voyage, and at once
arrested Lopo Vaz de Sam Paio, and sent him back to Portugal in
chains. His first measures were directed to the reform of internal
abuses. With great activity he visited every Portuguese factory and
fortress, punishing all evil-doers, and setting himself a noble
example of personal probity. But he was not satisfied, like his
predecessors, by merely securing old advantages and maintaining the
former centres of trade. He devoted himself to opening up new
provinces and developing the Portuguese commerce and dominion in
other parts of India. The first Portuguese settlement on the
Coromandel coast was at Saint Thome near Madras, which received that
name from the supposed discovery of the bones of St. Thomas the
apostle of India. But Nuno da Cunha pushed farther up the coast and
opened up a political connection with the wealthy province of Bengal.
Hitherto the Portuguese relations with Bengal had been purely
commercial. In 1518 the first Portuguese ship, commanded by Joao da
Silveira, reached Chittagong, and he there found Joao Coelho, who had
arrived some months before from Malacca, having explored the eastern
coast of the Bay of Bengal in a {179} native craft. Silveira took a
rich cargo on board, and after his visit it became an established
custom for a Portuguese ship to visit Chittagong every year to
purchase merchandise for Portugal. But Nuno da Cunha wished to do
more than this, and to establish a regular factory and a political
influence in the richest province of India.
An opportunity was afforded him in 1534, when the Muhammadan King of
Bengal asked for the help of a Portuguese force against the Afghan
invader, Sher Shah. Nuno da Cunha promised his assistance, and at
once sent a fleet of nine ships, carrying 400 Portuguese soldiers
under the command of Martim Affonso de Mello Jusarte. The Portuguese
contingent behaved gallantly, and its deeds are described in the
first twelve chapters of the ninth Book of the fourth Decade of Joao
de Barros, the contemporary Portuguese historian. Nuno da Cunha
intended to follow in person, but he was prevented by the condition
of affairs in Gujarat. It happened therefore that Portuguese
authority was never directly established in Bengal. No royal factory
or fortress was erected, and the Portuguese settlement at Hugli,
where goods were collected for shipment to Portugal, was loosely
considered to be subject to the Captain of Ceylon. The Portuguese in
North-Eastern India remained to the end adventurers and merchants,
and were never a ruling power.
The important events which prevented Nuno da Cunha from visiting
Bengal were closely connected with the threatened approach of
Sulaiman the {180} Magnificent's fleet from the Red Sea. It was well
understood that that fleet would sail direct to the coast of Gujarat
as the fleet of Emir Husain had done thirty years before. This
knowledge made Nuno da Cunha very anxious to establish the Portuguese
in a strong position on the coasts of North-Western India. Their main
station in this neighbourhood had hitherto been the port of Chaul,
where they had a factory and a small fortress. Portuguese agents were
likewise established in the ports of Gujarat, but they were in no
place masters of a strong defensive position.
To obtain a fitting site for a fortress in Gujarat was a principal
aim of Nuno da Cunha's policy; not only for defence against the
Muhammadans in India, but also as a bulwark against the expected
Turkish fleet. Circumstances favoured him. The Mughal Emperor Humayun
was engaged in war with Bahadur Shah, the King of Ahmadabad or
Gujarat. In his extremity Bahadur Shah sought to make an alliance
with the Portuguese, and for this purpose he granted them the island
of Bassein, which was then separated from the mainland by a narrow
creek. Bassein lies about twenty-eight miles north of Bombay, and
afterwards became the northern capital of Portuguese India, almost
rivalling Goa in splendour and prosperity. At Bassein the Portuguese
built a fort, but the place was not naturally defensible, and Nuno da
Cunha set his heart on the possession of the rocky island of Diu,
which had been one of the spots designed by Albuquerque for a
Portuguese stronghold.
{181} At last, in 1535, under the pressure of an invasion by Humayun,
Bahadur Shah allowed the Portuguese to erect a fortress in Diu and to
garrison it with their own troops. The fortress was rapidly and
solidly built, and Bahadur Shah and Nuno da Cunha signed a treaty of
alliance. Such an alliance was not likely to last, and the murder of
Bahadur Shah in 1537, which took place on his return from visiting
Nuno da Cunha on board his ship, caused a cry of treachery to be
raised. It seems absolutely certain that the death of the King of
Gujarat was due to a misunderstanding, but none the less friendship
was owing to it replaced by bitter enmity. The fortress was not
completed a moment too soon, for in 1538 the Turkish fleet, under
Sulaiman Pasha, after taking Aden by a stratagem, blockaded Diu by
sea. Muhammad III, the nephew and successor of Bahadur Shah, then
besieged the place by land.
Antonio da Silveira, who had been left by Nuno da Cunha as Captain of
the fortress, defended it nobly. Brilliant are the feats of gallantry
recorded by the Portuguese chroniclers on the part not only of the
soldiers but of aged men, boys, and women. The siege lasted many
months, during which Nuno da Cunha was succeeded in September 1538 by
Dom Garcia de Noronha, Albuquerque's nephew, who had been sent out
from Portugal as Viceroy. This experienced officer managed to
introduce reinforcements into the fortress in small boats which
slipped between the great Turkish galleys. Every assault was {182}
repulsed, and in November 1538 Sulaiman Pasha and Muhammad III
abandoned the siege. It does not detract from the glory of Silveira's
defence that its final success was mainly due to dissensions among
the besiegers. Each of the Muhammadan commanders blamed the other;
the King of Gujarat began to fear that the Turkish admiral would
attack him, and it was with a sense of relief that he, as well as the
Portuguese, saw Sulaiman sail away to Arabia.
It was a melancholy fact that Nuno da Cunha was unable to witness the
success of his brother-in-law, Silveira. In spite of his great
services he, like his relative Affonso de Albuquerque, whom he
resembled in his wide views and his personal disinterestedness, was
slandered at the Court of Lisbon. He had taken harsh measures against
embezzling officials and insubordinate captains, and during his ten
years of government he made numerous enemies. These men persuaded the
King that Nuno da Cunha was making a large fortune, when really he
was spending his private property for the public service; and, in
spite of the arguments of old Tristao da Cunha, Dom Garcia de Noronha
was ordered to send the greatest Portuguese Governor of India since
Albuquerque home in custody. On his way home Nuno da Cunha died at
sea on March 5, 1539, in the fifty-second year of his age, and his
last words, when his chaplain asked what should be done with his
body, were: 'Since the will of God is that I should die at sea, let
the sea be my grave; for since the land will not have {183} me why
should I leave my bones to it.' Nuno da Cunha's establishment of the
Portuguese at Diu was the most important event since the conquest of
Goa; in temper and in disposition he resembled his great relative;
like Albuquerque, he was treated with ingratitude and died in
disgrace.
Dom Garcia de Noronha did not rule long enough to affect the history
of the Portuguese in India. He died at Goa on April 3, 1540, and was
succeeded as Governor, not as Viceroy, by Dom Estevao da Gama, the
second son of the famous navigator. The new governor was an
experienced officer; he had been Captain of the Sea during his
father's short viceroyalty in 1524; had made more than one voyage to
India; and had acted for five years as Captain of Malacca.
The one remarkable event of his governorship was his expedition to
the Red Sea. The repulse of Sulaiman Pasha had been followed by his
death in Arabia, but Sulaiman the Magnificent did not intend to
abandon his projects, and directed the equipment of a new fleet at
Suez. In 1541 Dom Estevao da Gama entered the Red Sea. He was
repulsed in an attack on Suez, but made a landing in the
neighbourhood and a pilgrimage to the monastery of Mount Sinai, where
he knighted some of his officers, including Dom Alvaro de Castro, the
son of his most distinguished captain, Dom Joao de Castro. Before
returning to India the Governor sent his brother, Dom Christovao da
Gama, to escort a prelate, {184} whom the Pope had nominated as
primate of Abyssinia. But the Christian dynasty in that country was
at this time hotly beset by the Muhammadans, and Dom Christovao was
killed with his companions.
In the year 1542 Dom Estevao da Gama was succeeded as Governor by
Martim Affonso de Sousa, who had shown ability in the exploration and
settlement of the colony of Brazil. De Sousa's government of India
was not very successful. His most notable achievement was a treaty
with Ibrahim Adil Shah, King of Bijapur, who promised to cede to the
Portuguese the provinces of Bardes and Salsette adjoining the island
of Goa in exchange for the surrender of a Muhammadan prince, Mir Ali
Khan (Mealecan). But Martim Affonso de Sousa had neither the ability
nor the authority to maintain his influence over his own captains,
and King John III resolved to send to India a nobleman of military
experience, who by his rank and his character should restore harmony
in his Asiatic possessions.
The nobleman selected was Dom Joao de Castro, who was the intimate
friend of the King's brother Dom Luis. With that prince he had served
in the expedition against Tunis, where his conspicuous valour had won
the admiration of the Emperor Charles V. He displayed courage, tact,
and self-reliance, both in the relief of Diu and in the campaign of
1541 in the Red Sea. But it was for the purity of his personal
character, the integrity of his life, and his absolute honesty that
he was specially selected.
{185} Enormous fortunes were being made in the East, and the usual
abuses accompanied the rapid acquisition of wealth. Bribery and
corruption in public life, gambling and immorality in private life
had reached an alarming height, and though the Portuguese still
exhibited the same valour and constancy in war as in the days of
Albuquerque, they were now too apt to prefer private advantage to the
good of the State. Dom Joao de Castro took out with him a powerful
fleet and 2000 soldiers, and he was accompanied by two young sons,
Dom Alvaro and Dom Fernao, who rivalled in the East the glory of the
youthful Dom Lourenco de Almeida and of Albuquerque's young nephew
Dom Antonio de Noronha.
Dom Joao de Castro reached Goa on September 10, 1545, and at once
took over the charge of the government. He found himself face to face
with two serious dangers; Ibrahim Adil Shah of Bijapur was preparing
to attack Goa, and Muhammad III of Gujarat was again besieging Diu.
These were but symptoms of a general league which was in act of
formation between all the sovereigns of the West of India against the
Portuguese. In spite of the expostulation of the officials Joao de
Castro refused to carry out the engagement made with the King of
Bijapur by his predecessor. He declared that Mir Ali Khan had come to
seek refuge at Goa, and that it would be a most dishonourable act to
surrender him. The King of Bijapur at once sent an army to recover
the {186} provinces of Bardes and Salsette, which he had handed over,
but Dom Joao de Castro marched out and inflicted a severe defeat on
the Bijapur forces.
The situation at Diu was more threatening. A renegade Albanian,
called by the Portuguese Coge Cofar (Khoja Zufar), had attained
supreme influence at the Court of Muhammad III of Gujarat. He
persuaded the King that it was most disgraceful for him to fail in
capturing Diu. He collected the whole force of the kingdom and
commenced the siege of the Portuguese fortress, with the declaration
that he would die sooner than return unsuccessful. The Captain of
Diu, Dom Joao Mascarenhas, showed the same constancy and valour as
Antonio da Silveira. The garrison consisted of nearly the same
soldiers, and the women once more distinguished themselves in the
defence. The Governor made every effort to relieve the fortress. He
first sent his son, Dom Fernao, who was killed, then his other son,
Dom Alvaro, and eventually brought up all the forces he could collect
in person. Coge Cofar was slain by a cannon-ball, and his successor,
Rumecao, did not press the siege with the same vigour.
After repulsing all assaults, Dom Joao de Castro marched out at the
head of his army and utterly defeated the enemy in a pitched battle.
The slaughter among the Muhammadans was immense, and the victory was
one of the greatest ever won by a European army in India. He then
proceeded to punish the Gujaratis. One of his captains, Antonio {187}
Moniz Barreto, burnt Cambay, and his son, Dom Alvaro, sacked Surat.
This great victory showed the native princes that they had a worthy
successor of Albuquerque to deal with, and Dom Joao de Castro was on
all sides entreated to make alliances with them. With the King of
Bijapur alone the war continued, but the Portuguese everywhere got
the best of it; Dabhol was taken, and the Muhammadans were again
defeated on land.
The internal reforms were even more to the credit of Dom Joao de
Castro than his victories. One point in his policy resembles that
adopted by Cornwallis in Bengal; namely, the fixing of the salaries
of the various officials, and his effort to put an end to the system
of peculation which was rife. This peculation was chiefly caused by
the officials engaging in trade; by which they made vast profits
while the State suffered. The state of things had partly arisen
through the custom of allowing Portuguese soldiers to trade after
serving for nine years. It was this inducement which brought so many
soldiers from Portugal; and in spite of the Governor's
representations, the Portuguese authorities were afraid to put an end
to it for fear of stopping the flow of recruits. The reforming
measures of Dom Joao de Castro did not remain long in operation, but
his example had a great effect. So great was the confidence felt in
his probity, that an anecdote is told of his raising money in Goa for
the relief of Diu, by pawning the hairs of his beard.
The news of Dom Joao de Castro's victory at Diu {188} was received
with great enthusiasm by John III, who in 1548 sent him a commission
as Viceroy. He only lived to hold this high office for fourteen days.
He died at Goa on June 6, 1548, in the arms of his friend, the
Apostle to the Indies, Saint Francis Xavier. The greatest of all the
successors of Albuquerque was Dom Joao de Castro; he resembled the
knights of the middle ages in his gallantry and his disinterestedness,
while his victory at Diu is the last great achievement of the
Portuguese arms in Asia.
{189}