Brian Elliott
11/25/96
History 392
Dr. Tirado

The Voyage to India and Those Who Influenced It.

When asked which nation contributed the most to sea exploration in the fifteenth century, the obvious answer is Spain. What if there were another nation, a nation whose contributions were far more than landing one continent? What if there was a nation that in only 100 years managed to sail in every ocean, every major sea, touched every continent except Antarctica and possibly Australia, and were the first Europeans to land in China, Korea, New Guinea, the Azores, Cape Verde and numerous other places. Well, there was such a nation, and it is Portugal. Portugal was the country that lead the greatest expansion of the known world in the history of the world. In only one hundred years they managed to be the first Europeans in nearly one half the globe, as well as be the first to push south. The accomplishments of the rest of Europe paled by comparison. The Portuguese exploration and expansion at this time is a huge subject. Here will be discussed only one of their voyages, that of Vasco da Gama's voyage to India, as he was the first European to sail to there. Prince Henry the Navigator was most definitely a driving force in this venture, while the King during the voyage, Manuel, was the one who ordered it. Bartolmeu Dias was the first to round the Cape of Good Hope, in his 1487-88 voyage, proving that it could be done, and breaking ground for da Gama.

Born in 1394, the Infante Enriques, known to the world as Prince Henry the Navigator, became the man who was most responsible for the maritime expansion of Portugal and of general marine science, as well, both of which led to the voyage to India. As a boy he was infatuated with accounts of the wild beasts, wild people, and vast riches that existed in Africa.(Hart 6) At a young age, he began to study everything he could on trade, maps, scientific charts, and anything else he could find that pertained to Africa. Eventually, as an adult he devoted most of his resources toward finding a sea route to Guinea. Why? There are probably five reasons. First, he wanted simply to know what lay beyond the Canaries and Cape Bojador, beyond which no one had yet dared to travel. Next, and certainly no less important was that he wanted to establish trade with any lands that lay out there, especially if they were Christian lands,and it was assumed that India was Christian. Thirdly, he wanted a Christian ally in its wars against the infidels. Fourth, he wanted to know exactly how far into Africa the influence of these same infidels extended. The fifth, in typical Christian fashion of the time, was to send out missionaries "to bring to him all the souls that should be saved."(Hart 7)

Henry made his contributions in numerous and varied ways, but one way he didn't do it was through navigation, despite his title. He certainly sailed in his life, but most of his efforts were on land where he organized voyages and improved navigational devices and techniques, without which da Gama's voyage wouldn't have been possible. His contributions to navigation were so impressive that is was thought for years that he actually had a "School of Sagres" that focused only on navigation. It's now known that this isn't true, but the fact that it was assumed to be shows how heavily Henry contributed. Henry's contributions began with his requirement of detailed charts, maps and note- taking. On these papers he wanted bearing, wind direction, dangerous anchorages, places where water and food could be found, landmarks, and so on. After sailors brought this information to him it was organized for use on future voyages. This is quite significant, as most mariners of the time didn't bother to write down anything they didn't need to. In fact, this alone gave them an advantage over Spain, if Columbus' tendency to repeat his mistakes is any indication. Henry was impressively successful in the mathematical realm of sailing as well, making them the foremost navigators of Europe. With the improved ability to determine one's position, his explorers took meticulous notes and were able to make existing charts much more reliable.(Hart 9-10) Henry enlisted the help of some of Europe's experts to teach him in matters of navigation around 1420. Fixing position by using the elevation of the Pole Star led the Portuguese, under Henry, to develop "latitude navigation". Basically, this meant that a sailor could sail north or south until reaching a certain latitude, then sail due east or west on it. There turned out to be problems with this though. It is difficult to use a quadrant aboard a moving ship, and south of the equator, the Pole Star isn't visible, so navigation had to be done using the sun. These problems, however, came after Henry's death.(Jones 36-37)

Henry was partially responsible for the breaking of many geographical barriers. In 1421, Portuguese ships passed Cape Nun, passed the unpassable(at least in their minds) Cape Bojador in 1434,(Russell-Wood) reached Guinea, the Gambia and Rio Grande, and got within sight of the Cape Verde islands.(Wallis 28) After Henry passed away, Bartolomue Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 1488. Without breaking these barriers early on, the way may not have seemed clear for da Gama to follow.

King Manuel, crowned in 1495, had the explorer's blood in him too. It was he who ordered Vasco da Gama to search for a sea route to India. He was certainly an expansionist, always looking for new places from which to acquire resources such as grain, fish, and of course gold, (Pearson 5) but he wanted the route to India as something in and of itself.

Vasco da Gama, like Prince Henry and King Manuel, had a taste for the sea early on. He grew up in a seafaring environment, where fishing, swimming, boating, and of course, sailing, were influences on him from a young age. da Gama was to be THE explorer for Portugal, bringing himself the kind of acclaim Columbus received for finding a new world, after only the first of his three voyages. da Gama on his 1497 voyage, was to be the one who achieved Henry's and Manuel's goal of discovering a sea route to India.

da Gama was ahead of his time. Thanks to the intelligent system of organization left behind by Henry, da Gama was mostly prepared for what awaited him. The ships were provisioned to stay away from land for months, and unlike Columbus's first voyage, had interpreters, priests, a historian, carpenters, rope makers, a caulker, a blacksmith, and a plank maker.(Hamilton) Unfortunately, he hadn't the sense to bring nice gifts along with him. The gifts they had onboard included cotton, sugar, honey, olive oil, wash basins, scarlet hoods, jackets, hats, caps, glass beads, bells rings, and bracelets. Apparently, the Portuguese though that everyone they might encounter would be willing to trade in the same naive fashion as the Africans they already traded with. He loaded his supplies and crew onto four ships: the Sao Raphael, Sao Gabriel, Berrio, and the Sao Marin. These ships were quite well armed, but the sailors were not, perhaps to avoid mutiny.(Hamilton)

The voyage began by swinging southwest for reasons unknown, toward the coast of Brazil, and in doing so, charted the best sea route around the Cape of Good Hope. It swung wide and in doing so gave the best winds available. The first landing was on November 4, at a place they called Santa Helena bay. They set in to make repairs, look for water, and check their position. After a few days, though, they got into a small battle with the natives, and so left. On November 22 they rounded the Cape of Good Hope. The next stop was Mossel Bay, where Bartolomue Dias had landed ten years before. As they landed, they were greeted by numerous natives, and later 200 more who brought plenty of meat to replenish their stores. The natives encouraged the Portuguese to dance and smoke with them, and they did. Again, the Portuguese left under bad terms, and this time as they sailed away they saw the natives destroy a cross they had erected on shore. By Christmas day 1497, da Gama was seventy leagues farther up the East African coast than Dias had made. On January 11, 1498, they landed again. This time they were greeted by natives with whom they could communicate fairly well and with whom they were destined to remain on good terms with. They slept in the village of these Bantu people, gave them gifts, and the natives reciprocated by giving them fowl for the commander. They even carried water out to the ships. They were off again and this time landed in the mouth of the Quelimmane River, again greeted by Bantus on January 25. da Gama was very pleased when he met two of their chiefs, because one wore silk, the other satin, and one of their attendants had seen large sailing vessels before. This, to da Gama was a sure sign that India was near. While here, the sailors took 32 days off and scrubbed, recaulked, and repainted their vessels. Unfortunately, scurvy broke out while they were on shore. Thanks to this outbreak, much of the crew died and the rest were left to fight over their water rations and have their gums swell up. They did get some fruit from the Indians, and so managed to get well again. They picked up and left on February 24, and the next stop was Mozambique. Here was a society far unlike the previously encountered societies. Thanks to visits from Arabia, Persia, and India, this was a united and developed society in many ways equal to the Portuguese. During this landing, da Gama and one of his captains both manage to embarrass themselves greatly by giving the local sheik what amounted to trash as gifts. The sheik was so irritated by this as to actually ask for something better. To make matters worse, the locals realized that the Portuguese were Christians, whom they despised.

Things were getting very tense for da Gama who was ready to set sail again. As they got ready to leave, one of the natives they had hired to go with them ran away, so they went after him. A battle ensued, and the Portuguese made a quick withdrawal and continued up the coast. And then they were blown right back down it. They stopped where they had just come from, and when they tried to go to land and get water, the natives put up a fight. So, the Portuguese defended against the rocks ands arrows with cannons. They easily overpowered the natives and now had the run of the town. They picked up all the water they needed, as well as anything else they pleased. They then left and sailed farther north. This time they anchored off Mombasa on April 17. da Gama was suspicious because he knew they might have heard about what happened farther down the coast, so he didn't allow anyone to go ashore. The local Arabs greeted them well, but in fact tried to sneak aboard at night. In reaction, da Gama took two Arabs and tortured them to find out the sheik's plans. They confessed that he was planning to convince them to bring the ships in closer to shore and ambush them, so da Gama stayed right where he was. That night, some Arabs snuck up on them and started cutting the anchor cables and some of the riggings. The crew attacked and the Arabs fled. The next morning they set sail for the north and eventually landed at Malindi. Here, they were happy to hear about his fights in Mombasa, because they too were enemies of those in Mombasa. It's a good thing because da Gama again made the mistake of giving cheap gifts to the local sheik, who fortunately wasn't offended. Here da Gama finally got the pilot he wanted also. He had been looking for someone to pilot the way to India, and the sheik complied by giving him one of the best available. On April 24, they set out with the monsoon pushing them up the coast. On May 20, 1498, they anchored a few miles from Calicut, India.(Hart 127-157)(Jones 59-75)

The landing in Calicut is the beginning of a whole other story, one that will not be told here. Like the story of the voyage there, it is a story of embarrasment and small fights, and often displays da Gama's lack of diplomacy. As for the rest of the story, it is of the influx of Portuguese culture into India. While certainly not meant to say that Portuguese culture has ever dominated the Indian lifestyle, there was nonetheless an exchange of language, values, institutions, and genes.

This is has been but one part of one of the stories of the exporations of Portugal, and on a larger scale, the Age of Discovery, but it is one of the more important stories just the same. Whereas Columbus and Spain tried to reach India by going West, some daring, risk taking Portuguese knew it could be reached by sailing east, and unlike Spain, actually acheived what they meant to do.

References

Hamilton, Genesta. In the Wake of Da Gama. London: Skeffington and Son Limited, 1951.

Hart, Henry. Sea Road to the Indies. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1950.

Jones, Vincent. Sail the Indian Sea. London: Gordon and Cremonesi Publishers, 1978.

Pearson, M. N. The New Cambridge History of India. pt. 1, vol. 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987. 8 vols.

Russell-Wood, A. J. R. A World on the Move: The Portuguese in Africa, Asia, and America 1415-1808. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1993.

Wallis, Helen. "England and Portugal 1386-1986; 'Things Hidden From Other Men'; the Portuguese Voyages of Discovery." History oday June 1986: 27-33.