CHAPTER II
ACROSS THE LITTORAL: PORTUGUESE PRESENCE IN
THE MARITIME WORLD OF COROMANDEL AND
SOUTHEAST ASIA
The sea from time immemorial has bonded various littorals and the
communities which nestled on its shores. The maritime world of Coromandel and
Southeast Asia was also part of the same coherent process that had been in
existence for long. Commerce, no doubt was the factor which controlled the
dynamics of this linkage. So this world was always on the move. From the
mussoolas and catamarans of the Coromandel coast to junks, lancharas and prohus
of insular Southeast Asia- all of them catered to this bustling trade network. The
Portuguese were quick to discover this world in the early sixteenth century. They
were able to understand the importance of Malacca. Malacca was conquered by the
soldiers of the Estado. From here, the Portuguese traced the various veins of trade
which were soon bound to come within the ambit of their control. In order to
understand the Portuguese presence in the region, there is a need to understand
first of all how and why they came to this part of the globe. It is a later story
though that they had both official and unofficial presence 1• It would be interesting
to identify these settlements in this context.
The Arabs had been a dominant mercantile community through the
web of commerce of the Indian Ocean world. They turned to be the guides of
the future endeavors to be made by the Portuguese .The spices were the basic
reason behind the Portuguese efforts to reach Asia though Prestor John had
gathered their attention also. So among the prevalent linkages across the
1
Malyn Newitt has most recently categorized the official as well as unofficial settlements in his
study "A History ofPortuguese Overseas Expansion, 1400-1668", Routledge, 2005.
53
Indian Ocean, the Coromandel- Southeast Asia connection began to dominate
the Portuguese mindset. The earliest date for this contact is distinctly
recorded around the I st century A.D. according to the archaeological finds.
The functional contact between the two regions, as has already been noticed
in the previous chapter was based largely on the exchange of spices with the
Coromandel textiles and vice versa. The involvement of the Portuguese in this
trade stood beneficial. Besides, the activities of the Portuguese also
influenced the indigenous people (at least in the area of settlement).
Gradually there developed a heritage that left its imprints in the time to come.
The Europeans who traveled in the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries belonged to diverse backgrounds. This is reflected in their writings
though they sometimes only give a sketch about themselves. The travel
accounts, which are available, reveal their entire course of journey. During
the "Age of Discovery" and thereafter, when the intrepid travelers undertook
journey using the sail and the winds and the currents, nature always poised
difficulties for them. The Portuguese were the first ones to use the currents
for the purpose of navigations in seasons when the winds could not be
utilized. Despite that, their will power to reach their destinations or the aims,
which they had posited for themselves, did not change. Such was the strong
spirit of the people who traveled in those times. There are numerous
examples, which one can cite regarding this. 2
2
The best and the most documented example in this respect is that of Vasco da Gama. The pioneer
of the Portuguese discoveries was fearless unlike his predecessors. As noted from his travel
published by the Hakluyt society, he was not scared of the storms and the conceit possessed by the
previous mariners that they could not sail beyond what they called Tormentoso , i.e. Cape of Good
Hope. Thus da Gama " feared no such phantasies, and receiving Covilians Map and Instruction,
with Letters to the Indian Kings, hoysed sayle on the ninth of July (a season unfitting, as
Experience after shewed) and passing by the lie of Saint James, directed his course Eastwards.
(Purchas, Samuei,Purchas His Pilgrimes,Voi.II,Giasgow,pp.65)
\
54
Keeping in mind, one can identify an interesting account of the
seventeenth century of a Dutch captain called, Will em Ysbrantsz Bontekoe
who was in the service of the VOC. Though he traveled between the year
1618 and 1625, his account explicitly tells the art of conducting a ship and the
people who comprised a ship's company through the awful difficulties and
perils of an East Indian voyage. An early Portuguese itinerant, Duarte
Barbosa3 is a lucid narrator. But he does not make any reference of the
difficulties encountered in the itinerary. He describes about manners, customs
and the way trade was done at a particular port of call. Hence the information
delivered by him is purely geographical and ethnographical. There is no doubt
that his ship did not encounter the dangers at the sea, but he having a different
concern did not describe it. At certain times it seems that the indigenous
polities also played tricks on the Portuguese by making them believe that
there was a Christian population at a remote or dangerous part. The famous
contemporary chronicler, Joao de Barros, mentions this in his Decades. 4
There were times also in the initial years of the Portuguese conquest that
Captain-in-Chiefs assaulted the prosperous trading centers in order to
establish their domination. The best example that can be cited is that of
Alfonso D'Albuquerque. He assaulted the city of Aden. It is a well-known
fact that Aden was an important center for call in West Asia. At the port he
burnt a large number of ships loaded with merchandize. 5
3
Duarte Barbosa was a Portuguese official who was in the service of the Portuguese government in
India from about 1500 till about 1516 or 1517 .Barbosa had left for India with the fleet of Pedro
Alvarez Cabral in A.D.Cabral at Cochin left him as a feitor or Agent when his fleet set sail for
Lisbon.
4
In his Decadas, Barros notes that on Vasco da Gama's first voyage he was tricked by his pilot
from Mozambique that there was a Christian population at Kilwa. da Gama was unable to land
there but discovered the deception on arriving at Mombassa.
(Barros,Joao
de,Decades, voi.I,fo1.208, 1628)
5
Barbosa gives an account of this assault viz- At this City arrived a fleet of the King our Lord "the
Captain -in-Chief whereof was Afonco D' Albuquerque, at that time Governor of India," and in that
same port he took and burnt a great number of ships laden with much merchandise and others
without cargoes. He then attempted to enter the city, which he did by scaling the walls with many
ladders, "and when fully forty Portuguese had entered and one bastion had been taken," the ladders
55
Along with these there also developed conceptions about the 'East'.
There were vague maps, which showed how the European mind thought about
the Indian Ocean world. Not only these, there also developed the techniques
of navigating the Indian Ocean. Though it were still the currents and the
winds along with the magnetic compass which were brought into use, but the
determination of men to withstand the perils of the seas was remarkable. Thus
all these themes would be discussed in the following pages which would not
only help us to understand the voyage from Europe to Asia. but henceforth. This would follow a brief understanding of the Estado da India in the region
of our theme.
PORTUGUESE EXPANSION AND THE PRESUMPTION ABOUT THE
"EAST"
The predecessors of the people, who navigated in the Age of
Discovery in Europe, used the position of the stars and the coasts as guides. 6
In the ship, there was a master and below him were other men. The master
was the one who knew the art of shipping .In case a disastrous storm stuck the
ship by a sudden surprise, the master found himself and his art at the loosing
end in front of his men. Many ships were lost in this way. Later on, the
invention of the compass with the magnetic needle directed the travelers on
their journeys through the land and through the vast seas. The Italians were
the inventors of the art of printing, making guns and perhaps also of the
all broke from the weight of the multitude of men which was mounting by them, "and there
remained no means of climbing up. The Portuguese who were inside the bastion were waiting for
help for the space of an hour, when seeing that the Moors were gathering and beginning to force
their way in, they let themselves down by ropes from (pp57) the bastion." In this attack the Moors
made a good defense, and many were slain, also some Christians, "among whom were two
captains, one slain in the city and other in the bastion."(pp58)[Dames,M.L., The book of Duarte
Barbosa, voi.I,AES, 1989,pp57-58]
6
This is collaborated in Purchas His Pilgrimes "The Starres and Coasts were then the Guides, and
without those Stilts, and Stayes, Navigation durst not adventure, in that her impotence and infancie,
to goe into the Maine."
56
compasses. When the Portuguese entered in the waters of the Indian Ocean,
they found that the compass was being used by "the Mores, together with
Cards and Quadrants to observe both the Heavens and the Earth. " 7 The Arab
navigators who were basically merchants and guided the Portuguese in their
search for exotic spices were the dominant group in the Indian Ocean trading
world. 8
In the 'Age of Discovery', there were two impulses at work -one was the
spread of the greater glory, God and the other was making profits. The Portuguese
also drew inspiration from these purposes, which led to a dramatic expansion in
Asia and the Americas. But along with, there were other factors like the strategic
and political ones, which were responsible for the expeditions. C.R. Boxer
classified the motives behind the Portuguese expansion in his "Seaborne Empire"
as: the crusading zeal against the Muslims; the desire for Guinea gold; the. quest
for Prestor John; and the search for oriental spices. 9 The Company of Jesus to
which the Jesuit fathers belonged to spread the faith assisted the Portuguese. A
study done by Dauril Alden 10 on this 'Company' reflects that it was the
'Portuguese Assistancy' in its seaborne empire. A. H. de Oliveira Marques
observed the presence of a strong royal authority; the consequent disengagement
from internal political problems; the national cohesion necessary for common
7
Purchas, Samuei,Purchas His Pilgrimes,Volume II,The Hakluyt Society publication, Glasgow,
MCMV,pp.5
8
In his narrative, Duarte Barbosa tells about the Arab pilots being hired for navigating difficult
waters-'Here ships take "pilots", on board to take them and guide them to Juda, which pilots dwell
here for this purpose only.'(Dames,M.L.,The book of Duarte Barbosa,voi.I,AES,l989,pp51).The
necessity for local pilots is obvious in the dangerous waters. Afonso D' Albuquerque found it
absolutely necessary to obtain the services of a pilot by force or fraud when he made his way into
the Red Sea in 1513.
9
Boxer,C.R., The Portuguese Seaborne Empire,Hutchison,London,l963,pp.18
10
Alden, Dauril, The Making of an Enterprise: The Society of Jesus in Portugal, Its Empire, and
Beyond, 1540 -1750, Stanford University Press, 1996
57
efforts; the economic, social and other pressures pointing towards expansion; and a
number of local conjectural circumstances, varying with time and the country. 11
Sanjay Subrahmanyam added another important motive and reasoned that
the Portuguese turning towards the sea was due to its strategic location and
relatively limited agrarian resources. Further he pointed that "it also involved both
conscious choices and a measure of serendipity, and was cast in terms of a
nationalism determined in a matrix: on the one hand, the opposition Christian
versus Moor, on the other hand Portuguese vs. Castilian". 12 Portuguese enterprise
can only be understood according to Malyn Newitt, when seen in the context of
Europe's commercial relations with the East, the adverse balance oftrade and the
search for bullion to cover the payments gap; the decline of the economies of the
Middle East and the shift of sugar production to the western Mediterranean with
the consequent rise in the demand for land and slave labour; the expansion of the
Genoese commercial empire in western and northern Europe and the making of the
map making, shipping and commercial infrastructure that accompanied it; and
finally in terms of political and social struggles within Portugal itself which
generated the first impulse towards emigration- always a powerful undercurrent
and often one of the principal driving forces of expansion. 1J
The "whys" about the Portuguese expanswn, as the modern
historiography portrays are very vital to understand Estado's further
endeavours in the Indian Ocean in the 161h and 1ih centuries. Keeping the
modern writings in the background, one cannot relinquish the spirit of
Renaissance along with the centuries old traditions of seafaring at various
times. It is well known that the exponents of the seafaring traditions were the
11
12
13
Oliveira Marques, A. H. de, Hist6ria de Portugal, Comissarido para a Europalia, 1991, p 59
Subrahmanyam,Sanjay, The Portuguese Empire in Asia,Longman,London, 1993,pp.53
Newitt, 2005,pp 1-2
58
philosophers of ancient Greece, geographers of Alexandria, the Roman
seafarers, the Arab traders and the Venetians and the Genoese. The treaties
about the "East" like the Peri plus of the Eraythean Sea and the other indirect
references also led to the encouragement of the explorations. Moreover before
the voyage of Vasco da Gama, the image of the "East" was shrouded with
mystery, which gave room to the myths and theories about it.
The human nature to know his surroundings and unfold the mysteries
of the earth created an obnoxious of theories. The Europeans, during our
time-period of the study developed certain notions which are reflected
frequently in the writings of the early travellers. The Greeks, the earliest one
among them claimed in their famous classic epic, 'Odyssey' that no ones
geographical knowledge matched theirs. By the fifth century B.C., the
Pythagorean School had evolved the theory of a spherical earth-a theory
which was deduced on philosophical grounds rather than empirical grounds
and had been followed by the liberal-minded ever since .The Greeks also gave
birth to the concept of oikoumene or the area inhabited by Greeks or by men
of a like nature. Though its limits were not known but it was felt that Ocean,
which covered the rest of the globe, bound the land of the oikoumene. It was
Plato who advanced the possibility of the land outside it, which he thought
was towards the west. Aristotle believed in a great southward as well as in the
eastward extension.
With these developments, side by side another interesting advancement
was taking place in the world of learning. This was the knowledge of
Geography and Cartography, especially at the city of Alexandria, which had
become a great center of learning after decline of the Roman Empire. Figures
like Ptolemy, Eratosthenes, Hipparchus and Posidonis contributed greatly to
the existing notions in geography. Ptolemy's Geography was a great addition
59
as well as a transformation from the existing notion because this was the first
time the world was sketched. Along with the continents of Europe, Africa and
Asia, the Indian Ocean was also marked, which was assumed to be the
Greater Mediterranean. The perception was that it was enclosed by the land
bridge that ran from East Africa to Southeastern Asia. A truncated Indian
peninsula and the Golden Chersonese (the Malay Peninsula) were featured in
it. Beyond this was the Sinus Magnus or Great Gulf, and beyond again the
region where the African land bridge terminated. According to Penrose, "this
latter feature gave rise to the portrayal of two Malay Peninsulas in the early
161h century cartography, while the concept of the Indian Ocean puzzled the
Portuguese and other Europeans before the arrival of Vasco da Gama. 14 By
the eighteenth century however, the charts prepared by the Portuguese along
with those of the English and the French were in use. 15
The long-known tradition of Arab Geography also contributed to the
European knowledge. Its introduction was epitomized in the career of Edrisi
11 00-1166), a muslim from Ceuta. Albert Magress and Roger Bacon in the
13th century also contributed to the development of geography. Further the
contribution of Ptolemy's Geographi 6 by Jacobelus Angelus (1406-1410)
was a step forward. Thus rich traditions of knowledge and learning provided a
basic ground or more appropriately helped in the development of the
background on which the Portuguese worked as a part of their endeavors of
14
Penrose,Boies, Travel and Discovery in the Renaissance 1420-1620,Harvard University Press,
Massachusetts,1955,pp.6
15
Domingues,Francisco Contente, "De Lisboa a Goa,em 1773:apontamentos do diario de viagem
de D.Ant6nio de Jose de Noronha" in Anais Hidrograticos,Tomo XLIX(supplemento),Directoria
de Histrografia e Navegayao,Brasil, 1992,pp 108-109
16
Of considerable historic importance is Ptolemy's Geography, which charts the world, as people
of his time knew it. This work, which employs a system of latitude and longitude, influenced
mapmakers for hundreds of years, but it suffered from a lack of reliable information. Ptolemy also
devoted a treatise, Harmonica, to music theory, and in Optics he explored the properties of light,
especially refraction and reflection. Optics, known only from an Arabic version, stresses.
experiment and the construction of special apparatus to promote the study of light and to develop a
mathematical theory of its properties.
60
maritime expansion. During the sixteenth, seventeenth and the eighteenth
centuries, there were no amazing advances made in the field of navigation.
Large ships with high capacity of load and greater speed along with the better
control of the winds and utilization of sea currents remained the key features
of navigation.
Besides such an array of developments in the geographical knowledge
of the Europeans, there are other insights which we get from the
contemporary texts. This is the usage of the terms like Moor, Heathen, pagan,
gentues, barbarian which were frequently used in the lingua of the times. The
places, under the consideration of our narrators pertained to the insular part of
Southeast Asia generally. Either our eloquent orator visited these places or it
was a method employed to justify the exploitation of the indigenous lot. This
was also a way of expressing superiority over the native populace. The
Moluccas, which was the spice-producing zone, had caught attention of the
Portuguese in their first voyages to Malacca. They thus knew the importance
of the spices in the overseas trade as Venice had already grown prosperous
due to its position as the spice-distributor of Europe 17• The amount of revenue
that had been generated due to it was enormous in Europe. Though the
awareness of the spices was much prevalent in Europe yet Varthema, an early
161h century traveller commented on the people that- "they are very weak of
understanding, and in strength they have no vigour, but live like breasts." 18
Such a remark suggests that it was a pre-conceived notion and it is doubtable
that Varthema ever visited the region! Barbosa opined about the people of
Celebes as 'flesh-eater's' which he justified by saying that "if the king of
Maluco wishes to put to death any person condoned by law they beg him to be
17
18
For further reference see Cipola, Carlo M., Fontana Economic History of Europe.
Jones, J.W., 1928,p.88.
61
delivered to them to eat as if they were asking for a pig". 19 This note makes
our contention strong about the sort of sordid conceptions the travelers had.
There were other instances, which seem to show that the local
population tried to instill fear in the minds of our narrators so that the latter
kept away. While describing Sumatra, Barbosa speaks ofthe kingdom of Aru,
which comprised of 'Heathens' who were flesh eaters. Continuing further, he
mentioned, "every foreigner when they can take they eat without any pity
whatsoever". 20 This could however be an exaggeration, for another
contemporary Pires acknowledges that: "the people of Aru are presumptuous
and warlike and no one trusts them. If they do not steal they do not live, and
therefore no one is friendly with them". 21 There is a sharp difference in the
perception of Barbosa and Pires, though both of them were almost
contemporaries, traveling in the sixteenth century in Asia. Probably Barbosa
did not like the nature of the people of Aru, which made him simply regard
them as "flesh-eaters". So he acknowledged them with a term which is just
not in agreement with other writings of the time. The later writings contest
such views. John Crawfurd, a high authority on the themes pertaining to
Southeast Asia condemned them and termed it to be false and worthless.
19
Dames, M.L, II, 1989, p.205 . It was not only the easternmost part of the archipelago about
which the Voyagers wrote in such a way. The people of Java were also described as flesh eaters
and Varthema goes on as-" when their fathers become so old that they can no longer do any work,
their children or relations set up them up in the market-place for a sale, and those who purchase
them kill them and eat them cooked. And if any young man should be attacked by any great
sickness, and that it should appear to the skillful that he might die of it, the father or brother of the
sick man kills him, and they do not wait for him ti die. And when they have killed him they sell
him to others to be eaten." <Jones, 1928,p.91>. It is surprising to note that Mandeville, traveling in
the early seventeenth century when the entire insular region has been explored also took note about
the Sumatrans that "they have an evil custom among them, for they will gladly eat men's flesh than
any other" (Letts, Malcolm (trans), Mandeville's Travels vol.l, The Hakluyt Society', London,
1953,p.l27. This might be a an interpolation or the European concept of showing the other as
inferior.
20
Dames, II, 1989,p.l88; Barros (Decada III, Livro V, Capitulo I, P.l19) says about Aru as: "the
Heathen who dwell in that part of the Island which is over against Malacca, and that tribe thereof
which they call Battas, who eat flesh, the wildest and Fiercest people in the whole world.
21
Cortesao, A vol.l, 1990,pp.l48.
62
Writing in the late 19th century, Alfred Russel Wallace with a refined bend of
mind observed that:
"Men of a superior race freely trade with men of a lower
race. It extends trade no doubts for a time, but it demoralizes
the native, checks true civilization, and does not lead to any
permanent increase in the wealth ofthe country". 22
The perceptions about the insular Southeast Asia were still milder
when compared with those of the 'New World'. Those pertaining to Americas
are obsessed with Cannibalism and savagery. 23 First of all, either it was the
discourse of Varthema or Barbosa or Barros, the construct of the other was
authorized by the other. Secondly, the three stages identified by Michael de
Certeau 24 can be liberally applied for most of the itinerants proceeded with
the idea of visiting east which was acclaimed for spices. The claims made by
the early travelers were not entirely true. They either never visited the
concerned area or just gave a hypothetical account or even if they ventured,
they revealed similar picture so as to subjugate the 'other'. Oliveira Marques
also noted that most of the geographical knowledge was transmitted to the
Portuguese not only through the commercial and political currents connecting
them with the rest of Europe, but also the Portuguese ambassadors, travelers,
and pilgrims who returned home. 25 In fact Barros, the famous 16th century
22
Wallace, Alfred Russel, The Malay Archipelago, London, 1894,p.73.
For further .reference, see, Michael Palencia Roth, Cannibalism and the new man of Latin
America in the 15th and 161h century European imagination, Comparative civilizations review,
Carlisle. PA, 1979.
24
Michel de Certeau <de Certeau, Michel, Heterologies, Discourses on the Other, Minneapolis,
1986, p.68-70>while discussing Montaigne's "Of Cannibals" provides an excellent example of
how the image of the 'other' is created in a narrative. He says, "The discourse about the other is a
means of constructing a discourse authorized by the other". The three stages discussed by him in
this essay are- the outbound journey, where there is search for the strange, which is presumed to be
different from the place assigned to it in the beginning by the discourse of culture; the depiction of
savage society, as seen by a "true" witness; lastly the return voyage, the home coming of the
traveler-narrator.
25
Oliveira Marques, A.H. de,1991 ,p 35
23
63
state chronicler of Portugal never visited Asia and wrote his series on the
information that was brought back by such intrepid itinerants.
The myths and theories discussed above were a part of the mindset of
the Portuguese as well who first traveled in these regions. Though there were
of no immediate consequences but they had always been present latently in
the thought. So it was necessary to discern them in order to understand the
Portuguese conquest and expansion in Asia. Most of the monarchs of Portugal
were preoccupied with the maritime expansion. Bailey W. Diffie observed
that the growing wealth and the increasing importance of the Portuguese
merchant class and those of foreign merchants who were using Portugal as a
base, was exclusively confined due to trade in goods for which the Portuguese
had hold in northern Europe, Spain, Granada and North Africa. This
experience helped Portugal in preparing for an overseas expansion that was to
come in the fifteenth century. 26
Among the authors who wrote about the European expansion, the early
ones followed the traditional view by allocating the chief role of the
Portuguese rulers. They described the works of the kings and specially
accolades of Prince Henry for his efforts. They also ascribed the
establishment of the 'school' of Sagres, which was taken note by Samual
Purchas in the seventeenth century. Ever since then it caught the attention of
the writers. Donald F. Lach, an exponent on the theme remarked about the
development of the port of Laiges as harbour by Prince Henry at Sagres from
"he regularly sent out small expeditions into the Atlantic coast". 27 Diffie
argued the theory of.the existence of 'school' at Sagres and said that it was
26
Diffie, Bailey, W. and Winius, George D., Foundations of the Portuguese Empire, vol. I ,
Oxford University Press, 1977,p.41.
27
Lach, Donald,F., Asia in the making of Europe, Vol. I, Book one, Chicago, 1965, p.52.
64
just a legend, which grew in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and
moreover Barros (who is acclaimed to have wdtten about this 'school') noted
nothing about it. Amused with the concept, Diffie remarked- "it is the kind of
legend that is too romantic to be relinquished". 28 Malyn Newitt observes
Portuguese expansion in a wider context. According to him, Portuguese
overseas expansion should not center around the personalities of Prince Henry
and Vasco da Gama. Rather it can be dated back to the battle of Aljubarrota in
1385 which secured the throne of Portugal for the Avis dynasty. An
amphibious expedition about thirty years later captured the Moroccan coastal
town of Ceuta. From that point the great epic unfolds through settlement of
the Atlantic islands and expeditions of exploration down the African coast
which lead eventually to the first successful voyage to India and two years
later, the discovery ofBrazil. 29
Portuguese institutions had not undergone any of the changes
associated with the emergence of the early modern state when overseas
expansion began in the fifteenth century. Government still meant personal
rule by the monarch; the country and most of the towns were controlled by
the church, the Military Orders and the great nobles. Financial institutions
consisted of the private transactions of money-lenders; armed forces were still
levies of services nobility and their retainers. During the process of overseas
expansion the Portuguese state attempted to enlarge and develop its capacity
to manage a vast, worldwide enterprise, but it is a key to understanding the
story of Portuguese imperialism that this transition to a modern, professional,
bureaucratic state failed. That the Portuguese Empire endured so long was
due not Portugal's ability to mobilise state resources or private capital but to
the activities of the mixed race Portuguese Africans and Portuguese-Asians
28
29
Diffie and Winius, 1977,p.ll6.
Newitt,2005, p I
65
who created a whole new Portuguese identity in remote parts of the world and
held together an enterprise that, if it had relied on the metropolitan effort
alone, would have collapsed at an early stage. 30 This conjecture propounded
by Newitt is to be well regarded.
Besides the myths, the theories and the developments in cartography
and seafaring studied above in order to study the expansion of the Portuguese,
it is also necessary to understand the life on board ofthe fleets that traveled to
the East. This is because the fleets comprised of men who would occupy
positions in the various Portuguese settlements and hence it is necessary to
comprehend their mindset. A general picture of the Carreira da India along
with the image which one can draw upon from the travel writings would help
us to comprehend how unwieldy was this nine month sailing from Europe to
Asia was.
GUIDING THE MAST TO THE "INDIES"
An introspection of the conditions which prevailed on board of the
ship which was making its onward voyage from Europe to Asia would reflect
not only the conditions and psychological state of the boarders but would also
look into the question of power. This is important because the Europeans
traveling towards the eastern parts of the world had to undertake a long
exerting voyage, which lasted from six to nine months. After a tedious
journey, which was for many of them a first time experience, they were
supposed to take their various positions in the East. It is difficult to analyze
their conditions and mindset in totality in the course of the journey
nonetheless one can draw a somewhat crude picture from the sources. The
30
Ibid, p 1-2
66
late sixteenth century and the seventeenth century sources describe this aspect
to a certain extent with accuracy.
The term carreira da India was used by the Portuguese for the voyage
made from Lisbon to Goa and back from Goa to Lisbon. The seasonal winds
of the tropics formed the determining factor. So the Lisbon-Goa-Lisbon
voyage took one and a half years to complete under the most favourable
conditions. The seasonal winds were none other than the monsoons. The
Southwest monsoon which swayed over the western coast of India from the
beginning of June had the effect of virtually closing all harbours in this region
from the end of May to the beginning of September. So the trading months
were only between September and April on this coast. After the discovery of
the Cape route, it was always the effort of the Portuguese ships to leave
Lisbon before the Easter so as to reach the other side of the Cape in time to
catch the tail-end of the Southwest monsoon wind off the East African coast,
north of the equator. Henceforth they would reach Goa at the end of the
monsoons in September or October. Similarly they aimed at leaving Goa or
Cochin (which ever may the case be) with the Northeast monsoon about
Christmas, so as to round the Cape before the stormy 'winter' weather set in
there in May. 31
As far as the course of the journey is concerned, the carreira da India
in its early stage used to stop over in the coast of Brazil mainly at Bahia
(Salvador) both in its outward and inward journey, from and to Lisbon. This
stopover was discontinued at the end of the sixteenth century. There were
different reasons for this. Among them was the practice of the corrupt acts.
Also the prisoners who were made to board the ship at Lisbon to go to the
31
Boxer, C. R., the Tragic History of the Sea, 1589-1622, The Hakluyt society, 1959, p 1
67
East used to escape at Bahia. It must be added that the 'calmarias' that is to
say the absence of the winds alongside the African coast in the early period of
the carreira da India advised the pilots to look for routes far from the African
coast and closer to the coast of Brazil. However in the eighteenth century the
stopover at Brazil was resorted back. This is collaborated by the diary of Dom
Antonio Jose de Noronha.
It is imperative to know the types of ships used in the carreira da India.
There were generally two types of ships employed: carracks and galleons; smaller
vessels being used occasionally only. The carrack or nao was a big vessel which
was a type of merchant-ship used by the Venetians and Genoese in the latter
Middle Ages. These vessels of the carreira da India generally travelled in fleets.
Such fleets averaged seven vessels annually throughout the sixteenth century,
dropping to five for the years 1600-1650, and a mere two to three for the later part
of the century. 32 It were the Portuguese as Boxer notes, who brought to its greatest
and most spectacular development in the Nao da carreira da India during the late
sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. 33 This huge vessel undertook a voyage
from Europe to India and thence to Malacca, China, and Japan. The carrack was
broad in the beam with three or four flush decks, a high poop and forecastle, but
lightly armed for her size. Since it was a big vessel, its movement was bound to be
sluggish. The first carracks which were constructed were about 4oo tons.
Eventually their size grew to about 2,000 tons. They were heavy to the point of
disaster when overloaded or with a badly distributed cargo of pepper and spices.
Homeward-bound, pepper was stowed on the lower two decks, there were cabins
in the third deck, and the fourth deck and superstructure were used for privately
owned chests and bales. The deck was cluttered with cargo. The French traveller
32
Russell-Wood, A.J.R., A World on the Move, The Portuguese in Africa, Asia, and
America,l405-1808 Carcanet, 1992, p 30
33
Ibid, ppl-2
68
Fran9ois Pyrard de Laval referred to four vessels, each of 2,000 tons, arriving in
Goa in 1609. He observed that the carracks 'cannot float in less than ten fathoms
of water. ' 34 Another agreeable fact about the carracks was that while the smaller
craft was lifted on the waves, the former could not rise due to their weight. The
striking waves along with the storm would break their masts and yards sooner than
other vessels. The more resistance the wind meets, the greater is its force and
effect. Was this reason also that became a contributing factor that hampered the
Estado 's presence in Coromandel or in a wider context, in the Bay of Bengal?
As it has been already mentioned, prior to 1622, the Portuguese naos had
four flush decks but smaller ones had three or even two decks. Such ships were
sometimes called navetas.
but this term was used interchangeably for small
frigate-type India-built vessels which contemporary Dutch and English records
term as 'yachts' or 'frigates'. Smaller than the carracks were galleons or galiots.
Also referred to as galiotas, it was a lighter and handier vessel when compared to a
carrack. It had a less cumbersome form of poop and forecastle. The distinction
between carrack and galiots in Portuguese and Spanish terminology was not
always hard and fast one. During the course of the seventeenth century, it became
difficult to compartmentalize between the two kinds of vessels. The galiots usually
did not exceed 500-600 tons, but then some bigger ones were also in the picture.
Galleons of 800-1200 tons were not uncommon. According to Russel-Wood, in the
early seventeenth century, Dutch and English predations led the Portuguese switch
from the large 'black ships' to smaller, speedier, galliots (galiotas) of200-400 tons
for the Macao to Nagasaki run. 35
34
35
Gray, Albert, 1888, vol II Part I, p 181
Russell-Wood, A.J.R.,1992, p 28
69
There was a certain order on board that was maintained during these
voyages to Asia. John Huyghen van Linschoten's
36
and Franc;ois Pyrard de
Laval's give a detailed account ofthis aspect. Linschoten boarded the Portuguese
ship at Lisbon in April 1583 and said that it is normal to have "foure or five
hundred men at the least, sometimes more, sometimes lesse"37 . Pyrard de Laval
.
figures range between 800 to 1200 men as part of the crew.
38
There was also a
system of mustering. When the ships left the river to enter the sea, the sailors and
the soldiers were marked present or absent on board. The ones who were found
absent and the ones who passed away on the way, their sureties and goods after
making an entry in the inventory were left to be disposed at the captain's pleasure.
This was done when the ships returned back to Portugal.
There was a certain order that was maintained in the carracks. The captain
of the ship had the absolute authority over the whole ship as well as the men. Next
in the hierarchy was the pilot. There were other men also in the order. They were:
second pilot, a master, a master's mate, a guardian, two ropemakers 39 , mariners
who could be sixty in number, seventy odd apprentices and a master gunner who
was also called a constable. The constable was assisted by other gunners. A
chaplain was also the part of crew. Besides there was a clerk on board who
maintained a register of various accounts. He had great authority and his advice
36
John Huygen van Linschoten( 1562-1611 A.D.) was an adventurer who accompanied a
Portuguese vessel to India. His Reysgheschrift, published in 1595, recorded explicit sailing
directions he had garnered from Portuguese rutters for entering the Indian Ocean by way of the
Cape of Good Hope. But his more famous work is the Itinerario, which quickly became a standard
text for Indies-bound pilots, and is among our most important sources for Southeast Asia during the
sixteenth century. Linschoten's Itinerario made details of the formerly mysterious world of the
Portuguese Indies easily available to anyone with the dream and the initiative to venture to the
East. Further, Linschoten provided the geographic 'key' to unlocking the Portuguese grip on
passage through the Malacca Strait: Linschoten advocated approaching the Indies from the south of
Sumatra through the Sunda Strait, thereby minimizing the danger of Portuguese notice or reprisal.
37
John Huighen van Linschoten his voyage to Goa, and observations of the East
Indies,(abbreviated) in Purchas, Samuel, Purchas His Pilgrimes,The tenth volume, The Hakluyt
society publication,pp 222-225
38
Gray, 1888, Vol II, Part I, p 186
39
Linschoten uses the term strinceros whose duties were in the main yard, by the wheel.
70
was sorted for in various issues. According to Pyrard de Laval, "the clerk
represents the king on board.'.4° Besides these there were carpenters,
callafaren41 , steward, merinho 42 , rowers, boys43 and barbers who also acted as
surgeons.
Every person who undertook the voyage was paid. The master and the
pilot had chambers and cabins in the ship. All the aforementioned people had
their pay defined. The captain, pilot, master and other men in command got
berths in the ships which were allocated by the king. Others got fifty cruzados
as the pay. The surgeon on the ship who was usually the barber did not have a
definite pay. The factor and the purser were not paid. However they were the
greatest beneficiaries in the voyage. They were given big chambers below the
hatch and above the hatch they had cabins to sleep in. The soldiers whose
roles became so important in these voyages were however the most
unprivileged people on board. They were not a part of the crew but were
enumerated as passengers. They just had a free passage i.e. 'roome for a
Chest under hatches, and a place for their Bed in the Orloope. ' 44 The soldiers
needed the Viceroy's passport to come back to Europe. They could not
procure this license before serving for five years in the East Indies.
The officers and the people sailing along with them got a portion of
victuals. The proportion was alike for everyone irrespective of the position
held by the person. A day's portion of meal generally consisted of biscuits,
40
Gray, 1888, Vol II, part I, p 188
CaUaferan was the man who had the job of maintaining 'calafeta~lio' in the perfect condition. He
was an expert in the art of calafetar.
42
Merinho according to Linschoten was the person who imprisoned men aboard. He was also in
charge of the munitions and gunpowder.
43
The boys in the ship took care of their master.
44
John Huighen van Linschoten his voyage to Goa, and observations of the East
Indies,(abbreviated) in Purchas, Samuel, Purchas His Pilgrimes,The tenth volume, The Hakluyt
society publication, pp 225
41
71
half can ofwine, a can ofwater, a measurement of32 pounds of salt that is an
aroba45 , and some dried fish, onions and garlic at the beginning of the voyage.
There were also other provisions that were kept in store for the sick. This
included sugar, honey, raisins, prunes, rice. But the sick hardly got them for
the 'officers kept it for themselves. Meat also consisted in the diet, but they
preferred to catch the fowl on the way for it would turn stale. Another keen
observation by Pyrard de Laval pertains to the cooking done on board. He
noted that in the French and the Dutch ships, there was a cook who took care
to prepare the meals for the crew. But in the Portuguese ships each man had
to cook his own victuals. It was as he pointed "among the Portuguese the
eating and drinking is all a man's own affair." 46 While on their return journey
from Asia, their diet generally consisted of biscuits and water till the Cape of
Good Hope. At the Cape generally the crew bought their provisions.
The chaplain as has been noted was the religious in-charge on board.
Besides conducting the mass on Sunday, he conducted prayers on other holy
days as well. Every day at the break of the day all the ship's boys chanted a
sea-orison or prayer, which was a prayer meant for all people on board. Pietro
della Valle, a Roman who though voyaged to Goa in an English ship in 1622
departed from the same in Portuguese vessel in 1625. His observation is
noteworthy: "the Portugais as their custom is, after receiting the Litanies, and
praying to God, and Sant Antonio of Padua,(to whom they bear a great
devotion) to give us a good wind, indeed to bind a little Image of the said S.
Anthony which they carry'd in the Ship ... " 47 So the Portuguese also prayed
for their wellbeing like the people of the Indian coast who offered prayers and
victuals to the sea though on a particular day.
45
An aroba was a unit ofweight used in the 16th century.
Gray, 1888,Vol II, Part I, p 194
47
Havers, G., Travels of Sig. Pietro della Valle, A Noble Roman into East India and Arabia
Deserta, Printed by J. macock, for Henry Herringman,1665,p 231
46
72
Another interesting aspect which one comes across in the itinerary of
Linschoten is his reference to the indigenous sailors. Here the question of
power comes into being in a different dimension. It is a well-known fact that
the Arab sailors were well known for maneuvering ships across the various
parts of the Indian Ocean. Not only this, they also served in the Portuguese
ships as sailors. The Portuguese sailors on the other hand were ashamed to be
present as subordinate to the Arabs. For them, it was a great discredit to stay
aboard in that order. They thought it to be an immense discredit to their art.
Besides this they took it as a move towards diminishing their respective
authorities and estimations, which they held on board. They considered that:
'for if they should descend but one step lower, it would be a great blot and
blemish unto them all their lives after, which they would not indure for
anything in the world.' Such was the perspective of a Portuguese sailor and
his notion of power. 48
On their course of the journey to Asia, usually the boarders became sea
sick by the time they reached the Canary Islands. In this context, a descriptive
letter of a Jesuit, Nicolas Trigautius49 who sailed in 1618, assumes
importance. The Jesuit describes that the on boarders had been assigned
distinct hours to take care of the sick and also assigned duties for saying the
Sermons, the Mass, imparting knowledge about conscience, Mathematics,
exercise of the Chinese language etc. Most of the passengers were infested
with fever. Scurvy was another disease, which troubled these men. Our author
°
also succumbed to it and was in bed for fifty days. 5 Five of the Jesuits passed
48
ibid, pp264
This Jesuit mission was especially meant for China and Japan. Three ships had left Lisbon for the
purpose but they lost track of each other. In the ship in which Nicolas Trigautius was traveling
there were twenty-two missionaries. There were ten Portuguese, three Italians, four Germans, and
four Belgians besides him.
50
There were times when the sick were taken offshore and were attended there by another member
of the fleet. This is characteristically seen in the voyage of Captain William Hawkins where
49
73
away. Not only this, the captain of the ship also died. Trigautius points out to
the conflicts that arose after the captain's death for succession. There was
hardly peace in this context. Thus the question of power comes into being
here as wel1. 51
As late as the eighteenth century when the expansionary zeal of most
of the European Companies had been fulfilled and when they had learnt a lot
more about navigation, there were still the problems of food and health that
was faced by the on boarders. The diary of Dam Antonio Jose de Noronha52 ,
'Bishop in partibus de Halicarnasso' who was sailing to Goa in 1773
explicitly wrote about the life on board of a ship in his diary. Though it is an
eighteenth century reflection on the theme nevertheless it seems that the
conditions did not change much. It is noted by him that the death due to naval
combats, ship wrecks or other causes, which were more easily associated with
the navigation of the time, do not represent more than a small percent. The
majority of the casualties, which happened on board, were caused due to the
shortage of food and the diseases that inflicted the sailing lot in the course of
the journey. 53
Hawkins remained in Surat to take care of the merchant, William Finch while the ship went to the
other parts.<Purchas,Samuei,Purchas His Pilgrimes, The third volume,pp6>.Besides a comment
made by a sick on boarder states precisely the feelings of a sea sick person: "Were we only on shore
we were half cured of our sickness" <Bontekoe,Willem Ysbrantsz, Memorable description of the
• East Indian Voyage,l618-1625,Asian Educational Services,l992,pp28>.But in case of a shipwreck
like the one which happened with Captain Bontekoe's ship, the miserable state of the crew is
portrayed expressively. There was no water on the longboat and if they drank the sea water then
they would get dysentery and die. So they drank their urine<ibid, pp.Sl>
51
"The summe of a Letter of Nicolas Trigautius a Jesuite, touching his Voyage to India, and of the
State of Christianitie in China and Japan. A Letter also of Capt. Cocke, and Relations of Master
Roberts wracke on the Coast of China in the Unicome" in Purchas, Samuel, Purchas His
Pilgrimes,The tenth volume, The Hakluyt society publication, pp 75
52
Dom Antonio Jose de Noronha although was a religious man but was also a military adventurer,
diplomat and opined about the political situation that was prevalent. In the ship in which he was
sailing he was just a traveler but a good observant. Nevertheless during the course of his itinerary it
can be imagined that he had collected first hand information from the technicians, pilots etc.
53
Domingues, Francisco Contente, "De Lisboa a Goa, em 1773: Apontamentos do diario de
viagem de Dom Antonio Jose de Noronha." in Anais Hidrograficos, Torno XLIX,(supplemento),
Diretoria de Histrografia e Navega9ao, Brasil,l992,plll
74
Francisco Contente Domingues points that there were other factors
also which contributed to the number of losses of men. The poor
accommodation of the passenger on board; the lack of adequate conditions;
extremely poor hygienic conditions mainly of those who were traveling in the
lower part of the ship and who were not allowed to come in contact with the
fresh air made the one who was suffering more sick. Besides the bad storage
of solid and liquid food and the poor diet constitution also led to the men
succumbing to diseases like scurvy. Scurvy was caused due to the lack of
citric fruits and this was the most prevalent disease on board. 54
The ship was often struck by the tempest en route to Asia. The fleet of
Vas co da Gam a also encountered it and there were proposals made by the
compatriots to return back to Lisbon. da Gama refused to adhere to their
opinion and threatened to throw overboard anyone who said of it. The
continuances of the stormy weather made some of the sailors conspire against
their officers. They wanted to go back to Lisbon to avoid the perils of the sea.
This mutiny according to Danvers was hatched on board ofNicolau Coelho's
vessel. The ringleader was punished. So such instances did happen and in this
case as the King gave the command of the ship to da Gama; the latter
exercised the authority in totality. 55 So in the Portuguese ships it was the
captain who held the most authoritative position in the sixteenth century.
The memorable description of the voyage undertaken by a Dutch
captain Willem Ysbrantz Bontekoe comprehends all sorts of situations which
prevailed on board of a ship. Though it is a seventeenth century narrative, but
the information it provides is viable to a certain extent for the sixteenth
century also. In the Dutch ships there was a certain gradation of merchants
54
55
ibid
Danvers, F.C., The Portuguese in India, Vol. I, Frank Cass& co. Ltd.1966, pp45
75
done. The title of the merchant itself indicated a rank in the official hierarchy
of the Dutch East India Company. The various ranks were: assistant, junior
merchant, merchant and senior merchant. Above them were the Commanders
and Governors and with them was the Governor-general's council. In this
hierarchy the role of the captain was almost none. The relations between the
captain of a ship and the merchant, who served on it as a good deal more than
a supercargo, were difficult. There were frequent quarrels between the two.
Thus the power constitution varied greatly in a Dutch ship from the
Portuguese one. The very aspect of the Dutch company as a well-organized
commercial organization is reflected here. The Dutch paid more attention to
the merchants rather than the captain navigating the ship through the worst
climatic conditions. This fact is exemplified best in Bontekoe's case. In his
sole expedition to Asia, the conduct of the voyage was entrusted to a council
of seven members. Bontekoe was excluded from this list. Cornelis Reyertsz
was the President of the council. The other members were merchants who
were four in number; one of the captains of ships in the fleet; and a captain of
soldiers on board. The two merchants who sat in the council had served
successively in Bontekoe's ship, Groningen from which the captain was
excluded. So this was the state of the importance of a captain· in a Dutch
ship. 56
Apart from this aspect, this Captain Bontekoe had to plead to the
Merchant Heyn Rol to take the sick men to the land of which they had been
pleading for to the captain. When the Captain's plea was dismissed, the
Captain himself took the initiative of helping the poor sick fellows to the
shore. This case in point shows the limited authority of a Dutch captain. Even
56
Bontekoe, Will em Ysbrantsz, Memorable description of ·the East Indian Voyage, 16181625,Asian Educational Services, 1992,pp 16-17
76
when the fire broke on the ship due to negligence, and the ship was on the
verge of getting destroyed, the merchant did not let the captain throw the
barrels of gunpowder overboard. The merchant's viewpoint was that: "If we
throw the powder overboard we may put out the fire and coming afterwards in
fight with our enemy, should we be taken (having no gunpowder), how should
we answer for this?"57 On the other hand the merchant had no command over
the crew of the ship. When some men of the crew were escaping from the
burning ship on a long boat, the merchant requested that they should wait for
the captain. But he was unheard of and the men rowed away. 58 In the letter of
the King to the Viceroy dated 61h March 1605, there is also a reference to a
rebellious movement of soldiers on board of a ship sent to Ceylon and for
reasons that were not explained, the rebellion had assumed such a dimension
that the voyage had to be interrupted. 59
Besides such perils of the sea, there were other troubles that the
navigators faced. Master Ralph Fitch (1583-1591) commented that a boat
should not go alone especially near the Persian Gulf area. He says in case the
boat breaks then it is difficult to save the boat for the paucity of the Arabians
robbing it is greater. 60 In the first expedition of Alfonso de Albuquerque to
Southeast Asia in which Antonio de Breu and Francis Serrano had
accompanied him, the Portuguese burned Serrano's ship, as it was rotten and
old. Instead of it they bought a new junk. So such kinds of indulgences were
also made in the expeditions.
57
ibid, pp39
ibid, pp40
59
Raymundo Antonio de Bulhao Pato, Documentos Remettidos da India ou Livros das Mon9oes,
publicadoes de ordem da classe de sciencias moraes,politicas e bellas-lettras da Academia real das
sciencias de Lisboa,Tomo I,MDCCCLXXX,p27
60
"The Voyage of Master Ralph Fitch" in Purchas, Samuel, Purchas His Pilgrimes,The tenth
volume, The Hakluyt society publication, pp 165-166
58
77
The above possibility of attack by the pirates is again mentioned in a
letter of the Viceroy, Ayres de Saldanha that he had written to the King of
Portugal on 61h March 1605. In the mentioned correspondence he had granted
the armada of Malabar to Dom Jorge de Castelo Branco who had rendered
service satisfactorily. In the same armada, there were two gales 61 also. In case
a large number of them were required then they would be supplied even if an
investment had to be made. The King pointed out that as he has been
informed that after the possession of the fortress of Cunhale, the Malabar
Coast was largely free from enemies and so larger number of shipscould come
now than before. But even now the coast was infested with 'ladroes'(thieves)
. Due to the usage of fustas and gales that used to form the armadas and
considering the fact that the enemy used sanguiceis 62 which could not be
handled by the Portuguese sailing vessels; the King recommended the
Viceroy to build a larger quantity of light ships which would replace the gales
and fustas. With the building of the light sailing vessels the Portuguese were
trying to assure free navigation. 63 Thus the Crown was adopting methods to
ensure the safety of its vessels and also devising new means by which the
ships of the Estado could be effectively protected. By these measures that
were taken in the early years of the sixteenth century the Estado da India was
trying to secure its stake both from the indigenous enemies of the region and
also the Dutch.
The subject of 'life on board of a ship' also assumes importance due to
the fact that the men who arrived in the East had to hold positions in different
capacities. According to the instruction given by the King, all people who
61
Gales were trading boats or cargo boats.
a type oflndian coastal vessel
63
Raymundo Antonio de Bulhao Pato, Documentos Remettidos da India ou Livros das Monyoes,
publicadoes de ordem da classe de sciencias moraes,politicas e bellas-lettras da Academia real das
sciencias de Lisboa,Tomo I,MDCCCLXXX,pp26-27
62
78
leave for the East from Lisbon assume the obligation of serving the Crown for
eight years in the aegis of the Estado da India. After the completion of three
years of service these men were enlisted to
occupy the posts of
responsibility. 64 Nevertheless there were a number of violations in this
process but the core remained that all the necessary services be given to them
for the benefit ofthe administration. Thus the Crown made all possible efforts
to give impetus for the service that was to be rendered by such men.
THE ESTADO IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
Once beyond the Cape of Good Hope, the Portuguese were going to enter a
world of well-established and intensive maritime connections from East Africa and
the Arabian Sea as far as Indonesia. First of all in these waters the Portuguese
tried to challenge Arab and Gujrati trade domination of the routes to the Levant.
Though they were permitted to trade but did not have exclusive control initially.
The second approach was unlocking the key to commerce to the east with China,
Japan, Indonesia, and the spice islands, and to the west with subsequent
distribution to the Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean. After this, they started
controling the routes to the Levant and Persian Gulf. In this way the Portuguese
got placed at all the choke points of the Indian Ocean trading world from were
they could monitor traffic between the Sea of Oman and the Bay of Bengal and
further east. In spite of such a dominance which they mastered through the cartaz
system and by granting concession voyages, Portuguese failure to capture Aden
left open the loophole of the Red Sea to Muslim trade. Control of these key points
was crucial to the maintenance of a Portuguese presence in the Indian Ocean and
beyond.
64
Antonio da Silva Rego, Documentos Remettidos da India ou Livros das mons;oes, publicadoes
de ordem da classe de sciencias moraes,politicas e bellas-lettras da Academia real das sciencias de
Lisboa,Tomo VII, MCMLXXV,p217
79
..·..
·
·.·.::1
.,.,j
··~
p"'1:~ ~~.<;\.,~'::7.
:n~
E: :..;.
·.~~·
1i;'PZ> ...
" :<li.:su a.-.~
~-
J ),_, .\I" •!••
f;;!!!••ltl
•lL'
d! :11.
The first Portuguese who arrived in the straits ofMalacca in 1509 A.D.
saw a flourishing trade at the entrepot of Malacca. The Arabs had a notable
presence as a trading community in Southeast Asia. So much so that Ludovico
de Varthema who traveled in this region just before the arrival of the
Portuguese, had to dupe his identity and call himself a Persian. 65 Besides the
Arabs there were many other communities, which were involved in trade. So
Malacca was an important center of call and was the place where most of the
trading diasporas were located in the region. The amalgamation of so many
different communities at Malacca is significant from the view of crosscultural interaction.
According to Philip Curtin, "cross-trade has almost
always been carried out through special institutional arrangements to help
guarantee the mutual security of the two side."66 As far as Malacca is
concerned, there existed a well-defined structure of the way trade was
organized prior to the arrival of the Portuguese, which had provided an
incentive to the growth of cross-cultural trade.
The administrative structure of Malacca hence, provided every amenity
for the trade communities situated there. Besides, the strategic location of
Malacca also brought prosperity to it. Malacca was one of the three keypoints, with Goa and Hormuz, which gave Portugal the control over the main
Asiatic trade routes. Such a place could but hold any ones attention. In the
age of pre-modern commerce, the role played by polity and the trading
communities at Malacca is of immense importance. One can actually put
65
The narrative by Varthema (Jones 1928,p.82) concerns with Pegu. When the King of Pegu
questioned the identity of Varthema and his companions, they revealed themselves as Persians.
Thus the King agrees to their request of selling their produce. The dialogue, which follows,
provokes interest. The King began to say: "That he had been at war with the King of Ava for two
years, and on that account he had no money; but that if were willing to barter for so many rubies,
he would amply satisfy us". We caused him to be told by these Christians (i.e. the other group
mates) that we desired nothing further from him than his friendship- that we should take the
commodities and do whatever he pleased to develop ties. On a number of other occasions, the
Portuguese adopted similar tactics to expand safely in the region so as to monopolize the trade.
66
Curtin, Philip, Cross-Cultural trade in World History, Cambridge, 1984, p.l.
80
these expatriate mercantile communities under the nomenclature of 'Trade
Diaspora.' Introduced by Abner Cohen in 1971, the concept described "the
interrelated commercial network of a nation of socially interdependent but
spatially dispersed communities."67 Without these communities Malacca's
prosperity could not have won so may accolades. They were the lifelines of
the trade that thrived here after all!
Philip Curtin admitted that the organization of the trade diasporas
varied widely. Besides the informal ties based on, for example, a shared
culture, religion, language, kinship, there were also formal ones with
centralized arrangements. 68 In the former category, we can put the Keling
merchants from the Tamil coast that, it can be assumed, became an important
factor
in
Coromandel-Southeast
Asian
trade.
It
Is
difficult
to
compartmentalize them in a particular section because there were a number of
factors, which made this diaspora to settle in Southeast Asia, trade being the
primary one. The Dutch and the English East India Companies fit in the
second part along with the Portuguese Estado da India. The role played by the
Asian diasporas in the region particular to our theme, was much more than
has been assumed. In fact they were the ones who introduced the Europeans
in Coromandel-Southeast Asia network, though the Europeans themselves
understood the profit incurred in this network once they reached Malacca.
Although the European stimulus had resulted in the growth of trade on this
route, but at the same time we cannot understate the role played by say the
Kelings. They had been a part of this network for a long time, so their impact
was not felt as profoundly as that of Europeans. Moreover the European
enterprise was larger in scale and organized on different lines.
67
68
Wink, Andre, AI Hind: The making of the Indo-Islamic World, OUP, 1990, pp.65-66.
Curtin, 1984, pp.2-12.
81
The most distinct example of one diaspora helping the other can be
seen in the case of the capture of Malacca. From the days of the arrival of
Diogo Lopes Sequira at the entrepot of Malacca, it was believed by the
various group of merchants like the Gujaratis, Parsis, Arabs, Bengalis and the
Kelings that "the Portuguese had reached the port, and consequently were
bound to come there anytime, and that, besides robbing by sea and by land,
they were spying inorder to come back and capture it [i.e. Malacca] just as all
India was already in the power of the Portuguese. " 69 Thus most of the groups
helped each other in their endeavor to keep the Portuguese away from
Malacca. The apprehension of the trading diasporas
was however correct
regarding the Portuguese venture of Malacca. In the capture of Malacca by
'Franks' / 0 the Keling merchants played a crucial role by siding with the
Portuguese. This was because they saw a potential ally in the Portuguese who
were also against there archrivals-the Arab and Gujarati merchants. So
significant was their role that when the Bemdara of Malacca, Nina Chatu
(who was a Keling) died, the Portuguese remarked "May it please our Lord
that we do not miss Nina Chatnu, as we all fear." 71 It was thought by them to
have two hundred more Portuguese to uphold Malacca! Thus, the port of
Malacca was important for the Estado da India right from the onset of the
capture of Malacca.
The conquest of Malacca72 by Afonso de Albuquerque in 1511 A.D.
became a significant saga in the writing of !he later Europeans. Writing much
69
Cortesao Vol.II, 1990,p.255.
A term used for the Portuguese in many sources like Sejarah Melayu, Suma Oriental.
71
Cortesao Vol.II, 1990,p.288.
.
72
B. W. Diffie and G. D. Winius in the book "Foundations of the Portuguese Empire 1415-1580"
write: "the capture of Asia's greatest trading city by a mere 900 Portuguese and 200 Indians must
rank as an event in the history of European expansion no less stunning than the better known
conquest ofTenochtitlan by Hernando Cortes".
70
82
later, John Crawfurd, while writing about the history of the Indonesian
archipelago reproduced it as-
"Albuquerque saw Malacca as useless and dreary solitude,
and resolve it to repeople it with strangers. He, for this
purpose, pursued the wise and salutary conduct of leaving
the natives to their domestic laws and usages. He intrusted
Raja Utimutis, a Javanese chief, with the administration of
the Mahamedan part of the population, and Ninachetnan
over the Pagan portion, the former an ambitions chief, who
long aimed at the sovereignity of Malacca, and the latter,
one who befriended the Portuguese from his hatred to the
Lf h
. .. 73
lYla
orned an re l.zgzon.
In this passage mentioned above, though there was a bit of digression
but the flavor of the event remains same, centuries after its occurrence.
Besides the ones on history, the authors writing about their contemporary
times could also not afford to fail to notice Malacca and its historicity. For
example, Peter James Begbei, a Captain with the English East India Company
in the 1830's, related the seizure of Malacca by the Portuguese in context of
the ongoing Nanning War (1831-32). While giving a vivid description of the
prosperity of Malacca and the military encounters of the Portuguese, he gave
a detailed account like that of Barbosa or Pires. Having some discrepancies
like noting Nina Chatnu as a 'pagan Malay' /
4
it is clear that since he was
interested in the conflict side of the history, he did not bother to give other
details. Nevertheless Malacca occupied a place even in the writings of the
nineteenth century.
Once Malacca was conquered, Afonso de Albuquerque sent men in all
those directions from where commodities came to Malacca. His basic
73
74
Crawfurd, John, 1820, pp.402-03.
Begbei, P.J., Malayan Peninsula, Oxford University Press, Kuala Lumpur, 1967, p.38.
83
concentration was towards the archipelago. He sent Antonio de Miranda d'
Azevedo to Siam and Pegu, Ruy d' Acunha to Java and Antonio d' Abreu to
Maluku. With such embassies he also wanted to assure that the people trading
with Malacca should not have fear of the Portuguese for they would preserve
rights and given all protection to the dealings, 75 as Barros noted. Before
Antonio d' Abreu left, Albuquerque sent a believer of Islam, a native of
Malacca called Nehoda Ismail, who regularly traded with the ports of the
archipelago. This act was a way to facilitate d' Abreu's venture in the
archipelago. Thus this merchant was used by the Portuguese to introduce
them in a good light in the insular Southeast Asia. Further as Barros observed
that:
"The purpose that had been spread was that this Nehoda
was going to fetch clove in Maluku and cinnamon in Banda
and in this way would give testimony how peaceful was
Melaka and how great protection was given by the Captain
to all foreign merchants without the harassments the used to
suffer at the time of the King of Melaka. " 76
Thus this was an act of publicity by the Portuguese so as to pave cordial
relations in order to monopolise the trade of the archipelago.
With the occupation of Malacca Albuquerque immediately ordered the
building of a fortress on the south side of the river. This fortress was called
"A Famosa" and it was finished in November 1511. In 1532, the Confraria
da
M~seric6rdia
was founded and a beautiful wooden hospital for the poor
was also constructed. The church also started a school. Active missionary
work began in 1545 with the arrival of St. Francisco Xavier. In 1552 was set
75
Barros, Decada III, Parte Primeira Livro II, ChapterVI, 1973, p.583; It is interesting to note here
that the Portuguese inverted the rates paid at the custom house of Melaka. The Christians, that now
paid 6% and the Muslims and the Hindus 10% as Thomaz argues (Thomaz, Luis Filipe F.R., "The
Indian Merchant Communities in Malacca under the Portuguese Rule." In de Souza, Teotonio R.
(ed.), Indo-Portuguses History Old Issues, New Questions, Concept Publishing Company, New
Delhi, 1985, p.63.
76
ibid.
84
up the "Camara" (Municipal Council) of Malacca. After the conquest of
Malacca, Portugal's policy in the Malaya Peninsula was either to establish
alliances with local rulers or to convince the adjoining Kingdoms to accept
Portuguese suzerainty. From his base at Johore, the old Sultan of Malacca
repeatedly attacked Malacca in 1517, 1520, and 1521 and in 1525. At last, in
1583, a peace treaty was signed. Malacca was repeatedly under siege in 1550,
1567, 1571 and the main enemies were Johore and Atjeh or Aceh (in
Sumatra). In Malacca, Albuquerque also established a new administration,
minted a new currency and built a wooden chapel close to the. fortress.
The Portuguese called all the islands beyond Malacca, Ia Sonde, as one
should say, "the sea and islands of the South". 77 Under this name are
comprised Sumatra, Java, the Moluccas, and all the other islands of the
insular Southeast Asia. The details of all the islands in this sea of Sunda- or
"Southern Sea" 78 , as the Portuguese call it- has already been described in the
preceding chapter. The Portuguese posted clerks and factors in all the islands
of the archipelago for trade. This arrangement was helpful for the inhabitants
as they would not have to go with their vessels laden to
Malacc~.
So in this
way the Portuguese took charge of the veins of the commercial world of
Southeast Asia and started dominating. Malacca, Temate and Timor thus
became· the official settlements of the Portuguese in Southeast Asia. Though the
Estado had penetrated in the archipelago in such astute manner, but there still were
certain settlements which were unofficial in nature. These were Macasser, Ambon,
Banda, Tidore.
77
They were called the Sunda islands, but not with this meaning, vol I, p. 160. Sunda in the
western part of Java, the people being distinct from the Javanese in race and language. There is
some confusion in author's mind. The Portuguese called the Eastern Archipelago and the Pacific
generally by the name Mar do Sui. Also in the East India Company's records, down to the early
part oflast century, those regions are always termed "the South Sea".
78
Gray, 1889, Vol II, Part I, pp157-169
85
The first Portuguese expedition to the Moluccas, under the command
of Antonio de Abreu, arrived in Amboina and in the Banda islands in 1512.
After an adventurous voyage he went back at Malacca. Francisco Serrao and
other members of this expedition wrecked on a reef offLucopino island (Nusa
Penju) not far from Ambon island, but somehow managed to reach first
Ambon and then Ternate. There the Sultan of Ternate adopted Serrao as his
personal councilor and made him and his companions prominent figures of his
royal court. Francisco Serrao who was with Antonio de Abreu, as a
commander of another vessel in the expedition to the Moluccas became ship
wreaked on the reefs of an island, probably Giliang. Fortunately with the
Portuguese wreckage was spied by a band of Malaysian pirates, who
specialized in exploiting such distress. Serrao and his sailors saw them
coming and merely lay low, waiting for the cutthroats to come ashore. They
then sprang up behind them and commandeered their vessel to the Moluccas,
where they were stranded for three years. The King of Ternate on hearing that
Francisco Serrao was at Amboina, set for him and received him well in his
domain. As Pires noted, "the said King wrote letters to Malacca saying how
he and his land were the slaves of the King our Lord."79 It was only in 1514
A.D., when an expedition arrived from Malacca under Antonio de Miranda de
Azevedo. 80 Thus this contact was the beginning of future Portuguese
79
Cortesao Vol.I, 1990,p.215.
Barros, (Decada III, Parte Primeira Livro II, ChapterVI, 1973, p.598), gives an account of
Ternate and Tidore which is interest stimulating and on different lines. "In the same year (1513)
after the visit of John Lopo Alvin Antonio de Miranda d' Azevedo went one armanda to the islands
of Maluku and Banda to load clove, and in the said voyage he lost a junk; And both the Kings there
one of Ternate and the other of Tidore competed among themselves regarding the supply of cloves
and the jealously that always existed between them although the King of Ternate was the son-inlaw of the other, married to the daughter of the King of Tidore. In order to establish the peace
between th etwo, Antonio de Miranda d' Azevedo interefered and being afraid that the one in
which the Portuguese would settle would become more powerful than the other, each one of them
has written to the King Don Manuel requesting him to build a fortress giving the reasons for the
services that they would give to the King. And as the request of both has created a deep confusion
in the mind about where to put up the fortress and as they have an island that was owned by both of
them which was known by the name of maqueium it was decided that the fortress would be built
there without creating any feeling between them."
80
86
endeavors in the region. It finally resulted in building up of the fort of Sao
Joao at Ternate in 1522, the first real foothold of the Portuguese in the
Moluccas. Thus this was the beginning of the Portuguese monopoly in the
trade of spices of the region.
The Kingdom of Makassar at time of Portuguese expansion in the
Asian seas comprised of kingdom of Gowa and Tallo. Portuguese merchants
frequented Makassar (Ujung Pandang) intermittently during 16th century, but
was only after the Islamization of the Makassar's Kingdom (1600s.) that their
presence growth. The Portuguese during the 17th century used Makassar as a
commercial center for the silk, the cloves, the textiles, the sandalwood and the
diamonds. In 1620s there were regularly as many as 500 Portuguese
merchants that frequented the port of Makassar, they traded here in safety and
the Sultans, that were fluent in Portuguese, gave aid and to confront. The·
friendly relations between Makassar and Portugal were strengthened by their
common attempts to stop the Dutch power in the Moluccas and Sunda islands.
The prosperity of Makassar greatly increased after the fall of Malacca in
Dutch hands ( 1641 ), when many Portuguese merchants immigrated to
Makassar.
On February 1522, the Portuguese captain Antonio de Brito came to
the Banda islands and strengthened the friendship with the King of these
islands. To mark this event, they erected a stone "padrao" with the arms ofthe
King of Portugal. Antonio de Brito arrived in Ternate in May of 1522, where
he built the fortress of Sao Joao Baptista de Ternate. The first stone of the
fortress was laid on June 1522.The Jesuits started a school in Ternate in its
earlier days. The Portuguese rule in these islands was always weak. This was
due to the remoteness of the islands and to the small number of the
Portuguese that arrived there; the Europeans were never more than a few
87
thousand. Several Spanish expeditions arrived at Tidore, the first was that of
Magalhaes. The Spaniards settled in Tidore and annoyed the Portuguese for
many years. On 25 October 1536, the Portuguese governor, Antonio Galvao
arrived at Ternate. He was a good governor, reconciling, organizing and
evangelizing the Moluccas. He was also the builder of the Portuguese town of
Ternate, he built a school and an hospital and had a stone wall built all around
the town. Antonio Galvao is worshiped as the apostle of the Moluccas. On 15
July 1575, the Portuguese surrendered the fort.
Ambon was an island located in the center of the Spice Islands in what
IS
today the Indonesian archipelago. In the year 1569,
Gon~alo
Pereira
Marramaque erected a wooden fort on the northern coast of the Ambon
Island. In 1572, it was moved to the southern side of the bay. Subsequently,
Sancho de Vasconcelos built a temporary fort at Gelala and another at
Batumarah, both of wood; and finally built a stone fortress where the town of
Ambon is situated today. The first stone was laid on 25 March 1576 and the
fortress was named "Nossa Senhora da Anunciada". In July 1576, the new
fortress was inaugurated. Inside the square construction crowned with four
towers, one at each corner, there were the captain residence, a meeting room,
some storehouses and dwellings for the military officials. The town was built
around the fortress and was divided in several quarters, all inhabited by
Christians.
The Portuguese town was not walled; only the Jesuits (in Ambon since
1578) had a stone wall around their garden to protect themselves against
attacks of enemy villages. Near their residence was the church of "Sant' Iago"
(1581) covered by a thatched roof. The Jesuits also served in the church of
Sao Tome (1581 ). They used their residence in Ambon like a pastoral center
for Ambon and the three Lease Islands: Haruku, Saparua, Nusalaut. The
Ambon residence was for some years (1575-1578) the center of the Moluccas
88
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·~-
.
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<:.::.
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~~~@~~~'~;~ ?'d~1/'~~~~, ;\ :~ '
.,,;:<:,-
-:,:,~.~'f::: ><··"~·
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•. _,.• • : ·
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Jesuit mission. Along the shore was situated the oldest church of Ambon
called "Sao Paulo" a fortress church. Near the southeastern side of the fort
were the hospital and the church of "Misericordia". This brotherhood confraria da Misericordia- was founded in 1579.The town of Ambon was
besieged many times. Its history is a history of war. In 1591 and in 1593 the
Ternatans besieged it; in 1598 by the Javanese; in 1600 by the Dutch; finally
on 23 February 1605 the fortress surrendered to the Dutch.
The early Portuguese contact with Solor and Flores islands was in the
years about 1520s. They frequented these islands mainly to purchase
sandalwood. The early traders established only temporary warehouses. They
did not built permanent trading posts, farms or fortresses, as this task was left
to the Dominican missionaries. In 1561, four Dominican friars under the
orders of Brother Antonio da Cruz left Malacca to preach the Gospel in those
islands. They settled in Solor. The friars had a noticeable success in the
conversions. In order to protect their spiritual work from the enemies, in 1566
they built a stone fortress at Solor. Within the fort were built the friars'
dormitory, a seminary (in 1600 it contained 50 pupils) and the church of
Nossa Senhora da Piedade reserved to the Portuguese.
The Portuguese captain resided in a tower. On the left side of the fort,
a native village was built adjacent to the church of Sao Joao Baptista. A few
years later, outside the fort, near the sea, was built the church of
Misericordia. New conversions were also done in the nearby islands of
Adonara and Flores.- In the island of Ende Minor the friar built a fort (1595),
and, within its walls, was built the church of Sao Domingos. The converted
indigenous peoples settled in the vicinity of the fort, where three native
villages were founded. Numbas, close to the fortress; Currolalas on the left
side, with the church of Santa Catarina de Sena; and Charaboro on the right
side, with the church of Santa Maria Maddalena. The first commander of the
89
fortress of En de was capitao (captain) Pero Carvalhais. By 1599 the
Dominicans had built as many as eighteen churches in the Solor islands.
The becoming of Malacca a Portuguese beachhead, led to a dispersion
of trade to a number of other centers as Anthony Reid has pointed out. 81 The
immediate beneficiaries were Patani, Johore, Pahang, Acheh and Banten which emerged from obscurity to become substantial states in the sixteenth
century. Most of the Gujarati merchants followed the ousted Malaccan Sultan
to his exile at Pagah, and later on to Bantam. From there, the Sultan harassed
the Portuguese. On a later date, he finally settled in Johore and his successors
were equally hostile towards the Portuguese. The several attacks they made
incurred great loss to the Portuguese. In the troubled straits of Malacca was
the emergence of J ohore, where a part of Malacca' s trade had shifted with the
sovereigns. Pasai in north Sumatra was another part where Islamic diaspora
moved away from Malacca took refuge in Aceh. It was this place, which was
to become a chief Islamic center of the region in the coming years. Not only
did the Muslim merchants moved to the places near Malacca but as far as
Brunei in north Borneo. Besides, the Portuguese also faced rivalry from the
rulers of Bintin. 82 In the meanwhile the Malay traders had also transferred
their activities to Maccasar in South Celebes.
81
Reid, Anthony, 1993,pp209
Barros has noted the conflict between Bintin and the Portuguese Melaka in detail.,l( Decada
Tercira,Livroii,ChapteriV,1973,pp 146-151). "Dom Aleixo de Menezes was sent to Melaka with
galleons and ammunitions. As a part of the measures to make Melaka secure, Dom Aleixo sent
Duarte Coelho to the King of Siam with a letter and gift from Dom Manule, King of Portugal. But
this also seems to be an opportunity taken by the Portuguese to strengthen and uphold their ties.
Further they requested to the King of Siam to send some of his people to settle down in Melaka.
This was because the Portuguese intended to send away all the Malays who were Muslims and
settle the subjects of the King of Siam. It was a way of improving the relations on the part of the
Portuguese. As the Portuguese felt more secure with the Siamese, rather than the Malays; they
wanted the Siamese to be a part of the trade at Melaka and that is why the Muslims were as
planned, to be thrown out. Furthermore when Duarte Coelho while returning from Siam
accidentally landed on the coast of Pam, which was ruled by the King of Bintin, he was wellreceived with the testimonials of friendship rather than getting punished. Since he had bad relations
with his father-in-law, he made himself a vassal of KingDom Manuel promising him to give every
year a vase of gold weighing four cates."
82
90
Between 1511 and 1515, the Portuguese crown in co-operation with
the Keling merchants organized a series of overseas ventures. The
destinations from Malacca were either ports of the mainland Southeast Asia
like Martaban or Pulicat on the Coromandel coast or the Moluccas in the
archipelago, besides others. Such ventures of the Estado in the Indian Ocean
led to the emergence of the system of carreira. 83 From the 1520's as Sanjay
Subrahmanyam has observed-"the carreira system represented a compromise
between Crown and private interests. " 84 Like the nakhoda (captain of the
ship) in the traditional Indian shipping, who had the right to have a cargo
space, the captain and the officials of the Estado da India were also allowed
the free use of a certain proportion of the cargo-hold, in addition to the salary
they secured.
By the beginning of the third decade of the sixteenth century, the
Portuguese had constructed the forts in the major niches of the trading world of
Asia. The extant ones were: Sofala (1505), Mozambique (1508), Hormuz
(1515),Chaul(l521), Goa (1510), Cannanore (1505), Calicut (1513), Cochin
(1503), Kallam (1519),Colombo(l518), Pasai (1521) and Melaka (1511 )-from
west to east. On the east African coast, Kilwa (1502-12), Socotra (1507-11) and
Anjedive (1505-07) had already been abandoned. 85 Thus with all the major trading
zones covered within the ambit of these niches, the foothold of the Estado da India
in the trading world of the Indian Ocean became stronger. This is one of the
reasons behind the monopoly of the Estado that lasted for a century.
83
Carreira was a system by ·which a particular trade route was dominated by the Crown. This
system was widely prevalentto the east of Cape Comorin. With the help of it the Portuguese could
dominate the most important and priceless trade in the region in the l61h century.
84
Subrahmanyam, Sanjay, The Portuguese Empire in Asia, l500-l700:A Political and Economic
History, Longman, l993;pp 71
85
In Southeast Asia, as Barros (Decada II, Livro VIII, Chapter I, pp24l) observed that "fortress of
Pacem was the first one unto this date that we have been compelled to abandon due to the fight
with those of the land."
91
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From the above list, it can be discerned that the Portuguese enterprise
to the east of Cape Comorin followed the 'Guinea model', 86 as postulated by
Luis Fillipe F.R. Thomaz. According to this model, firstly, the fortresses
became less frequent and the factories were also placed at distant intervals.
Secondly, the dominant type of trade was a seasonal one along the coasts.
This is noticeable even when the Portuguese enterprise was at the fullest. This
type of trade was not only prevalent on the Coromandel Coast but also in
Southeast Asia. The fortresses, east of Cape Comorin were mainly in
Southeast Asia. The western part of the Bay of Bengal was left unfortified. As
for this region of the Bay of Bengal, it remained for the most part a more
incognitum as Sanjay Subrahamanyam and Thomaz have pointed. 87 The
reason they cite is that the greater part of the Bay remained a domain of
Portuguese deserter and disreputable private trader in the pre-1530 period.
Thus there were no fortresses built on the Coromandel Coast but the
unofficial Portuguese settlements were the theatres for the activities of the
Estado. Not only this as mentioned earlier in the chapter while dealing with
the myth of St. Thomas, the Estado tried to provide religious legitimacy to the
region to assure its trade as well as the Gospel.
COROMANDEL: THE UNOFFICIAL REALM OF THE ESTADO
The early interaction of the Portuguese with the Coromandel Coast
happened as early as 1506, which was purely by accident. They landed in the
vicinity of Nagapattinam where they received a hostile reception from the
local Muslim traders_ as a letter from Gaspar da India to the King of Portugal
86
Cited in Subrahmanyam, Sanjay, The Political Economy of Commerce 1500-1650, Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge, 1990,p.92.
87
Subrahmanyam, Sanjay and Thomaz, Luis Filipe F.R., "Evolution of Empire: The Portuguese in
the Indian Ocean During the Sixteenth Century," in Tracy, James D. (ed.) The Political Economy
of Merchant Empires, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1991 ,p.302.
0')
dated 16th November 1506 suggests. 88 According to Barros 89 , it was in
relation to discover the land of the martyrdom of St. Thomas that the
Portuguese reached the Coromandel Coast around the year 1518. They were
in the company of an Armenian called Khwaja Sikander who had already
been to Pulicat and had the knowledge of the place where St. Thomas was
buried.
Thus the Coromandel, which was considered to be peripheral zone by
the Portuguese administrators, came into limelight. There also developed
clarity about the resources and the strength of the pre-existing commercial
network with Southeast Asia. It was only by the late 1520's that the custom of
sending a ship annually, on account of the Portuguese Crown crystallized.
The development of the carreira (navigational line) moved from an initial
Melaka-Pulicat-Melaka route to Goa-Pulicat-Melaka-Goa route. The one
between Malacca and Pegu now included Pulicat and thus the pattern was
Goa-Pulicat-Pegu-Goa route .The inclusion of Pulicat in the carreira as well
as its beginning and terminal point between Goa shows the increasing
confidence of the Portuguese officialdom on the Coromandel coast. Pulicat,
hence rose to importance and became tiny, unofficial 'empire within an
empire.' 90
88
As cited by Subrahmanyam, Sanjay, 1990,pp98.
Barros gave detailed description of the venture, which is as follows:
"The first news that the Portuguese had about this place where was buried, St. Thomas is dated of
1517 and is due to Diogo Fernandes and Bastiao Fernandes who in the company of their
Portuguese were returning from Me/aka in the company of an Armenian, Khwaja Sikander, who
was accompanied by other Armenians. The said Armenians had already been in the city of Pulicat
on the coast of Coromandel belonging to the Kingdom of Vijaynagar in the extreme of Cape
Comorin on his way to Bengal and had knowledge of the place where according to the tradition the
Saint was buried. Arriving at the port of Pulicat at a moment in which weather conditions did not
allow him to proceed in his voyage, he landed; having this Armenian told ours [i.e. the
Portuguese] if they were wishing to accompany him to the place where the body of St. Thomas was
buried according to the tradition. If they were wishing to go there, what the Portuguese accepted
with great pleasure. "
90
Subrahmanyam, Sanjay, 1990,ppl 02
89
93
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Though the Portuguese establishment was at Sao Thome but all the
trading was done from Pulicat due to the fact that it had a better harbor. 91 A
far inferior port to Pulicat was Nagapattinam. At least from the Chola times,
if not before, it participated in the trade in the Bay of Bengal and across to
Southeast Asia. Varthema observed it as a large city bustling with trade
activities. This port was famous for its rice trade and was 'the route to very
large countries,' 92 as Varthema stated. Indo-Portuguese and Muslim merchants
extensively dominated the port. The beginnings of the Portuguese settlements
at this port can be dated back to 1520's.lt was only after the decline ofPulicat
that Nagapattinam rose to prominence in the latter half of the sixteenth
century.
The Portuguese settlements of Coromandel-Pulicat, San Thome, and
Nagapattinam-had men of influence and was a prestige resident there by the
late 1530's.Around 1542, as Subrahmanyam pointed, the governor and his
clansmen were turning away from the traditional focus of the government i.e.
the western Indian Ocean, to the eastern side. The concern as he says it was
clearly expressed in two ways. Firstly there was a heavy deployment of
Crown vessels in Southeast Asia. Secondly an elaborate expedition, which
was eventually unsuccessful, was sent under Jeronimo de Figueiredo to
discover the 'Island of Gold' rumoured to exist near Sumatra. 93 Again from
the mid 1540's to the mid 1550's the Portuguese officialdom retained its
western Indian Ocean focus. Thus the focus dwindled and it seemed that only
motive of the Portuguese was to maintain such ports which bore them profits.
,
·•
91
Many of the contemporary writers point that the coast had bad harbours. About Sao Thome or
Mylapur, Cesare Federici also noted it. The authors do not miss Pulicat too, which had a relatively
good harbour. The famous Pulicat lake in which the ships anchored is mentioned by Streynsham
Master in 1679. (Master, Streynsham, Diaries of, vol.II, pp 131) as "a great lake of salt water,
which communicates with the sea at Pollicat" by which a great deal oftrade was carried out.
92
Jones, 1928,pp72
93
Subrahmanyam, 1993, pp 90-91
94
There were factors, which were responsible for this like the coming of Basra
under the control of the Ottomans, which had made the Portuguese
apprehensive about the western Indian Ocean and thus resulted in their
dwindling policies.
Thus there was a sort of crisis in the mid-sixteenth century as pointed
by Subrahmanyam. The upshot in the deep thinking of the high officials
seeing the prices in the Coromandel carreira led them to introduce two
changes. The first one was to withdraw shipping from such lines and secondly
to monopolize the Coromandel-Malacca network to prevent the independent
Asian shipping. These changes were promptly visible in the 1570's with the
full flowering of the concession system. Under this system, those people were
granted the concession or right by the King of Portugal to make a voyage
between two points in the Indian Ocean in their own shipping who had
rendered services to the Crown. It was also granted in lieu of a salary
payment or to enable a fidalgo to arrange the marriage of his daughter. Hence
in part these concessions replaced old Crown shipping routes (carreiras). With
the system of concessions, for the first time, there was established a system of
monopoly over commercial routes of the Bay of Bengal by the Portuguese.
Luis Fillipe Thomaz has posited the existence of a 'second wind' 94as a
consequence of the concession system, in the closely argued article on the
Portuguese in the sixteenth century Indonesia. From a study, it emerges that it
is demonstrably false to treat Portuguese official policy with respect to their
participation in Asian trade as a unity during the 16th century. He rather
shows that there were significant differences between policies followed in the
course of century and that, form been random, and these changes evolved in a
94
Subrahmanyam, Sanjay, Improvising Empire-Portuguese trade and settlement in the Bay of
Bengal, 1500-1700,0UP,Delhi, 1990,p.35
95
particular direction. The concession system was an important result of these
changes. These changes appear to have arisen due to the CounterReformation, the attention diverted to Atlantic trade and Brazil and the
successive financial crisis ofthe Estado da India.
Under this system of concessions, direct trade between Nagapattinam
and Melaka was forbidden in theory. This was because; such a voyage would
infringe upon the monopoly of the concessionary who navigated from Sao
Thome to Melaka. But the documentation testifies that these monopolies were
infact rarely effective as Subrahmanyam has pointed out. 95 The Italian,
Ceasare Federici who passed through in around 1570, speaks of two 'great
ships' that leave Sao Thome each year, the one bound for Melaka and the
other for Pegu; these were apparently the concession vessels. 96 By the end of
the century, when Pulicat was on its decline, it was Nagapattinam and
Masulipatnam, which had gained importance. Nevertheless the trade from
Pulicat and it succumbed to the Dutch attacks in the first half of the
seventeenth century. Such was the state of Pulicat that John Huygen van
Linschoten did not mention it among the principal ports of Coromandel in
1580's.
Thus, the late 161h century was a period of profound change in the
Portuguese Estado da India. It_ has already been noticed in the case of
Coromandel. The insular Southeast Asia and Malacca were no exception.
Malacca witnessed an increasingly hostile environment. The Sumatran
Sultanate of Aceh was one of the rivals of Portuguese Malacca. The Achenese
attacked Malacca and laid sieges on it on numerous occasions of which the
95
Subrahmanyam, Sanj ay, 1990,(b),p.l91
The Voyage of Master Ceasare Federici into East India and beyond the Indies,Anno 1563 in
Hakluyt, Richard(ed.)The Principal Navigations,Voyage,Traffiques and the Discoveries of the
English Nation,voi.III,London,pp 229-231,251-5.
96
96
most known ones were of the late 1560's and early 1570's. Despite their
defeat, there remained an unfriendly atmosphere in the Malay Straits.
Moreover Islam was spreading in Java, Borneo and Maluku and the Catholic
missionary pressure increased the propensity of Portuguese for religious
intolerance. Moreover the Portuguese lost direct control of the niches in
Maluka and Banda in 1570's, which fell increasingly in the Javenese hands.
Hence in the 16th century, the Coromandel Coast and Southeast Asia
underwent changes. The Portuguese under the aegis of the Estado da India as
well as with the help of private traders brought about these changes. Their
presence by the end of the century was felt throughout Asia. Most of the lines
of trade, in theory, were under their control, but there were loopholes. In the
first four decades of the 16th century, their main concentration was in
Southeast Asia with Coromandel also gaining attention along with. They were
introduced by the expatriate trading communities at Malacca to the trade of
the archipelago as well as that of Coromandel. In the second half of the 16th
century, there were changes that have been termed as the 'second wind'. An
important element of this process was the concession system through which
the Portuguese tried to monopolize the network of trade across Bay of Bengal.
While the Portuguese had official settlements at Malacca, Ternate and Timor, the
unofficial ones were Macasser, Ambon, Banda, Tidore. The story on the
Coromandel coast was entirely different. The Portuguese there had an informal
presence which is why modern historians like Winius have attributed as the
'shadow empire' of Goa. These ports were to face the impact of the LusoDutch conflict in the coming 1th century when purse and sword became even
more important.
97