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MARCH 2012 Get Previous Issues Free of Cost on Our Website: www.changetabloid.com seventeenth centuries, but in course of time the commercial motives turned into territorial ambitions and by the close of the eighteenth century India, from a bulk exporter, turned into one of the biggest importers of industrially manufactured goods. 1. THE PORTUGUESE The first Portuguese encounter with India was on May 21, 1498 when Vasco da Gama landed at Kappad in Calicut (now Kozhikode) in the present-day Indian state of Kerala. Vasco da Gama was sent in 1497 from Lisbon to find the direct sea-route to India. Over the objections of Arab merchants, Gama managed to secure a letter of concession for trading rights from the Zamorin, Calicut’s local ruler. Unable to pay the prescribed customs duties (that Gama sought to be waived) and price of his goods in gold (as was the practice then), the King’s officials detained Gama’s Portuguese agents (who were released later) as security for payment. This, however, annoyed Gama, who carried a few Nairs and sixteen Mukkuva fishermen with him by force. Nevertheless, Gama’s expedition was successful beyond all reasonable expectation, bringing in cargo that was sixty times the cost of the expedition. Calicut then, under the Zamorins, enjoyed a high degree of prosperity. The Zamorin was kind to all classes of merchants who came to his kingdom, tolerated all creeds and allowed perfect freedom to all in commercial affairs. He gave the newcomers a friendly reception. Though the Arab merchants at Calicut, resented the appearance of a commercial rival, but the armed guards of the Zamorin protected the Portuguese. Vasco Da Gama returned to Portugal in 1499 A second expedition, under Alvarez Cabral reached Calicut in 1500. Cabral was of the opinion that, for the safety of the Portuguese commercial interests in India, he must force Calicut into submission and root out the Arab trade of that place and therefore he secured the friendship of the rulers of Cochin and Cannanore. Some of the men Cabral left in India were massacred, so King Manuel ordered da Gama to India again. A fresh expedition under Vasco da Gama which started in 1501 demanded from the Zamorin the banishment of every Muslim resident from Calicut. He strengthened the factories at Cochin (present day Kochi in Kerala) and Cannanore (present day Kannur in Kerala) and left a squadron to supervise the Malabar Coast and to destroy all Arab vessels coming to it from the Red Sea. He put forward a definite claim to dominion over the Indian coast and the Arabian Sea. On his departure the Arab merchants and the Zamorin attacked the raja of Cochin who bravely held out until relieved by the arrival of the next Portuguese fleet in 1503. The next Portuguese expedition under Lopo Soares destroyed all the ports in which Arab influence prevailed and prevented any ships from coming to or leaving Cochin except their own. THE PORTUGUESE MARITIME TRADE AND SUPREMACY OVER THE INDIAN OCEAN: The Portuguese maritime empire acquired the name of Estado da India (aggregate of Portugal’s colonial holdings in India) which intended to monopolize the pepper and spice trade of the East. On the basis of these two commodities the Portuguese tried to found their imperial ambitions. Besides controlling the whole of the export trade to Europe, the Portuguese monopolized the port-to-port trade on the Malabar Coast and the trade from the Indian to the Persian coast on the one side and to Malacca on the other. Portugal’s initial objective was to seize the spice trade, but after Cabral’s voyage she decided to divert to herself all the trade of the East with Europe. It was now realized in Portugal that command over the Eastern trade could not be established by sending an annual fleet and establishing a few isolated factories. Thus a new policy was adopted in 1505: a Governor was to be appointed on a three year term. The person first chosen for the post was Francisco de Almeida who was invested with full power to wage war, conclude treaties and regulate commerce. He reached India in September 1505, built a fort at Anjadiva (Karnataka) and settled, in Portuguese interest, a question of succession to the throne of Cochin. The systematic assault of the Portuguese on the Muslim (Mainly Arab) monopoly of trade in the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea deprived Egypt and Turkey of the duties on Indian goods passing through the sea-route and across Egypt to Alexandria. Similarly, the Sultans of Bijapur and Gujarat feared that the Portuguese would extend their control from the southern (Malabar) ports to the northern ports and encroach upon their interest. This brought about an alliance between Egypt, Turkey and Gujarat against the Portuguese intruders. In a naval battle fought near Chaul, the combined Muslim fleet won a victory over the Portuguese fleet under Almeida’s son who was killed in the battle (January 1508). A year later, Almeida defeated the combined Muslim fleet in a naval battle near Diu (February 1509). This victory provided to Portuguese naval supremacy in Asia and “turned the Indian Ocean for the next century into a Portuguese sea”. Chaul is a former city of Portuguese India, now in ruins. It is located 60 km south of Mumbai, in Raigad District of Maharashtra state in western India. Albuquerque, the next governor, built up a great territorial power in India. The plan of Albuquerque consisted of three series of operations; ‣ The control of the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea; ‣ The establishment of the headquarters of the Portuguese power at a central port in the west coast of India; and ‣ The destruction of Arab trade in the Malay Peninsula and the Far East The conquest of Goa from the Adilshahi Sultan of Bijapur was Albuquerque’s first achievement (February 1510). But as the city was quickly recaptured by the Sultan of Bijapur, he had to undertake second expedition. He recaptured the place and fortified it against any surprise attack. The conquest of Goa put “the seal on Portuguese naval supremacy along the south-west coast”. Albuquerque thus enlarged and fulfilled the aims of Almedia. He gave the Portuguese power a territorial base in India. In view of the paucity of manpower in Portugal, Albuquerque encouraged the lower class of the Portuguese settlers to marry Indian women. He maintained friendly relations with Vijayanagar and even tried to secure the goodwill of Bijapur. He created regular bodies of trained troops from among Indians. He died in 1515 leaving the Portuguese as the strongest naval power in India. Albuquerque’s immediate successor, Nuno da Cunha (1529-38), established settlements at San Thome near Madras and at Hughli in Bengal, and thus developed commerce on the eastern coast. In 1534 the Portuguese secured permission to build factories at Satgaon (Porto Piqueno, little port) and Chittagong (Porto Grande, great port) from the Sultan of Bengal. Chittagong continued to be the ‘great port’, but Satgaon, the little port lost its prosperity in the second half of the sixteenth century and Hughli became the Porto Piqueno. Both Akbar and Jahangir left the Portuguese in undisturbed enjoyment of their rights and privileges at Hughli. In 1535 Cunha got possession of Diu and Bassein from Bahadur Shah of Gujarat. By 1571 the Asiatic empire of Portugal was divided into three independent commands, namely (a) a governorship at Mozambique controlling the settlements on the African coast; (b) a viceroyalty at Goa in charge of the Indian and Persian territories; and (c) a governorship at Malacca to control the trade of Java and the Spice Archipelago. Portuguese India (Portuguese: Índia Portuguesa or Estado da India) was the aggregate of Portugal’s colonial holdings in India. The government started in 1505, six years after the discovery of sea route to India by Vasco da Gama, with the nomination of the first Viceroy Francisco de Almeida, then settled at Kochi. Until 1752, the name “India” included all Portuguese possessions in the Indian Ocean, from southern Africa to Southeast Asia, governed - either by a Viceroy or Governor - from its headquarters, established in Goa since 1510. In 1752 Mozambique got its own government and in 1844 the Portuguese Government of India stopped administering the territory of Macau, Solor and Timor, being then confined to Malabar. WHY WERE PORTUGUESE SUCCESSFUL The Portuguese landing in India “was fortunate both as to place and time”. As the Mughal Empire was not yet consolidated, there was no power, either in the North or in the South of India, to effectively check the establishment of the Portuguese dominion on the coast. Moreover, the Malabar Coast, where they first placed their foot (Calicut was situated on the Malabar Coast of India) was then divided among petty Hindu chiefs, who were at conflict with each other and were therefore too weak to resist the Portuguese. The use of artillery gave the Portuguese a great advantage in sea warfare and was sufficient to coerce all their Indian rivals. They crippled India’s shipbuilding industry; Gujarat and Calicut were forced to abandon the construction of fresh ships or even armed rowing boats. Even on land the Portuguese proved the better fighters and were successful in establishing the fortified factories, from Quilon and Cochin in the South, to Daman and Diu in the North. Through Cartaze system, the Portuguese introduced a new concept to control exclusively the sea-routes and the maritime trade of land-based states and empires of Asia. Under it a tribute was demanded from Asian traders and their ships. Every Indian ship sailing to a destination not reserved by the Portuguese for their own trade had to buy passes from the Portuguese viceroy of Goa or the Portuguese captains of the seas; if it was avoided the merchandise of the errant ship was seized and confiscated. THE DECLINE OF THE PORTUGUESE POWER The Portuguese monopoly of the Indian Ocean remained unbroken till 1595, but in the first half of the seventeenth century, the Portuguese naval ascendancy in the Indian Ocean was successfully challenged by the Dutch and the English. In 1595 the first Dutch fleet rounded the Cape of Good Hope and in 1603 they blockaded Goa itself. Soon after, they made themselves masters of Java. They expelled the Portuguese altogether from Sri Lanka in the years 1638-58. In 1641 they captured the great port of Malacca and in 1652 got possession of the Cape of Good Hope as well. The English were also not far behind. In 1611 an English squadron under Middleton defeated the Portuguese fleet off Bombay. Four years later came their great victory over the Portuguese, near Surat. In 1616 they entered into direct commercial relations with the Zamorin of Calicut. Two years later they began to trade in the Persian Gulf. In 1622 they had captured Ormuz and finally in 1654 the Portuguese had to recognize the right of the English to reside and trade in all their eastern possessions. Nor was it only from the hands of European rivals that the final blow to the Portuguese power came. The destruction of the Portuguese settlement at Hughli and the conquest of Chittagong by the Mughal’s gave a severe blow to the Portuguese presence in Bengal. In 1632 during the reign of the Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan, Qasim Khan (a Mughal Noble) completely destroyed their settlement at Hughli and carried away, as prisoners, more than a thousand of the Portuguese inhabitants. Similarly, the Portuguese pirates who had established themselves at Chittagong and raided the coasts of Bengal and Arakan were easily defeated by the king of Arakan. The descendants of these pirates, known as the Feringhis who infested the whole of the Eastern Bengal coast, were exterminated in about 1665, by Shaista Khan (Mughal viceroy of Bengal). The Marathas captured Salsette and Bassein from Portuguese in 1739. In the end they were left only with Goa, Diu and Daman which they retained till 1961. THE REASONS BEHIND THE PORTUGUESE DECLINE The decline of Portuguese power in India was due to several internal and external factors. Portugal was a small country; it could not provide adequate manpower for maintaining a far-flung colonial empire. Moreover the journey to India was perilous; mortality on the crowded vessels exceeded 40 per cent. Religious intolerance was another negative facet of Portuguese imperialism in India. Their fanatic desire to convert all and sundry to their own faith, even at the point of the sword, displayed an intolerant bigotry and introduced all the horrors of the inquisition into India. The Portuguese Indian Church was organized under the guidance of St. Francis Xavier the Apostle of the Indies who came to Goa with the Portuguese governor Martin CHANGE THE ONLY CONSTANT THING : We Bring You More Informative and Detailed Coverage Every Month 34
MARCH 2012 For More Current Coverage and Daily Updates Visit Our Website: www.changetabloid.com Alfonso de Souza, in 1542. To St. Francis is due the conversion of the Paravars, the fishermen tribe who lived on the Coromandel Coast, as well as the Mukkuvas, the fishermen of the Malabar Coast. Before his death in 1552, the great Apostle of the Indies is said to have converted some seven hundred thousand men, who belonged mainly to the lowest classes of the population. Their religious fanaticism absorbed a good portion of their energies. Even before the time of Albuquerque, priests and monks had flocked in large number to Portuguese India. In 1538, Goa was made the seat of a bishop; and other bishoprics were created at Cochin and Malabar. After 1540, the Portuguese government in India markedly came to be dominated by priests – Dominicans, Franciscans and Jesuits. They established at Goa, the hated inquisition which burnt or punished in other cruel ways, unbelievers, relapsed converts and all who were dangerous to the faith in the eyes of the priests. They did not give freedom even to the ancient Syrian Christians of the Malabar Coast. The chief results of this intolerant policy were a practical denial of justice to all non-Christians and the depopulation of Portuguese towns. In 1552, a complaint was made that the Portuguese towns in India were largely depopulated owing to the forced conversion of Hindus and Muslims. The old Goa Pourado (Golden Goa), whose glories were sung by the Portuguese poets, was subsequently depopulated and ruined. The Portuguese failed to evolve an efficient system of administration which is essential for success even in colonial ventures. There was no continuity in Portuguese government; Offices were sold to the highest bidders, and there was much illicit private trade, corruption and bribery. The lack of discipline and irregular pay turned soldiers and sailors into dacoits and thieves. The Estado da India was wholly a piratical and parasitic state, which grew rich by ruthless plunder of unarmed Asian merchant ships. After the discovery of the Cape route, the Portuguese gave greater importance to the coercive methods over those of normal peaceful commerce. The Portuguese treatment of their native subjects and opponents showed “a consistent and systematic cruelty and barbarity no less than the standards of a cruel age”. This provoked the hostility of the Indian rulers and people. FACTUAL ASPECTS ASSOCIATE WITH PORTUGUESE CONTROL • The Portuguese brought to India the cultivation of tobacco. • The Portuguese spread Catholicism in certain regions on India’s western and eastern coasts. • The first printing press in India was set up by the Portuguese at Goa in 1556; the first scientific work on Indian medicinal plants by a European writer was printed at Goa in 1563. • The Portuguese established their trading stations at Calicut, Cochin, Cannanore, Daman, Salsette, Chaul, Bombay, San Thome near Madras and Hugli in Bengal • Cochin was the early capital of the Portuguese in India. Later the capital was transferred to Goa by Nuno da Cunha. • In 1661 the king of Portugal gave Bombay to Charles II of England as dowry when he married the formers sister. 2. THE DUTCH Vereenigde Oost Indische Compagnie (VOC), popularly known as, Dutch United East India Company was formed in 1602. It was a national undertaking and was granted an exclusive right to trade with India and the East Indies for twenty-one years. The company was vested with ample powers of attack and conquest by the state. The skilful administrative system and the enthusiastic national support which the company enjoyed enabled it to monopolise the entire Spice trade to Europe. DUTCH SETTLEMENTS IN INDIA After an earlier abortive attempt to start trade at Surat and on the Malabar Coast, Admiral Van der Haghen opened up trade with the Coromandel Coast and set up a permanent factory at Masulipatnam, Andhra Pradesh (Early in 1605). Soon another factory was founded at Devanampatnam (Tegnapatam), Tamil Nadu or Fort St. David as it came to be called later (Under English occupation). In 1610, upon negotiating with the king of Chandragiri, the Dutch found another factory at Pulicat, Tamil Nadu named Fort Geldria in honour of the home province of Van Berchem, the director-general of the Coromandel factories. Till 1689, Pulicat was the chief centre of Dutch on the Coromandel Coast, when it was superseded by Negapatnam, Tamil Nadu acquired from the Portuguese in 1659. Textiles, woven according to special patterns constituted the chief export of the Coromandel ports. As early as 1612, the Coromandel trade was described as the left arm of the Malaccas and neighboring islands, since without the cottons from thence, trade would be dead in the Malaccas. Other commodities exported by the Dutch were indigo and saltpeter (the common name for potassium nitrate. It is used to preserve food especially meat in which it produces a characteristic bright pink colour) As regarding imports, apart from spices the chief articles of import to the Coromandel were sandalwood and pepper from the archipelago copper from Japan and textiles from China. Stimulated by the success of English efforts at Surat, the Dutch also thought of establishing their settlements at that port. In this context the Dutch governor of Coromandel sent Van Ravesteyn, to secure a Farman from the Mughal emperor for this purpose. However even before Ravesteyn’s adverse report could be received, Van Coen the governor-general of Batavia had sent Pieter Van den Broecke to the Gujarat coast. Broecke landed at Surat in August 1616, and got from its governor permission to erect a provisional factory. The indigo trade became as valuable at Surat and at Broach as cotton, and the profits steadily mounted up. In the following year factories were organized at Broach, Bombay, Ahmedabad, Agra and Burhanpur. In Bengal the Dutch first established a factory at Pipli, but soon abandoned it for Balasore which was in turn neglected when a firm footing was obtained at Chinsura on the Hughli in 1653. The Dutch constructed Fort Gustavus at Chinsura. Subsequently, they established factories at Kasimbazar and Patna. The profits of the Bengal trade were so great as to overcome and counterbalance all losses arising from the extortions and bribes taken by the Nawab’s officials. The chief articles of export were cotton cloth, silk, saltpeter and opium, the last of which was consumed in Java and China and yielded enormous profits. Since the pepper trade of Malabar was considered to be less valuable than the Coromandel cloth trade, the Dutch ignored the Malabar Coast. The only port belonging to them on this side was Vengurla, to the north of Goa. THE DECLINE OF THE DUTCH POWER In the seventeenth century the position of the Dutch in India rested on the superiority of their naval power. They broke down the Portuguese monopoly by the open and persistent use of force, capturing their ships and supplanting them as the actual rulers of one stronghold after another. However, against the English their naval power was far less effective. Over-centralisation and corruption, which weakened the Company’s administration and the conflicts with the Indian rulers also contributed to the decline of the Dutch influence. Aurangzeb’s conquest of Golcunda marked the decline of the Coromandel government. The profits of trade fell in two years (1685-87) to one-fifteenth, and all the establishments worked at a considerable loss. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE DUTCH TRADE The Dutch on the one hand, dislodged the Portuguese from India’s maritime trade, and on the other, they gave a new direction and commodity structure to India’s foreign trade. The credit for making Indian textiles the premier export from India goes to the Dutch. The Dutch instead of the spices greatly promoted the export of textiles, which they considered more lucrative. Gradually the Indian textiles found wide acceptance in far flung parts of the world. By the third quarter of the seventeenth century, the popularity of Indian textiles had become sufficiently established as to extend their use to the luxury end of the market. FACTUAL ASPECTS: • The first Dutch expedition which successfully reached the East Indies was that of Cornelius Houtman in 1596. • The Dutch set up factories at Masulipatnam, Pettapoli (Nizampatam), Devanampatnam (Tegnapatam), Tirupapuliyur (Southern Pataliputra), Pulicat etc • The factories of the Dutch were more or less fortified Two chiefs presided over each factory, namely the first who had general supervision and the second who kept the trading accounts and was in charge of the warehouses. The factors were graded as merchants of different grades; assistant, junior, merchant proper, and senior. • Van Reede transferred the seat of the government to Negapatam in 1689. • The directorate of Surat proved to be one of the most profitable establishments of the Dutch Company. 3. THE ENGLISH By the end of the seventeenth century the merchants of England, jealous of the prospects of their Dutch rivals, began preparations for a commercial voyage to the East. Finally, through the charter granted by Queen Elizabeth I on 31 December 1600 those interested in such a venture were incorporated under the title of ‘The Governor and Company of Merchants of London trading into the East Indies’. The immediate aim of the company was the acquisition of the spices and pepper of the Eastern Archipelago and therefore the first two voyages of the company, between 1601-1606, were made, not to India, but to Achin (In Sumatra), Bantam (in Java) and the Malaccas. Finally with the third voyage in 1608, the English initiated the process of the company’s trade with India and Captain William Hawkins who had experience in such ventures and could speak Turkish, was provided with a letter from King James I to Jahangir. ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS AT WESTERN COAST The English beginnings in India were not very promising on account of Portuguese rivalry. William Hawkins journeyed from Surat and arrived at the Jahangir’s court, in 1609, but failed to get permission to erect a factory at Surat. Jahangir though initially willing to grant permission later refused due to Portuguese pressure. However the victory of English under Captain Best over Portuguese fleet at Swally (near Surat) in 1612 broke the tradition of Portuguese naval supremacy and a Farman was issued by Jahangir permitting the English to establish a factory at Surat (1613). Sir Thomas Roe, the royal ambassador from King James I to the Mughal emperor, succeeded in getting two Farmans by 1618, one of the Mughal Emperor Jahangir, and the other of the Prince Khurram granting the permission to trade and erect factories in different parts of the Empire. Surat was one of the chief centres of maritime trade and caravans started from it for all the inland parts of India. Indeed, it is from Surat that the English extended inland their trading operations and by 1616 built subordinate factories at Ahmedabad, Baroda, Broach and Agra. By 1630 the trade of Surat had grown to such dimensions, that the directors constituted it into the headquarters of the company on the West Coast. It was finally replaced by Bombay as headquarter of the company on the West coast in 1687. What brought Dutch to India, in the first instance, was In the middle of the 17 rather the requirements of the archipelago than of the th century (1654) the English began to emerge as a formidable colonial power. After 60-70 European market; in other words, it was a distinctly years of rivalry with the English, the Dutch power in subsidiary interest. The spices of the archipelago were India began to decline by the beginning of the 18 th exchanged for cotton goods from Gujarat and the century. Their final collapse came with their defeat by Coromandel Coast. the English in the battle of Bedara in 1759. cont.... CHANGE THE ONLY CONSTANT THING : We Bring You More Informative and Detailed Coverage Every Month 35
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