Discovery of the Sea Route and the Portuguese Entry into India

At a Glance

• What it is The European search for a direct sea route to India and the first arrival of the Portuguese
• Key year 1498: Vasco da Gama reached Calicut on 20 May
• Governors Francisco de Almeida (from 1505) and Afonso de Albuquerque, the real founder of Portuguese power in the East
• Key place Goa, taken by Albuquerque from the Sultan of Bijapur in 1510
• Exam link UPSC Prelims, Modern History: Advent of the Europeans

Where Does It Fit?

This is the first topic of the category on the advent of the Europeans. It opens the story of modern India. The Portuguese were the first Europeans to come by sea, so this topic explains why they came, how they arrived and how they first gained a foothold. The next topic covers how they built a state in India. Previous topic: Subaltern, Communalist, Cambridge School, Liberal and Feminist Approaches.

Why Did Europeans Look for a Sea Route to India?

The Europeans wanted a direct sea route because the old routes to India were controlled by others. After the decline of the Roman Empire in the seventh century, the Arabs gained control in Egypt and Persia. Direct European contact with India declined, and with it easy access to Indian goods such as spices, calicoes, silk and precious stones, which were in great demand.

In 1453 Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks, who were then on the rise. Merchandise from India reached European markets through Arab Muslim middlemen. The Red Sea route was a state monopoly from which Islamic rulers earned large revenues, and the land routes were also controlled by the Arabs. The Europeans therefore wanted to find a direct sea route to India.

Prince Henry of Portugal, nicknamed the Navigator, made finding an ocean route to India an obsession and wished to circumvent Muslim domination of the eastern Mediterranean. He died before his dream came true. The commercial and religious motives supported each other.

What Did the Treaty of Tordesillas and Bartolomeu Dias Do?

The Treaty of Tordesillas was signed on 7 June 1494 by the Crown of Castile and the Kingdom of Portugal. It divided the non-Christian world between the two by a line in the Atlantic, 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands. Portugal could claim lands to the east of the line and Castile to the west. This prepared the way for Portuguese voyages into the waters around India. The exact position of the line is disputed, because the treaty did not fix the length of a league.

Bartolomeu Dias rounded the southern tip of Africa, the Cape of Good Hope, in 1488. He showed that a sea route round Africa was possible. It took nearly a decade more before a fleet set out for India.

How Did Vasco da Gama Reach India in 1498?

Vasco da Gama reached Calicut in May 1498, nearly eleven months after he left Lisbon on 8 July 1497. A Gujarati pilot guided the fleet across the Arabian Sea. The Hindu ruler of Calicut, the Zamorin (Samuthiri), saw no danger in the visit. His kingdom prospered as an entrepot, so he gave da Gama a friendly reception. The Arab traders who did good business on the Malabar coast were apprehensive.

For centuries the Indian Ocean trade had many participants, including Indians, Arabs, East Africans, Chinese and Javanese. They followed unwritten rules of conduct, and none sought overwhelming dominance. The Portuguese changed this. They wanted to monopolise the profitable eastern trade by excluding competitors, especially the Arabs.

Da Gama stayed in India for three months. He returned with a rich cargo and sold it at a huge profit. Elsewhere, Europeans who bought pepper through Muslim middlemen would have spent ten times as much for the same amount, which shows why direct access mattered. Other European merchants were tempted to come and trade directly.

What Did Cabral and the Second Visit of da Gama Change?

Pedro Alvares Cabral reached Calicut on 13 September 1500 and got permission to set up a factory there. The factory was attacked, and a number of Portuguese were killed. In reprisal Cabral seized Arab merchant ships in the harbour, killed hundreds of their crew, burned the ships and bombarded Calicut. He then established trading ties at Cochin and Cannanore.

When da Gama came again, the Zamorin refused to exclude Arab merchants in favour of the Portuguese. Da Gama combined commercial greed with fierce hostility and attacked Arab shipping wherever he could. His break with the Zamorin became total. He set up a factory at Cannanore, and Calicut, Cannanore and Cochin gradually became important Portuguese trade centres. Under the pretext of protecting their factories, the Portuguese got permission to fortify these centres. Trade was thus turning into control.

What Was Francisco de Almeida’s Blue Water Policy?

In 1505 the King of Portugal appointed a governor in India for a three-year term, with enough force to protect Portuguese interests. Francisco de Almeida was asked to consolidate the Portuguese position and to destroy Muslim trade by seizing Aden, Ormuz and Malacca. He was also advised to build fortresses at Anjadiva, Cochin, Cannanore and Kilwa.

Almeida faced the Zamorin’s opposition and a threat from the Mamluk Sultan of Egypt. The Mamluks, encouraged by Venetian merchants whose trade was at risk, sent a fleet from the Red Sea. In March 1508, in the Battle of Chaul, the allied fleets fought Portuguese ships led by Almeida’s son Lourenço, who was killed. On 3 February 1509 Almeida defeated the combined Mamluk, Gujarat and Calicut fleets in the Battle of Diu, and it settled Portuguese naval superiority in the Indian Ocean.

Almeida’s aim was to make the Portuguese master of the Indian Ocean, and his policy is known as the Blue Water Policy, also linked to the cartaze or permit system. He held that control of the sea mattered more than fortresses on land.

Why Is Afonso de Albuquerque Called the Real Founder?

Albuquerque, who succeeded Almeida as governor, was the real founder of Portuguese power in the East. He secured strategic control of the Indian Ocean by setting up bases overlooking all its entrances: strongholds in East Africa, off the Red Sea, at Ormuz, in Malabar and at Malacca. He added a permit system for other ships and controlled the main ship-building centres. The lack of timber in the Gulf and Red Sea regions helped the Portuguese.

• Goa, 1510 Albuquerque took Goa from the Sultan of Bijapur in 1510. It was the first bit of Indian territory under Europeans since the time of Alexander the Great
• Social policy He banned sati in the territory, and encouraged Portuguese men to marry local women to build a permanent Portuguese population in India
• Settler life Those who stayed settled as village landlords, artisans and traders, and introduced crops like tobacco and cashew nut
• Persecution of Muslims Albuquerque’s policy was marked by bitter persecution of Muslims, in a drive to end Muslim commercial interests in the East

Why Did the Portuguese Succeed at First?

The conditions in India and Asia favoured the newcomers.

Why Is This Topic Important?

• Start of modern India The arrival of the Portuguese began the European presence that led to colonial rule
• Direct Prelims facts Dates, names of governors and policies like the Blue Water Policy are asked often
• Link to later topics The same pattern of trade, forts and control over the sea was repeated by the Dutch, the English and the French

What Came Next?

The next topic describes the Portuguese state in India: Nuno da Cunha, the shift of the capital to Goa, the coastal territories and the administration they built. Next topic: Portuguese State and Administration in India.

Key People and Terms

• Zamorin The title of the Hindu ruler of Calicut, who received Vasco da Gama in 1498
• Entrepot A port or trading centre where goods are brought for storage and re-export
• Cartaze The permit system by which the Portuguese controlled other ships in the Indian Ocean
• Blue Water Policy Almeida’s policy of making the Portuguese master of the Indian Ocean
• Factory A trading post where merchants stored goods and traded, often fortified later
• Prince Henry the Navigator The Portuguese prince obsessed with finding an ocean route to India

Exam Corner

Mains Angle

Questions usually ask why the Europeans came and how the Portuguese succeeded. These points add depth.

• Push and pull Europe was pushed by Ottoman control of trade routes and pulled by the high profit in spices
• Sea power The Portuguese won through naval strength, with guns on ships and a permit system, and not through land armies
• Weak Indian response Indian powers lacked navies and unity, which let a small force control the coast