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Title: Rulers of India: Albuquerque
Author: Henry Morse Stephens
Release Date: February 8, 2010 [EBook #31226]
Language: English
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_RULERS OF INDIA_
EDITED BY
SIR WILLIAM WILSON HUNTER, K.C.S.I., C.I.E.
M.A. (OXFORD): LL.D. (CAMBRIDGE)
ALBUQUERQUE
_London_
HENRY FROWDE
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE
AMEN CORNER, E.C.
[_All rights reserved_]
[Illustration: MAP OF THE INDIAN EMPIRE]
[Frontispiece: Portrait signed Afonso de Albuquerque]
RULERS OF INDIA
ALBUQUERQUE
BY H. MORSE STEPHENS
LECTURER ON INDIAN HISTORY AT CAMBRIDGE
AUTHOR OF 'A HISTORY OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION,'
'THE STORY OF PORTUGAL,' etc.
OXFORD
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS: 1892
Oxford
PRINTED AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
BY HORACE HART, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY
PREFACE
Affonso de Albuquerque was the first European since Alexander the
Great who dreamed of establishing an empire in India, or rather in
Asia, governed from Europe. The period in which he fought and ruled
in the East is one of entrancing interest and great historical
importance, and deserves more attention than it has received from the
English people, as the present ruling race in India. Dr. A. C.
Burnell, an authority second to none in Indian historical questions,
says in his prefatory note to _A Tentative List of Books and some
MSS. relating to the History of the Portuguese in India Proper_: 'In
the course of twenty years' studies relating to India, I found that
the history of the Portuguese had been shamefully neglected.... In
attempting to get better information, I found that the true history
of the Portuguese in India furnishes most important guidance for the
present day, and the assertions commonly made about it are utterly
false, especially in regard to the ecclesiastical history.' I
purpose, therefore, to give a short list of the more important works
on the history of the Portuguese in the East during the sixteenth
century, while they were a conquering and a ruling power, in the hope
that it may be useful to any one wishing to investigate the subject
further than it has been possible for me to do in this volume. I
confine myself to the sixteenth century and to books on political
history, as I have not the knowledge to classify the numerous works
on the history of the Roman Catholic Missions in India, which is
closely bound up with the ecclesiastical history of the Portuguese in
the East.
Before mentioning books of general history, I must draw attention to
the _Commentaries of Albuquerque_ on which this volume is chiefly
based, as indeed all biographies of the great governor must
necessarily be. They were published by his son, Braz de Albuquerque,
in 1557, reprinted by him in 1576, and republished in four volumes in
1774. They have been translated into English for the Hakluyt Society
by Walter de Gray Birch in four volumes, 1875-1884, and from this
translation the quotations in the present volume are taken. The
nature and the authority of this most valuable and interesting work
are best shown by quoting the first sentence of the compiler's
dedication of the second edition to the King of Portugal, Dom
Sebastian. 'In the lifetime of the King, Dom João III, your
grandfather, I dedicated to Your Highness these Commentaries, which I
have collected from the actual originals written by the great Affonso
de Albuquerque in the midst of his adventures to the King, Dom
Manoel, your great-grandfather.' The _Commentaries_ have been for
three centuries the one incontestable printed authority for
Albuquerque's career. But in 1884 was published the first volume of
the _Cartas de Affonso de Albuquerque, seguidas de Documentos que as
elucidam_, under the direction of the _Academia Real das Sciencias de
Lisboa_, and edited by Raymundo Antonio de Bulhão Pato. This
collection includes a large number of despatches to the King, dated
February, 1508; October, 1510; April, 1512; August to December, 1512;
November, 1513, to January, 1514; October to December, 1514; and
September to December, 1515; of which two, dated 1 April, 1512, and 4
December, 1513, are of great importance, and veritable manifestoes of
policy. It contains also a more correct version of Albuquerque's last
letter to the King than that given in the _Commentaries_. It is to be
hoped that the many and serious _lacunæ_, shown by the above dates,
will be filled in the long-expected second volume of the _Cartas_.
Turning to the more general authorities on the history of the
Portuguese in India in the sixteenth century, it will be well to take
them in a rough classification of their importance and authenticity.
João de Barros (1496-1570), for many years treasurer and factor at
the India House at Lisbon, published _Asia: dos Feitos que os
Portuguezes fizeram no Descobrimento e Conquista dos Mares e Terras
do Oriente_. This work is a primary authority, as the writer had
access to all documents, and was the recognised historian of the
events he described during his lifetime. It is written in imitation
of Livy, and is divided into Decades. The first Decade was published
in 1552, the second in 1555, the third in 1563, and the fourth after
his death in 1615, and it carries the history down to 1539. The best
edition is that in nine volumes, Lisbon, 1777-78. A German
translation by Dietrich Wilhelm Soltau was published in five volumes
at Brunswick, 1821, and it has been largely borrowed from by
succeeding writers.
Diogo do Couto (1542-1616) was long employed in India, and had access
to documents. He continued the work of Barros in the same style. His
first Decade overlaps Barros, and his history goes from 1526 to 1600.
The best edition is that published as a continuation of Barros, in
fifteen volumes, Lisbon, 1778-1787.
Gaspar Correa (died at Goa between 1561 and 1583) went to India in
1514 and was Secretary to Albuquerque. His _Lendas da India_ treat
the history of the Portuguese from 1497 to 1549, and was published
for the first time at Lisbon, four volumes, 1858-64. His chronology
throughout differs much from Barros, and a critical comparison
between them is much needed. A portion of this work has been
translated by Lord Stanley of Alderley, for the Hakluyt Society,
under the title of _The Three Voyages of Vasco da Gama, and his
Viceroyalty_, 1869.
Fernão Lopes de Castanheda (died 1559) travelled much in India. He
published his _Historia do Descobrimento e Conquista da India pelos
Portuguezes_, which covers from 1497 to 1549, in 1551-1561, and is
therefore anterior to Barros in date of publication.
Damião de Goes (died 1573), _Commentarius Rerum gestarum in India
citra Gangem a Lusitanis_, Louvain, 1539, is a small but early work.
These are primary authorities, but the following chronicles also
contain some useful information:
Damião de Goes (died 1573), _Chronica do felicissimo Rey Dom Manoel_,
Lisbon, 1566, 1567.
Jeronymo Osorio (died 1580), _De Rebus Emmanuelis Regis_, Lisbon,
1571.
The historians of subsequent centuries simply use, with more or less
judgment, the materials provided for them by the historians mentioned
above for the sixteenth century, and with one exception are of no
value. The one exception is:
Manoel de Faria e Sousa, who in his _Asia Portugueza_, three volumes,
Lisbon, 1666-75, made use of good MS. materials.
The purely secondary historians, who in spite of their reputation are
better left unread, are: Giovanni Pietro Maffei, _Historiarum
Indicarum Libri XVI_, Florence, 1588; Antonio de San Roman, _Historia
General de la India Oriental_, Valladolid, 1603; Joseph François
Lafitau, _Histoire des Découvertes et des Conquêtes des Portugais
dans le Nouveau Monde_, Paris, 1733.
_Os Portuguezes em Africa, Asia, America e Oceania_, published in
Lisbon in 1849, is a lively summary of the best authorities.
In modern times the scientific historical spirit has developed
greatly in Portugal, under the influence of the great historian
Alexandre Herculano de Carvalho e Araujo, and the publication of
documents has taken the place of the publication of historical
summaries. Among these ranks first the _Colleccão de Monumentos
ineditos para a Historia das Conquistas dos Portuguezes em Africa,
Asia e America_, a series of which any nation might be proud, and of
which the _Cartas de Albuquerque_ already described forms a part. It
is published under the superintendence of the _Academia Real das
Sciencias_ of Lisbon, which also brought out, in 1868, _Subsidios
para a Historia da India Portugueza_, containing three valuable early
documents, edited by Rodrigo José de Lima Felner. Intelligent and
thoroughly scientific articles have also appeared in the Portuguese
periodicals, especially in the _Annaes Maritimos_ in 1840-44, and in
the _Annaes das Sciencias e Letteras_, in which was published Senhor
Lopes de Mendonça's article on Dom Francisco de Almeida. Mention
should also be made of two books published in India, _Contributions
to the Study of Indo-Portuguese Numismatics_, by J. Gerson da Cunha,
Bombay, 1880, an interesting pamphlet on a fascinating subject, and
_An Historical and Archæological Sketch of the City of Goa_, by José
Nicolau da Fonseca, Bombay, 1878, a most carefully compiled volume.
In conclusion I must express my gratitude to the editor of the series
for much kindly advice and assistance, to Mr. E. J. Wade of the India
Office Library, who has been my ever ready helper, and to Mr. T.
Fisher Unwin for giving the plate of the portrait of Albuquerque,
which appears as a frontispiece.
H.M.S.
LIST OF VICEROYS AND GOVERNORS OF PORTUGUESE INDIA, 1505-1580.
The names of Viceroys are printed in small capitals.
_Assumed Office_.
DOM FRANCISCO DE ALMEIDA 12 Sept. 1505 Killed by Kaffirs at
Saldanha Bay,
1 March, 1510.
Affonso de Albuquerque 4 Nov. 1509 Died off Goa,
16 Dec. 1515.
Lopo Soares de Albergaria 8 Sept. 1515 Returned to Portugal.
Diogo Lopes de Sequeira 8 Sept. 1518 Returned to Portugal.
Dom Duarte de Menezes 22 Jan. 1522 Returned to Portugal.
DOM VASCO DA GAMA 5 Sept. 1524 Died at Cochin,
24 Dec. 1524.
Dom Henrique de Menezes 17 Jan. 1525 Died at Cannanore,
21 Feb. 1526.
Lopo Vaz de Sam Paio Feb. 1526 Returned to Portugal.
Nuno da Cunha 18 Nov. 1529 Died at sea on his way
to Portugal.
DOM GARCIA DE NORONHA 14 Sept. 1538 Died at Goa,
3 April, 1540.
Dom Estevão da Gama 3 April, 1540 Returned to Portugal.
Martim Affonso de Sousa 8 May, 1542 Returned to Portugal.
DOM JOÃO DE CASTRO 10 Sept. 1545 Died at Goa,
(Viceroy for 14 days only) 6 June, 1548.
Garcia de Sá 6 June, 1548 Died at Goa,
13 June, 1549.
Jorge Cabral 13 June, 1549 Returned to Portugal.
DOM AFFONSO DE NORONHA Nov. 1550 Returned to Portugal.
DOM PEDRO MASCARENHAS 23 Sept. 1554 Died at Goa,
16 June, 1555.
Francisco Barreto 16 June, 1555 Returned to Portugal.
DOM CONSTANTINO DE BRAGANZA 8 Sept. 1558 Returned to Portugal.
DOM FRANCISCO DE COUTINHO 7 Sept. 1561 Died at Goa,
19 Feb. 1564.
João de Mendonça 19 Feb. 1564 Returned to Portugal.
DOM ANTÃO DE NORONHA 3 Sept. 1564 Died at sea on his way
to Portugal.
DOM LUIS DE ATHAIDE 10 Sept. 1568 Returned to Portugal.
DOM ANTONIO DE NORONHA 6 Sept. 1571 Returned to Portugal.
Antonio Moniz Barreto 9 Dec. 1573 Returned to Portugal.
Dom Diogo de Menezes Sept. 1576 Returned to Portugal.
DOM LUIS DE ATHAIDE 31 Aug. 1578 Died at Goa,
(_second time_) 10 March, 1581.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGES
PREFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-12
LIST OF VICEROYS AND GOVERNORS OF PORTUGUESE INDIA,
1505-1580 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
I. THE PREDECESSORS OF ALBUQUERQUE . . . . . . . . . . . 15-40
II. THE EARLY CAREER OF ALBUQUERQUE . . . . . . . . . . . 41-63
THE RULE OF ALBUQUERQUE:--
III. THE CONQUEST OF GOA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64-92
IV. THE CONQUEST OF MALACCA AND RELIEF OF GOA . . . . . . 93-117
V. THE EXPEDITION TO THE RED SEA AND CONQUEST OF ORMUZ . 118-144
VI. HIS INTERNAL POLICY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145-169
THE SUCCESSORS OF ALBUQUERQUE:--
VII. NUNO DA CUNHA AND DOM JOÃO DE CASTRO . . . . . . . . 170-188
VIII. DOM CONSTANTINO DE BRAGANZA AND DOM LUIS DE ATHAIDE . 189-207
INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209-222
* * * * * *
_NOTE_
The orthography of proper names follows the system adopted by the
Indian Government for the _Imperial Gazetteer of India_. That system,
while adhering to the popular spelling of very well-known places,
such as Punjab, Poona, Deccan, &c., employs in all other cases the
vowels with the following uniform sounds:--
_a_, as in wom_a_n: _á_, as in l_a_nd: _i_, as in pol_i_ce: _í_, as
in intr_i_gue: _o_, as in c_o_ld: _u_, as in b_u_ll: _ú_, as in
r_u_le.
{15}
ALBUQUERQUE
CHAPTER I
THE PREDECESSORS OF ALBUQUERQUE
The period of the growth and domination of the Portuguese power in
India is marked by many deeds of bloodshed and by many feats of
heroism; it is illustrated by many great names, among which the
greatest without doubt is that of Affonso de Albuquerque. But the
general and administrator, to whom his countrymen have given the
well-deserved title of _The Great_, was only one of many famous
heroes, and it is impossible to understand the greatness of his
conceptions and of his deeds without having some idea of the general
history of the Portuguese in India.
The importance to Europe of the successful establishment of the
Portuguese in the East was manifested in two widely different
directions. On the one hand, it checked the rapid advance of {16}
Muhammadanism as represented by the Turks. In the sixteenth century
the advance of the Turks was still a terror to Europe; Popes still
found it necessary to preach the necessity of a new Crusade; the
kings of Christendom occasionally forgot their own feuds to unite
against the common enemy of the Christian religion; and the Turks
were then a progressive and a conquering and not, as they are now, a
decaying power. It was at this epoch of advancing Muhammadanism that
the Portuguese struck a great blow at Moslem influence in Asia which
tended to check its progress in Europe.
Of equal importance to this great service to the cause of humanity
was the fact that the Portuguese by establishing themselves in Asia
introduced Western ideas into the Eastern world, and paved the way
for that close connection which now subsists between the nations of
the East and of the West. That connection was in its origin
commercial, but other results have followed, and the influence of
Asia upon Europe and of Europe upon Asia has extended indefinitely
into all departments of human knowledge and of human endeavour.
A wide contrast must be drawn between the Portuguese connection with
Asia and between the English and Spanish connection with America. In
the latter case the exploring and conquering Europeans had to deal
with savage tribes, and in many instances with an uncultivated
country; in the former the Portuguese found themselves confronted
with a {17} civilisation older than that of Europe, with men more
highly educated and more deeply learned than their own priests and
men of letters, and with religions and customs and institutions whose
wisdom equalled their antiquity.
The India which was reached by Vasco da Gama, and with which the
Portuguese monopolised the direct communication for more than a
century, was very different to the India with which the Dutch and
English merchants sought concessions to trade. The power of the
Muhammadans in India was not yet concentrated in the hands of the
great Mughals; there were Moslem kingdoms in the North of India and
in the Deccan, but the South had not yet felt the heavy hand of
Musalman conquerors, and the Hindu Rájá of Vijayanagar or Narsingha
was the most powerful potentate in the South of India. The monarchs
and chieftains whom the Portuguese first encountered were Hindus.
Muhammadan merchants indeed controlled the commerce of their
dominions, but they had no share in the government; and one of the
ruling and military classes consisted, on the Malabar coast, where
the Portuguese first touched, of Nestorian Christians.
The concentration of all commerce in the hands of the believers in
the Prophet was not favourably regarded by the wisest of the Hindu
rulers, who were therefore inclined to heartily welcome any
competitors for their trade. The condition of the Malabar coast at
the time of the arrival of the Portuguese was {18} particularly
favourable to the Portuguese endeavours, and, had they been inspired
with nineteenth-century instead of with sixteenth-century ideas of
religion and morality, a prosperous and peaceful commerce might
easily have sprung up between the East and the West.
But if the India which Vasco da Gama reached was favourably inclined
to open relations with the nation to which he belonged, Portugal was
also at that time singularly well fitted by circumstances to send
forth men of daring and enterprise to undertake the task. The
Portuguese nation had grown strong and warlike from its constant
conflict with the Moors in the Peninsula, and the country attained
its European limits in 1263. Since that time it had become both rich
and populous, and a succession of internal troubles had led to the
establishment of a famous dynasty upon the throne of Portugal.
King John I, the founder of the house of Aviz, and surnamed _The
Great_, had won his throne by preserving the independence of the
Portuguese nation against the power of Castile, with the help of the
English, and rested his foreign policy upon a close friendship with
the English nation. He married an English princess, a daughter of
John of Gaunt, and by her became the father of five sons, whose
valour and talents were famous throughout Europe. There being no more
Moors to fight in the Peninsula, the Portuguese, led by their gallant
princes, went to fight Moors in Morocco. The duty of fighting Moors
had {18} from their history sunk deep into the hearts of the
Portuguese people. Their history had been one long struggle with
Muhammadans, and the Christian religion had therefore taken with them
a fiercer and more warlike complexion than in any other country. This
feeling was fostered by King Affonso V, the grandson of John the
Great, who ruled in Portugal from 1438 to 1481, and who, from his
many expeditions to Morocco, obtained the surname of _The African_.
His perpetual wars both with the Spaniards and the Moors continued to
keep the Portuguese a nation of soldiers; and when the conquest of
the East demanded the services of daring men, there was never any
lack of soldiers to go upon the most distant expeditions. It was
fortunate for the great enterprises of Vasco da Gama and of Affonso
de Albuquerque that they had no difficulty in obtaining plenty of
brave and experienced warriors; but it is to be deplored that these
soldiers were possessed by a spirit of fanaticism against the
religion of Islám which stained their victories with cruel deeds.
Such fanaticism is indeed deplorable, but considering the past
history of the Portuguese nation and the century in which they
performed their great feats of arms it was not unnatural.
Commerce with the East sprang up in Europe with civilisation. As soon
as any nation became rich it began to desire luxuries which could not
be procured at home. The Romans in the days of their greatness knew
of the products of Asia, and attained them at a {20} great price.
Throughout the Middle Ages the commodities of Asia were known and
valued, and as civilisation progressed and Europe emerged from
barbarism the demand for pepper and ginger, for spices and silks and
brocades increased.
The original trade routes for the products of India were overland.
The goods were borne in caravans from the North-West frontier of
India across Persia to Aleppo and thence by ship to Italy and to
whatever other country was rich enough to purchase them. But after
the growth of Muhammadanism and of the power of the Turks, the
caravan routes across Central Asia became unsafe. Two new routes then
came into use, the one by the Persian Gulf, and the other by the Red
Sea. Goods which went by the Persian Gulf were carried overland to
Aleppo and other ports in the Levant; goods that went by the Red Sea
were carried across Egypt from Suez to Alexandria. From these two
entrepôts of Eastern and especially of Indian trade the articles of
commerce were fetched by Venetian ships, and from Venice were
distributed throughout Europe.
In the days of the Renaissance the products of the East passed
through the hands of Muhammadan merchants from India to the
Mediterranean, and the large profits they made were commensurate with
the risks they undertook. With the rapid growth of civilisation the
value of this trade became enormous: every city through which it
passed was enriched; Venice became the wealthiest State in Europe;
and the cost {21} of all Indian luxuries and spices was extravagantly
high.
All wise kings envied the prosperity of Venice, and schemed to secure
a share of the Eastern trade for their subjects. Mention has been
made of the five illustrious princes, the sons of John the Great and
Eleanor of Lancaster. One of them is known in history as Prince Henry
the Navigator. This prince devoted his life to the discovery of a
direct sea route from Portugal to India. He established himself on
the promontory of Sines, and collected around him the most learned
geographers and mathematicians of the age. With them he discussed the
probability of its being possible to sail round the continent of
Africa and thus reach India. Year after year he sent forth
expeditions to explore the African coast. Many and important
discoveries were made by his navigators, and a generation of skilful
pilots and adventurous sailors was formed by his wise encouragement.
Among the earliest discoveries by the sailors of Prince Henry were
the islands of Madeira and the Azores, and at the time of his death,
in 1460, the Portuguese navigators had learned the way past the River
Senegal. What Prince Henry the Navigator began was continued by the
enterprise of the Portuguese merchants. These men were not actuated
by the high aims of Prince Henry; they were rather inclined to mock
at his belief in the existence of a direct sea route to India. But
with his discoveries along the African coast began the slave trade.
It was found {22} to be excessively profitable to import negroes from
the Guinea coast, and the Portuguese captains and pilots soon
mastered the difficulties of the navigation of the North-West
shoulder of Africa from the frequent voyages which they made in
search of slaves.
In 1481 King John II succeeded his father Affonso V upon the throne
of Portugal. He was one of the wisest monarchs of his age, and was
surnamed by his people John 'the Perfect.' By his internal policy he,
like his contemporaries Louis XI of France and Henry VII of England,
broke the power of his nobility. His people aided him, for they were
wearied of the pressure of feudalism, and he concentrated the whole
power of the realm in his own hands. He took up the projects which
had been left untouched since the death of his great-uncle, Prince
Henry the Navigator. The dream of his life was to find the direct sea
route to India. To achieve this end he collected at his Court all the
learned men he could attract; he improved the methods of
shipbuilding, and began to build full-decked ships of 100 tons; he
did much to perfect the knowledge of navigation; and exploration
became his favourite hobby.
John II dismissed Columbus as a visionary, and thus left it to Spain
to acquire the fame and the profit of discovering the new world of
America. But he was diligent in making enquiries, with regard to the
East. He sent two of his equerries, João Peres de Covilhão and
Affonso de Paiva, overland to India, and the former of these two
travellers accompanied the {23} caravans to the East and visited the
Malabar coast. He was refused a passage from Calicut to Africa by the
jealous Muhammadan merchants, but he managed to find his way through
Arabia to Abyssinia, where he died. More important than these
overland expeditions were those which John II sent on the tracks of
Prince Henry's sailors along the African coast. One of his captains,
Diogo Cão or Cam, discovered the Congo in 1484, and in 1486
Bartholomeu Dias and João Infante for the first time doubled the Cape
of Good Hope and reached Algoa Bay. John II, like Prince Henry, was
fated not to see the fulfilment of his dearest hopes; but he it was
who designed the expedition which, under the command of Vasco da
Gama, reached India, and who trained the great captains and governors
who were to make illustrious with their valour the name of the
Portuguese in Asiatic seas.
It was in the month of July, 1497, that a fleet of three ships was
placed under the command of Vasco da Gama to follow the route taken
by Bartholomeu Dias and find the way to India. Vasco da Gama was the
third son of Estevão da Gama, who is said to have been the captain
nominated by John II for the command of the expedition. Other
accounts give to King Emmanuel, the successor of John II, the credit
of choosing the successful admiral. Whoever selected him made a wise
choice, for Vasco da Gama showed himself during his eventful voyage
possessed of the highest qualities of constancy and daring. The two
ships which sailed under his command, in addition to {24} his own,
were placed under his elder brother Paulo da Gama and his intimate
friend Nicolas Coelho, who proved themselves worthy of their chief.
The fleet, of which the crews did not number more than 160 men, nor
the tonnage of any ship more than 120 tons, experienced terrific
storms in doubling the Cape of Good Hope, but eventually Vasco da
Gama struck the South-East coast of Africa. He met with opposition
from the rulers of Mozambique and Quiloa (Kilwa), where he first
touched, and it was only with the greatest difficulty that he
suppressed an incipient mutiny among his sailors.
In April, 1498, he reached Melinda, a port situated 200 miles to the
north of Zanzibar, where he was kindly received by the ruling chief.
The passage across the Indian Ocean was well known to the navigators
of the South-East coast of Africa, for there was a considerable
amount of trade conducted between the two localities which was almost
entirely controlled by Muhammadans. At Melinda, Vasco da Gama was
able to obtain experienced pilots, and after a stay there of one
month according to most authorities, and of three months according to
Correa, Vasco da Gama pursued his way to India.
The Portuguese ships arrived off Calicut in June or August, 1498. The
powerful Hindu ruler on the Malabar coast, who was known as the
Zamorin,[1] had {25} his capital in that city. His body-guard and
most of his aristocracy consisted of Nairs and Nestorian Christians,
but all commerce was in the hands of the Muhammadan merchants. These
Muhammadans were Moplas, or descendants of Arab traders who had long
settled upon the Malabar coast. They quickly perceived that if Vasco
da Gama could make his way direct from Portugal to India other
Portuguese ships could do the same, and that then their lucrative
monopoly of the Indian trade with Europe by way of the Red Sea or the
Persian Gulf, would be at an end. They therefore intrigued with the
Hindu ministers of the Zamorin to repulse the endeavours of Vasco da
Gama to procure a cargo of Indian commodities for his ships, and it
was only after much difficulty and some danger that he was able to
take on board an inadequate amount of merchandise. On leaving Calicut
the Portuguese Admiral visited Cannanore, and he eventually reached
Melinda on his way home in January, 1499. He had a long and difficult
passage back to Europe; in the island of Terceira his beloved brother
Paulo da Gama died, and when he got safely to Lisbon at the end of
August, 1499, he had with him but fifty-five of the companions who
had started with him on his adventurous voyage.
[Footnote 1: The title Zamorin is a version of the Malay[a-macron]lim
word _T[a-macron]m[a-macron]tiri_ or _T[a-macron]m[u-macron]ri_,
which is a modification of the Sanskrit _S[a-macron]mundri_ 'the Sea
King.']
King Emmanuel of Portugal, and his people, received Vasco da Gama
with the utmost enthusiasm. The dreams of Prince Henry the Navigator
and of King John II were fulfilled. King Emmanuel took the title of
'Lord of the Conquest, Navigation and {26} Commerce of Ethiopia,
Arabia, Persia and India,' which was confirmed to him by a Bull of
Pope Alexander VI in 1502, and he commenced the erection of the
superb church at Belem as a token of his gratitude to Heaven. On
Vasco da Gama the King conferred well deserved honours. He was
granted the use of the prefix of _Dom_ or Lord, then but rarely
conferred; he was permitted to quarter the Royal Arms with his own;
he was given the office of Admiral of the Indian Seas; and in the
following reign, when the importance of his voyage became more
manifest, he was created Count of Vidigueira.
King Emmanuel determined to take immediate advantage of the trade
route opened to him by Dom Vasco da Gama's voyage. On March 9, 1500,
a fine fleet of thirteen ships was despatched under the command of
Pedro Alvares Cabral, well laden with merchandise, to trade with
India. On his way out this Portuguese fleet was driven far to the
westward, and to Cabral belongs the honour of discovering Brazil,
which was eventually to become far more valuable to Portugal than the
Indian trade. On leaving Brazil, Cabral followed the course taken by
Dom Vasco da Gama, and with the help of pilots from Melinda anchored
safely in the port of Calicut. At that place he established a factory
or agency for the sale of the merchandise he had brought with him and
for the purchase of Indian commodities, and then sailed for Cochin.
But the Mopla merchants were still the declared {27} enemies of the
Portuguese. They raised a riot in the city of Calicut, and Ayres
Correa, the Portuguese agent, was killed with several of his
associates. It is worthy of remark that this murderous attack was
entirely the work of the Arab Moplas. The Hindu Zamorin showed no
disinclination to trade with the Europeans; the Malabar Muhammadans,
that is the natives who had been converted to Islám, did not share in
the outrage, and one of their principal merchants even interfered to
save the lives of Correa's children and of some of the Portuguese
clerks.
Cabral then loaded his ships at Cannanore and Cochin, where Hindu
Rájás, inferior in power to the Zamorin, but not so much subject to
Mopla influence, ruled, and after burning some of the Indian ships in
the harbour of Calicut he returned to Lisbon in July, 1501. Cabral
had not been so fortunate as Vasco da Gama, for he only brought back
five out of the thirteen ships which he had taken with him. But, on
the other hand, he did what Vasco da Gama had feared to do, and in
spite of the fate of Ayres Correa and his associates, Cabral left a
Portuguese factor with a considerable staff at Cochin to purchase
goods for despatch to Portugal by the next fleet which should arrive.
On the return of Cabral from India, King Emmanuel resolved to send
once more to the East the famous captain who had discovered the
direct sea route to India. It was obvious to the king that large
profits were to be made by the Eastern trade, but at this early
period he had formed no distinct idea as to the policy {28} he would
pursue. On one point only he was resolved. It was quite certain that
Portuguese agents would have to be left at the places of export if a
prosperous trade was to be developed, and it was therefore necessary
to give a severe lesson to the Zamorin of Calicut for the murder of
the Portuguese factor at his capital. Adequate protection to
Portuguese agents could only be given by maintaining a strong force
in the Indian Seas. Vasco da Gama was therefore ordered to punish the
Zamorin and to leave a squadron of ships for the defence of the
Portuguese factors.
The establishment of commerce was at this time the chief aim of the
Portuguese in the East, as it was in the succeeding century the chief
aim of the Dutch and the English. But in the same way that the Dutch
and English East India Companies were compelled to become military
powers in order to defend their local agents, so King Emmanuel of
Portugal was obliged to provide for the military defence of the first
Portuguese factors. It was the fierce enmity of the Muhammadan
merchants which caused the early European traders to take the
attitude of invaders. The original Portuguese visitors had no more
idea of establishing a Portuguese power in the East than the original
English adventurers of the reign of Elizabeth foresaw that their
successors would become the rulers of India. The position of a
military and ruling power was forced on the Portuguese as it was
afterwards on the Dutch and the English.
In February, 1502, Dom Vasco da Gama, Admiral {29} of the Indian
Seas, set sail from Lisbon with twenty ships, of which five were
lateen-rigged caravels or lightly built warships which he was
directed to leave behind him in the East. The Admiral followed his
previous course, and after renewing his friendship with the Chief of
Melinda he reached the Indian coast in safety. He found that the
Portuguese factor at Cochin and his clerks had laid in a good store
of Indian commodities, and that they had been kindly treated by the
Rájá of that city in spite of the threats of the Moplas of Calicut.
He then proceeded to repeat the lesson which Cabral had given to the
Zamorin, and after destroying, under circumstances of atrocious
cruelty, the crew of a large ship belonging to a wealthy and
important Muhammadan owner, he bombarded the city of Calicut.
The Ráni of Quilon, an important pepper port, sent a message
requesting that the Portuguese would come to her port also to obtain
goods. But Dom Vasco da Gama feared to offend the Rájá of Cochin by
trading elsewhere, and it was only after receiving the express
consent of the latter monarch that he took two shiploads of pepper
from Quilon. Having taken on board a lucrative cargo Dom Vasco da
Gama returned once more to Portugal, leaving behind him the squadron
designed for that purpose under the command of one of his relations,
Vicente Sodré.
The Admiral also made a treaty with the Rájá of Cannanore, a ruler
nearly as powerful as the Rájá of Cochin, which provided that the
former should {30} never make war on the Rájá of Cochin, and should
refuse to assist the Zamorin in case that powerful ruler undertook
such an attack, and he also established a factory at Cannanore.
Vicente Sodré cruised for some time on the Malabar coast, as he had
been directed to do, and then sailed for the coast of Arabia in order
to intercept the ships of Muhammadan merchants trading between India
and Egypt. He had, however, but small success; for in the summer of
1503 his squadron was wrecked on the Abd-el-Khuri rocks off Socotra,
three of his ships were lost, and Sodré himself was drowned.
In 1503 three separate squadrons were despatched to the East from
Portugal under the command respectively of Affonso de Albuquerque,
the future Governor, Francisco de Albuquerque, his cousin, and
Antonio de Saldanha, the last of whom was ordered to explore the
African coast and gave his name to Saldanha Bay. Francisco de
Albuquerque, who arrived first in India, was only just in time to
succour the Rájá of Cochin. The Zamorin of Calicut, as Vasco da Gama
had foreseen, had attacked the Rájá of Cochin in force, at the
instigation of the Moplas, as soon as Sodré's squadron had left the
Malabar coast. The situation of the Cochin Rájá was one of peril. He
had been driven from his capital and was being besieged in the island
of Vypín, and he welcomed the arrival of the ships of Francisco de
Albuquerque with cries of joy.
The Portuguese met with little difficulty in {31} defeating the army
of the Zamorin and in restoring their ally, the Rájá of Cochin, to
his dominions. But the extremity of the danger had been such that the
two Albuquerques built a strong fort of wood and mud, mounted with
artillery, at Cochin; and when they departed they left behind them
not only a squadron of war-ships, as Vasco da Gama had done in the
previous year, but also a garrison of trained soldiers for the new
fort, both under the command of Duarte Pacheco. The two cousins
Albuquerque had more than one difference of opinion, and Affonso,
after sailing to Quilon, where he made a treaty with the Ráni and
established a factory, returned to Portugal with his squadron,
without waiting for Francisco.
No more valiant warrior illustrated the glory of the Portuguese name
than Pacheco. The Zamorin of Calicut, as soon as the Albuquerques had
left the coast, advanced against Cochin with a more powerful army
than he had set on foot in the previous year. Pacheco had only 150
Portuguese soldiers, but nevertheless he inspired perfect confidence
into the mind of his ally, the Cochin Rájá. That king, at the request
of the Portuguese commander, abandoned his first idea of deserting
his capital, and placed all his resources at the disposition of
Pacheco, who repulsed every assault which the Zamorin made upon
Cochin, and defeated his troops in four pitched battles beneath the
walls of the city. The valour of the Portuguese greatly impressed the
Zamorin, who witnessed the last of these battles, and the Hindu ruler
soon repented his {32} compliance with the demands of the Mopla
merchants.
After defeating the Calicut troops on land Pacheco took the personal
command of his squadron at sea, and defeated the Calicut fleet of
fifty-two ships. The news of these battles spread abroad through
India. Many Rájás in the interior sent envoys to the Portuguese
commander, and the Zamorin himself earnestly sued for peace. The
prestige of the Portuguese was assured by Pacheco's victories, and
from this time forth for nearly a century the inhabitants of Southern
India recognised that the Portuguese were stronger than themselves,
and were eager to trade with them or to make alliances.
Pacheco increased his reputation by a daring march to Quilon, where
he rescued the Portuguese factor from much danger; for at Quilon, as
at all the ports along the coast, the Moplas showed an unrelenting
hatred to the European agents. When Lopo Soares de Albergaria, son of
the Chancellor of Portugal, who commanded the squadron sent from
Portugal in 1504, reached the Malabar coast he found the Indian ports
ringing with news of Pacheco's victories. He once more bombarded
Calicut, and then returned to Portugal, bringing with him a rich
cargo and also the gallant Portuguese commander. It is a lasting
disgrace to King Emmanuel that he neglected to reward the hero of
Cochin according to his merits. He gave his faithful servant a
distinguished reception, and had sermons preached in his honour in
every church of Portugal, {33} but eventually, like Camoens and other
famous Portuguese warriors, Pacheco was left to die in poverty and
misery.
It was after the return of Pacheco, and probably owing to that brave
man's advice, that King Emmanuel in 1505 inaugurated a new departure
in the relations between Portugal and the East. Pacheco's victories
made it evident that it was not only possible for Portuguese
garrisons and local squadrons to defend the Portuguese factors, but
that they could defeat and conquer powerful native monarchs. A
conception of the ease by which a Portuguese empire could be
established in the East was now grasped by King Emmanuel. His ideas
were still mainly commercial, but he began to perceive also that the
safe maintenance of trade and commerce would necessarily involve a
regular war to the death with the Muhammadan powers who had reaped
the greatest profit from the trade of the East with Europe. Hitherto
the Portuguese in India had striven with the Muhammadan Moplas
settled on the Malabar coast; but it now became apparent that the
Muhammadans of Egypt, Persia, and Arabia would come to the help of
their co-religionists. Emmanuel decided therefore to maintain a more
powerful army and navy in Asia than he had yet despatched to the
Eastern seas, and to replace annual expeditions by a local
establishment.
Such a force had to be commanded by an experienced general, who
should also be a man of rank, in order to exercise undisputed sway
over the whole {34} resources of Portugal in the East. For this
important office the king first selected Tristão da Cunha, a daring
and skilful commander and navigator. But Tristão da Cunha was struck
with temporary blindness, and King Emmanuel then chose Dom Francisco
de Almeida, a member of one of the most illustrious families of
Portugal. Almeida when he sailed received only the title of Chief
Captain, but on his arrival at Cannanore on September 12, 1505, he
took the high-sounding title of Viceroy of Cochin, Cannanore, and
Quilon.
The great Portuguese nobleman looked upon the situation of affairs in
a different light to his predecessors. He was not satisfied with the
idea of protecting the Portuguese trade which had been established,
but considered it his duty to destroy the Muhammadan traders and to
secure for his countrymen the entire command of the Eastern seas.
Since it was necessary for the Portuguese fleets to have some safe
ports at which they could refit before and after crossing the Indian
Ocean, he built a strong fortress at Quiloa (Kilwa), about 200 miles
south of Zanzibar, and made the Chief of Mombassa between Zanzibar
and Melinda tributary. He also organised, for the first time, a
regular Portuguese Indian pilot service, for he felt it to be a
weakness to the Portuguese to be dependent on native pilots like the
men who had shown Vasco da Gama the way across the Indian Ocean.
Having firmly established the Portuguese power on {35} the African
coast, Dom Francisco de Almeida continued on his way to India. His
fleet consisted of fourteen ships and six caravels, and carried 1500
soldiers. On reaching the Malabar coast he first punished the Rájás
of Honáwar and Cannanore, and then established his seat of government
at Cochin. The Viceroy next sent his son Dom Lourenço de Almeida, who
had been appointed Chief Captain of the Indian Sea, to attack Quilon.
The Moplas in that city, in spite of the lesson taught to them by
Pacheco, had not ceased their intrigues against the Portuguese; and
soon after Almeida's arrival they rose in insurrection and killed
Antonio de Sá, the factor, and twelve other Portuguese subjects. Dom
Lourenço, who was but eighteen years of age, and who soon made for
himself a reputation for daring and valour unequalled in the East,
bombarded and practically destroyed the city of Quilon. The young
captain then visited the island of Ceylon, which had not yet been
explored by the Europeans. The native prince on whose coasts he
landed received Lourenço with great pomp, recognised the suzerainty
of the King of Portugal and promised to provide the Portuguese ships
with cargoes of cinnamon. From Ceylon also Dom Lourenço brought the
first elephant ever sent to Portugal.
After his return to Cochin the Viceroy despatched his gallant son to
meet a fresh fleet which had been prepared by the Zamorin of Calicut.
On March 18, 1506, with but eleven ships of war under {36} his
command, Lourenço de Almeida attacked the Zamorin's fleet of
eighty-four ships and a hundred and twenty prahs or galleys. The
sea-fight which followed was chiefly an artillery combat; most of the
Zamorin's ships were sunk, and it is said that 3000 Muhammadans
perished and not more than six or eight Portuguese. The young captain
sailed northward with his victorious fleet, but was repulsed in an
attack on Dábhol, an important port belonging to the Muhammadan King
of Bijápur. In the following year Dom Lourenço de Almeida continued
his series of victories, and on November 23, 1507, with the
assistance of Tristão da Cunha, who had just arrived in India, he
sacked the port of Ponáni, then, as it still is, a religious centre
of the Mopla community.
Meanwhile the danger which King Emmanuel had foreseen was coming to
pass. The Mameluke Sultan of Egypt perceived that his income from the
passage of the Indian trade through Cairo was seriously diminishing,
and he resolved to make a great effort to expel the daring European
intruders from the Eastern seas. He therefore prepared a large fleet,
which was placed under the command of the Emir Husain, an admiral of
high reputation, whom the Portuguese chroniclers call Mir Hocem. This
was the first regular war fleet which the Portuguese had yet met. The
fleets of the Zamorin, which Pacheco and Dom Lourenço de Almeida had
defeated, consisted only of merchant ships roughly adapted for war by
the Mopla traders of Calicut. The fleet of {37} the Emir Husain, on
the other hand, was a regular war fleet; it was largely manned by
sailors who had experience in fighting with Christian fleets in the
Mediterranean, and who understood the use of artillery quite as well
as the Portuguese.
The Egyptian admiral in 1508 sailed from the Red Sea for the coast of
Gujarát, where the Muhammadan King of Ahmadábád and the Muhammadan
Nawáb of Diu, Málik Ayaz, had promised to receive and assist him. Dom
Lourenço de Almeida was unable to prevent the junction of the
Egyptian and the Diu fleets, and on their approach to his station in
the port of Chaul he boldly sailed out and attacked them. His numbers
were totally inadequate, but he had received express orders from his
father to endeavour to prevent the allies from coming south to
Calicut to join the Zamorin. For two days the Portuguese maintained a
running fight, but Dom Lourenço de Almeida soon found that he had to
deal with more experienced and warlike foes than the merchant
captains he had so often defeated. His ship was surrounded on every
side; his leg was broken by a cannon-ball at the commencement of the
action; nevertheless he had himself placed upon a chair at the foot
of the mainmast and gave his orders as coolly as ever. Shortly
afterwards a second cannon-ball struck him in the breast, and the
young hero, who was not yet twenty-one, expired, in the words of
Camoens, without knowing what the word surrender meant. Málik Ayaz
treated the Portuguese prisoners whom he took kindly. He {38} wrote
to the Viceroy regretting that he was unable to find Dom Lourenço's
body to give it honourable burial, and congratulated the father on
the glory the son had acquired in his last combat.
At this juncture Affonso de Albuquerque, who had been sent from
Lisbon with a commission to succeed Dom Francisco de Almeida, at the
close of the latter's three years tenure of office, made his claims
known. The Viceroy, however, refused to surrender his office or to
abandon the government until he had avenged his son's death.
Albuquerque told the Viceroy that it was his privilege to fight the
Egyptian fleet, but he felt for the father's feelings and allowed
Francisco de Almeida to sail northwards without further pressing his
rights. The Viceroy first relieved the fortress of Cannanore, which
was being besieged by the Moplas and gallantly defended by Lourenço
de Brito, and he then attacked Dábhol with a fleet of nineteen ships.
He stormed Dábhol and wreaked a horrible vengeance, which passed into
a proverb, on the inhabitants in December, 1508. On February 2, 1509,
Dom Francisco de Almeida came up with the united fleet of the
Muhammadans under Emir Husain and Málik Ayaz off Diu, and after a
battle which lasted the whole day a great victory was won, in which
the Muhammadans are said to have lost 3000 men and the Portuguese
only twenty-two.
After the victory the powerful Muhammadan King of Ahmadábád or
Gujarát, Mahmúd Sháh Begára, disavowed the conduct of Málik Ayaz, his
tributary, {39} and made peace with the Portuguese. He refused to
surrender the Emir, but he gave up the Portuguese prisoners who had
been taken in the previous engagement as well as the remains of the
Egyptian fleet. On his return to Cochin, Dom Francisco de Almeida
again refused to hand over the government to Albuquerque, and
imprisoned his destined successor in the fortress of Cannanore.
However, on the arrival of Dom Fernão de Coutinho, Marshal of
Portugal, the Viceroy was forced to abandon this attitude, and he
left Cochin on November 10, 1509. On his way home he was obliged to
put in to refit at Saldanha Bay, where his sailors had a dispute with
some Kaffirs whose sheep they had stolen. Dom Francisco de Almeida
went to their help, but he was struck down and killed with an
assegai. Thus died the first Viceroy of Portuguese India on March 1,
1510, and it is a strange irony of fate that the famous conqueror of
the Muhammadan fleet, who by his victory assured the power of the
Portuguese in the East, should die by the hands of ignorant African
savages.
The policy of the first Viceroy of India was not so grandiose as that
of his successor. He did not believe in building many forts or
attempting to establish direct government in the East. He argued that
Portugal had not sufficient inhabitants to occupy many posts, and his
view was that the Portuguese fleets should hold the sea and thus
protect the factories on land. Any idea of establishing a Portuguese
{40} dominion in Asia seemed visionary to the first Portuguese
Viceroy, and in this respect his policy differed entirely from that
of his successor, Affonso de Albuquerque.
A letter from Francisco de Almeida to Emmanuel is published by Senhor
Lopes de Mendonça in the _Annaes das Sciencias e Letteras_ for April,
1858, and reveals the Viceroy's policy. In it he says:--
'With respect to the fortress in Quilon, the greater the number of
fortresses you hold, the weaker will be your power; let all our
forces be on the sea; because if we should not be powerful at sea
(which may the Lord forbid) everything will at once be against us;
and if the King of Cochin should desire to be disloyal, he would be
at once destroyed, because our past wars were waged with animals;
now we have wars with the Venetians and the Turks of the Sultan.
And as regards the King of Cochin, I have already written to your
Highness that it would be well to have a strong castle in
Cranganore on a passage of the river which goes to Calicut, because
it would hinder the transport by that way of a single peck of
pepper. With the force we have at sea we will discover what these
new enemies may be, for I trust in the mercy of God that He will
remember us, since all the rest is of little importance. Let it be
known for certain that as long as you may be powerful at sea, you
will hold India as yours; and if you do not possess this power,
little will avail you a fortress on shore; and as to expelling the
Moors (Muhammadans) from the country, I have found the right way to
do it, but it is a long story, and it will be done when the Lord
pleases and will thus be served.'
{41}
CHAPTER II
THE EARLY CAREER OF ALBUQUERQUE
The name of Albuquerque was already famous in the history of Castile
and of Portugal before the birth of the great man who increased its
lustre. It is not without interest to examine the history of the
family, for it illustrates in a remarkable manner the origin of the
most noble houses of the Peninsula. It is besides always of interest
to study the ancestry of a great man, for the qualities which
distinguished him are generally to be perceived also in former
members of his family.
The family of Albuquerque derived its origin from Dom Affonso
Sanches, an illegitimate son of King Diniz or Denis, _The Labourer_,
and a beautiful Gallician lady, Dona Aldonsa de Sousa. King Denis is
one of the most remarkable figures in the early history of Portugal.
He ascended the throne in 1279, just after the Moors had been
thoroughly conquered and Portugal had attained its European limits by
the annexation of the Algarves. He reigned for nearly half a century,
and, as his _sobriquet_ indicates, was a man of peace. {42} He
devoted himself to improving the internal administration of the
country, to bringing waste lands under cultivation and to encouraging
commerce. But he had another side to his character. King Denis was
one of the earliest of the Portuguese poets. He wrote in the style of
the Troubadours, and imitated their morality as well as their verse.
The mother of Dom Affonso Sanches was one of the most famous of the
king's mistresses, and was very dearly beloved by him. He showered
favours on his illegitimate children, and made Affonso Sanches
Mordomo-Mor, or Lord High Steward, of his realm, to the extreme wrath
of his legitimate heir, who was afterwards King Affonso IV.
The latter years of the reign of King Denis were embittered by war
between the king and the heir apparent. As soon as the latter
ascended the throne in 1325 he banished his half-brothers from
Portugal and confiscated all the lands which his father had granted
to them. Dom Affonso Sanches, who was a renowned warrior, took refuge
at the court of the King of Castile, and there married Dona Theresa
Martins, daughter of João Affonso Telles de Menezes and granddaughter
of Sancho III, King of Castile. With her he obtained, in addition to
other lands, the Castle of Albuquerque, near Badajoz, which he
entirely rebuilt. His son João Affonso took the name of Albuquerque
from this castle; he married Dona Isabel de Menezes and became
Mordomo-Mor to King Pedro _the Cruel_, of Castile and Leon.
{43} The legitimate issue of this great lord, who was one of the most
important figures in the history of the time, founded the famous
Spanish house of Albuquerque, which gave many distinguished generals
and statesmen to the service of the State. He had also certain
illegitimate children, who returned to Portugal. The two daughters of
this illegitimate family, Dona Beatrice and Dona Maria, were ladies
whose beauty was famous, and they married two brothers of Leonor, the
queen of King Ferdinand of Portugal, the Counts of Barcellos and
Neiva. Their brother, Fernão Affonso de Albuquerque, became Grand
Master of the Portuguese Knights of the Order of Santiago. The
illegitimate daughter of the Grand Master, Dona Theresa, married
Vasco Martins da Cunha, who, by his first marriage, was
great-grandfather of the famous navigator, Tristão da Cunha; his
granddaughter married Gonçalo Vaz de Mello, and his
great-granddaughter, Dona Leonor, João Gonçalvez de Gomide. The
husband of the last-mentioned lady took her famous surname of
Albuquerque, and was the father by her of a numerous family, one of
whom, Pedro de Albuquerque, became Lord High Admiral of Portugal. His
eldest son, Gonçalo de Albuquerque, succeeded his father as Lord of
Villa Verde, and married Dona Leonor de Menezes, daughter of Dom
Alvaro Gonçalvez de Athaide.
Affonso de Albuquerque, who, it may be remarked, always spelt his
name Alboquerque, which is the version adopted by the early
Portuguese writers, was {44} the second son of this marriage. This
sketch of the history of his ancestors shows to what great families
the future governor of Portuguese Asia was allied; the frequent tale
of unlawful love to be observed throughout it is a feature common to
the records of the most illustrious captains of his time. His elder
brother, Fernão de Albuquerque, married a daughter of Diogo da Silva,
and had two daughters, one of whom married Dom Martinho de Noronha,
and the other Jorge Barreto, both names which often occur in the
history of the Portuguese in the East. His next brother, Alvaro, took
Holy Orders and became Prior of Villa Verde, and his youngest
brother, Martim, was killed by his side at Arzila. His elder sister,
Constance, married Dom Fernão de Noronha, and his younger sister,
Isabel, married Pedro da Silva Relle.
Affonso de Albuquerque was born at Alhandra, a beautiful village
about eighteen miles from Lisbon, in 1453. He was brought up at the
court of King Affonso V, where he is said to have been a page. He was
certainly educated with the king's sons, and became in his early
years a friend of Prince John, afterwards John II. He was not only a
thorough master of his own language, which, as his despatches show,
he wrote with force and elegance, but he also studied Latin and
Mathematics. The latter science was an especial favourite of his and
very useful to him during his voyages, in assisting him to master the
technicalities of navigation, so that he could, in time of need, act
as a pilot. The court of Affonso V was {45} well calculated to stir
the knightly spirit of a lad. The king himself was known as _El Rey
Cavalleiro_ or the _Chivalrous King_; his one delight was in war, and
he was never tired of reading the romances of mediaeval chivalry and
trying to follow the example of its heroes. King Affonso V had also a
great taste for literature: he founded the famous library at Evora,
and his answer to the chronicler, Acenheiro, who asked how he should
write the chronicle of his reign, illustrated his disposition; for he
answered simply, 'Tell the truth.'
In 1471 Affonso de Albuquerque, then a young man of eighteen, served
in King Affonso's third expedition to Morocco, in which the
Portuguese took the cities of Tangier, Anafe, and Arzila. In the last
of these towns he remained for some years as an officer of the
garrison. This was an excellent school for the training of an
officer, and Albuquerque there learnt not only his military duties
but his hatred for the Muhammadans. It was in the garrisons in
Morocco that the Portuguese soldiers and captains, who were to prove
their valour in the East, served their apprenticeship to war; and the
ten years which Albuquerque spent there were not years thrown away.
In 1481, when his friend John II succeeded to the throne, Affonso de
Albuquerque returned to Portugal, and was appointed to the high court
office of Estribeiro-Mor, which is equivalent to the post of Master
of the Horse or Chief Equerry. This office he held throughout the
reign of John II, and his close {46} intimacy with that wise and
great king ripened his intellect and trained him to thoughts of great
enterprises. John II was always thinking of the direct sea route to
India; Albuquerque shared his hopes, and there can be no doubt that
the grand schemes for establishing Portuguese influence in Asia which
he afterwards conceived, had their origin in his intimacy with _The
Perfect King_. He served on the fleet sent to the Gulf of Taranto to
defend King Ferdinand of Naples against an invasion of the Turks; and
in 1489 he commanded the defence of the fortress of Graciosa, on the
coast of Morocco, against an attack of the Moors.
On the death of John II, in 1495, Affonso de Albuquerque, like the
other intimates of the deceased sovereign, was looked upon coldly by
King Emmanuel. This cannot be wondered at, for John II had murdered
Emmanuel's elder brother with his own hand, and had even thought of
ousting Emmanuel himself from the throne by legitimatising his
natural son Dom Jorge. In 1495, Affonso de Albuquerque returned to
Arzila and served there for some time longer against the Moors. At
this period his younger brother Martim was killed by his side in a
foray, and the boy's death further increased Albuquerque's personal
hatred for all Muhammadans. After this catastrophe Affonso went back
to Portugal, and since King Emmanuel was now firmly fixed upon the
throne, he did not further hesitate to use the services of so
experienced an officer.
{47} In 1503 Affonso de Albuquerque was for the first time despatched
to the Indian seas, in which he was at a later date to perform his
great feats of arms. In this year he only commanded, as has been
said, a little squadron of three ships, and played a part inferior to
that played by his cousin Francisco de Albuquerque, the son of John
II's Lord High Admiral. His chief act of importance at that time was
his commencing to build a fort at Cochin to defend the local
Portuguese factory; but he also visited Quilon and appointed a factor
in that city. Nevertheless, though he did not do much in 1503, he
learnt much that was useful to him in subsequent years. He saw for
the first time the Indian coast, and was enabled to study on the spot
the problems presented by the establishment of the Portuguese.
He also experienced the difficulties of a divided command. He
quarrelled seriously with his cousin, and eventually, in spite of the
king's direct orders to the contrary, he left the Malabar coast
without waiting for his colleague. On leaving Cochin he took the bold
step of shaping his course for Mozambique. Hitherto the Portuguese
fleets had always struck the African coast higher up in order to make
the passage across the Indian Ocean as short as possible.
Nevertheless, guided by a Muhammadan pilot, Albuquerque reached
Mozambique in safety, and after a perilous voyage along the West
Coast of Africa, arrived at Lisbon in July, 1504. His cousin, who had
delayed his departure, was lost at sea with his squadron {48} without
anyone ever knowing where or how they perished.
On his return to Portugal Affonso de Albuquerque was very favourably
received by King Emmanuel. He encouraged the king's idea of securing
the monopoly of the Indian trade, and insisted that the only way by
which this could be done was to close the previous routes by the Red
Sea and the Persian Gulf. Modern ideas of commercial freedom were
unknown even in the last century, when the River Scheldt was closed
by treaties assented to by the chief European powers; and it was
hardly to be expected that in the sixteenth century the general good
of humanity should be preferred to national considerations. King
Emmanuel therefore entered into Albuquerque's schemes for destroying
the commerce carried on by the Muhammadans with India, and resolved
to despatch the chief author of this policy to the East.
Accordingly, in 1506, when Tristão da Cunha was ordered to the East
with a fleet of eleven ships, Albuquerque accompanied him with a
separate squadron of five ships destined to operate on the coasts of
Arabia. Albuquerque was placed under the command of Da Cunha until
the island of Socotra should be conquered and garrisoned by the
Portuguese, after which event Da Cunha was to proceed to India to
load his ships. Albuquerque was then to assume an independent
command, and after doing what he could to close the Red Sea to
commerce was to go to India and take over the supreme command from
{49} the Viceroy, Dom Francisco de Almeida. These secret orders were
not communicated to the Viceroy immediately, and Albuquerque was
directed not to present his commission until Almeida had completed
three years of government. At the same time a powerful fleet was
despatched to the Mediterranean, under the Prior of Crato, who was
instructed to attack the Turks, and thus to prevent them from sending
sailors to assist the Muhammadans in the Eastern seas. Selim I, who
was then ruling at Constantinople, was at issue with the Mameluke
Sultan of Egypt, whom a few years later he conquered, but the
opposition between them was not understood in Portugal, and it was
believed that the Turks would be inclined to assist the Egyptians.
On April 5, 1506, Tristão da Cunha and Affonso de Albuquerque set
sail from the Tagus. Differences between the two commanders soon
appeared. Albuquerque's own pilot had fled to Castile, after
murdering his wife, and, since Tristão da Cunha refused to give him
another pilot, the future Governor of Portuguese India had to
navigate his own vessel. But the difference between them was not due
alone to this personal dispute--the two men were of essentially
different temperaments. Tristão da Cunha was before all things an
explorer; his hope was to discover fresh countries for his royal
master. Albuquerque was, on the other hand, a statesman, fully
impressed with the importance of the mission on which he was sent and
determined to subordinate {50} everything else to it. This radical
difference soon made itself felt. When the united fleet reached
Mozambique, news was brought to the principal commander by Ruy
Pereira Coutinho that he had discovered an island which seemed rich
in cloves and other spices. This island he had named the Island of
San Lourenço, and it is the island now known as Madagascar. Tristão
da Cunha, in spite of the remonstrances of Albuquerque, who refused
to accompany him, went off at once to explore the new land. But,
after a perilous voyage, he abandoned his purpose and joined
Albuquerque to carry out the first aim of the expedition, the
conquest of the island of Socotra.
As they made their way north along the African coast, they paid a
visit to Melinda and renewed the treaty of friendship between the
Chief of that place and the Portuguese. The Chief of Melinda told the
Portuguese captains that the Chiefs of Mombassa and Angoja caused him
much annoyance for his friendship with the Portuguese, and begged
that they would take vengeance on them. In accordance with this
request, the Portuguese sacked and burnt the city of Angoja, the
Chief of which place was 'a Moorish merchant who came from abroad,
but as he was very rich he had made himself lord of all that
land.'[1] The fleet then proceeded to Braboa, or Brava, where the
Muhammadan ruler refused to acknowledge the supremacy of or pay
tribute to the King of Portugal. {51} The place was therefore
attacked and burnt by the Portuguese sailors. In this engagement
Tristão da Cunha was wounded, and at his own request was knighted by
Affonso de Albuquerque on the spot where he had received his wound.
[Footnote 1: Albuquerque's _Commentaries_, vol. i. p. 36.]
After these acts of summary vengeance the Portuguese fleet proceeded
to Socotra. This island, which is situated off Cape Guardafui, in
such a position as to command the Gulf of Aden, had been discovered
by Diogo Fernandes Pereira two years before, and had been visited by
Antonio de Saldanha. They had reported the existence of Christians on
the island, who wished to place themselves under the authority of the
King of Portugal. King Emmanuel had for this reason, as well as on
account of its importance in commanding the Gulf of Aden, ordered
that a fortress should be built upon the island, and had given a
commission as Governor to Albuquerque's nephew, Dom Affonso de
Noronha. The Portuguese found a strong castle on the island, defended
by a Muhammadan garrison of 150 men. It was stormed, after an
engagement lasting seven hours, in which Albuquerque himself was
wounded. A well-armed fortress, to which the name of St. Michael was
given, was then erected, as well as a Franciscan monastery, and the
somewhat degraded Christians, who are described by Marco Polo as
belonging to the Greek Church, were in great numbers baptized in the
Catholic religion. On August 1, 1507, Tristão da Cunha, having
completed the first task appointed to him, sailed away to {52} India
to take in cargo, leaving behind him Affonso de Albuquerque with six
ships. On his way back to Portugal the great explorer, who did not
again go to the East, discovered the solitary island in the Atlantic
which bears his name. He was received with great honour, and was sent
as Portuguese Ambassador to Pope Leo X. His fame was such that the
Pope begged him to take command of an expedition against the Turks.
But the explorer felt he was not a great soldier, and declined the
flattering offer. He eventually returned to Portugal, and died a
member of the King's Privy Council in 1540.
On the departure of Da Cunha, Albuquerque provided for the government
of the island of Socotra. He divided the palm-groves which had
belonged to the Muhammadans among the native Christians, and those
which had belonged to the mosque he gave to the Christian churches.
He then refitted his ships and left Socotra, with the intention of
intercepting the Muhammadan merchant-vessels on their way from India
to Egypt. Before long he began to have disputes with the captains of
his principal ships. His own flagship, the _Cirne_, was in good
control, and he was always bravely helped in his difficulties by his
gallant young nephew, Dom Antonio de Noronha. But the captains of the
other ships which had accompanied him from Portugal--Francisco de
Tavora, Antonio do Campo, Affonso Lopes da Costa, and Manoel
Telles--were inclined to resent his authority, and objected to
cruising on the barren coast of {53} Arabia instead of fetching
lucrative cargoes from India. Their opposition was fomented by a
famous captain, João da Nova, the discoverer of the island of St.
Helena, who had come to the East with Dom Francisco de Almeida, and
who showed himself throughout his career in Asia to be Albuquerque's
most implacable enemy. He had joined the fleet at Socotra, in command
of one of the finest Portuguese ships ever launched, the _Flor de la
Mar_, and had been directed, much to his chagrin, by Tristão da Cunha
to remain with Albuquerque.
Being in need of supplies, the Portuguese commander next resolved to
shape his course for the Persian Gulf. He had at first intended to
penetrate the Red Sea, but having become possessed of a chart of the
Persian Gulf made by a Muhammadan pilot, he bent his way thither
instead. The important city of Ormuz, at the mouth of the Persian
Gulf, was at this time one of the great centres of the Eastern trade.
Not only did a certain portion of trade for Europe pass through it,
but the large and important commerce carried on between Persia and
India was concentrated there. The wealth and prosperity of Ormuz is
described in glowing terms by all early travellers in Asia, and it is
called in ancient books 'the richest jewel set in the ring of the
world.' Albuquerque quickly grasped the importance of getting
possession of Ormuz; he saw that he might by that means not only
intercept the Indian trade which went that way, but might also
establish a {54} direct trade between Persia and Europe. Persian
commodities, as well as those of India, were much valued in Europe.
Hitherto they had generally passed through the hands of the merchants
of the Levant; but the Portuguese statesman at once perceived that it
would be possible to convey them more cheaply by the direct sea-route
to Portugal.
The first place at which Albuquerque touched on his way to Ormuz was
Calayate (K[a-macron]lh[a-macron]t), which the inhabitants described
as the door of Ormuz. It was a great resort for shipping, and
exported horses and dates in large quantities to India. Albuquerque
was favourably received there, and took in supplies. Following the
coast, the Portuguese bombarded Curiate and Muscat, where they were
badly received, and with atrocious cruelty Albuquerque ordered the
ears and noses of the Muhammadan prisoners to be cut off before they
were released. On October 10, 1507, he reached Ormuz, and there
entered into negotiations with Cogeatar (Khojah Atár), the Prime
Minister of the King of Ormuz. The Portuguese commander first
demanded that the native ruler should declare himself a vassal of the
King of Portugal and should promise to pay tribute to him. In this he
was successful. He then demanded a site on which to erect a fortress
to be garrisoned by a Portuguese force. The foundations of this
fortress were marked out on October 24, 1507, and the building was
undertaken by native labour under Portuguese superintendence.
Meanwhile, the disgust of {55} the Portuguese captains increased;
they protested against the conduct of Albuquerque, and spoke openly
of leaving him and going by themselves to India. In consequence of
this conduct Albuquerque suspended Francisco de Tavora from the
command of his ship. Nor were the sailors less mutinous: four of them
escaped to the native minister and informed Cogeatar of the
dissensions which prevailed. Albuquerque haughtily demanded the
immediate surrender of the deserters, and threatened to attack Ormuz
in case of a refusal.
On the news of the contemplated assault the rebellious captains, on
January 5, 1508, presented a remonstrance to their commander, which
is so characteristic of the difficulties which beset Albuquerque on
every side, and so illustrative of the impression formed by his
character, that it is worth quoting in full:--
'SIR,--We do this in writing, because by word of mouth we dare not,
as you always answer us so passionately; and for all that you, Sir,
have frequently told us that the King gives you no orders to take
counsel with us, yet this business is of so great an importance,
that we consider ourselves obliged to offer you our advice; did we
not do so, we should be worthy of punishment. Now, because this
war, in which you are now desirous of engaging, is very much
opposed to the interest of the King, our Lord, we consider that
your Excellency ought to weigh well, before entering upon it, how
little Cogeatar is to blame for objecting to have against all
reason to pay down in ready money 15,000 cruzados of revenue every
year, contrary to the honour of such a large city and kingdom; yet,
if notwithstanding all this, your {56} Excellency is determined to
prosecute the war, and break the peace and agreement which has been
made with him, it is our opinion that you ought not to do so; for
it would be more to the service of the King, our Lord, if we were
now to quit this city and temporize with Cogeatar, and in the
course of the year return in strength in order to subdue it, and
confirm our hold upon it, than to destroy it for ever. And if, in
spite of all we can say, your Excellency is bent upon entering into
this war, see you that it be with all the circumspection and
assurance that the fleet can command, in that it is more conducive
to the interest of our said Lord to obtain possession and not to
destroy the city now, since it can be destroyed at any time we
please; because, in case of your Excellency's landing in Ormuz or
at the city we are determined not to go with you, nor enter into
such a war, nor such designs, and that this may be known for
certain, and we be not able to deny it hereafter, we all sign our
names here: this day, the 5th of the month of January, 1508.
JOÃO DA NOVA,
ANTONIO DO CAMPO,
AFFONSO LOPES DA COSTA,
FRANCISCO DE TAVORA,
MANOEL TELLES.'[2]
[Footnote 2: Albuquerque's _Commentaries_, vol. i. pp. 169, 170.]
It need hardly be said that Albuquerque refused to listen to this
remonstrance. Francisco de Tavora, whom he had pardoned and restored
to his command, declared himself on Albuquerque's side, and in a few
hours all the captains
'begged him very earnestly to do them the favour to forget it all,
for their passion had blinded them, and all were {57} ready to
serve him in the war and to perform all that he might require of
them.'[3]
[Footnote 3: Albuquerque's _Commentaries_, vol. i. p. 172.]
Albuquerque accordingly attacked Ormuz and defeated the troops who
had assembled to prevent his landing; but Cogeatar knew of the
discontent of the captains, and steadfastly refused to surrender the
deserters. With João da Nova the situation soon became still more
strained. This captain was undoubtedly the leader of the malcontents,
and at last, after a disgraceful scene, Albuquerque ordered him under
arrest. An enquiry was made into his conduct and that of his ship's
crew, and in the words of the _Commentaries_,
'the captain and all the men were found to be so guilty that it was
thought to be better counsel to forgive them, considering the times
they had fallen upon, and the necessity there was of them, than to
punish them as they deserved; ... and he [Albuquerque] ordered them
to return to the ship, and released João da Nova from custody and
returned him his captaincy, not caring to hear any more of his
guilt, but leaving the punishment of it for the King to settle,
although he had, in the instructions given to him, granted him
power for all.'[4]
[Footnote 4: Albuquerque's _Commentaries_, vol. i. p. 189.]
These troubles in his fleet caused Albuquerque to abandon his project
of building a castle at Ormuz, and he therefore sailed away, in April
1508, to intercept the Muhammadan merchant-ships on their way from
India. The disputes with his captains still continued, and three of
them--Antonio do Campo, Affonso {58} Lopes da Costa, and Manoel
Telles--deserted him and went to India. Their desertion was soon
followed by that of João da Nova, whose departure deprived him of the
finest ship in his squadron. With his diminished force of only two
ships Albuquerque sailed to Socotra, where he found the garrison
suffering from want of provisions, having nothing to eat but
palm-leaves and wild fruit. He then cruised for some time in the Gulf
of Aden, and eventually he finally disgraced Francisco de Tavora, his
sole remaining captain, who disgusted him by further mutinous
behaviour.
After cruising for four months in the Gulf of Aden, during which time
he only took one prize, he proceeded once more to Calayate
(K[a-macron]lh[a-macron]t). The governor of the place was an intimate
friend of Cogeatar, and did not receive the Portuguese as favourably
as he had done in the previous year. On observing symptoms of
resistance Albuquerque promptly attacked the city, and after a
furious engagement, in which Dom Antonio da Noronha especially
distinguished himself, Calayate was sacked and burnt. The ships in
the harbour were also destroyed, and with great barbarity the ears
and noses of all the Muhammadans who were taken prisoners were cut
off.
Albuquerque then went on to Ormuz, where he heard the news of the
sea-fight off Chaul, in which Dom Lourenço de Almeida had been
killed. Cogeatar also forwarded to Albuquerque a letter which he had
received from Dom Francisco de Almeida, the Portuguese Viceroy. In
this letter Albuquerque's conduct in {59} the previous year was
greatly blamed, and the Viceroy declared his intention of chastising
Albuquerque, 'in order that he may learn that wheresoever he shall
receive honour, and give a writing on the King's behalf, he ought not
to alter it, for the King of Portugal is not a liar, and it is
necessary that his captain should not depart from his commands.'[5]
In enclosing this letter to Albuquerque, Cogeatar announced his
intention of informing the Viceroy that Albuquerque was a traitor to
the King of Portugal. In reply to these communications, Albuquerque
sent a haughty letter, in which he defended his conduct during the
previous year:--
'Have I not already many a time told thee,' he wrote, 'that I was
no corsair but Captain-General of the King of Portugal, an old man
and a peaceable one?... In what is stated in the Persian letter
[from the Viceroy] about my not daring to go to him, but that I
went instead to Socotra, know of a certainty that I have fear of no
one except of my King; but, on the contrary, I tell thee that the
captain who knew both how to obtain this kingdom, and conquer a
king in battle, and make him tributary to the King of Portugal,
will be treated with great honour let him go whithersoever he will,
and the Viceroy knows that I have performed my duty in proceeding
to succour the fortress of Socotra, as my King had ordered me, and
that I had not now fled, had I not gone to seek for the supplies
which the captains carried away from me when they departed, leaving
thy fleet of seventy sail against me, although I commanded them to
make for it and destroy it; {60} but this they would not do, and
well it was that it turned out so, since between thee and them
there was such amity.'[6]
[Footnote 5: Albuquerque's _Commentaries_, vol. i. p. 227.]
[Footnote 6: Albuquerque's _Commentaries_, vol. i. pp. 237, 238.]
Albuquerque then promised to demand a strict account some day from
Cogeatar for his behaviour; he swore not to cut his beard until he
had completed the fortress at Ormuz, and, after capturing a rich
merchant-ship, he sailed for India. He had spent two years and eight
months at sea, and was now to show his capacity in a wider sphere.
While Albuquerque was establishing the power of Portugal on the
coasts of Arabia and in the Persian Gulf, Almeida was being
prejudiced against him. The deserter and rebel captains met with a
favourable reception from the Viceroy. They described Albuquerque to
him 'as a very harsh sort of a man, and very hasty, without bearing
in mind the honour of his men,'[7] and declared that he had exceeded
his orders in attempting to build a fortress at Ormuz. This,
according to Almeida, was the head and front of Albuquerque's
offending. It has been said that Almeida's policy was opposed to the
building of many fortresses in the East, on the ground that it would
not be possible to garrison them. He was afraid of the vast schemes
of Albuquerque, and wrote to the King, alleging that Albuquerque had
disobeyed orders by his conduct at Ormuz. Almeida's opposition to the
policy of Albuquerque was increased by a personal grievance owing to
the news which arrived in {61} 1508, that Albuquerque was his
destined successor at the close of three years of government. When,
therefore, Albuquerque reached Cannanore, in December 1508, he found
that the Viceroy was prejudiced against him and had received the
mutinous captains with honour; and on Albuquerque's requesting the
Viceroy to hand over the government to him, Almeida replied that his
term did not expire till January 1509, and that he desired to defeat
the Egyptian fleet of Emir Husain and to wreak vengeance for the
death of his son, Dom Lourenço. Albuquerque acknowledged the force of
these arguments, and retired to Cochin, where he remained inactive
until Almeida's return, in March 1509, after the great victory off
Diu.
[Footnote 7: Albuquerque's _Commentaries_, vol. i. p. 206.]
Albuquerque again demanded that Almeida should resign the government
to him. But the Viceroy, influenced by João da Nova and the other
captains, who had good cause to fear Albuquerque's anger,
persistently refused. They drew up a requisition to the Viceroy,
which they got signed by many other officers, stating that Affonso de
Albuquerque 'was a man of great inaptitude, and covetous, and of no
sense, and one who knew not how to govern anything, much less so
great a charge as the Empire of India.'[8] The Viceroy received this
petition favourably. In August, 1509, he ordered Albuquerque to be
imprisoned at Cannanore; he had a regular indictment in ninety-six
counts drawn up against him; he declared his intention of sending him
to {62} Portugal in chains; and he tried to induce Diogo Lopes de
Sequeira, who had just arrived from Portugal, to take over the
government of India. So great was the Viceroy's wrath against
Albuquerque that he gave orders for the destruction of all the houses
in which Albuquerque had lived at Cochin, and took out of them
everything that was to be found there; for he said that it was a case
of treason, and very necessary that Albuquerque should be punished
with rigour.
[Footnote 8: Albuquerque's _Commentaries_, vol. ii. p. 33.]
Matters remained in this state for two months, and the native princes
on the Malabar coast, especially the Rájá of Cochin, were at a loss
to understand the causes of these quarrels, for it had been a proud
boast of the Portuguese that they would obey even a cabin boy who
held the King's commission. The hopes of the Zamorin of Calicut began
to revive, and it was fortunate for the Portuguese that, in October
1509, a fresh fleet arrived at Cannanore, under the command of Dom
Fernão de Coutinho, Marshal of Portugal. This powerful nobleman was a
relative of Albuquerque, and at once released him from custody. With
Albuquerque on board, the Marshal sailed to Cochin, and he insisted
that, in compliance with the royal mandate, Albuquerque should be
immediately recognised as Governor of India.
Dom Francisco de Almeida saw that it was necessary for him to yield.
He handed over the government on November 5 to Albuquerque, and on
November 10, 1509, he left Cochin. His murder {63} by savages at
Saldanha Bay has been already noticed, and it is sad to have to
narrate that he died without having been reconciled to his successor
in the government of India. The _Commentaries_ of Albuquerque imply
that it was Albuquerque's fault that a reconciliation was not made,
but, considering his conduct towards his greatest enemy, João da
Nova, this does not seem to be probable; for it is written:--
'João da Nova died at Cochin in July 1509, so reduced in
circumstances that he had no one to care for him; but Affonso de
Albuquerque forgot all that he had been guilty of towards himself,
and only held in memory that this man had been his companion in
arms, and had helped him in all the troubles connected with the
conquest of the kingdom of Ormuz like a gallant knight, and he
ordered him to be buried at his own expense, with the usual display
of torches, and himself accompanied the body to the grave, clad all
in mourning, a thing the Viceroy would not have done.'[9]
[Footnote 9: Albuquerque's _Commentaries_, vol. ii. p. 49.]
{64}
CHAPTER III
THE RULE OF ALBUQUERQUE
_The Conquest of Goa_
It was on November 5, 1509, almost a year after he had reached India
from his campaign in the Arabian seas, that Affonso de Albuquerque
took up office as Governor and Captain-General of the Portuguese
possessions in Asia. King Emmanuel had not conferred upon him the
title of Viceroy, which had been held by his predecessor--probably
because he had no right to the prefix Dom, or Lord. His powers,
however, were as great as those exercised by Dom Francisco de
Almeida, and he received a special patent granting him authority to
confer _Moradias_, or palace pensions, for services rendered. There
can be no doubt that during the months in which he had been kept out
of his office by the intrigues of his enemies with the Viceroy
Almeida, Albuquerque had carefully considered the state of affairs in
India, for he struck the keynotes of his future policy immediately
after taking up office.
The state of Southern India, and especially of the Malabar coast, was
at this time very favourable to the {65} aspirations of the
Portuguese. The Hindu Rájás, with the exception of the Zamorin of
Calicut, were greatly opposed to the monopoly by the Moplas of the
commerce of their dominions. These Arab traders were as completely
foreigners to the races of Southern India as the Portuguese
themselves. They made proselytes to their religion, as the Portuguese
afterwards endeavoured to do, but the Muhammadan converts were not
favourably regarded either by the Rájás or their Bráhman ministers.
The most important ruler in Southern India was the Rájá of
Vijayanagar or Narsingha. His power was still great, but it was
threatened by the Muhammadan dynasties established in the Deccan,
which eventually destroyed the power of the Vijayanagar kingdom at
the battle of Tálikot in 1565. But when Albuquerque took up his
office the Hindu kingdom was still powerful, and it might have been
able with the assistance of the Portuguese to resist the advance of
the Muhammadans.
The Portuguese felt none of the hatred which they showed to the
disciples of Islám towards the Hindus. They had found to their great
delight that the Christian religion flourished on the Malabar coast,
and that the native Christians[1] were a prosperous and thriving
community. They inclined to believe that the Hindus or
Krishna-worshippers believed in a form of Christianity. The grounds
for their belief were very {66} slight, but sufficient to impress
ardent Christians like Albuquerque himself. One of the first designs
of the great Governor was to strike up a cordial alliance with the
Hindu rulers. The friendship which the Rájá of Cochin had
consistently shown to the Europeans gave him confidence, and one of
his earliest measures was to send a Franciscan friar, Frei Luis, on a
special embassy to the Rájá of Vijayanagar. The aim of this embassy
was to induce the Rájá to attack the Zamorin of Calicut by land while
the Portuguese attacked him by sea, but there was also a general
desire expressed to make an alliance with the Rájá.
[Footnote 1: On the early history of Christianity in India, see
Hunter's _Indian Empire_, chapter ix, pp. 229-241.]
Frei Luis was directed to state in the name of Albuquerque:
'The King of Portugal commands me to render honour and willing
service to all the Gentile Kings of this land and of the whole of
Malabar, and that they are to be well treated by me, neither am I
to take their ships nor their merchandise; but I am to destroy the
Moors [Muhammadans], with whom I wage incessant war, as I know he
also does; wherefore I am prepared and ready to help him with the
fleets and armies of the King, my Lord, whensoever and as often as
he shall desire me to do so; and I likewise, for my part, expect
that he will help us with his army, towns, harbours, and munitions,
and with everything that I may require from his kingdom; and the
ships which navigate to his ports may pass safely throughout all
the Indian sea, and receive honour and good treatment at the hands
of the fleets and fortresses of the King of Portugal.'
Albuquerque goes on to say--
'And so I intend to drive out of Calicut the Moors, who {67} are
the people that furnish the Zamorin with all the revenue that he
requires for the expenses of war, and after this is over I shall
give my attention forthwith to the affairs of Goa, wherein I can
help in the war against the King of the Deccan.'
Albuquerque then adds that Ormuz now belongs to the King of Portugal,
and that--
'the horses of Ormuz shall not be consigned except to Baticala
[Bhatkal] or to any other port he [the Rájá of Vijayanagar] pleases
to point out where he can have them, and shall not go to the King
of the Deccan, who is a Moor and his enemy.'[2]
[Footnote 2: Instructions to Frei Luis; Albuquerque's _Commentaries_,
vol. ii. pp. 74-77.]
These instructions make evident the attitude of Albuquerque, his
desire to earn the friendship of Hindu rulers and his unrelenting
enmity to all Muhammadans. He had not the absurd notion which Almeida
attributed to him of desiring to establish a direct Portuguese rule
all over India. He wished rather to pose as the destroyer of
Muhammadanism and the liberator of the natives. In return for this
service Portugal was to control the commerce of India with Europe.
The attitude is not very different from that adopted by the English
300 years later, and it is a remarkable conception for a statesman at
the very beginning of the sixteenth century.
Before however Albuquerque was able to combine operations with the
Hindu Rájá of Narsingha he was forced, against his better judgment,
to make an immediate attack unaided upon Calicut. Dom Fernão de {68}
Coutinho, the Marshal, insisted on this expedition against the
Zamorin, on the ground that the King had ordered him to destroy
Calicut before he returned to Portugal. The prudent Albuquerque
endeavoured to dissuade the Marshal, but the headstrong young
nobleman insisted on having his way. The entire military force of the
Portuguese in India sailed for Calicut, and on Jan. 4, 1510, a
landing was effected in front of the city. Albuquerque desired that a
halt should then be made, as the men were very wearied, and could not
bear the weight of their arms by reason of the great heat,--but in
vain. He found himself forced to comply with the wishes of his
impetuous relative, but he did his best to assure a safe retreat from
the disaster, which he foresaw, by ordering Dom Antonio de Noronha,
after burning the ships in the port, to remain in reserve with 300
men. Albuquerque then proceeded to follow the Marshal, who was
rapidly making his way towards the Zamorin's palace. As the Marshal
moved forward--
'There came against him twenty or thirty Nairs, armed with swords
and shields, shouting aloud in their accustomed manner. When he
caught sight of them coming against him he began to chuckle, and
said to Gaspar Pereira, who was close beside him:--"Is this your
Calicut that you terrify us all with in Portugal?" Gaspar Pereira
replied that he would think differently before long; for he would
wager that, if they could that day penetrate to the houses of the
Zamorin, those little naked blacks would give them trouble enough.
The Marshal replied:--"This is not the kind of people who will give
me any trouble."[3]
[Footnote 3: Albuquerque's _Commentaries_, vol. ii. p. 67.]
{69} The Portuguese vanguard under the Marshal managed to reach the
Zamorin's palace, but the men soon scattered to plunder and got into
disorder. They burnt the palace, but were hotly attacked by the Nairs
when they endeavoured to retreat. More than eighty of the Portuguese
were killed as they retired, including the Marshal and ten or twelve
of the principal officers. Albuquerque himself was wounded, and all
the invaders would probably have been cut to pieces but for the
gallant conduct of the reserve under the command of Dom Antonio de
Noronha. After this repulse, which was the most serious the
Portuguese had sustained in India, Albuquerque returned to Cochin.
It is interesting to compare the account of this attack on Calicut,
as given by Sheikh Zín-ud-dín in his historical work called the
_Tohfut-ul-mujahideen_, which was written in the sixteenth century:--
'Now on Thursday, the 22nd day of the month of Ramzan, in the year
of the Hejira 915, the Franks made a descent upon Calicut,
committing great devastation and burning the Jama Mosque which was
built by Nakuz Miscal; and they attacked also the palace of the
Zamorin, hoping to obtain possession of it, as that prince was
absent, being engaged in war in a distant part of his dominions.
But the Nairs that had been left behind at Calicut, having united
against these invaders, made an assault upon them, and succeeded in
ejecting them from the palace, killing at the same time nearly 500
of their party; a great number also were drowned, and the few that
escaped were saved by flying on board their vessels; having been
entirely defeated in their designs by the permission of God Most
High. Now, both {70} before this time and after it, they made
various descents upon the dominions of the Zamorin, burning in
these attacks in all nearly fifty vessels that were lying near his
shores, and conferring martyrdom upon upwards of seventy of the
faithful.'[4]
[Footnote 4: _Tohfut-ul-mujahideen_, translated by Lieut. M. J.
Rowlandson for the Oriental Translation Fund, 1833; pp. 97-99.]
After this serious disaster, which seemed an evil omen for
Albuquerque's governorship, the great captain returned to Cochin to
be healed of his wounds. Sickness however could not repress his
energies, and he soon equipped his fleet afresh and took on board
1000 Portuguese soldiers. With this fleet he intended to sail to the
Red Sea. Duarte de Lemos, who had succeeded him as Captain of the
Ethiopian and Arabian Seas, earnestly implored the Governor to bring
him help at once, alleging that his ships were rotten and unable to
defend the island and fortress of Socotra. Albuquerque was well
acquainted with King Emmanuel's desire to put an end to the
Muhammadan commerce by way of the Red Sea. It was the notion which he
had himself advocated to the King, and its execution was one of the
principal aims of his policy. He desired also to return to Ormuz in
order to punish the Minister, Cogeatar, and firmly establish
Portuguese influence in the Persian Gulf. He therefore left Cochin
with twenty-three ships on Feb. 10, 1510, and on his way to the
island of Anchediva [Anjidiv], whence he intended to start for
Arabia, he anchored off the port of Mergeu [Mirján]. {71} He there
considered an alternative scheme of campaign, namely, to attack Goa,
for it was suggested to him by a native pirate or corsair captain,
named Timoja or Timmaya, that it was a particularly suitable time for
a sudden attack upon that central port.
This man played a most important part in the history of Portuguese
conquest in India. He is reported to have been a Muhammadan by
Correa, and, more correctly, a Hindu in the _Commentaries_ of
Albuquerque. The first Portuguese captain who had relations with this
pirate was Dom Vasco da Gama during his second voyage to India in
1502. Correa says that certain ships--
'were _fustas_ of thieves, which, with oars and sails, got into a
river called Onor (Honáwar), where there was a Moor who equipped
them, named Timoja.... This Moor committed great robberies at sea
upon all that he fell in with, and this Moor was a foreigner and
paid part of the plunder to the King of Gersoppa, who was ruler of
the country.'[5]
[Footnote 5: _The Three Voyages of Vasco da Gama_, translated from
Correa's _Lendas da India_: Hakluyt Soc. 1869, p. 309.]
Vasco da Gama had on this information burnt various ships belonging
to Timoja. But the native chieftain seems to have borne the
Portuguese no ill feeling for this, and entered into very friendly
relations with Dom Francisco de Almeida, the Viceroy. He had written
to Albuquerque before the ill-fated attack upon Calicut, begging the
Governor to direct his fleet against Goa, and while Albuquerque was
on his way on this occasion to the Red Sea, Timoja arrived to parley
with him at Mergeu.
{72} 'This man,' it is said in the _Commentaries_ of Albuquerque,
'was a Hindu by birth, very obedient to the interests of the King
of Portugal; and being a man of low origin had, as a corsair,
raised himself to a position of great honour.'[6]
[Footnote 6: Albuquerque's _Commentaries_, vol. ii. p. 81.]
He informed Albuquerque that the Lord of Goa was dead, and that great
dissensions had arisen among his nobles, which left a very favourable
opportunity for an attack on the city. The Governor called a council
of his captains, and after considering Timoja's arguments it was
unanimously resolved to put off the expedition to the Red Sea and to
attack Goa.
The capture of Goa is perhaps the most important event of
Albuquerque's administration, and the reasons which led to it deserve
special consideration. The island of Goa was situated upon the
Malabar coast about half way between Bombay and Cape Comorin. It was
formed by the mouths of two rivers and was thus easily fitted for
defence. At the time of its capture there was a bar at the mouth of
the harbour, allowing in full flood ships drawing three fathoms of
water to enter, and the anchorage inside was absolutely safe. It had
always been the centre of an important trade, and was visited by
merchants of many nationalities. By some authorities its trade is
represented as larger than that of Calicut, and at any rate it was
but slightly inferior. From its situation, and the ease with which it
could be fortified, it was well fitted to become the capital of the
Portuguese in India.
Albuquerque's ideas, as has already been said, differed {73} from
those of Almeida in one important particular. Albuquerque wished to
establish a real Portuguese empire, which should rest upon the
possession of Portuguese colonies owning the direct sway of the King
of Portugal. Almeida thought it sufficient to command the sea, and
that the only land stations should be a few factories in commercial
cities, defended by fortifications against all assaults. Almeida
therefore was quite satisfied that the fortresses he had built at
Cannanore, Cochin, and Quilon were all that was needed; but
Albuquerque considered it derogatory for the Portuguese to have their
headquarters on sufferance in the capitals of native rulers. He felt
it would be impolitic to attack the Rájás who had been friendly with
the Portuguese, and he therefore resolved to establish a Portuguese
capital in another part of the Malabar coast quite independent of the
existing factories. Geographically also he considered Cochin as too
far south for the effective maintenance of the Portuguese power in
India, and he therefore looked out for a more central situation. Goa
seemed to offer just what he wanted, a good harbour and a central
situation, while its capture would not offend any of the native
allies of the Portuguese.
There was another political consideration which also weighed with
Albuquerque. Hitherto the chief enemies of the Portuguese had been
Muhammadan merchants, who had, in the instance of Calicut, induced
the Hindu ruler to take the offensive. But Goa was the actual
possession of a Muhammadan ruler, {74} and its conquest would strike
a direct blow at the growing Muhammadan power in India.
Goa belonged to various Hindu dynasties until the early part of the
fourteenth century, when it was conquered by the Muhammadan Nawáb of
Honáwar. In 1367, however, the Hindu minister of Harihara, Rájá of
Vijayanagar, reconquered the city, and it remained a part of the
great Hindu kingdom of Southern India for more than seventy years. In
1440 the inhabitants of the old city of Goa attained their
independence, and soon after founded the new city of Goa in another
part of the island. Its trade, especially in horses, imported from
Ormuz, grew rapidly, and in 1470 it was conquered by the Muhammadan
King of the Deccan, Muhammad Sháh II. So great was the monarch's joy
at the conquest, that it is stated in Ferishta that he ordered 'the
march of triumph to be beaten for seven days.'
In 1472 the Hindu Rájá of Belgáum, and in 1481 the Rájá of
Vijayanagar made unsuccessful attacks upon Goa. Amid the later
troubles of the great Báhmani kingdom of the Deccan, which occurred
on the death of Muhammad Sháh II, Goa fell to the lot of the
Muhammadan kingdom of Bijápur. The founder of this kingdom was Yusaf
Adil Sháh, a son of Amurad II, Sultan of the Ottoman Turks. That
prince had a most romantic history. He was rescued by his mother from
being put to death with his brothers on the accession to the throne
of Muhammad II. He was secretly delivered over to a merchant of Sava
in {75} Persia who educated him. He took the name of Savái from the
place of his education, and is always called by the Portuguese
historians the Sabaio or Çabaio, or the Hidalcão, a version of Adil
Khán. He came to India as a slave, but he rose rapidly from a simple
soldier to the command of the royal body-guard of the Báhmani kings,
and was eventually made Governor of Bijápur. In 1489 he was crowned
King of Bijápur, and under his rule Goa, which formed part of his
dominions, greatly increased in wealth.
Yusaf Adil Sháh erected many fine buildings, including a magnificent
palace at Goa. He even thought, it is said, of making it his capital,
and there can be no doubt that he vastly augmented its prosperity.
But his government was oppressive to the Hindu population; he doubled
the taxes, and by favouring his own creed made himself hated by all
his Hindu subjects. When Timoja pressed Albuquerque to attack Goa,
the Muhammadan Governor, whose name, Málik Yusaf Gurgi, is rendered
by the Portuguese Melique Çufegurgij, had made himself especially
obnoxious from the cruelties wreaked by his Turkish garrison on the
citizens. Yusaf Adil Sháh was not dead, as Timoja told Albuquerque,
but was absent in the interior, and the time was really favourable
for a sudden assault. A Jogi or Hindu ascetic had prophesied that a
foreign people coming from a distant land would conquer Goa, and the
inhabitants were therefore ready to surrender the city without much
opposition to the Portuguese.
{76} Influenced by these considerations, and the arguments of Timoja,
Albuquerque altered the direction of his armament and cast anchor off
Goa harbour. On March 1, 1510, Dom Antonio de Noronha, Albuquerque's
gallant nephew, crossed the bar with the ships' boats of the
Portuguese fleet, two galleys commanded by Diogo Fernandes de Beja
and Simão de Andrade, and the _fustas_ or native boats of Timoja, and
stormed the fortress of Panjim, which is situated at the entrance to
the harbour. The ships then entered, and on the 3rd of March the city
of Goa surrendered without making any defence.[7] The Governor for
the Muhammadan King and his soldiers had fled with such haste that
many fugitives were drowned in crossing the rivers. Albuquerque
entered the city in triumph, and proceeded to the palace of Yusaf
Adil Sháh, where his first measure was to appoint Dom Antonio de
Noronha to be Captain of the city. He was hailed with shouts of
welcome by the people, who showered on him flowers made of gold and
silver. The Governor at once prepared to strengthen the defences of
the city; the ships' crews were brought ashore, and both Portuguese
and natives were set to work to build a strong wall round the city,
and a citadel.
[Footnote 7: The dates of the first capture of Goa are given
differently. The _Commentaries_ of Albuquerque gives March 3, vol.
ii. pp. 88-92; Correa, _Lendas da India_, vol. ii p. 59, says March
1. Barros, Decade II, Book V, chapter 3, ed. of 1777, pp. 464, 465;
Castanheda, vol. iii. ed. of 1833, p. 30; and Faria e Sousa, _Asia
Portugueza_, ed. of 1666, vol. i. p. 137, all fix February 17.]
Albuquerque was well aware of the effect his {77} conquest would have
upon the minds of other native sovereigns. He received ambassadors
from the Rájá of Vijayanagar, who plainly hinted that their master
expected Goa would be made over to him. He also received ambassadors
from the King of Ormuz and from Sháh Ismáil of Persia. These
Muhammadan potentates had despatched their ambassadors to the King of
Bijápur to incite him to join in a general war against the
Portuguese. But when they found Albuquerque in possession of the city
of Goa, they adroitly changed the purpose of their missions, and made
overtures to him instead. Albuquerque received them with fair words.
He had not abandoned his schemes against Ormuz, but he desired to
stand well with Ismáil Sháh. He thoroughly understood the exact
position of Ismáil, the greatest of the Sufi Sháhs of Persia, whom
the Portuguese always called the Sophy, and that Ismáil belonged to
the Shiah sect of Muhammadans, and as such was the enemy of the
Turks, who were orthodox Muhammadans.
Albuquerque nominated Ruy Gomes as ambassador to Ismáil Sháh, and the
instructions which he took with him are very significant of
Albuquerque's wide range of policy. Ruy Gomes never reached the
Persian Court, being poisoned upon the way at Ormuz, but part of his
instructions deserve quotation:
'You shall tell Sháh Ismáil how my Lord the King will be pleased to
come to an understanding and alliance with him, and will assist him
in his war against the Sultan; and that I, in his name and on his
behalf, offer him the fleet and {78} army and artillery which I
have with me, and the fortresses, towns, and lordships, which the
King of Portugal holds in India, and I will give him all this same
help against the Turk.'[8]
[Footnote 8: Instructions to Ruy Gomes; Albuquerque's _Commentaries_,
vol. ii. pp. 114-118.]
In his letter to the Sháh, Albuquerque lays weight also upon the
advantages which might be derived from an alliance with the
Portuguese:
'I believe that with small trouble,' he says, 'you must gain the
Lordship of the city of Cairo, and all his kingdom and
dependencies.... If God grant that this intercourse and alliance be
ratified, come you with all your power against the city of Cairo
and the lands of the Grand Sultan which are on the borders of your
own, and the King my Lord shall pass over to Jerusalem and gain
from him all the land on that side.'[9]
[Footnote 9: Letter to Sháh Ismáil; Albuquerque's _Commentaries_,
vol. ii. pp. 111-114.]
These ideas deserve notice both as illustrating the grandiose
conceptions of Albuquerque, and his skill in taking advantage of
dissensions among the foes of the Christian religion. To him
doubtless it mattered not whether the Muhammadans he attacked were
Shiahs or Sunís--all alike were infidels; but he was perfectly ready
to make use of the one sect against the other. He calmly put on one
side the demand of the Persian ambassador that the Shiah form of
Muhammadanism should be proclaimed in Goa, and that Ismáil Sháh's
money should pass current, but he nevertheless dismissed the
ambassador with fair words.
Albuquerque was soon distracted from questions of general policy by
the advance of the King of Bijápur upon the island of Goa with 60,000
men. As had {79} happened at Ormuz, his captains did not share his
views. They declared it to be impossible to defend Goa, and strongly
resented being engaged in the hard work of building walls instead of
in the more lucrative business of collecting cargoes for Portugal.
The news of the advance of Yusaf Adil Sháh increased the reluctance
of the captains to remain, but Albuquerque nevertheless refused to
evacuate Goa. The Muhammadan king made overtures to him and promised
to cede to the Portuguese any other port in his dominions except Goa,
and it was even hinted that Goa itself would be given up, if
Albuquerque would surrender Timoja, who was looked on as a traitor to
his country. This proposition it need hardly be said was rejected
with scorn. Eventually, whether from the unwillingness of the
Portuguese captains or from sheer impossibility of defence, Yusaf
Adil Sháh's army made its way into the island of Goa on May 17, 1510.
The Portuguese at first hoped to hold the citadel of Goa; but finding
the position untenable, Albuquerque withdrew his men to their ships,
after setting fire to the arsenal and beheading 150 of the principal
Muhammadan prisoners whom he had in his possession.
He then dropped down the river with his fleet, but was unable to
cross the bar owing to the state of the weather. For nearly three
months the Portuguese fleet remained at anchor at the mouth of the
harbour of Goa. It was one of the most critical periods in
Albuquerque's life, and during it he exhibited the {80} highest
qualities of a commander. At their anchorage, the Portuguese found
themselves exposed to the fire of the King of Bijápur's artillery,
mounted in the castle of Panjim, which had been abandoned after the
capture of Goa. Albuquerque therefore decided to make a night attack
upon this position. The fight was a fierce one. Several of the
Portuguese were killed, and it was with difficulty that the garrison
was expelled on June 14, 1510.
This successful expedition was followed by another, marred only by
the death of the young hero of the fleet, Dom Antonio de Noronha.
News had reached Albuquerque that Yusaf Adil Sháh had prepared a
number of fire-ships, which he intended to send down the river to set
fire to the Portuguese fleet. He therefore sent his boats to
reconnoitre. They reached the dockyard, but in endeavouring to cut
out one of the enemy's ships, which was still on the stocks, Dom
Antonio de Noronha was mortally wounded. He died on July 8, and, in
the words of the _Commentaries_,
'There was not a single person in the whole of the fleet who was
not deeply affected, but especially his uncle, in that he had been
deprived of him at a season when he most needed his personal
assistance, his advice, and his knightly example.... He was a very
brave cavalier, and never found himself placed in any position
which caused him any fear. He was very virtuous, very godfearing,
and very truthful. He was found side by side with Affonso de
Albuquerque in every one of the troubles which up to the hour of
his death had come upon him. He died at the age of twenty-four {81}
years, four having elapsed since he set out from Portugal with his
uncle in the fleet of Tristão da Cunha.'[10]
[Footnote 10: Albuquerque's _Commentaries_, vol. ii. pp. 180, 181.]
At no time indeed was Albuquerque more in need of help and advice;
his fleet was blockaded in the harbour and stricken with famine; his
men deserted in numbers and became renegades; and his captains were
in almost open mutiny. It was at this time that he ordered the
execution of one of his soldiers, a young Portuguese fidalgo named
Ruy Dias, which is treated by the poet Camoens as the chief blot upon
the great commander's fame. It was reported to Albuquerque that Ruy
Dias had been in the habit of visiting the Muhammadan women whom he
had brought with him as hostages from Goa. There is no doubt that
through these women information was conveyed to the enemy of the
state of affairs in the Portuguese fleet, and Albuquerque therefore
directed Pedro de Alpoem, the _Ouvidor_--that is, the Auditor of
Portuguese India, who performed the duties of Chief Magistrate--to
try Ruy Dias, and he was condemned to be hanged. While the execution
was being carried out, certain of the captains rowed up and down
among the ships crying 'Murder,' and one of them, Francisco de Sá,
went so far as to cut through the rope with which Ruy Dias was being
hanged, with his sword. Albuquerque at once determined to maintain
discipline. The execution of Ruy Dias was completed, and Francisco de
Sá, with three captains, Jorge Fogaça, Fernão Peres de Andrade and
Simão de Andrade, were put in irons.
{82} The extent of the suffering from sickness and starvation in the
fleet was made known to Yusaf Adil Sháh by deserters, and that
monarch, with true chivalry, offered to send provisions to the
Portuguese, stating that he wished to conquer them not by starvation
but by the sword. Albuquerque resolved to receive no such assistance
from his enemies. He collected on board his own ship all the wine and
food that was left, which was being kept for the use of the sick, and
displayed it to the messengers of the King of Bijápur. Throughout
this difficult period the two generals vied with each other in
generosity. One fact is particularly worthy of notice. Yusaf Adil
Sháh at the request of Albuquerque refused to allow the Portuguese
deserters, who had joined him, to continue going down to the banks of
the harbour to incite other soldiers and sailors to desert. At last
in August, 1510, the weather changed; it became once more possible to
cross the bar, and the Portuguese fleet sailed away from Goa. But
Albuquerque was not a man to be depressed by one failure. He had
resolved that Goa should be the capital of Portuguese India, and he
never rested until he had attained his end.
It was on August 15 that Albuquerque sailed out of Goa harbour, and
to his great joy the first sight he saw was a Portuguese squadron of
four ships which had just arrived from Portugal under the command of
Diogo Mendes de Vasconcellos. The Governor stopped for a time at the
anchorage of Anchediva Island, and then proceeded to Honáwar (Onor),
where he had an {83} interview with Timoja, who had been able to
leave Goa harbour with his light native galleys before the larger
Portuguese ships. Timoja gave him information that Yusaf Adil Sháh
had left Goa for Bijápur three days after the departure of the
Portuguese fleet, and also that directly the main Muhammadan army had
gone the people in the neighbourhood of Goa had risen in
insurrection. Timoja therefore pressed Albuquerque to make a second
attack on Goa as soon as possible, which was exactly what the
Portuguese commander had determined to do. Albuquerque then sailed
south to Cannanore, where he was met by Duarte de Lemos, who had
succeeded him as Captain of the Arabian Seas.
Duarte de Lemos told Albuquerque that his nephew, Dom Affonso de
Noronha, had left Socotra in the previous April, and had never been
heard of again, and the news of this loss increased his sorrow for
the loss of his other nephew, Dom Antonio. Duarte de Lemos took
advantage of his position as a Chief Captain to entreat Albuquerque
to release the captains and other gentlemen whom he had imprisoned
for insubordination in the harbour of Goa. Albuquerque accordingly
released all except Jorge Fogaça, whom he regarded as the ringleader,
and some of those to whom he showed clemency, notably the brothers
Andrade, afterwards did him good service, and showed themselves
worthy of his forgiveness.
While he was at Cannanore, Albuquerque received an ambassador from
Mahmúd Sháh Begára, the {84} Muhammadan King of Ahmadábád, informing
him that Dom Affonso de Noronha's ship had been wrecked off the coast
of Gujarát, and that, though Dom Affonso was drowned, most of his men
were saved and were detained in custody. The mere fact that such an
embassy was sent showed how far the fame of the great Portuguese
captain had already extended.
During this period of waiting, two other squadrons joined Albuquerque
under the command of Gonçalo de Sequeira and João Serrão, making the
amount of reinforcements which had reached him during the year
fourteen ships and 1500 Portuguese warriors. But his difficulties
were not yet over. Two of these squadrons, those of Diogo Mendes and
João Serrão, had been sent for the express purpose, the former of
going to Malacca, the latter of exploring the Red Sea. These captains
wished to depart at once on their several missions, and desired not
to co-operate in a second attack on Goa. Gonçalo de Sequeira, on his
part, declared that his ships were ships of burden and that it was
his duty to load them with cargo for Portugal.
Albuquerque knew how eagerly King Emmanuel expected his
merchant-ships, and, like Warren Hastings in later times, he was
forced to subordinate his political aims to the commercial objects of
his employer. He therefore sailed to Cochin, where he invested a new
Rájá in the place of his deceased uncle and got ready the cargo for
Portugal. But, though he yielded to Sequeira's representations, he
insisted upon being accompanied to Goa by the squadrons of {85} Diogo
Mendes and João Serrão. Duarte de Lemos was greatly disgusted with
this decision, and demanded leave to return to Portugal instead of to
his station at the mouth of the Red Sea. Albuquerque acceded to his
request, and placed him in command of the squadron of cargo-ships
which was about to return to Portugal.
The combined Portuguese war-fleet then sailed to Honáwar, where
Albuquerque was present at the marriage of his ally Timoja to a
daughter of the Rájá of Gersoppa. Timoja pressed the Portuguese
Governor to attack Goa as soon as possible. He informed him that
Yusaf Adil Sháh had now gone so far into the interior that he would
be unable to relieve the city, and also that the garrison of Goa
consisted not of more than 4000 Turks and Persians under the command
of a general named Rasúl Khán, whom the Portuguese called Roçalcão.
Under these circumstances the Portuguese Governor resolved to attack,
and in the beginning of November he sailed once more into the harbour
of Goa with twenty-eight ships carrying 1700 soldiers, accompanied by
a large number of native troops belonging to Timoja and the Rájá of
Gersoppa.
On November 25, 1510, the Portuguese assaulted the city of Goa in
three columns. Each was entirely successful; the Turks fought
desperately, and at least half of them, or 2000 men, were killed. The
Portuguese lost forty killed and 150 wounded. Many feats of valour on
the part of the Portuguese warriors are related by different
chroniclers, two of which deserve {86} mention here, as they
illustrate the chivalrous conduct of the Portuguese in those days.
Perhaps the most striking is the story of Dom Jeronymo de Lima, a
young nobleman, who had accompanied Almeida to India, and remained to
serve under Albuquerque. He was mortally wounded at the storming of
the gate of the fortress.
'And while he lay on the ground so severely struck that he could
not survive, his brother, Dom João de Lima, who was wheeling round
with others, came upon him; and when he beheld him in such a
condition, with his head leaning against the wall, he exclaimed,
with many tears, "What is this, brother? How art thou?" Dom
Jeronymo replied, "I am on the point of finishing this journey, and
I am glad, as it has pleased Our Lord to require this service of
me, that it has been completed here in His service, and in that of
the King of Portugal." Dom João de Lima desired to remain in
company with him; but he said, "Brother, there is no time for you
to remain with me; go and perform what is required of you. I will
remain here and finish my days, for I have no longer any strength
left." So Dom João de Lima left him and went on, following after
the Moors; and when the fortress had been captured and the Moors
driven out, he returned to seek after his brother, and found him
already dead. I should be very glad to have been either one of the
two brothers [the chronicler quaintly adds], but I know not how to
decide which one of the two I most envy,--whether Dom João de Lima,
because he went to fight where such another one as himself could be
met with, or Dom Jeronymo de Lima, who did not desire to remedy his
wounds, although they were mortal (it being a very natural thing
for men to desire to live), but rather sought to advance his
brother's honour, and would not consent to his remaining {87}
behind with him at a time when the other fidalgos and cavaliers
were carrying on the fight with the Turks within the fortress. The
decision of this I leave to those who read the lessons of this
history; let them judge which of these two brothers best performed
his obligations.'[11]
[Footnote 11: Albuquerque's _Commentaries_, vol. iii. pp. 13, 14.]
Another anecdote illustrates Albuquerque's personal admiration of
warlike prowess. Manoel de Lacerda was wounded in the face by an
arrow; but nevertheless he killed a mounted Turk, seized his horse,
and continued to fight with the broken arrow fixed in his face and
his armour covered with blood. At this moment the Turks rallied and
attacked Lacerda's force with 500 men. Albuquerque, on receiving
information of this resistance, came up with his reserve to the point
of danger.
'As soon as Manoel de Lacerda beheld Affonso de Albuquerque, he
dismounted his charger and presented it to him. When Affonso de
Albuquerque saw him with his armour all smirched with blood, he
embraced him and said, "Sir Manoel de Lacerda, I declare to you
that I am greatly envious of you, and so would Alexander the Great
have been, had he been here, for you look more gallant for an
evening's rendezvous than the Emperor Aurelian."'[12]
[Footnote 12: Albuquerque's _Commentaries_, vol. iii. p. 12.]
The moment the victory was won, Affonso de Albuquerque gave thanks to
God, and promised to erect a church in honour of St. Catherine, whose
feast day is the 25th November, on the site of the gate which had
been so hardly won. He also conferred the honour of {88} knighthood
upon some of the most distinguished of the younger soldiers, among
whom were Frederico Fernandes, who had been the first man to enter
the city, and Manoel da Cunha, a younger son of his former commander,
Tristão da Cunha.
As soon as the Portuguese were in entire possession of Goa,
Albuquerque directed that the Muhammadan population, men, women and
children, should be put to the sword. This cruel butchery is far more
to Albuquerque's discredit than the hanging of Ruy Dias, for which
the poet Camoens so strongly condemns him. It is only partially
justified by Albuquerque's belief that the Muhammadans of Goa had
behaved treacherously towards him in the spring and had admitted
Yusaf Adil Sháh into the island. It is more likely that it was mainly
due to Albuquerque's crusading hatred against the religion of the
Prophet. He also gave up the city to plunder, and for three days his
soldiers were occupied in the work of sacking it. He then set to work
to repair the walls and ramparts, and especially to rebuild the
citadel. His loss of the place in the spring made him particularly
anxious to complete this work, and to set an example he himself did
not hesitate to set his hands to it. When the citadel was completed
he ordered a stone to be set up containing the names of all the
captains who had served at the assault. But there was so much
dissension as to the order in which the names should be engraved,
every one desiring to be first, that eventually he placed on it only
these words {89} '_Lapidem quem reprobaverunt ædificantes_'--_the
stone which the builders rejected_.[13]
[Footnote 13: According to Barros, Decade II, Book V, ch. 11, ed. of
1778, p. 558, and Correa, _Lendas da India_, vol. ii. p. 157; but in
the _Commentaries_, vol. iii. p. 137, this anecdote is told of the
building of the fortress at Malacca.]
It is curious to compare with the real history of Albuquerque's two
occupations of Goa the account given by the Muhammadan historian in
the _Tohfut-ul-mujahideen_, but it need hardly be said that the
bribery to which he refers had no foundation in fact.
'Moreover,' writes the Sheikh Zín-ud-dín, 'the Franks having
commenced hostilities against the inhabitants of Goa and captured
that place, proceeded to take possession of it. Now this port was
one of those that belonged to Adil Sháh (peace to his remains!);
notwithstanding this, however, the Franks having seized upon it,
made choice of it for their seat of government in India, proceeding
to exercise rule over it. But Adil Sháh attacking these intruders,
repulsed them; he in turn making it a rallying-place for Islámism.
Subsequently the Franks (the curse of God rest on them!) made
preparations for a second attack upon Goa, and proceeding against
it with a vast armament and assaulting it, they at last captured
it. It is said, however, that they bribed over to their interests
some of its principal inhabitants, in which case its capture was
not a feat of much difficulty; and the Franks on thus re-obtaining
possession of Goa, hastened to construct around it extensive
fortifications of vast height. After their acquisition of this
place, their power became greatly increased, every day bringing
some accession to it: for the Lord as he wills, so indeed does he
bring to pass.'[14]
[Footnote 14: _Tohfut-ul-mujahideen_, Rowlandson's translation, pp.
100-102.]
{90} Albuquerque took Goa for the second time at a most favourable
moment, for Yusaf Adil Sháh, his gallant enemy of the previous
spring, died on December 5, 1510. His son, Ismáil Adil Sháh, who
succeeded him, was a mere lad, and the governors of the different
provinces of his kingdom soon began to show signs of rebellion. Under
these circumstances Kamal Khán, the principal general and minister of
the State of Bijápur, made, according to the Muhammadan historian
Ferishta, an arrangement with the Portuguese, and consented to their
retaining possession of Goa, on condition that they would be
satisfied with the island and would not molest the adjoining
districts. Albuquerque's _Commentaries_ say nothing of this
arrangement with Kamal Khán, but they contain a letter written by the
Portuguese Governor to the youthful King of Bijápur directly after
the second capture of Goa. The letter is both curious and
characteristic.
'You must well know,' he wrote, 'how the Sabaio, your father, used
to take the ships of Malabar out of the ports and harbours of the
King, my Lord; wherefore it was that I was constrained to go
against Goa, and take the city, and there it is that I am now
occupied in building a very strong fortress. I wish most sincerely
that your father had been living, that he might know me to be a man
of my word: out of regard for him I shall be ever your friend, and
I will assist you against the King of the Deccan and against your
enemies; and I will cause all the horses that arrive here to be
carried to your stations and your marts, in order that you may have
possession of them. Fain would I that the merchants of your land
would come with white stuffs and {91} all manner of merchandize to
this port, and take to yours in exchange merchandize of the sea,
and of the land, and horses, and I will give them a safe conduct.
If you wish for my friendship, let your messengers come to me with
your communications, and I will send you others on my part, who
shall convey to you my communications: if you will perform this
which I write unto you, by my aid shall you be able to gain
possession of much land, and become a great Lord among the Moors.
Be desirous of performing this, for thus it shall be well with you,
and you shall have great power; and for all that the Sabaio, your
father, be dead, I will be your father and bring you up like a
son.'[15]
[Footnote 15: Albuquerque's _Commentaries_, vol. iii. pp. 20, 21.]
The conquest of Goa had an immense effect upon all the sovereigns on
the western side of India. Not only did the Muhammadan King of
Ahmadábád send ambassadors to Albuquerque asking to make an alliance
with him, but the Hindu Zamorin of Calicut, hitherto the principal
foe of the Portuguese, also sued for peace. Albuquerque took a high
hand with the latter; too much Portuguese blood had been shed in
Calicut for him to desire a treaty of alliance. The only terms he
would accept were that he should have permission to build a fortress
in the very heart of Calicut commanding the harbour. As the Zamorin
would not accept these terms, which would leave his capital and his
commerce at the mercy of the Portuguese, the negotiations were broken
off. With Mahmúd Sháh Begára, King of Ahmadábád, communications were
carried on in a more friendly tone. The King promised to release the
men who had been {92} wrecked with Dom Affonso de Noronha, and
ordered the Emir Husain to leave his dominions at once. He even
offered the island of Diu as a site for a Portuguese fortress, but
Albuquerque had not sufficient strength in India at that moment to
accept the offer.
The conquest of Goa, both in its immediate and in its ultimate
results, was one of the greatest achievements of Albuquerque's
governorship. It gave the Portuguese a commercial and political
capital; it showed the neighbouring rulers, both Hindu and
Muhammadan, that the Portuguese intended to remain on the Malabar
coast as a governing power, and not simply, like the Arab Moplas, as
a commercial community; and the gallantry shown in the final assault,
as well as during the sojourn of the fleet in the harbour of Goa,
proved to the people of India that a new warrior race had come
amongst them. Its ultimate results are quite as important. Goa, by
the policy of the successors of Albuquerque, concentrated the whole
trade of the Malabar coast. To increase the prosperity of Goa the
earlier centres of trade, such as Calicut and Cochin and Quilon, were
purposely deprived of their freedom to buy and sell; Goa became the
seat of the Viceroys and Governors of Portuguese India; its wealth
passed into a proverb; and though the glory of Golden Goa lasted but
a century,[16] it was during that century one of the most splendid
cities on the face of the earth.
[Footnote 16: On the later history of Goa, see Hunter's _Imperial
Gazetteer of India_, ed. 1885, vol. v. pp. 101-105.]
{93}
CHAPTER IV
THE RULE OF ALBUQUERQUE (_continued_)
_The Conquest of Malacca and Relief of Goa_
Albuquerque's first thought after the completion of the
fortifications of Goa was to provide for its future government. He
determined to leave the place with the bulk of his forces as soon as
possible, for the sacked and partially burnt city was unable to
supply sufficient provisions for all his men. He accordingly
appointed Rodrigo Rebello to be Captain of the fortress of Goa,
Francisco Pantoja to be Alcaide-Mor or Chief Constable, with the
right of succeeding Rebello in case of accident, and Francisco
Corvinel to be Factor. It was more difficult to find a governor for
the island as distinguished from the city. This post he had
conferred, after the first capture, on his ally Timoja, but he now
selected a celebrated Hindu captain, who was much respected by the
Hindu population, called by the Portuguese Merlão or Milrrhão,
probably versions of Malhár Ráo. This man was the brother of the Rájá
of Honáwar and had won distinction by defending Goa against the
Muhammadans in former days. He agreed to pay a sum equivalent to
about {94} 30,000 pounds a year for the privilege of governing the
island of Goa. Under the command of Rodrigo Rebello, Albuquerque left
400 Portuguese soldiers, together with plenty of artillery and
ammunition, for the defence of the fortress.
The Governor then resolved to set out at once for the Red Sea. King
Emmanuel, whose main idea it was to close this route to commerce, had
directed him to dismantle the fortress on the island of Socotra,
owing to the difficulty of getting provisions, and to occupy Aden
instead. When this decision became known, Diogo Mendes, who had been
specially ordered to Malacca, murmured loudly, and declared his
intention of leaving the Governor and at once departing with his
squadron westwards. Albuquerque expostulated with him; he pointed out
that four ships could not conquer the Malays, and argued that their
treatment of the first Portuguese squadron showed that they would not
permit the Portuguese to open up trade without first being defeated.
He even showed Diogo Mendes a letter which had arrived from the
Portuguese Factor left at Malacca, stating that he and his comrades
were kept as prisoners. He promised that, as soon as the King's
commands with regard to the Red Sea had been carried out, he would
himself proceed with a powerful fleet to the Malay Peninsula, and
firmly establish Portuguese influence in that quarter.
Diogo Mendes felt the force of these arguments, but the master of his
flagship, Dinis Cerniche, would not {95} agree, and setting sail
crossed the bar of Goa harbour on his way out. The Governor at once
sent a ship, under Jaymé Teixeira, with orders to make Mendes return
by any means in his power. Since the master would not shorten sail,
the ship was fired on and forced to return by the destruction of its
main yard. Albuquerque forgave Mendes, but ordered Cerniche to be
executed, which sentence was not carried out, but the master was
instead sent back to Portugal in custody. Nevertheless the
persistency of Mendes and his men seems to have greatly influenced
Albuquerque, for finding in Feb. 1511, when he sailed out of Goa
harbour, that it was impossible to sail westward owing to the
monsoon, he resolved to make his way to Malacca. He first sailed to
Cochin, where he appointed Manoel de Lacerda to be Captain of the
Indian Sea with supreme authority, and he directed that Lacerda's
orders should be obeyed as if they were his own.
Albuquerque's conquest of Malacca ranks second in importance among
his great feats of arms to the capture of Goa. It gave the Portuguese
the complete command of the spice trade, and eventually of the
Chinese and Japanese trade. It struck the final blow at the
Muhammadan commercial routes to Europe. Hitherto the Portuguese had
only secured the monopoly of the Indian trade, and Muhammadan
vessels, largely manned by Arabs, still collected the produce of
Bengal and Burma, of Sumatra and the Spice Islands, of Siam and
China, at the great commercial {96} port of the Malay Peninsula.
Albuquerque resolved to check this trade by holding the mouth of the
Red Sea, but it seemed to him of even more efficacy to seize upon the
headquarters of the trade itself.
The city of Malacca, with its splendid harbour, was the capital of a
wealthy Muhammadan Sultan. This man's ancestors were said to have
come from the neighbouring island of Java, and to have been converted
to Islám some 200 years before. Constant war had been waged between
the Kings of Siam, who formerly ruled the whole peninsula, and the
Javanese immigrants; but the latter had held their own, and by a wise
encouragement of commerce had become very wealthy and powerful. The
trade of Malacca with India is said by the Portuguese chroniclers to
have been largely in the hands of merchants from Gujarát, and when
the Portuguese conquered the city it was inhabited by men of nearly
every Eastern race, Hindus from both sides of India, Arabs, Chinese
and Javanese. It is mentioned that on their arrival they found, among
other officers, four men holding the title of Xabandar
(Sháh-i-Bandar) or Captain of the Port. These four men are expressly
stated to have been governors of different districts, and they are
said to have belonged to four different nationalities and to rule
over the Chinese, the Javanese, the Gujarátís and the Bengalís
respectively. This division probably fairly indicates the chief
nationalities of the merchants of Malacca.
Malacca was first visited by a European squadron {97} on September
11, 1509. Diogo Lopes de Sequeira had been despatched by King
Emmanuel with instructions to explore the island of Madagascar, and
afterwards to proceed to the Malay Peninsula, which was well known to
the Portuguese king by its classical name of the Golden Chersonese.
The arrival of Sequeira in India during the viceroyalty of Almeida
has been already noticed, and mention has been made of the Viceroy's
wish that he should take over the government in the place of
Albuquerque. Sequeira declined this offer and sailed for the Malay
Peninsula with his squadron of five ships, but he so far complied
with the Viceroy's wishes as to carry with him the chief friends of
Albuquerque, and notably his most constant supporter, Ruy de Araujo.
Sequeira visited Sumatra, and safely reached Malacca. He was
favourably received at first by the Sultan, and sent ashore Ruy de
Araujo to fill the perilous post of Factor. As a lucrative trade
seemed likely to spring up, the Portuguese captain proceeded to land
a large quantity of goods together with several Portuguese clerks.
But as usual the Muhammadan merchants soon showed their jealousy of
the Portuguese, as they had always done on the Malabar coast. The
Bendara, or native Prime Minister of Malacca, listened to the
suggestions of the Moslem merchants, and formed a plan to destroy the
whole Portuguese squadron. It was resolved to invite all the officers
to a grand banquet at which they should be suddenly murdered, and in
their absence it was believed {98} that the ships might be easily
taken. A Javanese woman, who had fallen in love with one of the
Portuguese, swam out to their ships and gave warning of the plot. The
Portuguese officers in consequence declined to land, and as soon as
their determination was made known, the Malays set upon the factory,
and made Ruy de Araujo and about twenty men whom he had with him
prisoners.
They defended themselves gallantly, but Sequeira made no effort to
assist them, and sailed away out of the harbour. He was obliged
before leaving the peninsula to burn two of his ships for want of men
to navigate them, and with the other three he made his way to India.
When he reached the Malabar coast and touched at Caecoulão
(Káyenkolam), he heard that the Marshal had placed Albuquerque in
power, and that Almeida had departed. Sequeira, fearing the vengeance
of Albuquerque, at once set sail for Portugal, sending his other two
vessels under the command of Nuno Vaz de Castello-Branco to join the
Governor at Cochin. It was to wreak vengeance on the Sultan of
Malacca and to open up trade there that the squadron of Diogo Mendes
de Vasconcellos had been sent from Portugal in 1510; but, as has been
related, in spite of the captain's wishes, he and his men had been
detained by Albuquerque to take part in the second capture of Goa.
Ruy de Araujo wrote a pathetic letter to Albuquerque, describing the
manner in which he and his companions were treated. He told his
friend that {99} there were nineteen Portuguese alive at Malacca, who
had been greatly tortured to make them turn Muhammadans. He also said
that they had been very kindly treated by a Hindu merchant, named
Ninachatu, who had secured the means for the despatch of the letter.
He begged Albuquerque, for the love of God, to keep them in
remembrance, and rescue them out of their captivity; and he also
requested that the kindness of the Hindu merchant should not be made
known for fear that the Moslems of the Malabar coast should give
information to their co-religionists at Malacca.
It may well be imagined that Albuquerque was not sorry to go to the
rescue of the Portuguese prisoners. He would have postponed this duty
in order to obey the king's express commands; but now that the winds
forbade him to sail East, he determined to sail West. He started with
eighteen ships, carrying 1400 men; and though he lost one galley at
sea, he arrived safely at the port of Pedir in the island of Sumatra
in May 1511 with the rest of his fleet. At that place he found nine
of the Portuguese prisoners, who had escaped from Malacca, and he
then made his way slowly to the great city, which was said to contain
a population of over 100,000 inhabitants.
For weeks negotiations went on with the Sultan of Malacca. The main
point at issue was the surrender of Ruy de Araujo and his
fellow-prisoners. Albuquerque declared he would make no treaty with
the Sultan until the prisoners were delivered, and the {100} Sultan
on his part was resolved not to give them up until a treaty of peace
had been signed. Under these circumstances Albuquerque wrote to the
Factor, telling him that he and his companions must bear their
hardships with patience. Ruy de Araujo replied in terms which show
the gallant spirit of the Portuguese at that period.
'God grant,' he said, 'that neither the fleet of the King of
Portugal, nor his Portuguese should receive any affront or
discomfiture in order to make his life secure, for he was also on
his part bound to die for the service of God and his King, and for
the liberty of his countrymen, and he held it to be a good fortune
for him that Our Lord had placed him in a state where he could die
for his Holy Faith; and as for himself and his companions, he
should not fail to do what was best for the service of the King of
Portugal, for they were now quite resigned to anything that could
happen to them; and he would have Affonso de Albuquerque to know
that the King of Malacca was making ready as fast as was possible,
and that it was the Gujarátís who were at work day and night upon
the fortification of the stockades, for these were the principal
people who could not bear that the Portuguese should get a footing
in the land; and if the Portuguese attack upon the city should be
decided upon, it ought to be put into execution as quickly as could
be, without wasting any more time in discussing terms of agreement
or making demands for the surrender of the Christians; for he must
know for certain that the King would not restore them except under
compulsion; and he was now become so puffed up with pride when he
surveyed the great number of foreign soldiers that he had, that he
thought of nothing less than actually capturing the Portuguese
fleet.'[1]
[Footnote 1: Albuquerque's _Commentaries_, vol. iii. pp. 92, 93.]
{101} Acting on the unselfish advice given to him, Albuquerque sent
some boats to set fire to the ships in harbour and the water-side
houses. The Sultan immediately gave in, and sent Ruy de Araujo and
his companions safely on board the Portuguese fleet. Negotiations
still continued, and Albuquerque became convinced at last that the
Sultan was endeavouring to delay him until the change of the monsoon
should make it impossible for him to return to India that season. He
therefore resolved to attack Malacca at once. Ruy de Araujo informed
him that the key of the city was a certain bridge which united its
two portions. The Governor divided his forces into two battalions,
which were to attack the bridge from either extremity; and he fixed
the day of his patron Saint, St. James the Greater, July 25, for the
assault.
One division was led by Dom João de Lima, Gaspar de Paiva, and Fernão
Peres de Andrade; the other by Albuquerque himself and Duarte da
Silva. Each did what was required, and the bridge was carried. The
Governor then gave orders to build stockades on each side of the
bridge, in order that they might spend the night there; but the men
became wearied by the constant attacks made upon their position, and
towards the evening the Portuguese set fire to the city and returned
to their ships. Special mention is made of the use of elephants
during this action, but the animals were wounded and did more harm to
the Malays than to the Portuguese.
The withdrawal of his tired-out soldiers did not {102} dishearten
Albuquerque, and he resolved to call a council of his captains to
obtain their consent to renewing the attack with the idea of
permanently occupying the city, and building a fortress there; for he
had experienced both at Ormuz and at Goa the great distaste
entertained by the Portuguese captains for the work of building
fortresses. The policy of Almeida, who preferred factories to
fortresses, had always plenty of adherents who could not appreciate
the imperial notions of Albuquerque.
A report is given of the speech which Albuquerque is said to have
delivered to his captains, both in Correa and in the _Commentaries_.
It is not probable that he actually spoke these words, any more than
the Roman generals in Livy made use of the very sentences attributed
to them. But the language is thoroughly consonant with Albuquerque's
character, and exhibits the aims of his policy so clearly that the
oration deserves quotation. The text here selected is that of the
_Commentaries_, which is fuller than that given by Correa.
'Sirs,' he is reported to have said, 'you will have no difficulty
in remembering that when we decided upon attacking this city, it
was with the determination of building a fortress within it, for so
it appeared to all to be necessary; and after having captured it, I
was unwilling to let slip the possession of it, yet, because ye all
advised me to do so, I left it and withdrew; but being now ready,
as you see, to put my hands upon it again once more, I learned that
you had already changed your opinion: now this cannot be because
the Moors have destroyed the best part of us, but on account of
{103} my sins, which merit the failure of accomplishing this
undertaking in the way that I had desired. And, inasmuch as my will
and determination is, so long as I am Governor of India, neither to
fight nor to hazard men on land, except in those parts wherein I
shall build a fortress to maintain them, as I have already told you
before this, I desire you earnestly, of your goodness, although you
all have already agreed upon what is to be done, to freely give me
again your opinions in writing as to what I ought to do; for,
inasmuch as I have to give an account of these matters, and a
justification of my proceedings to the King Dom Manoel, our Lord, I
am unwilling to be left alone to bear the blame of them; and
although there be many reasons which I could allege in favour of
our taking this city and building a fortress therein to maintain
possession of it, two only will I mention to you on this occasion
as tending to point out wherefore you ought not to turn back from
what you have agreed upon.
'The first is the great service which we shall perform to Our Lord
in casting the Moors out of this country, and quenching the fire of
this sect of Muhammad so that it may never burst out again
hereafter; and I am so sanguine as to hope for this from our
undertaking, that if we can only achieve the task before us, it
will result in the Moors resigning India altogether to our rule,
for the greater part of them--or perhaps all of them--live upon the
trade of this country, and are become great and rich, and lords of
extensive treasures. It is, too, well worthy of belief that as the
King of Malacca, who has already once been discomfited and had
proof of our strength, with no hope of obtaining any succour from
any other quarter--sixteen days having already elapsed since this
took place--makes no endeavour to negotiate with us for the
security of his estate, Our Lord is blinding his judgment and
hardening his heart, and desires the completion {104} of this
affair of Malacca: for when we were committing ourselves to the
business of cruising in the Straits of the Red Sea, where the King
of Portugal had often ordered me to go (for it was there that His
Highness considered we could cut down the commerce which the Moors
of Cairo, of Mecca, and of Jeddah carry on with these parts), Our
Lord for His service thought right to lead us hither; for when
Malacca is taken, the places on the Straits must be shut up, and
they will never more be able to introduce their spices into those
places.
'And the other reason is the additional service which we shall
render to the King Dom Manoel in taking this city, because it is
the headquarters of all the spices and drugs which the Moors carry
every year hence to the Straits, without our being able to prevent
them from so doing; but if we deprive them of this, their ancient
market, there does not remain for them a single port nor a single
situation so commodious in the whole of these parts, where they can
carry on their trade in these things. For after we were in
possession of the pepper of Malabar, never more did any reach
Cairo, except that which the Moors carried thither from these
parts, and the forty or fifty ships, which sail hence every year
laden with all sorts of spices bound to Mecca, cannot be stopped
without great expense and large fleets, which must necessarily
cruise about continually in the offing of Cape Comorin; and the
pepper of Malabar, of which they may hope to get some portion,
because they have the King of Calicut on their side, is in our
hands, under the eyes of the Governor of India, from whom the Moors
cannot carry off so much with impunity as they hope to do; and I
hold it as very certain that, if we take this trade of Malacca away
out of their hands, Cairo and Mecca will be entirely ruined, and to
Venice will no spices be conveyed, except what her merchants go and
buy in Portugal.
{105} 'But if you are of opinion that, because Malacca is a large
city and very populous, it will give us much trouble to maintain
our possession of it, no such doubts as these ought to arise, for,
when once the city is gained, all the rest of the kingdom is of so
little account, that the King has not a single place left where he
can rally his forces; and if you dread lest by taking the city we
be involved in great expenses, and on account of the season of the
year there be no place where our men and our fleet can be
recruited, I trust in God's mercy that when Malacca is held in
subjection to our dominion by a strong fortress, provided that the
Kings of Portugal appoint thereto those who are well experienced as
governors and managers of the revenues, the taxes of the land will
pay all the expenses which may arise in the administration of the
city; and if the merchants, who are wont to resort
thither--accustomed as they are to live under the tyrannical yoke
of the Malays--experience a taste of our just dealing,
truthfulness, frankness and mildness, and come to know of the
instructions of the King Dom Manoel, our Lord, wherein he commands
that all his subjects in these parts be very well treated, I
venture to affirm that they will all return and take up their abode
in the city again, yea, and build the walls of their houses with
gold; and all these matters which here I lay before you may be
secured to us by this half-turn of the key, which is that we build
a fortress in this city of Malacca and sustain it, and that this
land be brought under the dominion of the Portuguese, and the King
Dom Manoel be styled true King thereof, and therefore I desire you
of your kindness to consider seriously the enterprise that we have
in hand, and not to leave it to fall to the ground.'[2]
[Footnote 2: Albuquerque's _Commentaries_, vol. iii. pp. 115-119.]
After having made use of some such arguments as {106} these,
Albuquerque ordered a second attack on the city of Malacca. His
success was as complete as it had been on St. James' Day, but the
Portuguese on this occasion, instead of evacuating the place, at once
commenced to build a fortress. The Sultan was driven out of the city,
and was pursued into the interior by an army of 400 Portuguese and
600 Javanese.
The contingent of Javanese soldiers was obtained by an alliance which
Albuquerque made as soon as he was in occupation of Malacca. When the
Sultan fled, the Portuguese General ordered his men to spare the
warehouses and other property of Ninachatu, the Hindu merchant who
has been mentioned as the kindly benefactor of Ruy de Araujo and his
companions in captivity. This leniency caused other Hindus to ask
Albuquerque for his protection. He willingly granted it, and
appointed Ninachatu as superintendent or governor of all the Hindus
in the city. Then an aged Javanese, who had turned Muhammadan and was
possessed of great wealth and influence, named Utemuta Rájá, also
made his submission, and was appointed head of the Javanese
community. He it was who supplied the Portuguese with the force of
600 Javanese soldiers.
Nor were these the only native trading communities which the
Portuguese Governor favoured. He gave particular encouragement to the
Chinese, the Burmese, who are generally called by the chroniclers
Pegus, and the Loochewans; but he declared war to the death with the
Malays, both as Muhammadans {107} and as the former rulers. In spite
of the assistance which the old Javanese chieftain had rendered him,
Albuquerque was soon placed on his guard against the ambitious
projects of Utemuta Rájá. Ruy de Araujo gave information that he was
at the bottom of the plot formed in 1509 for the massacre of the
Portuguese, and that it was his son who had sworn to assassinate
Sequeira with his own hand. He further declared that if Albuquerque
sailed away and left Utemuta Rájá in power, there would soon be an
end of the Portuguese domination in Malacca.
Albuquerque gave heed to the warning, and when he found that the
Javanese was taking advantage for his own profit of the power
committed to him, he promptly had him and the principal members of
his family arrested. They were tried before Pedro de Alpoem, the
Ouvidor or Chief Magistrate of the Portuguese in the East, and
condemned to death. The wife of Utemuta Rájá, who was a native of
Java, promised to give a large sum of money in gold towards the
expense of building the fortress, if the Portuguese would let her
husband and children go. Albuquerque replied that the Portuguese did
not sell justice for money, but that he was willing to hand over the
corpses of the victims to be buried with native rites. The sentence
was carried out in the great square of Malacca, where the treacherous
banquet to Sequeira and his officers was to have been held, and
Utemuta Rájá, his son, his son-in-law, and his grandson were all
beheaded. The execution was {108} followed by an attempted riot of
the Javanese, which was easily suppressed.
This execution struck terror into the inhabitants of Malacca, and
firmly established the Portuguese authority. Albuquerque then devoted
himself, while the fortress was being constructed, to opening up
relations with the neighbouring powers. He knew that the possession
of Malacca would be of no advantage if traders were not encouraged to
come to the city. It has been seen therefore that, while striking
hard at the Malays, he gave every encouragement to the merchants of
other nationalities. The most important of the trading nations, which
brought their commodities to the Malay port, were the Chinese.
Albuquerque had treated with great courtesy the crews of five Chinese
junks, which were anchored in the harbour, at the time of the first
assault on Malacca. After they had witnessed the valour of the
Portuguese on that occasion, he allowed them to take in cargo and to
depart in safety. These crews reported throughout China the bravery
and civility of the Portuguese, which had a great effect upon the
minds of the Chinese ministers; so much so, that when the expelled
Sultan of Malacca appealed to China for help, and abused the
Portuguese as robbers and pirates, he received the answer that the
Portuguese seemed to be a very good people, and that the Chinese
government would not assist him. Albuquerque did not at this time
send an ambassador to China, but it is worthy of notice that it was
one of {109} his captains, Fernão Peres de Andrade, who, in 1517, was
the first Portuguese to visit Canton.
With the kingdom of Siam Albuquerque himself opened up direct
relations. When the five Chinese junks left Malacca, they took with
them, at the Governor's request, Duarte Fernandes, who had learnt the
Malay language while a prisoner with Ruy de Araujo, as an emissary to
the Siamese Court. He was received most favourably by the King of
Siam, who had always considered the Sultan of Malacca as an intruder
and had heard the news of his defeat with joy. Fernandes returned to
Malacca laden with rich presents, and Albuquerque sent him back to
Siam, accompanied by a Portuguese fidalgo or gentleman, Antonio de
Miranda, as ambassador. He also sent in different directions Duarte
Coelho to visit Cochin China and Tongking, and Ruy da Cunha to the
kingdom of Pegu. He entered into communications with the King of Java
and with some of the chiefs of the island of Sumatra, who were all
greatly impressed by the speedy conquest of Malacca.
Of equal importance was Albuquerque's despatch of three ships, under
the command of Antonio de Abreu, to explore the Moluccas and the
Spice Islands. This squadron was ordered not to take prizes, but to
devote itself entirely to the work of exploration. It touched at many
places, and did much important work, but its chief interest to later
generations is that Francisco Serrão, who commanded one of the ships,
carried with him a young Portuguese gentleman, {110} Fernão de
Magalhães, who was afterwards to make the first voyage round the
globe in the service of Spain, and who, as Magellan, has left his
name upon the map of the world.
In January, 1512, Albuquerque, after having completed his fortress,
sailed from Malacca. He left an efficient garrison of 400 Portuguese
soldiers, and placed the settlement under the governorship of Ruy de
Brito Patalim, as Captain of the fortress, with Fernão Peres de
Andrade under him as Chief Captain of the sea. Ruy de Araujo was
re-appointed Factor, and also judge of suits between merchants of
different nationalities. For each nationality in itself he appointed
separate governors, of whom one was the faithful Hindu, Ninachatu. On
his way back to India the famous ship _Flor de la Mar_, on which
Albuquerque sailed, and which had been commanded during the Ormuz
campaign by João da Nova, ran ashore on the coast of Sumatra, and
since it was very old and rotten it broke up. Albuquerque and the
crew were saved. But their dangers were not yet over, and the whole
fleet would have perished from want of water and of supplies had they
not met with and captured two Muhammadan ships.
When the Governor arrived at Cochin, there was great excitement, for,
since no news had been received from Malacca, some of the officers
had written to King Emmanuel that Albuquerque was lost with all his
fleet. His first question, after returning thanks to Heaven in the
principal church, was about the {111} situation of Goa, his favourite
conquest, and he was informed that it had been besieged throughout
the winter, and was almost at the point of surrender.
The facts were that as soon as Albuquerque, the terrible governor,
was known to be out of India, all his enemies, both native princes
and reluctant captains, breathed more freely. The minister of the
young King of Bijápur at once sent an army against Goa, under the
command of Fulad Khán, whom the Portuguese called Pulatecão. This
general defeated the forces of Timoja and Malhár Ráo, and then
invaded the island of Goa, and established himself in the fortress of
Benastarim. Timoja and Malhár Ráo fled to the court of the Rájá of
Vijayanagar, where Timoja was poisoned, and Malhár Ráo soon after
made his way to Honáwar, where he succeeded his brother as Rájá. The
Portuguese garrison of Goa, under the command of Rodrigo Rebello, the
Captain, marched out to attack Fulad Khán. But they had underrated
the strength of their opponents. They were defeated, and among the
slain were Rebello himself and the young Manoel da Cunha, son of
Tristão da Cunha, whom Albuquerque had knighted for his gallantry at
the capture of Goa.
According to Albuquerque's express commands, Francisco Pantoja should
have succeeded to the governorship of Goa, but the captains resolved
to pass him over, and elected instead Diogo Mendes de Vasconcellos.
The new governor at once ordered Manoel de Lacerda to abandon the
blockade of {112} Calicut, on which he was engaged, and to come to
the assistance of the besieged inhabitants of Goa. Diogo Mendes soon
proved his unfitness for supreme command. The Court of Bijápur sent
its most famous general, Rasúl Khán, with a strong army to the coast,
but Fulad Khán refused to acknowledge his supremacy. Rasúl Khán then
appealed for the help of the Portuguese against the insubordinate
officer, and Diogo Mendes was foolish enough to comply. With the help
of the Portuguese themselves, Rasúl Khán drove Fulad Khán out of
Benastarim, and, once safely within the island of Goa, he demanded
the surrender of the city.
This was too much even for Diogo Mendes, who now showed himself to be
a brave commander. The city held out during the winter, but the
inhabitants were much reduced by famine, and their power of defence
was injured by the fall of part of the new wall, owing to the
severity of the winter. Albuquerque, on hearing of the situation of
affairs, sent a warrant for Manoel de Lacerda to be Captain of the
city, and promised to arrive soon and destroy the besiegers. This
news was received, in the words of the _Commentaries_, 'with a great
ringing of bells and firing of salutes, for every one looked upon
himself as redeemed from death.'[3]
[Footnote 3: Albuquerque's _Commentaries_, vol. iii. p. 206.]
But eagerly as Albuquerque desired to bring help to Goa, he sadly
felt how inadequate were the forces that remained to him. The
conquest of Malacca, and {113} the necessity for leaving a garrison
there, had much reduced his fighting strength, and he found that the
officers he had left behind at Cochin were unwilling to lend him
their aid. In fact, the agents or factors at Cochin, Quilon, and
Cannanore looked with alarm at the establishment of the Portuguese in
Goa. Their fears were shared by the native Rájás, who expected that
the whole trade of the coast would be attracted from their ports to
the new settlement. So strongly had this been felt, that the factors
and their party, headed by Lourenço Moreno, the Factor at Cochin, had
sent a despatch to King Emmanuel, during the period when they hoped
the Governor had been lost in his expedition to Malacca, strongly
advising the immediate abandonment of Goa.
An effort was made to dissuade Albuquerque by Diogo Correa, Captain
of Cannanore, who reported that an Egyptian fleet had set sail from
the Red Sea for India, and advised Albuquerque to go against it, and
not to the relief of Goa. After passing some weeks in a state of
forced inactivity, Albuquerque, to his great joy, was reinforced by
his nephew, Dom Garcia de Noronha, with six ships, on Aug. 20, 1512,
and directly afterwards by a further squadron of eight more ships
under Jorge de Mello Pereira. Both these captains brought with them a
large number of soldiers. They also carried many young and gallant
officers, who greatly distinguished themselves in the ensuing
campaigns, among whom Dom Garcia de Noronha held the royal commission
as Captain of the Indian {114} Seas. The arrival of this young
nobleman rejoiced the heart of Albuquerque, for it gave him a brave
and faithful adherent, who almost replaced the loss he had suffered
by the death of Dom Antonio de Noronha.
On September 10, 1512, Albuquerque set sail from Cochin with fourteen
ships carrying 1700 Portuguese soldiers. He heard on his way that the
report of the departure of an Egyptian fleet was unfounded; and he at
once entered the harbour of Goa. He never doubted of victory, and
instead of endeavouring to drive Rasúl Khán out of Benastarim, he
resolved to blockade him, with his 6000 Turkish and Persian soldiers,
in the castle there. For this purpose he sent Ayres da Silva to cut
off the communications of the castle with the mainland. That captain,
with six small ships manned by picked sailors, forced his way up the
river, and after pulling up the stakes which the Muhammadans had
fixed in the stream for their defence, he bombarded the castle under
the eye of Albuquerque himself.
This operation cut off the retreat of the Muhammadan garrison, and
Albuquerque made his entry into Goa. It is mentioned as
characteristic of his extreme piety that he ordered the canopy of
brocade which the chief men of the city were carrying over his head,
to be borne instead over the Cross, which the priests had brought
from their church to greet him. He then organised his military
forces, and hearing that Rasúl Khán had marched out towards the city
at the head {115} of 3000 men, he resolved on fighting a pitched
battle. He divided his infantry into three divisions, commanded
respectively by Pedro Mascarenhas, Dom Garcia de Noronha, and
himself; and he placed his cavalry, amounting to about thirty
troopers, under Manoel de Lacerda. Owing to the Portuguese general's
skilful dispositions the Musalmans were attacked simultaneously, in
front by Mascarenhas and on the two flanks by the other divisions.
The battle was very fierce, and the Muhammadans were driven into the
castle of Benastarim.
The Portuguese endeavoured to follow them, and some of their leaders
climbed upon the walls. The first who got up was Pedro Mascarenhas,
and the author of the _Commentaries_ states that,
'Affonso de Albuquerque after the rally embraced and kissed him on
the face, whereat some were scandalised, although they had no need
to be, for besides his actions that day like a brave cavalier,
Albuquerque was under an obligation to him, for he had left the
fortress of Cochin, of which he was Captain, and had come to serve
the King in that war.'[4]
[Footnote 4: Albuquerque's _Commentaries_, vol. iii. pp. 226, 227.]
In spite of this gallantry it proved impossible to capture the castle
by escalade, and Albuquerque ordered a retreat to Goa. Many officers
and men were wounded in this engagement, and Albuquerque then
determined to breach the fortress and carry it by storm. The trenches
were pushed forward with much rapidity and an adequate breach was
made, but on {116} the very morning for which Albuquerque had ordered
the assault, Rasúl Khán hung out the white flag. The terms which
Albuquerque demanded were that the castle should be surrendered with
all its artillery, ammunition and horses, and that the deserters in
Rasúl Khán's camp should be given up to him. The Muhammadan general
consented, but only on condition that the lives of the deserters
should be spared. Benastarim was accordingly evacuated, and the
island of Goa was once more left entirely in the hands of the
Portuguese. The conquest had been made only just in time, for Rasúl
Khán, as he retired with his disarmed troops, met a strong
reinforcement coming up from Bijápur under the command of
Yusaf-ul-Araj, whom the Portuguese called Içufularij.
This brilliant victory was marred by Albuquerque's cruelty to the
Portuguese deserters who fell into his hands. Some of these men had
gone over to the Muhammadan camp when the Portuguese ships were
blockaded in the harbour of Goa in 1510, and the others had left Goa
during the recent siege. Having promised to spare their lives,
Albuquerque kept his word, but he mutilated them horribly, cutting
off their ears, noses, right hands, and the thumbs of their left
hands, and plucking out all their hair. The most conspicuous
renegade, a fidalgo named Fernão Lopes, was also put on board a ship
bound for Portugal in custody. He escaped, while the ship was
watering at the island of St. Helena, and led a Robinson Crusoe life
there many years.
{117} The relief of Goa in 1512 completes the second period of
Albuquerque's governorship. His tenacity in maintaining the
Portuguese position at Goa is not less noteworthy than the valour by
which he conquered it.
{118}
CHAPTER V
THE RULE OF ALBUQUERQUE (_continued_)
_The Expedition to the Red Sea and the Conquest of Ormuz_.
The conquest of Goa is so distinctly the most important event of
Albuquerque's governorship, that it is expedient to make clear his
aims and hopes with regard to the establishment of the Portuguese
capital there. Fortunately a state paper is extant which defines the
great Governor's position in eloquent words. When Dom Garcia de
Noronha arrived at Cochin, he delivered to his uncle a letter from
King Emmanuel directing that a general council of all the captains
and chief officers in India should be held to consider the
advisability of retaining Goa. The abandonment of the place had been
recommended by four civilians, of whom the chief was, as has been
said, the Factor at Cochin, with arguments that show how deeply the
rival policy of the first Viceroy, Almeida, had taken hold of the
Portuguese officials in India. They advocated the claims of commerce,
as against empire, in language which vividly recalls that {119} used
by the English East India Company two centuries and a half later. The
opinion of these opponents of Albuquerque was supported, at the Court
of Lisbon, by Duarte de Lemos and Gonçalo de Sequeira, who had
declined to share in the perils of the conquest.
The King embodied the ideas of the opposition in certain articles,
which he sent to Albuquerque to submit to the consideration of his
general council. These articles were: (1) that Goa was very unhealthy
and was the cause of unnecessary expense, being of no use except to
give trouble to the soldiers; (2) that therein there must always be
continual war, for the King of Bijápur was so powerful, that he would
be sure to try his utmost to recover it, because it was the chief
port of his dominions; (3) that the revenues of the island, upon
which Albuquerque laid great importance, could not be collected,
except by maintaining a great number of people with heavy expenses
for the collection of these revenues, since the King of Bijápur
himself could not collect them without the assistance of a large
army; (4) that the King of Bijápur would be glad to agree to any
proposal, and to become tributary to His Highness the King of
Portugal, provided that Goa was restored to him.
These articles were laid before the captains, who unanimously
condemned them and stated--
'That they were amazed at His Highness desiring to surrender, in
pursuance of the advice of men who had never donned a suit of
armour for the sake of experiencing the trouble it would involve, a
place so commodious and important {120} as Goa, which had been
acquired at the cost of so much Portuguese blood.'[1]
[Footnote 1: Albuquerque's _Commentaries_, vol. iii. p. 264.]
It may be doubted whether the council would have come to this
decision had Albuquerque laid the subject before it before the relief
of Goa, but he carefully left the point undecided, until after his
great victory over Rasúl Khán and the capture of Benastarim.
Albuquerque's despatch upon the retention of Goa reveals the whole of
his policy, and it must be carefully studied by anyone who wishes to
understand the greatness of his views.
'Sire,' he wrote to the King, 'I captured Goa, because Your
Highness ordered me to do so, and the Marshal had orders to take it
in his instructions; I took it also, because it was the
headquarters of the league which was set on foot in order to cast
us out of India; and if the fleet which the Turks had prepared in
Goa river (with a large force of men, artillery, and arms specially
assembled for this object) had pushed forward, and the fleet from
Egypt had come at this juncture, as they had expected, without
doubt I should have been utterly discomfited; yea, even if ever so
great a fleet had come from Portugal they would not have allowed it
to make good its arrival in this country. But when once Goa was
conquered, everything else was at our command without any further
trouble, and when Goa was taken, that one victory alone did more
for the advancement of Your Highness's prestige than all the fleets
which have come to India during the last fifteen years. And if Your
Highness, in deference to the opinions of those who have written
this advice to you, thinks it possible to secure your dominions in
{121} these parts by means of the fortresses of Cochin and
Cannanore, it is impossible; for, if once Portugal should suffer a
reverse at sea, your Indian possessions have not power to hold out
a day longer than the kings of the land choose to suffer it; for,
if one of our men takes anything by force from a native,
immediately they raise the drawbridge and shut the gates of the
fortress, and this causes Your Highness not to be Lord of the land,
as of Goa, for in this territory the injury which is done to Moors
or to Portuguese does not reach beyond the Captain of the fortress.
Justice is yours, and yours the arm, yours the sword, and in the
hand of your Captain-General reposes the punishment, and before him
lies the remedy for the complaint of everyone; and if to-day there
be any improvement in regard to the obedience shown by the natives
of the land, it is plainly to be referred to the fact that the
taking of Goa keeps India in repose and quiet; and the fact that
the island has so frequently been attacked by the Turks, as those
who wrote to Your Highness assert, and so valiantly defended by the
Portuguese, enhances the credit which the progress of affairs in
these parts deserves. And I have so completely disheartened the
members of the league against us, that the King of Gujarát,
powerful prince as he is, lost no time in sending to me his
ambassadors and restoring to me all the cavaliers and fidalgos, who
were shipwrecked with Dom Affonso de Noronha, my nephew, on their
voyage from Socotra, without my sending to ask this of him, and
even offered me permission to build a fortress in Diu, a matter of
such immense importance that even now I can hardly believe it; and
I am now importuned by the Zamorin of Calicut, who desires to grant
me a site to build a fortress in his city, and is willing to pay a
yearly tribute to the Crown. All this is the result of our holding
Goa, without my waging war upon any of these princes.
'And I hold it to be free from doubt, that if fortresses be {122}
built in Diu and Calicut (as I trust in Our Lord they will be),
when once they have been well fortified, if a thousand of the
Sultan's ships were to make their way to India, not one of these
places could be brought again under his dominion. But if those of
your Council understood Indian affairs as I do, they would not fail
to be aware that Your Highness cannot be Lord over so extensive a
territory as India by placing all your power and strength in your
navy only (a policy at once doubtful and full of serious
inconveniences); for this, and not to build fortresses, is the very
thing which the Moors of these lands wish you to do, for they know
well that a dominion founded on a navy alone cannot last, and they
desire to live on their estates and property, and to carry their
spices to the ancient and customary markets which they maintain,
but they are unwilling to be subject to Your Highness, neither will
they trade or be on friendly terms with you. And if they will not
have any of these things, how is it likely that they will be
pleased to see us establishing ourselves in this city of Goa, and
strengthening its defences, and Your Highness Lord of so important
a port and bar as this is, and not labour with all their might to
hinder us from accomplishing our intentions? And if it seems a hard
matter to those who have written about this to Your Highness that
the recovery of Goa should have been so many times attempted, how
much harder must it have been to gain the country from so powerful
a sovereign as the King of Bijápur, Lord of so many armies, who is
not likely to refrain from straining every nerve to recover the
possession of it and striking a decisive blow at our prestige, if
he could do so? And whenever any one of his captains shall come up
against this city, are we to surrender it immediately without first
of all measuring our forces against him? If this be so, Your
Highness may as well leave India to the Moors, than seek to
maintain your position therein with such extraordinary outlays and
expenses {123} on the navy, in ships as rotten as cork, only kept
afloat by four pumps in each of them.
'As for the extraordinary expenses connected with the maintenance
of Goa, of which these idle fellows write to Your Highness, the
mere dross of India is so great, that, if the Portuguese
possessions be properly farmed by your officers, the revenue from
them alone would suffice to repay a great part of these expenses to
which we are put, and if they say that the reason why I desire to
keep possession of Goa is because it was I who took it, Your
Lordship may rest assured that if I were a Portuguese of such a
character as they are, I would be the first, if you ordered me to
destroy it, to put the pick axe into the walls, and to fire the
barrel of gunpowder under the Castle, if only for the pleasure of
seeing the cards of the game of India shuffled for a new deal; but
as long as I live, and while it remains my duty to send an account
to Your Highness of Indian affairs, Goa must not be dismantled, for
I would not that my enemies should exult in the contemplation of
any serious disaster to this estate; and I must sustain it at my
own cost, until they get their wishes, and another governor be sent
to rule over it.
'If this that I say does not agree with the ideas of some of those
who are half-hearted about this matter of Goa, Your Highness may
know for certain that as yet there is a man who is governing it;
and old and weak as I am, I will accept the government of this
conquered territory at Your Highness's hands, if it may be
permitted me to confer the lands of the Moors upon the cavaliers
and fidalgos who have assisted me to gain them. But do not require
of me every year an account of what I am doing as if I were a
tax-gatherer, because four ill-mannered fellows, who sit at home
like idols in their pagodas, have borne false witness against me;
but honour me, and thank me, for I shall be happy to complete this
enterprise, and spend what little I have upon it; and, {124} in
conclusion, all that I have to say is, that, if Your Highness
either now or at any other time surrenders Goa to the Turks, then
plainly Our Lord desires that the Portuguese dominion in India
should come to an end; and, as for me, Your Highness may be sure
that, so long as I am Governor, although I be put to much trouble,
I shall not at any rate send you painted pictures of fictitious
places, but rather kingdoms taken by force of arms from their
masters and fortified by me in such a manner that they may give a
good account of themselves to all time.
'This is my opinion concerning this question of Goa which Your
Highness commanded me to discuss with my captains and officers.'[2]
[Footnote 2: Albuquerque's _Commentaries_, vol. iii. pp. 258-263.]
These arguments of Albuquerque were convincing, and King Emmanuel
wrote to him, that for the future he should consider it necessary to
retain Goa. But at the same time the frank language which the great
Governor had used, was turned to his disadvantage by his numerous
enemies at the Court of Lisbon. It was suggested to the King, who was
very jealous of his authority in the distant parts of Asia, that
Albuquerque threatened and desired to make himself an independent
prince at Goa. He was attacked as extravagant in his expenses and
grandiose in his views, just as Lord Wellesley was censured by the
directors of the East India Company nearly 300 years later. And these
views became so prevalent at Court, that King Emmanuel resolved to
supersede Affonso de Albuquerque.
The news of his disgrace did not however reach {125} India until some
months later, and Albuquerque carried out two interesting and
important campaigns, the one in the Red Sea in 1513 and the other at
Ormuz in 1515. It was not until after the relief of Goa that
Albuquerque was at last able to carry out his favourite scheme of
entering the Red Sea, and attempting to close that route to
Muhammadan commerce. This was one of the primary aims of his policy.
The various circumstances which had delayed its execution from year
to year have been noted; and it was a curious irony of fate that the
only scheme in which Albuquerque failed was the establishment of the
Portuguese power in the Red Sea. Other things which he regarded as
subordinate, such as the conquests of Malacca and Ormuz, were
accomplished, but he was never able to become master of Aden.
Before he set sail, he sent in January 1513, a squadron under Garcia
de Sousa to cruise off Dábhol, the next most important port of the
King of Bijápur to Goa; he despatched three ships with artillery and
reinforcements to Malacca; and he ordered Dom Garcia de Noronha to
blockade Calicut. He then set to work to complete the defensive
fortifications of the island of Goa. The events of the preceding
siege showed that it was not sufficient to build a wall round the
city of Goa, but that the whole island must be adequately fortified.
For this purpose he rebuilt and strengthened the fortress of
Benastarim, and also constructed castles and military works at Panjim
and Divarim, since these three places commanded the most {126}
practicable passages across the rivers into the island. He appointed
commandants for these forts, but placed over them Pedro Mascarenhas
as Captain of Goa.
Albuquerque next sent ambassadors to the principal native princes,
who desired to enter into negotiations with him. To the King of
Ahmadábád or Gujarát he sent Tristão de Gá with a demand for leave to
build a fortress in the island of Diu. To Bijápur he sent Diogo
Fernandes to treat for peace. To the Rájá of Vijayanagar he sent
Gaspar Chanoca with a request that the Portuguese should be allowed
to build a fortress at Baticala. He also had an interview with Rasúl
Khán, and heard from him that there were serious dissensions at the
Court of Bijápur between the Turks and the Persians, which had
culminated in the murder of Kamal Khán, the chief minister, who was a
Persian. Having thus placed everything in the most secure situation
possible, he appointed his cousin Jorge de Albuquerque to be Captain
of Cochin in the place of Pedro Mascarenhas, and ordered Dom Garcia
de Noronha to break up the blockade of Calicut and to join him with
his fleet.
On February 7, 1513, Albuquerque sailed out of Goa harbour for the
Red Sea with twenty ships carrying 1700 Portuguese and 800 native
soldiers, the latter of whom had been recruited on the Malabar coast.
He had a favourable voyage, and on Good Friday, March 25, 1513, he
cast anchor in the harbour of Aden. The importance of Aden at the
entrance to the Red Sea was at that time very great, as the ships
from India {127} and the further East all stopped there before
proceeding to Egypt. It was not only merchant vessels which followed
that route, but the numerous ships which carried Moslem pilgrims to
the birthplace and the tomb of Muhammad at Mecca and Medina.
Albuquerque's intention was to put a stop alike to the passage of
traders and of pilgrims. The chief who ruled at Aden was practically
independent, but owed some fealty to the Sultans of Egypt. He
possessed a powerful army, and the walls of his city were well
provided with artillery. Nevertheless Albuquerque determined to
assault the place by escalade. The Portuguese were nearly successful,
but their over impetuosity caused all the scaling ladders to be
broken by the crowds of soldiers who tried to mount them at once.
Only a small party managed to enter the town, and since they could
not be supported owing to the breakdown of the ladders, they were
almost entirely cut to pieces. Several officers were killed in this
affair, amongst whom were Jorge da Silveira and Garcia de Sousa, who
both distinguished themselves by their daring valour. Finding it
impossible to breach the walls from the sea Albuquerque then set out
to explore the coasts of Arabia and Abyssinia.
The latter, as a Christian empire, and the seat of that mythical
monarch, Prester John, was a subject of great interest to the
Christians of Europe. It has been said that John II of Portugal sent
one of his equerries João Peres de Covilhão to Abyssinia, where he
had become a person of influence and eventually {128} died.
Ambassadors had also been sent to that country by way of Melinda in
Vasco da Gama's second voyage to the East, and had been favourably
received by David, the then Emperor of Abyssinia.
The existence Of such a Christian empire interested most Europeans
only on account of its religion, but Albuquerque looked on it from a
political aspect. He hoped to make use of the Abyssinians to attack
Egypt from the South and overthrow the Muhammadan dynasty reigning
there. In case this could not be accomplished, he formed a scheme by
which the waters of the Nile should be diverted, so as to run through
Abyssinia to the Red Sea, and thus destroy the fertility of Egypt. He
even went so far in pursuance of his idea as to request the King of
Portugal to send him experienced miners from the island of Madeira,
who were accustomed to dig through rocks. Another plan he formed was
to send a detachment to Medina to carry off the body of Muhammad. But
he felt his present voyage to be rather one of exploration, and so,
after sailing about throughout the summer of 1513, he left the Red
Sea in the month of August for India. This cruise was one of great
importance to the Portuguese, and a knowledge of the coasts, and of
the navigation of the Red Sea was obtained, which proved in after
years to be very useful. Before departing Albuquerque burnt many of
the ships which were moored in the harbour of Aden, and he promised
to return speedily and conquer the city.
On leaving the coast of Arabia, Albuquerque sailed {129} direct to
Diu. The situation of affairs in Gujarát had somewhat altered. Mahmúd
Sháh Begára had always been willing that the Portuguese should build
a fortress there, and his willingness may be attributed to the fact
that Málik Ayaz, the Nawáb of Diu, had become practically independent
of him. This Muhammadan ruler had been the declared enemy of the
Portuguese ever since the days of the first Viceroy, Dom Francisco de
Almeida. He had assisted the Emir Husain in the naval battles of
Chaul and Diu, and had formed a high idea of the power of the
Portuguese. He now submitted to Muzaffar Sháh II, who had just
succeeded as King of Gujarát, and implored him not to grant
permission for the Christians to build a fortress at Diu. He
consented however to the foundation of a factory, and Albuquerque
accordingly left one ship behind him, when he sailed south, with
Fernão Martins Evangelho as Factor. On their way to Goa the
Portuguese seized all the Muhammadan ships which had that year left
Calicut, and had not yet been able to get across the Indian Ocean
because of the monsoon, which is said to have completed the ruin of
the Mopla merchants of Calicut. Albuquerque also left a squadron
under Lopo Vaz de Sam Paio to blockade the port of Dábhol, and he
then returned safely to Goa.
The year 1514 is the most peaceful of Albuquerque's administration.
In it he was occupied mainly with matters of internal policy and the
strengthening of his relations with the native princes. The most
important event of the year was the building of the {130} fortress of
Calicut, and though the policy by which he attained this end cannot
be commended, the result was a remarkable conclusion to his
transactions on the Malabar coast. The long and consistent opposition
of the Muhammadans of Calicut to the establishment of the Portuguese
power is one of the leading threads of the history of the period.
From the time of Vasco da Gama's first voyage and the murder of the
Portuguese factor in 1500, Calicut had been the headquarters of the
enemies of Portugal. King Emmanuel never ceased reiterating his
orders that Calicut should be conquered at any cost; he declared his
honour to be involved in the destruction of the Zamorin's power; and
the defeat and death of Dom Fernão de Coutinho exasperated him
exceedingly.
By the fleet which was commanded by Dom Garcia de Noronha the most
precise orders had been sent for the building of a fortress at
Calicut, and Francisco Nogueira had brought out a royal commission to
be Captain of it. The Zamorin, who had been much impressed by the
conquest of Goa, now declared his willingness to grant a site for a
fortress at Calicut, but he would not grant the only site which
Albuquerque was inclined to accept, because it completely commanded
the harbour. On his return from the Red Sea, Albuquerque was informed
by Nogueira of the temporising policy of the Zamorin, and resolved to
carry out the King's orders without more delay. He met with
considerable opposition, especially from the Rájá of Cochin, who
feared that the lucrative {131} pepper trade, which he enjoyed, owing
to the existence of a fortress and factory in his capital, would go
to Calicut, and his views were adopted by the civil officers in
charge of the trade and also by all the adherents of Almeida's
policy. Nevertheless Albuquerque persisted, and since nothing could
be done with the reigning Zamorin he advised the heir apparent to
secure his accession by poison.
The advice was followed; the Zamorin was poisoned, and his murderer
and successor allowed Albuquerque to build a fortress on the site he
had chosen. It was the best fortified castle erected in India, and
its water gate, by means of which reinforcements and ammunition could
be introduced direct from the sea, was especially admired. The new
Zamorin offered to pay full compensation to the Portuguese for all
the damage that had been done since the murder of the first factor,
and he also sent two native envoys to Lisbon to protest his sincere
submission to King Emmanuel. The erection of the fortress at Calicut
set the seal on the Portuguese power on the Malabar coast; the Mopla
merchants were controlled at their headquarters, and the
_Commentaries_ assert that the Rájá of Narsingha or Vijayanagar
'declared, when he heard of it, that since the Zamorin of Calicut
had assented to the building of a fortress in his land by the
Portuguese, the Captain-General of India might as well build
another in Bisnagar (Vijayanagar) if he pleased.'[3]
[Footnote 3: Albuquerque's _Commentaries_, vol. iv. pp. 74, 75.]
Though the building of the fortress at Calicut was {132} the most
important event of Albuquerque's rule in 1514, some notice must
likewise be given to his relations with Gujarát, and the expeditions
he sent to Ormuz and Malacca.
It was reported to him by the factor he had left at Diu, that the
Nawáb of that place had gone to Ahmadábád in order to induce the King
of Gujarát to refuse the Portuguese leave to build upon the island,
and also that Ismáil Sháh, of Persia, had sent a special embassy to
Ahmadábád to induce the King to accept the Shiah form of the
Muhammadan religion. Albuquerque, on this, determined to send a
better equipped embassy than before to the Court of Muzaffar Sháh II.
He selected two fidalgos, on whom he could rely, Diogo Fernandes de
Beja, who had been his flag captain in the Red Sea, and Jaymé
Teixeira. The ambassadors arrived safely at Surat, but it was not
until after a long delay that they were forwarded to Ahmadábád. They
at once demanded of the Minister that the Portuguese should be
allowed to build at Diu, and were told in reply that the very name of
a fortress was distasteful to the King. The ambassadors replied
'that the King of Portugal's men and property could only be safe in
a very strongly fortified fortress, so that it should not be
exposed to robbery, nor the men to slaughter, things which it was
notorious had been perpetrated in Calicut, Quilon, and Malacca.'[4]
[Footnote 4: Albuquerque's _Commentaries_, vol. iv. p. 101.]
The King then sent an answer that, as a favour to {133} Albuquerque,
he would grant a site for a fortress at Broach, Surat, Máhim, Dumbes,
or Bukkur, but not at Diu. This offer was refused, and the King then
asked whether the Portuguese would allow his ships to make their
voyages in security to Aden, if they did not carry spices. Diogo
Fernandes replied that this could not be allowed, and that the
Gujarátís should be content with trading to Malacca, Burma, Bengal
and Persia, which were allied to the King of Portugal, without
seeking to go to Arabia where he was at war. After these questions
had been discussed at length, the Portuguese ambassadors returned to
Goa, and it was not till some years later, during the governorship of
Nuno da Cunha, that leave to build a fortress in Diu was granted to
the Portuguese. Albuquerque was much pleased with the prudence and
good behaviour of his envoys, which contrasted favourably with the
outrageous conduct of the ambassador of Ismáil Sháh. It may be added
that the King of Ahmadábád declined to accept the suggestion that he
should become a Shiah.
From Malacca very bad news reached Albuquerque. Though the King of
Siam and other neighbouring rulers had been kindly disposed to the
Portuguese residents there, an energetic attack on their position was
made by a fleet and army of Javanese, commanded by a former servant
of Utemuta Rájá. The Captain of the fortress and the Captain of the
fleet, who had been left in command, Ruy de Brito and Fernão Peres de
Andrade, quarrelled, and their {134} dissensions had nearly ruined
the cause of the Portuguese. The latter had, however, won a
considerable naval victory, and Albuquerque was inclined to favour
him. He at once sent off three ships to Malacca, with whose help
another great victory was won, and eventually he appointed his
cousin, Jorge de Albuquerque, to be Captain of Malacca. This officer
showed himself worthy of the confidence bestowed upon him; he
defeated some insurgents who had risen against the King of Pacem, a
native monarch in the island of Sumatra, which victory finally
established the Portuguese influence in those quarters. Ruy de Brito
returned to India, and under the government of Jorge de Albuquerque
the Portuguese settlement in the Malay Peninsula remained in peace
and tranquillity for some years.
A matter which occupied much of Albuquerque's attention was the
establishment of the Portuguese power at Ormuz. He had never
forgotten nor forgiven the slights which had been put upon him during
the year 1508, and had long desired to complete the fortress which he
had commenced, and carry out his vow of vengeance. The state of
affairs in Persia increased his wish to act with promptitude. On his
return from the Red Sea, he had been informed that the old King of
Ormuz and his wily minister, Cogeatar (Khojah Atár), were dead, and
what was of more significance, that the new king had acknowledged the
supremacy and the form of religion of Ismáil Sháh. It was obvious
that if the Portuguese did not strike {135} quickly they would have
to contend with the powerful Sháh of Persia for the possession of
Ormuz. Albuquerque had found an ambassador from Ismáil waiting for
him in India, to whom he exhibited the wealth and strength of the
Portuguese establishments, before sending him back to Persia
accompanied by an envoy from himself. It will be remembered that he
had nominated Ruy Gomes as ambassador in 1510, and that that
gentleman had been poisoned at Ormuz on the way. He now selected
Miguel Ferreira for the office, with similar instructions to those
given to Ruy Gomes. The Governor himself greatly impressed the Sháh's
ambassador, and it is recorded
'That he was so struck with the personal appearance of Affonso de
Albuquerque, that he desired a life-size portrait of him to be
painted, which could be carried to Sháh Ismáil.'[5]
[Footnote 5: Albuquerque's _Commentaries_, vol. iv. p. 81.]
Ferreira was more fortunate than Ruy Gomes, and reached the Court of
the Sháh of Persia in safety. He was received with the greatest
honour; so much so that the ambassador of the King of Bijápur was
much offended that a better reception was given to the Portuguese
emissary than to himself. Ismáil Sháh had many conversations with
Ferreira, and declared 'the desire which he cherished for the
destruction of the Grand Sultan and the house of Mecca.'[6] After the
departure of his ambassador, Albuquerque sent the son of his cousin,
Jorge de Albuquerque, a young man of much promise, named Pedro, in
command of four ships, with instructions to visit Aden, to winter at
{136} Ormuz, and to explore the Persian Gulf. The young commander, on
his arrival at Ormuz, found that the new King was entirely under the
influence of a young Persian named Rais Ahmad, who had taken
possession of Cogeatar's goods and endeavoured to occupy his
position. Pedro de Albuquerque first demanded that the half-finished
fortress commenced by the Governor should be handed over to the
Portuguese. When excuses were made, he desisted from this demand
owing to the weakness of his squadron, and contented himself with
requesting that the tribute due to the King of Portugal for the last
two years should be paid. He obtained 10,000 xerafins (under 750
pounds), and after exploring the Persian Gulf he returned to India.
On hearing his report, Albuquerque resolved in the succeeding season
to proceed himself to Ormuz.
[Footnote 6: Albuquerque's _Commentaries_, vol. iv. p. 88.]
On February 20, 1515, Albuquerque left Goa with twenty-six ships,
after appointing Pedro Mascarenhas Captain of Cochin, and Dom João de
Eça Captain of Goa. This was his last campaign, and it is interesting
to notice that it took place in the same quarter as his first Asiatic
enterprise. But Affonso de Albuquerque, the great Captain-General of
India, the conqueror of Goa and Malacca, was a very different person
to the Affonso de Albuquerque of seven years before, the commodore of
a small squadron, holding an ambiguous position, and at issue with
the Viceroy and his own captains. The terror of his name had now
spread abroad, and his captains no longer dared to oppose his wishes.
In the month of March he anchored off {137} the island of Ormuz, and
at once demanded that the half-finished fortress should be handed
over to him. After much negotiating the King of Ormuz gave way, and
the Portuguese landed to complete their fortress. But Albuquerque did
not feel safe as long as Rais Ahmad preserved his influence at Court;
he therefore had the young man assassinated before the King's eyes.
This murder terrified the King, who then complied with all the wishes
of the Portuguese.
Albuquerque's successive measures were taken with great skill; he
first got the King to surrender all his artillery, on the ground that
it was needed for the defence of the fortress against a fleet which
was rumoured to be coming from Egypt; and he next persuaded the King
to issue an edict that the inhabitants of Ormuz should be disarmed.
The completion of the fortress occupied some months, at the close of
which, in August 1515, Albuquerque unwillingly consented to the
return of his favourite nephew, Dom Garcia de Noronha, to Portugal.
While at Ormuz he was visited by envoys from all the petty rulers
along the Persian Gulf, and even by chiefs from the interior of
Arabia, Persia, and Tartary. His accumulated labours by this period
had broken down his health, but his fame was at its height.
'From all parts of the interior country so many were they who came
daily into the fortress in order to look upon Affonso de
Albuquerque that our people could not keep them back; and although
his illness prevented him from going out very often, they begged
those who were on guard at the doorway {138} of the fortress to at
least permit them to get sight of him, for they had come from their
own country for this express purpose. And if at any time he rode on
horseback, so large a crowd of people followed after him along the
streets, that he could hardly make his way through them; and as the
fame of his person, and his greatness, was the topic of all those
parts, and in consequence of the news which the ambassadors whom
Sháh Ismáil had sent to him had circulated, they sent their
servants to him with orders to draw his portrait to the life.'[7]
[Footnote 7: Albuquerque's _Commentaries_, vol. iv. p. 181.]
Every day, however, the great Governor's health grew worse, and on
September 26, 1515, he summoned all the captains to his residence in
Ormuz, and declared to them that since his illness promised to prove
fatal, he wished them to swear to obey whoever he nominated as his
successor. On October 20 he appointed Pedro de Albuquerque Captain of
Ormuz, and from that time gave up attending to business and began to
prepare for death.
On November 8, 1515, he set sail from Ormuz in the _Flor da Rosa_,
commanded by his faithful friend, Diogo Fernandes de Beja, hoping
that he should end his days in Goa, the city which he had conquered
and which he loved. But he was not allowed to conclude his great
career without suffering a deep humiliation. On the way a native
brigantine was captured, which contained letters directed to
Albuquerque. In spite of his health he insisted on these letters
being read to him at once. In them appeared the news that Lopo Soares
de Albergaria had just reached India, with a {139} commission to
succeed him as Governor. This news wounded Albuquerque to the heart.
'He lifted up his hands and gave thanks unto Our Lord and
cried:--"In bad repute with men because of the King, and in bad
repute with the King because of the men, it were well that I were
gone."'[8]
[Footnote 8: Albuquerque's _Commentaries_, vol. iv. p. 195.]
This harsh measure of supersession had undoubtedly been suggested to
King Emmanuel by the personal enemies whom the Governor had made
through his imperious temper; and it is not without significance that
among the captains who accompanied Soares de Albergaria were two of
Albuquerque's declared enemies, Francisco de Tavora and Diogo Mendes
de Vasconcellos. The jealous disposition of the King had been freely
worked on, and the argument that Albuquerque wished to make himself
an independent prince or duke at Goa had had its effect. On receiving
the tidings of his disgrace Albuquerque added a codicil to his will,
directing that his bones should be carried to Portugal, and he wrote
the following proud and touching letter to King Emmanuel, the
sovereign he had served so well.
'Sire, I am not writing to Your Highness with my own hand, because,
when I do so, I tremble very greatly, which is a warning of my
approaching death. I leave a son, Sire, to perpetuate my memory, to
whom I bequeath all my property, which is little enough, but I
bequeath him also the obligation, due to me for all my services,
which is very great. The affairs of India speak for me and for
themselves [_lit._ for it]. I {140} leave India, with its principal
heads fallen, in your power, without its promising any other
trouble, except the locking close of the gate of the Straits
[_i.e._ of the Red Sea]; that is what Your Highness ordered me to
do. I give you as my constant counsel, Sire, for the security of
India, to continue drawing your expenses from it [_i.e._ to make
the administration pay for itself]. I beg Your Highness in reward
to remember all this, and to make my son a nobleman and to give him
full satisfaction for my services. All my hopes I place in the
hands of Your Highness and of the Queen. I commend myself to you
both that you may make my affairs [_cousas_] great, since I make my
end in the affairs of your service and for them deserve to be
rewarded. And as for my pensions, which I have won for the greater
part, as Your Highness knows, I kiss your hands for them for my
son. Written at sea on the sixth day of December, 1515.'
_In Albuquerque's own handwriting_:--
'Done by the servant of Your Highness,
'AFONSO D ALBOQUERQUE.'[9]
[Footnote 9: This letter is translated from the original text
preserved in the Torre del Tombo, or Archives of Portugal, printed in
the _Cartas de Albuquerque_, vol. i. pp. 380, 381. The version given
in the _Commentaries_, vol. iv. pp. 195, 196 is much shortened.]
It is satisfactory to know that the King complied with the dying wish
of the great Governor. Albuquerque's illegitimate son, Braz de
Albuquerque, was recognised at Court and married to a rich heiress,
Dona Maria de Noronha, daughter of the first Count of Linhares; he
was granted a pension of 300,000 reis (about 66 pounds) a year; and
his name was changed by royal command to Affonso. He proved himself
worthy of his father, became Controller of the Household of King
{141} John III, and President of the Senate of Lisbon, but posterity
is chiefly grateful to him for having compiled the _Commentaries_ of
his great father's deeds. King Emmanuel quickly regretted his
unworthy treatment of his faithful servant, and in 1516, before the
news of his death had reached Lisbon, he sent out orders that while
Lopo Soares de Albergaria was to be Governor of Calicut, Cochin and
Malacca, Albuquerque was to command in the Indian and Arabian Seas,
with power to draw on all the resources of India for a final campaign
in the Red Sea. This news, however, never reached the great captain,
and the commission was not signed until after his death.
The details of the death of Affonso de Albuquerque are best told in
the brief words of the _Commentaries_.
'At this time he had become so weak that he could not stand, ever
desiring Our Lord to take him to Goa, and there do with him as
should be best for His service; and when the ship was yet distant
three or four leagues from the bar, he ordered them to summon Frei
Domingos, the Vicar-General, and Master Affonso, the physician. And
as he was so weak that he could not eat anything, he ordered his
attendants to give him a little of the red wine which had been sent
that year from Portugal. And when the brigantine had sailed away in
advance to Goa, the vessel proceeded to cast anchor on the bar, on
Saturday night, the fifteenth day of the month of December. When
they told Affonso de Albuquerque that he was at the end of his
voyage, he lifted up his hands and gave many thanks to Our Lord,
because he had vouchsafed to grant him that mercy which he had so
earnestly desired, and thus he remained all through that night with
the {142} Vicar-General, who had already come off from the shore to
the ship, and with Pedro de Alpoem, Secretary of India, whom he
constituted his executor, embracing the crucifix and continually
talking; and he desired the Vicar-General, who was his confessor,
to recite the Passion of Our Lord, written by St. John, to which he
was always devoted, for in it, and in that cross which was made in
the likeness of that whereon Our Lord had suffered, and on His
wounds he rested all the hope of his salvation; and he commanded
them to attire him in the costume of the Order of Santiago, whereof
he was a Commander, that he might die in it; and on the Sunday, one
hour before the dawn, he rendered up his soul to God; and there
finished all his troubles without seeing any satisfaction of
them.'[10]
[Footnote 10: Albuquerque's _Commentaries_, vol. iv. p. 196.]
The corpse of the great governor was at once conveyed to Goa and
'so great was the crying and weeping on all sides, that it seemed
as if the very river of Goa was being poured out.'[11]
[Footnote 11: Albuquerque's _Commentaries_, vol. iv. p. 198.]
The body was conveyed to the Chapel of Our Lady of the Conception,
which he had founded outside the gates of Goa on the spot where he
had witnessed the second capture of the city.
'There accompanied the procession,' it is recorded in the
_Commentaries_, 'all the people of the city, not only Christians,
but Hindus and Moors [Muhammadans], who filled the streets,
demonstrating by the profusion of their tears the great sorrow they
felt at his death. As for the Hindus, when they beheld his body
stretched upon the bier, with his long beard reaching down to his
waist, and his eyes half open, they declared, after their heathen
notions, that it could not be that he was dead, {143} but that God
had need of him for some war, and had therefore sent for him.'[12]
[Footnote 12: Albuquerque's _Commentaries_, vol. iv. p. 198.]
His son, according to the last wishes of the great captain, desired
to remove the body of Affonso de Albuquerque to Portugal, but King
Emmanuel would never consent, saying that as long as the bones of
Affonso de Albuquerque were at Goa India was secure. John III held
the same view, and it was not until 1566, more than fifty years after
his death, that his remains were removed to Portugal by permission of
Queen Catherine, who was then Regent in the name of the boy-king, Dom
Sebastian. They were then solemnly interred in the Chapel of Our Lady
of Grace at Lisbon, attached to the Augustinian monastery, where they
still repose.
The deeds of Albuquerque form his fittest memorial, and in the next
chapter an attempt will be made to examine his character as exhibited
by his internal policy. Nevertheless it is interesting to quote here
his son's description of his person and his character as given in the
_Commentaries_.
'This great Captain was a man of middle stature, with a long face,
fresh coloured, the nose somewhat large. He was a prudent man, and
a Latin scholar, and spoke in elegant phrases; his conversation and
writings showed his excellent education. He was of ready words,
very authoritative in his commands, very circumspect in his
dealings with the Moors, and greatly feared yet greatly loved by
all, a quality rarely found united in one captain. He was very
valiant and favoured by fortune. King Ferdinand said to Pedro
{144} Correa, when he was Portuguese ambassador at the Spanish
Court, that it was a very astonishing thing, that King Emmanuel,
his son-in-law, should have ordered Affonso de Albuquerque to
return from India, seeing that he was so great a captain and so
fortunate in his wars. He always gained the victory in his battles
against the Moors, both at sea and on land, sometimes indeed being
wounded, for the places where he was posted were never of the
safest. He was very prompt in the performance of any undertaking
when he had once determined upon it, and his name and his successes
are so celebrated among all the kings and princes of Europe and
Asia, that the Grand Turk, when conversing with Don Alvaro de
Sande, captain of the Emperor Charles V, whom he held in captivity,
concerning the state of India, laid his hand on his breast and said
that Affonso de Albuquerque had been a very remarkable captain. He
was a man of the strictest veracity, and so pure in the justice he
administered that the Hindus and Moors after his death, whenever
they received any affront from the Governors of India, used to go
to Goa to his tomb and make offerings of choice flowers and of oil
for his lamp, praying him to do them justice. He was very
charitable to the poor, and settled many women in marriage in Goa.
For he was of such a generous disposition that all the presents and
gifts which the kings of India bestowed on him--and they were
numerous and of great value--he divided among the captains and
fidalgos who had assisted him in obtaining them. He was very
honourable in his manner of life, and so careful over his language,
that the greatest oath which he ever took when he was very much
enraged was this: "I abhor the life that I live." He died at the
age of sixty-three years, having governed India for six years.'[13]
[Footnote 13: Albuquerque's _Commentaries_, vol. iv. pp. 199, 200.]
{145}
CHAPTER VI
THE RULE OF ALBUQUERQUE (_continued_)
_His Internal Policy_
The relations of Portugal with Asia were in their origin, and
throughout the reign of King Emmanuel, based on the desire to
monopolise the commerce of the East with Europe. The idea of the
universal conversion of the heathen to Christianity did not develop
itself until the reign of King John III, Emmanuel's eldest son and
successor. The idea of empire preceded that of proselytism, and was
first enunciated by Albuquerque. The three conceptions are all
closely united in the later history of the Portuguese in India, but
they were evolved separately, had separate origins and distinct aims.
The establishment of direct commerce after the voyage of Vasco da
Gama, led inevitably to the imperial notions of Albuquerque. The
history of the Dutch and English power in the East followed the same
lines, and the parallels which can be drawn are numerous and
striking. But the idea of universal conversion to Christianity was a
purely Portuguese and sixteenth-century idea. The Dutch and the {146}
English East India Companies discouraged Christian missionaries; the
Portuguese, on the other hand, in the later days of their ascendancy,
made their whole system of government subservient to the propagation
of the Christian faith. It is not necessary here to draw deductions
from this striking contrast. It is purely a matter of speculation
whether this difference was due to religious causes or to the
idiosyncrasies of the different nations; but the fact remains, and
gives a peculiar interest to the history of the Portuguese in the
East, as connected with the history of the extension of Christianity.
The voyage of Vasco da Gama, as well as the explorations of Prince
Henry the Navigator, was dictated by commercial causes alone.
Incidentally the Portuguese were interested in the discovery of
native Christians on the Malabar coast and of a Christian Empire in
Abyssinia. But it cannot be too strongly insisted upon that the
primary aim of the Portuguese was commercial and not religious. The
idea of empire was forced on the Portuguese by the opposition they
met with in the establishment of their commerce. Vasco da Gama had no
idea of conquering the cities he touched at on the Malabar coast; he
merely wished to open up trade relations. Cabral, who followed him,
gave evidence of his peaceful intentions by sending the first
Portuguese factor, Correa, ashore at Calicut with only a few clerks.
But the murder of Correa and the subsequent attacks on the Portuguese
factories at Cochin {147} and Quilon showed that peaceful trade could
not possibly be established in the then condition of the Malabar
coast. It was necessary to supplement factories by fortresses, and it
is significant that the first fortress built was founded by
Albuquerque during his first voyage to India.
Here Dom Francisco de Almeida wished to stop. He considered it enough
if the Portuguese had a few fortresses to protect their factors, and
commanded the sea to protect their trading ships. Albuquerque went a
step further. He held it to be inadequate for the Portuguese to
possess only fortresses, and argued that they must rule directly over
the cities and islands which were the principal seats of trade. The
history of the Dutch and English in the East shows exactly the same
progression. The merchants of those countries originally desired only
to establish trade. They next found it necessary to build fortresses
to protect their factors or agents. And finally they found it
necessary to build up, much against the will of their employers at
home, the Dutch Empire in Java, Sumatra, and the Spice Islands, and
the English Empire in India. The growth of the latter is traced in
other volumes of this series, in which the progress of the English
from traders to rulers is exhibited.
But the causes which led to the erection of the Dutch and English
empires in Asia differ in one point from those which led to the
establishment of the Portuguese power. The former originated in the
{148} necessity for breaking the Portuguese monopoly of Asiatic
commerce; the latter in the necessity for overthrowing the Muhammadan
monopoly. And it may be noted incidentally that the Portuguese had
the more difficult task. They had to break the Muhammadan connection
with the whole of the East, with Persia and the Spice Islands as well
as with India. Their means were not so adequate as those of the
English and the Dutch, for they had to make the difficult passage
round the Cape of Good Hope with smaller ships, and their appliances
for war were weaker than those of their successors.
Indeed, had not the Portuguese connection with Asia been carried out
by the whole of the royal power of Portugal, it may be doubted
whether it could ever have attained its full development. The Crown
of Portugal kept the trade with the East in its own hands as a royal
monopoly, and was able to despatch great fleets with armies, in some
instances, of 1500 soldiers on board. Whereas the Dutch and English
merchant adventurers were unable to act on such a large scale. The
existence of the Royal monopoly may have, in the end, affected the
Portuguese development in the East prejudicially, but in the
commencement it was absolutely necessary, for the whole strength of
the little kingdom was needed to bear the strain of the continual
despatch of men to Asia.
It has already been said more than once that the Eastern trade with
Europe was in the hands, until {149} the commodities reached the
Levant, of Muhammadan traders. These traders were chiefly of Arab
origin, especially on the Malabar coast, but the Arab immigrants were
supported in nearly every place by native converts to the religion of
Islám. Such Moslem merchants did not try to establish direct rule in
the cities in which they settled. It is an instructive tradition
which makes the Rájá Perumal, who ruled over the whole Malabar coast,
retire to Mecca after his conversion to Islám. The Arab traders on
the Indian coasts did not resemble the Muhammadan invaders from the
North-West. Conversion was not with them a main incentive; but, as
the Muhammadan historians show, they took good care that native
Muhammadan converts should not be prejudiced by their change of
religion. The sort of _imperium in imperio_ of the Arab or Mopla
merchants in the Malabar cities is fully described in the
Tohfut-ul-mujahideen, which shows how the Muhammadan communities were
bound together and preserved their independence with regard to the
Hindu sovereigns. Such a situation would have entirely agreed with
the first notions of the Portuguese visitors to India. But the
natural jealousy of the Muhammadan merchants would not permit a new
trading community to spring up side by side with them.
King Emmanuel with great sagacity perceived the true meaning of the
rivalry between the Portuguese and the Muhammadans in the East. He
grasped the fact that he had not to deal with the merchants {150}
alone; he understood that the whole force of Egypt and the Turks
would be arrayed against him. No division of trade could in those
days be expected. He therefore resolved to cut off entirely the
mid-way connection between the Levant and the chief markets of Asia.
For this purpose he directed the building of a fortress in the island
of Socotra; for this purpose he continually urged his commanders to
seize Aden and close the Red Sea to commerce; for this purpose he was
willing to receive ambassadors from the Hindu princes of India, but
would hear of nothing but war against the Muhammadans. His captains
carried out his instructions to the letter. The atrocious acts of
cruelty committed by all of them against Muhammadans may have been in
part due to religious animosity and to their Portuguese origin, but
they were not discouraged by the Portuguese monarch, who was inspired
more by his anxiety to destroy their trade than their faith.
The despatch of the Egyptian fleet, which was defeated by Almeida,
was a proof that King Emmanuel's fears were justified. The internal
wars of the principal Muhammadan rulers alone prevented that fleet
from being followed at once by others still more formidable.
Fortunately for the Portuguese, however, at this very period the
Sultan Selim I of Constantinople was engaged in fierce war with the
Mameluke Sultan of Egypt, and Ismáil Sháh of Persia was at open issue
with both dynasties. But the necessity for closing the former trade
routes would {151} not have led to the ruin and slaughter of
Muhammadans settled in India itself, had they not systematically
opposed the Portuguese.
Albuquerque, after his first conquest of Goa and after that of
Malacca, showed himself ready to treat the Moslems with clemency. In
both instances that clemency was abused. The Muhammadans of Goa
undoubtedly favoured the advancing army of Yusaf Adil Sháh; and the
Muhammadans of Malacca began to plot against the Portuguese supremacy
as soon as it was firmly established. It was for these reasons that
he ordered the indiscriminate slaughter of the Muhammadans of Goa on
his second conquest of that city, and that he directed the execution
of Utemuta Rájá at Malacca. It was impossible that the two rival
trading nationalities could co-exist; the one was inevitably led to
destroy the other.
The first means devised for the overthrow of Muhammadan commerce was
the system of licenses. Before Albuquerque's arrival the Portuguese
arrogated to themselves the right of seizing any ship which did not
carry a license granted by the Portuguese authorities. When this
custom had been thoroughly established, it was followed by the
complete prohibition of all licenses to trade with the Red Sea. Even
when such a powerful ruler as the king of Gujarát asked permission to
send ships to Aden, Albuquerque refused, and every vessel carrying
merchandise in that direction was regarded as legitimate prey. The
next step to closing the sea by means of {152} the superiority of the
Portuguese vessels was to build fortresses in spots commanding the
trade routes. This was why Albuquerque laid such weight on the
necessity of building a fortress at Ormuz, and of endeavouring to
capture Aden.
So far the policy of King Emmanuel, of Almeida, and of Albuquerque
agreed. But the latter advanced beyond the notions of his sovereign
and his predecessor in his endeavour to found a Portuguese empire in
the East. His system rested on four main bases. He desired to conquer
certain important points for trading purposes, and to rule them
directly; he desired to colonise the selected districts by
encouraging mixed marriages with the native inhabitants; where he
could not conquer or colonise he desired to build fortresses; and
where this was impracticable he desired to induce the native monarchs
to recognise the supremacy of the king of Portugal and to pay him
tribute. It is not necessary to illustrate Albuquerque's policy on
all these points at greater length than has already been done. His
building of fortresses has been shown in the instances of Calicut,
Malacca, and Ormuz; much has been said of his policy of conquest with
regard to Goa; and his effort to induce native monarchs to become
tributary has been related with regard to the King of Ormuz, the
Zamorin of Calicut, and the Rájá of Cochin.
But Albuquerque's policy of colonisation is unique in the history of
the Europeans in India; it has been far-reaching in its results, and
has profoundly {153} influenced the present condition of the
Portuguese in India. His notion of an Eastern empire differed
entirely from that taken in subsequent centuries by the English. He
had no horror of mixed marriages, no dislike of half-castes. On the
contrary, he did all in his power to create a race of half-caste
Portuguese. When Goa was taken for the second time he tried to induce
as many Portuguese as possible to marry native women, and especially
the wives of the Muhammadans he had killed. He presided at these
marriages himself, and gave dowries to couples married as he desired.
The class he particularly encouraged were the artisans, who had been
sent out from Portugal as ship-builders, rope-makers, and workmen in
the arsenals and dockyards. He was also urgent in inducing his
gunners to marry.
His aim in this policy was to form a population which should be at
once loyal to Portugal and satisfied to remain in India for life.
Officers indeed might expect to return to the fatherland, but
Europeans of inferior ranks were too valuable to be allowed to
escape. In all it is narrated that about 450 Portuguese were married
to native women before he left Goa for Malacca. A quaint account of
Albuquerque's colonising policy is given in the _Commentaries_:--
'Those who desired to marry were so numerous, that Affonso de
Albuquerque could hardly grant their requests, for he did not give
permission, except for men of proved character, to marry. But in
order to favour this work, as it was entirely of his own idea, and
also because they {154} were men of good character and had deserved
by their good services that this privilege should be granted to
them, he extended the permission to marry far beyond the powers
which had been assigned by the King Emmanuel, for the women with
whom they married were the daughters of the principal men of the
land. And he granted this favour, among other reasons, in order
that when the Hindus observed what he did for their daughters and
nieces and sisters they might with better willingness turn
Christians; and for this reason he would not suffer any of the
women to be enslaved, but ordered that they should be all taken
away from the masters who had possession of them; and he divided
among the married ones the lands, houses, and cattle and everything
else that there was, to give them a start in life; and if the women
whom he thus gave in marriage asked for the houses which had been
in possession of their fathers or their husbands, he ordered that
these should be so given, and therein they found many jewels and
gold pieces which had been hidden underground and abandoned when
the city was captured.'[1]
[Footnote 1: Albuquerque's _Commentaries_, vol. iii. pp. 41, 42.]
This colonising policy was carried out by Albuquerque both for moral
and political reasons, but it was not approved by all the other
Portuguese officers in India. Some of the Catholic clergy objected,
in spite of his making baptism a preliminary to marriage, and Diogo
Mendes, when Captain of Goa, did all he could to discourage the
married men. Albuquerque dwells at length on this subject in the long
despatch which he wrote to the king on April 1st, 1512, after his
return from Malacca.[2] It was one of his favourite {155} schemes,
and was well suited to the inclinations of the Portuguese people.
Possibly no other nation is so willing to intermarry with alien races
as the Portuguese. In Portugal itself there remain many traces in the
physiognomy of the people of the intermarriage of the original stock
with descendants of the Moors and even of the negro slaves, who were
largely imported; in Brazil, an important division of the population
is descended from mixed marriages between the Portuguese settlers and
the aboriginal tribes; and in India the number of Portuguese
half-castes forms a recognised section of the Christian population.
These men and women resemble natives more than Europeans, and often
appear to have only a very small amount of European blood.
[Footnote 2: _Cartas de Albuquerque_, vol. i. pp. 29-65.]
But however desirous Albuquerque might be to create a body of
Portuguese colonists and half-castes, he knew he could not establish
a complete power in India by this means alone. The proportion of
Europeans must inevitably be small, and some means had to be devised
for governing the natives. This was one of the arguments employed by
the school of Almeida for abandoning Goa. At Cochin, for instance,
the Portuguese authority was only supreme within the limits of the
fortress, and the task of governing the city was left to the Hindu
Rájá. But the conquest of the island and city of Goa produced a new
set of conditions, and for the first time a civilised European state
had to provide for the government of Hindus. Albuquerque boldly faced
{156} the difficulty. He declared that the expenses of government
must be met out of revenue, and that the ownership of Goa should not
cause any drain on the king's finances. He did not at first design to
administer the island by Portuguese officials, but resolved to farm
out its revenues to native chiefs.
After the first capture of Goa, Albuquerque selected Timoja; after
the second conquest, Malhár Ráo; and when the latter became Rájá of
Honáwar, he received an offer for the situation from the Rájá of the
neighbouring Hindu state of Vengápur. He was informed after the first
conquest that the King of Bijápur had doubled the amount of the taxes
levied by the Hindu Rájá of Vijayanagar. A petition was made that the
latter amount should be exacted in future, and Albuquerque consented.
Various sums are given as the value of these taxes, but perhaps the
best and most trustworthy sum is 150,000 xerafins, a sum equivalent
to about 9375 pounds. But at the same time, Albuquerque stated that
if ever the payment of the taxes should fall into arrears the amount
should be raised to that paid to Yusaf Adil Sháh.
The particular form of administration adopted by the first European
rulers of an Indian District is of peculiar interest to Englishmen,
who now administer nearly the whole of India. Unfortunately, the
_Commentaries_ give but a very few lines to this subject, and the
contemporary Portuguese historians are practically silent. It will be
as well therefore to give in full the description of the
_Commentaries_.
{157} 'Timoja and the others received, in the name of the people,
the lands, with these conditions that Affonso de Albuquerque laid
down [_this refers to the reduction in the amount of the taxes_];
but it had also to be stipulated that he should appoint over them a
Tanadar, and Hindus to govern them. Affonso de Albuquerque told
them that he would promise not to appoint any Muhammadan to the
office of Tanadar, and that he would give orders that the taxes
should be collected by Portuguese in combination with certain
Hindus of the land to be appointed by Timoja, in order that
everything should be done with the least oppression of the people.
And after having thus arranged the matter for them, Affonso de
Albuquerque commanded that an oath should be administered to them,
according to their heathen manner, that they would account for
these taxes with him or the Governor of India for the time being;
and he ordered that two pacharins should be given to each one, for
it was an ancient custom in the land to give these to these Hindus.
'On the conclusion of this business, Affonso de Albuquerque gave
them permission to return to their houses and to commence the
collection of the taxes, according to the local registers of the
lands. And they desired him to appoint over them certain Tanadars,
who have the same office as our Almoxarifes [_Receivers of the
Customs_], to collect the revenue and to dispense justice amongst
them. In order to content them, Affonso de Albuquerque nominated
Braz Vieira over them as Tanadar of Cintacora, and Gaspar Chanoca
to act as his Secretary, and over all the other offices of Tanadar
he appointed for them as Tanadars a number of honourable men,
servants of the King, in whom he had complete confidence, to
execute justice among them. And he ordered Timoja to appoint to
each of these officers a Hindu clerk, in order to show them the
method to be {158} pursued in collecting the revenue; and to each
Tanadar he told off 200 peons of the country to accompany them and
carry out the instructions of their masters in the collection of
the revenue. And he sent João Alvares de Caminha, who was a very
honourable man and possessed great authority, in order to set those
things in action as they should be carried on; and to put them into
working order; and to repose in him a confidence with regard to
other greater matters; and to be his clerk Antonio Fragoso was
appointed; and a Hindu servant of Timoja to show him the
register-books of the lands, how they were held in separate
occupation, in order that there should be no dishonesty. And João
Alvares de Caminha managed everything in such a manner that
everybody was well pleased. The Hindus who had fled out of Goa
returned to their original dwelling-places in the land immediately
that they perceived that Affonso de Albuquerque had remitted to
them a moiety of the dues, which they had been accustomed to pay to
the Sabaio (Yusaf Adil Sháh), and had appointed natives over them
to govern them.'[3]
[Footnote 3: Albuquerque's _Commentaries_, vol. ii. pp. 125-127.]
It will be seen from the above quotation that the union of revenue
and judicial functions, which is one of the principal features of the
English administration of India, was adopted by Albuquerque in his
settlement of Goa. So also was the co-operation of native with
European officials, while João Alvares de Caminha was the first
forerunner of the modern English Collectors of Districts. It will be
observed that the native system of government was adopted, for
mention is made of the land register which would {159} contain the
amount to be paid by each tenant in the form of rent. Albuquerque
carefully maintained the constitution of the village communities, and
shortly after his death, in 1526, a register called the _Foral de
Usos e Costumes_, containing the peculiar usages and customs of the
village communities, was compiled, which served as a guide-book to
subsequent administrators. His use of Hindu clerks in the work of
settlement is also noteworthy; he quickly perceived the adaptability
of the natives, and desired to employ them not only in the collection
of the revenue, but in the management of the Portuguese factories. To
make this possible he understood the necessity of educating the
future clerks in Western customs and languages. He established
schools for the purpose, and in his famous despatch of April 1, 1512,
he begged King Emmanuel to send out from Portugal a competent
schoolmaster for the education of native clerks.[4]
[Footnote 4: _Cartas de Albuquerque_, vol. i. p. 43.]
Albuquerque likewise understood the value of native troops. In his
expedition to the Red Sea he employed 800 native soldiers, who are
stated to have been enlisted from among the inhabitants of 'Kánara
and Malabar.' These men did good service, and were employed in other
important expeditions. It is nowhere stated, however, whether they
were drilled and commanded by European officers. The natives who
served in the second capture of Goa were commanded by Malhár Ráo, and
it seems most probable that the {160} contingent in the Red Sea
remained under their native officers.
In one thing only did Albuquerque venture to oppose the customs of
the natives of India. He dared to prohibit in the island of Goa the
practice of _Satí_ or widow-burning, which was not abolished in
British India until the governorship of Lord William Bentinck in
1829. The mention of Albuquerque's abolition of _Satí_ in the
_Commentaries_ is sufficiently quaint to deserve quotation.
'They had a custom that if any Hindu died, the wife had to burn
herself of her own free will; and when she was proceeding to this
self-sacrifice it was with great merrymaking and blowing of music,
saying that she desired to accompany her husband to the other
world. But the wife who would not so burn herself was thrust out
from among the others, and lived by gaining, by means of her body,
support for the maintenance of the pagoda of which she was a
votary. However, when Affonso de Albuquerque took the city of Goa,
he forbad from that time forward, that any more women should be
burned; and although to change one's customs is equal to death
itself, nevertheless they were happy to save their lives, and spoke
very highly of him because he had ordered that there should be no
more burning.'[5]
[Footnote 5: Albuquerque's _Commentaries_, vol. ii. p. 94.]
Albuquerque, like Warren Hastings and other English
governors-general, understood the importance of keeping his employer
in a good temper by looking after his commercial interests. In all
his despatches he always set forth the commercial {161} advantages of
his different conquests, and excused his imperial ideas by defending
them on commercial grounds. Nothing more need be said here on the
general question of the advantages and history of the direct trade
route round the Cape of Good Hope, but some special instances of
Albuquerque's sagacity in commercial matters deserve record. His
establishment of a Portuguese factory at Malacca is a striking
example of his sagacity. He perceived that though the pepper and
ginger which was taken on board in the Malabar ports was grown in
India, the cinnamon purchased there chiefly came from Ceylon, and the
spices from the Malay Peninsula and the Spice Islands. He therefore
took steps to open up a direct trade in cinnamon with Ceylon, and
made his famous expedition to Malacca. By such measures he hoped to
avoid having to pay the middleman's profits for conveying these
commodities to India.
A smaller point also deserves notice. When the Portuguese factory was
established at Cochin certain prices were fixed which had to be paid
in gold to the Rájá's officers for the commodities required. This
necessitated a considerable export of bullion from Portugal or else
the forced sale of European goods. When Albuquerque was able to
dictate terms to the new ruler of Calicut, he bargained that the
products of India should be exchanged for merchandise brought from
Portugal, and not sold for ready money. This reform was very
unwelcome to the Portuguese factors and officials, who had hitherto
made large profits by {162} selling the European goods and embezzling
part of the price paid for them.
One interesting proceeding of Albuquerque was his establishment of a
new coinage, both at Goa and at Malacca. After the first capture of
the future capital of Portuguese India, Timoja, whom he had made
governor of the island, came with the principal inhabitants of the
city and begged Albuquerque to strike some new money. The Governor
replied, after holding a council of his captains, that he could not
venture to assume one of the chief prerogatives of royalty without
first obtaining the permission of the King of Portugal. But the need
of a new currency was so urgent that Timoja and the inhabitants made
a fresh petition that, if the Governor would not issue coins of his
own, he would allow those of the King of Bijápur to pass current.
This argument was irresistible, and Albuquerque established a mint
for the coinage of gold, silver, and copper, under the
superintendence of Tristão de Gá. The new money was inaugurated with
an imposing ceremony. A proclamation was issued that the King of
Bijápur's coins should not be kept or passed under severe penalties,
and that whoever had any was to exchange it at the mint for the new
coins. Albuquerque did not invent new measures of value; he adopted
the Hindu values and simply gave Portuguese names to coins which he
minted of the size and weight of those then in circulation in the
country.[6] In Malacca however he {163} appeared as an originator.
The only coins used there were made of pewter or tin; there was no
gold or silver coinage, and trade was carried on by barter. Gold and
silver was brought into the Peninsula from China and Siam, but it was
used as merchandise and not as money. Albuquerque altered this, and
established for the first time a gold and silver currency. But he was
too wise to neglect the original native money. The tin mines of the
peninsula were made crown property, and tin and pewter coins were
struck of the old values. The new currency was inaugurated at Malacca
as it had been at Goa, with a grand ceremony, which is fully
described in the _Commentaries_, in which it is quaintly remarked
that the people especially approved of the distribution among
themselves of the new coins, which were scattered by the Portuguese
officials from the back of an elephant.
[Footnote 6: A valuable monograph on the Portuguese coinage in India
has been published under the title of _Contributions to the Study of
Indo-Portuguese Numismatics_, by J. Gerson da Cunha, Bombay, 1880.]
It is important to grasp the fact that Albuquerque did not commence
the policy of wholesale conversions to Christianity. Franciscan
friars accompanied him to India, as they had accompanied his
predecessors, but their principal duty was to look after the
spiritual welfare of the Portuguese and not to convert the natives.
These friars included men of different types. Some were employed in
political capacities, as for instance, Frei Luis, who was sent as
ambassador to the Rájá of Vijayanagar. Some showed themselves men of
the highest character, like Frei Francisco {164} Loureiro, who was
taken prisoner by the King of Gujarát on being wrecked on his coast
with Dom Affonso de Noronha. The worthy priest was allowed to go to
Cochin in order to procure a ransom for himself and his comrades in
captivity. This occurred during Albuquerque's absence in Malacca, and
the Portuguese officials at Cochin refused to furnish the money
required. The friar at once returned to Gujarát to his imprisonment
to the great admiration of the Muhammadan king. Some clerics,
however, did not show themselves worthy of their profession. One in
particular, a Dominican friar, embezzled the property of deceased
Portuguese by declaring that they had signed wills in his favour.[7]
This man was promptly sent back to Portugal in disgrace.
[Footnote 7: _Cartas de Albuquerque_, vol. i. p. 30.]
But though the making of converts did not at once become the
principal occupation of the Catholic clergy in India, some baptisms
on a large scale took place after the capture of Goa. These were
principally of the Muhammadan women, whose husbands had been slain,
and whom Albuquerque gave in marriage to his favourites. His marriage
scheme itself was severely condemned by some of the friars, and but
for his own strong will might have caused a schism. But though he did
not make missionary effort a main aim of his policy, like some of his
successors, Albuquerque was unfeignedly pious. He built churches at
Goa, at Malacca, and in the island of Socotra, and he granted in
these instances {165} the whole of the property which had belonged to
the Muhammadan mosques to the new foundations. The first Portuguese
adventurers in India were too delighted to find Christians at all in
India to have time to examine into the difference of their ritual
from their own. They were overjoyed to find a cross in digging
foundations for a church in Goa. They believed that Christianity
would quickly spread over the East. And the religious persecutions
which mar the later history of the Portuguese in India were not
thought of in the days of the great governor.
The causes of Albuquerque's triumphant progress in Asia may be found
in a consideration of certain special and general reasons as well as
in his own character.
The chief general cause was the weakness and mutual enmity of the
rulers with whom he came in contact. He had not to strive with the
great Mughals; he did not come directly in contact with Ismáil Sháh,
who favoured instead of opposing him; nor did he have cause to attack
the powerful Emperor of China. The Hindu Zamorin of Calicut, the
Muhammadan Nawáb of Diu, the half savage Sultan of Malacca, the Arab
King of Ormuz, were none of them great and powerful monarchs. All had
external as well as internal enemies, and Albuquerque was quick to
perceive and make use of this circumstance. The only great ruler he
came into opposition with was Yusaf Adil Sháh of Bijápur, who,
fortunately for the Portuguese, died in 1510. The division of India
into {166} hostile kingdoms was especially favourable to the progress
of the Portuguese. Albuquerque was able to play off Hindu Rájás
against Muhammadan kings: nor were monarchs even of the same faith
necessarily united in bonds of friendship. Thus the Rájá of Cochin
was the declared enemy of the Zamorin of Calicut, and the Muhammadan
kings of the Deccan were too busy in fighting over the disruption of
the great Báhmani kingdom to make a general effort against the
new-comers. The existence of local jealousies and rivalries enabled
Albuquerque, like later European rulers of India, to make good the
position of his countrymen.
The special causes of the success of the Portuguese are to be found
in the superiority of their ships, their artillery, and their
soldiers. The Portuguese ships at the beginning of the sixteenth
century, though much smaller than the great galleons which they
afterwards built for the Indian trade, were much more efficient than
the Arab vessels. They had to be both well built and well fitted to
accomplish the long and perilous voyage round the Cape of Good Hope,
whereas the Arab ships were only intended to sail across the Indian
Ocean with the favourable monsoon and then up the quiet waters of the
Red Sea or Persian Gulf. But the Portuguese did not depend on sailing
vessels alone in their maritime battles; they built galleys in
imitation of the native craft, and secured good sailors for them by
offering increased pay.
The excellence of the Portuguese artillery and {167} the skill of the
gunners was another main cause of their victories. The natives,
indeed, understood the use of powder and of cannon; as many as 300
pieces of ordnance were captured at Malacca; but the Portuguese guns
were always better served than those of their opponents. It was
noticed at the siege of Benastarim that one of Rasúl Khán's guns did
more damage than the rest, and it was soon discovered that it was
being served by a Portuguese renegade. The arquebuses or clumsy
muskets of the Portuguese also did them good service, though they
cannot be compared to the more efficient arms of precision which came
into use in the next century. Bows and arrows were the chief weapons
on both sides, and the superiority of the Portuguese crossbowmen is
constantly described in different engagements.
But neither ships nor arms would have effected much without brave
hearts. And the Portuguese, in this their heroic period, gave
evidence of a tried and adventurous courage which has seldom been
equalled. Albuquerque's most serious repulse, at Aden, was due not to
the reluctance but to the over impetuosity of his men. Again and
again proofs of conspicuous gallantry were given, and many anecdotes
might be quoted which testify to the bravery of both officers and
men. But the discipline of the Portuguese was not equal to their
courage. The soldiers and sailors were always ready to follow their
officers, but the officers were apt to have ideas of their own with
regard to the duty of obedience. The {168} insubordination of
Albuquerque's captains during his first expedition against Ormuz was
imitated on many other occasions. Even the most severe examples
failed to establish perfect discipline, and it was by no means the
worst of the captains who were the most disobedient. But in spite of
this defect the soldiers and the officers of Albuquerque were worthy
of their leader. They had inherited their warlike disposition from
their fathers; they had been trained to courage and endurance through
centuries of fighting with the Moors both in the Peninsula and in
Morocco; and their hideous cruelty to their conquered foes was as
much a part of their nature as it was typical of the century in which
they lived.
Albuquerque's own character counted for much in his success. He was
comparatively an old man when he took up his governorship, and his
scheme of policy was by that time carefully matured. To that policy
he adhered unflinchingly from the beginning to the end of his career.
His extraordinary tenacity of purpose was one of his most remarkable
characteristics. He swore at the time of his first repulse at Ormuz
that he would return, and he did. He insisted on the capture and
retention of Goa, in spite of many varieties of opposition, and he
gained his point. There can be little doubt that had he survived he
would have succeeded in his cherished ambition of conquering Aden and
closing the Red Sea to the commerce of the East.
With this tenacity of purpose went a wide and {169} remarkable
tolerance. The favourable countenance he showed to the Hindus was due
to his nature as well as to his scheme of policy. With regard even to
the Muhammadans, whom he hated, he could show a certain tolerance
which would not have been found in a crusader. He sent embassies to
Sháh Ismáil, and the Kings of Gujarát and Bijápur, and was ready to
bear with the Moslems in Malacca and in India, until he grasped the
irreconcilable nature of their enmity to the Portuguese. He possessed
an intuitive knowledge of the best way to deal with Asiatic peoples.
He understood the importance of pomp and ceremony, and the influence
exerted by the possession of the prestige of victory.
Throughout there was something of the grandiose in his nature and his
views. His project of establishing an empire in India naturally
seemed absurd to his contemporaries. And the attempt to realise it
exhausted the Portuguese nation. But the existence of the English
empire in India has shown that Albuquerque's idea was not
impracticable in itself; it was his nation which proved inadequate to
the task. Albuquerque's courage and his cruelty, his piety and his
cunning, were not peculiar to himself; they were shared by other men
of his time and country. But his tenacity of purpose, his broadminded
tolerance, and his statesmanlike views were absolutely unique, and
helped to win for him his proud designation of Affonso de Albuquerque
the Great.
{170}
CHAPTER VII
THE SUCCESSORS OF ALBUQUERQUE
_Nuno da Cunha and Dom João de Castro_
It is not intended in this volume to give a complete history of the
Portuguese in India. But it is both interesting and instructive to
examine the policy of the successors of Albuquerque, and to note the
growth of the causes which led to the destruction of the empire that
he founded. The following chapters are intended to give a short
sketch of the leading features of the history of the Portuguese in
India, up to the time when Portugal lost its independence and was
united with Spain. Special attention will be given to the points in
which Albuquerque's successors fulfilled or diverged from his ideas
of conquest and government.
Albuquerque's immediate successor, who had been sent out to supersede
him, was Lopo Soares de Albergaria, a powerful nobleman and son of
the Chancellor of Portugal. He came out to India with the express
intention of striking out a line for himself, and his favourite
counsellors were the declared opponents of his predecessor.
Nevertheless he dared not abandon {171} Goa, much as that measure was
urged upon him, in the face of the marked approval that the King had
expressed on the receipt of the important despatch by Albuquerque,
which has been printed in full. The new Governor knew that the only
way in which he could obtain the favour of Emmanuel was by carrying
out the policy of closing the Red Sea. It has been said that the King
of Portugal had eventually decided to leave this task in
Albuquerque's hands, and that these instructions only reached India
after the death of the great captain.
Lopo Soares attempted to fulfil the designs of Albuquerque, and in
1517 sailed with a fleet of over forty ships carrying 3000 soldiers
to the Red Sea. This armament, which far exceeded any that
Albuquerque had ever commanded, could easily have accomplished the
favourite scheme of King Emmanuel. The politics of the Red Sea were
become very complicated since Albuquerque's voyage thither. The Emir
Husain on leaving India had betaken himself to Jeddah, where he was
endeavouring to construct a fresh fleet. But the Sultan of Egypt
suspected the Emir's intentions, and ordered an officer named Rais
Suláimán to establish his authority in the Red Sea. Suláimán equipped
a fleet at Suez, and in 1516 attempted to take Aden. The Arab ruler
of that port resisted the Egyptians as sturdily as he had done the
Portuguese, and the Egyptian admiral was forced to retreat. The
rivalry between Suláimán and Husain weakened the position of the
{172} Muhammadans in the Red Sea. When, therefore, Lopo Soares with
his great armament approached Aden, the Arab ruler, feeling it
impossible to resist, owing to the breaches in the fortifications
made by the Egyptians, offered to surrender his city to the
Portuguese commander. It seems hardly conceivable that Albuquerque's
successor rejected the offer, but so it was. Lopo Soares thought he
would be doing better service by keeping his forces together and
sailing to the attack of one or both of the Muhammadan admirals. But
the fates fought against him. Storms scattered his fleet; famine and
disease decimated his men; and the captains, now that the strong hand
of Albuquerque was removed, were utterly insubordinate.
When the Portuguese Governor got back to Aden he found that the
defences had been repaired, and that the Arabs were not inclined to
repeat their former offer. With his diminished and dispirited force
he dared not attack, and he sailed away to India. On his arrival Lopo
Soares found that a high civil official had been sent out from
Portugal to take charge of judicial and administrative duties, who
was to hold a position independent to the governor. Lopo Soares
declined to recognise the new authority, and its first tenant was
sent back to Portugal. Though Albuquerque's immediate successor had
failed in the Red Sea, he took one important step for the furtherance
of Portuguese commerce and dominion. He sailed to the island of
Ceylon in 1518 and constructed a fortress in the neighbourhood of
Colombo. This was the first {173} step towards the conquest of
Ceylon, which was afterwards to be one of the most wealthy and
important possessions of the Portuguese in the East.
Diogo Lopes de Sequeira, the discoverer of Malacca, who succeeded
Lopo Soares in 1518, and Dom Duarte de Menezes, who held office from
1521 to 1524, did not leave much mark on the history of the
Portuguese in the East. The most important event which occurred
during their rule in India was the death of King Emmanuel in 1521.
The sagacity of this monarch had done much to develop the Asiatic
empire of Portugal. He had chosen his men wisely, and had perceived
quickly the most important obstacles in the way; he had not spared
money, ships or forces to develop his new dominions; and he had had
the wisdom, for some years at any rate, to leave Albuquerque
untrammelled, though he had made the mistake of superseding him at
the last. Yet Emmanuel does not deserve very great credit. It was his
predecessor, John II, who had directed the explorations which led to
such great results, and who had trained the statesmen and captains
who achieved those results. Emmanuel showed by his internal policy in
Portugal that he was not a great king; his one dream was to secure
the thrones of Spain; for this reason he had married in succession
two of the daughters of Ferdinand and Isabella; and for this purpose
he had consented, at their request, to expel the Jews, to whose
commercial enterprise Portugal owed much, from his dominions.
Personally he was an ungrateful and {174} a suspicious ruler. He
never employed Vasco da Gama after his second voyage in 1502, and he
kept the profits of the commerce which had been opened for Portugal
strictly to himself.
John III, Emmanuel's successor, was a more estimable man than
Emmanuel; he knew how to recognise and reward ability and valour. But
he had one defect which proved fatal to the Portuguese power in Asia:
he was a fanatical bigot. He looked upon the Portuguese connection
with the East not only as a lucrative monopoly to increase the wealth
of the Crown, but as an opportunity for spreading Christianity among
the heathen. He sent out missionaries as his father had sent
soldiers; he established the Holy Inquisition in Portugal which
sapped the intellect and vigour of the Portuguese nation; and it was
directly due to his example that the fatal policy of religious
persecution was introduced into India as a branch of Christianity.
The first selection which John III made for the government of the
Portuguese in Asia was an act of reparation. On his accession to the
throne he created Dom Vasco da Gama Count of Vidigueira, and in 1523
he appointed the discoverer of the direct sea route to India to the
office of Viceroy, which had not been held since the days of Dom
Francisco de Almeida. This title carried with it more extensive
powers than were exercised by Albuquerque and his next successors.
Such powers were sorely needed. Complaints came yearly from India of
the oppression {175} and the peculation of the Portuguese officials
in the East. They made use of their positions to pile up fortunes for
themselves, and charges of corruption were even brought against the
Governor.
Under these circumstances a man of strong character and high rank was
needed to remedy such abuses, and no fitter man could be found than
the illustrious admiral of the Indian Seas, Dom Vasco da Gama. He
justified the opinion held of him by the king. He reached Chaul,
where Sequeira had built a fortress, in September 1524; he at once
proceeded to Goa, where he degraded the Captain, Francisco Pereira
Pestana, and directed that his property should be sequestrated until
all charges against him were heard. He then went on to Cochin, and
there demanded and received the resignation of the Governor, Dom
Duarte de Menezes, on the return of the latter from Ormuz. These
salutary examples had a great effect. But the Viceroy was too old to
thoroughly reform the abuses which had sprung up. He only held office
for four months, and died at Cochin on Christmas Eve, 1524. The great
navigator was buried in the Chapel of the Franciscan friars at
Cochin, but in 1538 his bones were removed to Portugal, and were
interred at Vidigueira.
When Vasco da Gama was sent to India as Viceroy a new custom was
inaugurated for the succession of governors. Hitherto much
inconvenience had been caused by the interregnum which followed on
the death or departure of a governor. Vasco da Gama {176} therefore
carried with him sealed packets containing in order the names of
those whom the King nominated to succeed him. The care of the sealed
packets was entrusted to the high civil official who held the title
of Controller (Veador) of Indian affairs and had complete charge of
administrative and judicial matters. Lopo Soares had refused to
recognise this official, but the King insisted on the creation of the
office, and took effective means to secure its entire independence of
the governors.
On Vasco da Gama's death the first sealed packet was found to contain
the name of Dom Henrique de Menezes, who had won golden opinions as
Pestana's successor at Goa. This young nobleman died at Cannanore on
February 21st, 1526. The name contained in the next sealed packet was
that of Pedro Mascarenhas, who was at this time Captain of Malacca.
As he could not arrive for some months, the third packet was then
opened, which contained the name of Lopo Vaz de Sam Paio, Captain of
Cochin and a former officer of Albuquerque. Frequent complaints were
sent to Portugal of the harshness and corruption of this Governor. It
is asserted that he was incapable as well as cruel, and that the
Portuguese fortresses were in a disgraceful state of neglect. He
treated even the royal orders with contempt, and refused to hand over
the government to Pedro Mascarenhas, whom he ordered into custody on
his return from Malacca to claim his rights.
It was further made known to John III that {177} Suláimán the
Magnificent was setting on foot a great fleet for India. This was
mainly due to the constant requests of the Venetians who were being
ruined by the Portuguese monopoly, and was in general accordance with
the policy of the greatest of the Ottoman rulers of Constantinople.
The war between the Turks and Egyptians, which had allowed the
Portuguese to develop in Asia, ended in 1517 with the overthrow of
the Mameluke dynasty in Egypt. This great conquest of the Sultan
Selim brought with it the submission of Syria and Arabia. Suláimán
the Magnificent succeeded his father Selim in 1520, and began his
reign by his famous campaigns in Hungary and against Rhodes. He was
quite alive to the importance to Islám of checking the further
advance of the Portuguese in the East, and the news that he was
building a great fleet at Suez was perfectly true. It was placed
under the command of Suláimán Pasha, and carried many Venetian and
Christian adventurers as well as Turks and Egyptians.
Such being the dangers which threatened the Portuguese empire in
Asia, John III selected to meet them the first really great successor
to the office of Albuquerque, Nuno da Cunha. The new Governor was the
eldest son of Tristão da Cunha, the navigator, and had had a large
experience of Asiatic warfare. He was knighted by his relative, the
great Albuquerque, in 1506, and had ever since been employed in
voyages to the East and in hard-fought campaigns in Morocco. His
chief feat of arms up {178} to this time had been his conquest of
Mombassa on the African coast in 1525, which he had followed up by
exacting the tribute promised by the King of Ormuz to the Portuguese.
He left Lisbon in 1528 with a large fleet, carrying 4000 soldiers. He
reached Goa in October, 1529, after a long voyage, and at once
arrested Lopo Vaz de Sam Paio, and sent him back to Portugal in
chains. His first measures were directed to the reform of internal
abuses. With great activity he visited every Portuguese factory and
fortress, punishing all evil-doers, and setting himself a noble
example of personal probity. But he was not satisfied, like his
predecessors, by merely securing old advantages and maintaining the
former centres of trade. He devoted himself to opening up new
provinces and developing the Portuguese commerce and dominion in
other parts of India. The first Portuguese settlement on the
Coromandel coast was at Saint Thomé near Madras, which received that
name from the supposed discovery of the bones of St. Thomas the
apostle of India. But Nuno da Cunha pushed farther up the coast and
opened up a political connection with the wealthy province of Bengal.
Hitherto the Portuguese relations with Bengal had been purely
commercial. In 1518 the first Portuguese ship, commanded by João da
Silveira, reached Chittagong, and he there found João Coelho, who had
arrived some months before from Malacca, having explored the eastern
coast of the Bay of Bengal in a {179} native craft. Silveira took a
rich cargo on board, and after his visit it became an established
custom for a Portuguese ship to visit Chittagong every year to
purchase merchandise for Portugal. But Nuno da Cunha wished to do
more than this, and to establish a regular factory and a political
influence in the richest province of India.
An opportunity was afforded him in 1534, when the Muhammadan King of
Bengal asked for the help of a Portuguese force against the Afghán
invader, Sher Sháh. Nuno da Cunha promised his assistance, and at
once sent a fleet of nine ships, carrying 400 Portuguese soldiers
under the command of Martim Affonso de Mello Jusarte. The Portuguese
contingent behaved gallantly, and its deeds are described in the
first twelve chapters of the ninth Book of the fourth Decade of João
de Barros, the contemporary Portuguese historian. Nuno da Cunha
intended to follow in person, but he was prevented by the condition
of affairs in Gujarát. It happened therefore that Portuguese
authority was never directly established in Bengal. No royal factory
or fortress was erected, and the Portuguese settlement at Húglí,
where goods were collected for shipment to Portugal, was loosely
considered to be subject to the Captain of Ceylon. The Portuguese in
North-Eastern India remained to the end adventurers and merchants,
and were never a ruling power.
The important events which prevented Nuno da Cunha from visiting
Bengal were closely connected with the threatened approach of
Suláimán the {180} Magnificent's fleet from the Red Sea. It was well
understood that that fleet would sail direct to the coast of Gujarát
as the fleet of Emir Husain had done thirty years before. This
knowledge made Nuno da Cunha very anxious to establish the Portuguese
in a strong position on the coasts of North-Western India. Their main
station in this neighbourhood had hitherto been the port of Chaul,
where they had a factory and a small fortress. Portuguese agents were
likewise established in the ports of Gujarát, but they were in no
place masters of a strong defensive position.
To obtain a fitting site for a fortress in Gujarát was a principal
aim of Nuno da Cunha's policy; not only for defence against the
Muhammadans in India, but also as a bulwark against the expected
Turkish fleet. Circumstances favoured him. The Mughal Emperor Humáyún
was engaged in war with Bahádur Sháh, the King of Ahmadábád or
Gujarát. In his extremity Bahádur Sháh sought to make an alliance
with the Portuguese, and for this purpose he granted them the island
of Bassein, which was then separated from the mainland by a narrow
creek. Bassein lies about twenty-eight miles north of Bombay, and
afterwards became the northern capital of Portuguese India, almost
rivalling Goa in splendour and prosperity. At Bassein the Portuguese
built a fort, but the place was not naturally defensible, and Nuno da
Cunha set his heart on the possession of the rocky island of Diu,
which had been one of the spots designed by Albuquerque for a
Portuguese stronghold.
{181} At last, in 1535, under the pressure of an invasion by Humáyún,
Bahádur Sháh allowed the Portuguese to erect a fortress in Diu and to
garrison it with their own troops. The fortress was rapidly and
solidly built, and Bahádur Sháh and Nuno da Cunha signed a treaty of
alliance. Such an alliance was not likely to last, and the murder of
Bahádur Sháh in 1537, which took place on his return from visiting
Nuno da Cunha on board his ship, caused a cry of treachery to be
raised. It seems absolutely certain that the death of the King of
Gujarát was due to a misunderstanding, but none the less friendship
was owing to it replaced by bitter enmity. The fortress was not
completed a moment too soon, for in 1538 the Turkish fleet, under
Suláimán Pasha, after taking Aden by a stratagem, blockaded Diu by
sea. Muhammad III, the nephew and successor of Bahádur Sháh, then
besieged the place by land.
Antonio da Silveira, who had been left by Nuno da Cunha as Captain of
the fortress, defended it nobly. Brilliant are the feats of gallantry
recorded by the Portuguese chroniclers on the part not only of the
soldiers but of aged men, boys, and women. The siege lasted many
months, during which Nuno da Cunha was succeeded in September 1538 by
Dom Garcia de Noronha, Albuquerque's nephew, who had been sent out
from Portugal as Viceroy. This experienced officer managed to
introduce reinforcements into the fortress in small boats which
slipped between the great Turkish galleys. Every assault was {182}
repulsed, and in November 1538 Suláimán Pasha and Muhammad III
abandoned the siege. It does not detract from the glory of Silveira's
defence that its final success was mainly due to dissensions among
the besiegers. Each of the Muhammadan commanders blamed the other;
the King of Gujarát began to fear that the Turkish admiral would
attack him, and it was with a sense of relief that he, as well as the
Portuguese, saw Suláimán sail away to Arabia.
It was a melancholy fact that Nuno da Cunha was unable to witness the
success of his brother-in-law, Silveira. In spite of his great
services he, like his relative Affonso de Albuquerque, whom he
resembled in his wide views and his personal disinterestedness, was
slandered at the Court of Lisbon. He had taken harsh measures against
embezzling officials and insubordinate captains, and during his ten
years of government he made numerous enemies. These men persuaded the
King that Nuno da Cunha was making a large fortune, when really he
was spending his private property for the public service; and, in
spite of the arguments of old Tristão da Cunha, Dom Garcia de Noronha
was ordered to send the greatest Portuguese Governor of India since
Albuquerque home in custody. On his way home Nuno da Cunha died at
sea on March 5, 1539, in the fifty-second year of his age, and his
last words, when his chaplain asked what should be done with his
body, were: 'Since the will of God is that I should die at sea, let
the sea be my grave; for since the land will not have {183} me why
should I leave my bones to it.' Nuno da Cunha's establishment of the
Portuguese at Diu was the most important event since the conquest of
Goa; in temper and in disposition he resembled his great relative;
like Albuquerque, he was treated with ingratitude and died in
disgrace.
Dom Garcia de Noronha did not rule long enough to affect the history
of the Portuguese in India. He died at Goa on April 3, 1540, and was
succeeded as Governor, not as Viceroy, by Dom Estevão da Gama, the
second son of the famous navigator. The new governor was an
experienced officer; he had been Captain of the Sea during his
father's short viceroyalty in 1524; had made more than one voyage to
India; and had acted for five years as Captain of Malacca.
The one remarkable event of his governorship was his expedition to
the Red Sea. The repulse of Suláimán Pasha had been followed by his
death in Arabia, but Suláimán the Magnificent did not intend to
abandon his projects, and directed the equipment of a new fleet at
Suez. In 1541 Dom Estevão da Gama entered the Red Sea. He was
repulsed in an attack on Suez, but made a landing in the
neighbourhood and a pilgrimage to the monastery of Mount Sinai, where
he knighted some of his officers, including Dom Alvaro de Castro, the
son of his most distinguished captain, Dom João de Castro. Before
returning to India the Governor sent his brother, Dom Christovão da
Gama, to escort a prelate, {184} whom the Pope had nominated as
primate of Abyssinia. But the Christian dynasty in that country was
at this time hotly beset by the Muhammadans, and Dom Christovão was
killed with his companions.
In the year 1542 Dom Estevão da Gama was succeeded as Governor by
Martim Affonso de Sousa, who had shown ability in the exploration and
settlement of the colony of Brazil. De Sousa's government of India
was not very successful. His most notable achievement was a treaty
with Ibráhím Adil Sháh, King of Bijápur, who promised to cede to the
Portuguese the provinces of Bardes and Salsette adjoining the island
of Goa in exchange for the surrender of a Muhammadan prince, Mir Ali
Khán (Mealecan). But Martim Affonso de Sousa had neither the ability
nor the authority to maintain his influence over his own captains,
and King John III resolved to send to India a nobleman of military
experience, who by his rank and his character should restore harmony
in his Asiatic possessions.
The nobleman selected was Dom João de Castro, who was the intimate
friend of the King's brother Dom Luis. With that prince he had served
in the expedition against Tunis, where his conspicuous valour had won
the admiration of the Emperor Charles V. He displayed courage, tact,
and self-reliance, both in the relief of Diu and in the campaign of
1541 in the Red Sea. But it was for the purity of his personal
character, the integrity of his life, and his absolute honesty that
he was specially selected.
{185} Enormous fortunes were being made in the East, and the usual
abuses accompanied the rapid acquisition of wealth. Bribery and
corruption in public life, gambling and immorality in private life
had reached an alarming height, and though the Portuguese still
exhibited the same valour and constancy in war as in the days of
Albuquerque, they were now too apt to prefer private advantage to the
good of the State. Dom João de Castro took out with him a powerful
fleet and 2000 soldiers, and he was accompanied by two young sons,
Dom Alvaro and Dom Fernão, who rivalled in the East the glory of the
youthful Dom Lourenço de Almeida and of Albuquerque's young nephew
Dom Antonio de Noronha.
Dom João de Castro reached Goa on September 10, 1545, and at once
took over the charge of the government. He found himself face to face
with two serious dangers; Ibráhím Adil Sháh of Bijápur was preparing
to attack Goa, and Muhammad III of Gujarát was again besieging Diu.
These were but symptoms of a general league which was in act of
formation between all the sovereigns of the West of India against the
Portuguese. In spite of the expostulation of the officials João de
Castro refused to carry out the engagement made with the King of
Bijápur by his predecessor. He declared that Mir Ali Khán had come to
seek refuge at Goa, and that it would be a most dishonourable act to
surrender him. The King of Bijápur at once sent an army to recover
the {186} provinces of Bardes and Salsette, which he had handed over,
but Dom João de Castro marched out and inflicted a severe defeat on
the Bijápur forces.
The situation at Diu was more threatening. A renegade Albanian,
called by the Portuguese Coge Çofar (Khoja Zufar), had attained
supreme influence at the Court of Muhammad III of Gujarát. He
persuaded the King that it was most disgraceful for him to fail in
capturing Diu. He collected the whole force of the kingdom and
commenced the siege of the Portuguese fortress, with the declaration
that he would die sooner than return unsuccessful. The Captain of
Diu, Dom João Mascarenhas, showed the same constancy and valour as
Antonio da Silveira. The garrison consisted of nearly the same
soldiers, and the women once more distinguished themselves in the
defence. The Governor made every effort to relieve the fortress. He
first sent his son, Dom Fernão, who was killed, then his other son,
Dom Alvaro, and eventually brought up all the forces he could collect
in person. Coge Çofar was slain by a cannon-ball, and his successor,
Rumecão, did not press the siege with the same vigour.
After repulsing all assaults, Dom João de Castro marched out at the
head of his army and utterly defeated the enemy in a pitched battle.
The slaughter among the Muhammadans was immense, and the victory was
one of the greatest ever won by a European army in India. He then
proceeded to punish the Gujarátís. One of his captains, Antonio {187}
Moniz Barreto, burnt Cambay, and his son, Dom Alvaro, sacked Surat.
This great victory showed the native princes that they had a worthy
successor of Albuquerque to deal with, and Dom João de Castro was on
all sides entreated to make alliances with them. With the King of
Bijápur alone the war continued, but the Portuguese everywhere got
the best of it; Dábhol was taken, and the Muhammadans were again
defeated on land.
The internal reforms were even more to the credit of Dom João de
Castro than his victories. One point in his policy resembles that
adopted by Cornwallis in Bengal; namely, the fixing of the salaries
of the various officials, and his effort to put an end to the system
of peculation which was rife. This peculation was chiefly caused by
the officials engaging in trade; by which they made vast profits
while the State suffered. The state of things had partly arisen
through the custom of allowing Portuguese soldiers to trade after
serving for nine years. It was this inducement which brought so many
soldiers from Portugal; and in spite of the Governor's
representations, the Portuguese authorities were afraid to put an end
to it for fear of stopping the flow of recruits. The reforming
measures of Dom João de Castro did not remain long in operation, but
his example had a great effect. So great was the confidence felt in
his probity, that an anecdote is told of his raising money in Goa for
the relief of Diu, by pawning the hairs of his beard.
The news of Dom João de Castro's victory at Diu {188} was received
with great enthusiasm by John III, who in 1548 sent him a commission
as Viceroy. He only lived to hold this high office for fourteen days.
He died at Goa on June 6, 1548, in the arms of his friend, the
Apostle to the Indies, Saint Francis Xavier. The greatest of all the
successors of Albuquerque was Dom João de Castro; he resembled the
knights of the middle ages in his gallantry and his disinterestedness,
while his victory at Diu is the last great achievement of the
Portuguese arms in Asia.
{189}
CHAPTER VIII
THE SUCCESSORS OF ALBUQUERQUE (_continued_)
_Dom Constantino de Braganza and Dom Luis de Athaide_
The thirty-five years which followed from the death of Dom João de
Castro to the extinction of the independence of Portugal are neither
so interesting nor so important as those which saw the building up of
the Portuguese power in the East. Commercially, the value of Vasco da
Gama's voyage and of Albuquerque's victories became greater than
ever. The largest fleets of merchant-ships ever sent to Portugal were
despatched after Philip II of Spain had become also Philip I of
Portugal. The Portuguese monopoly remained unbroken until 1595, and
the nations of Europe, while they grew in civilisation and in love of
luxury, continued until that time to buy from Lisbon the Asiatic
commodities which had become necessary to them. As the commerce
became systematised it grew larger and more profitable, both to the
Royal Treasury which equipped the merchant fleets and sold their
cargoes at Lisbon, and to the individual agents in India, who
purchased the goods {190} which made up these cargoes. But
politically the history of the Portuguese in India becomes less
interesting. There were no more great discoveries; no more great
conquests and great victories; no more grandiose conceptions of
expelling the Muhammadans from the markets of Asia.
Gallant feats of arms were still accomplished, but they only proved
how the Portuguese had degenerated since the days of Albuquerque. The
defence of Goa by Dom Luis de Athaide was brilliant, but after all it
was a defensive operation, and not a victory such as Dom João de
Castro had won at Diu, or the storming of a strong city, like the
captures of Goa and Malacca by Albuquerque. There were one or two
high-minded and able men among the successors of the splendid
Albuquerque, but they did not attempt to rival his deeds or carry out
his ideas. The romance of Portuguese history in the East is no longer
bound up with the growth of the power of the nation, but is to be
found rather in the careers of daring adventurers such as Fernão
Mendes Pinto and Sebastião Gonzales. The complete attainment of
commercial prosperity seems to have destroyed the dream of Empire.
But at the time when the political interest in the career of the
Portuguese in Asia diminishes, the religious interest increases. The
new heroes of Portugal are not her soldiers and her sailors, but her
missionaries. These were the men who made their way into the interior
of India, and who penetrated the {191} farthest East. Japan, China,
and even Tibet, witnessed their presence and heard their preaching;
the great Emperor Akbar gave them a not unkindly welcome at his Court
at Agra; and they laboured among the savages of the Spice Islands as
well as among the learned men of China and of India.
The greatest of all these missionaries, Saint Francis Xavier, was not
a Portuguese subject. But the Company of Jesus, of which he was the
pioneer missionary, contained many Portuguese, and he could not have
attempted what he did but for the support of the Portuguese
government at home and of the Portuguese authorities in India.
The idea of discouraging Christian missionaries, which formed a part
of the policy of the Dutch and English East India Companies, never
had an adherent among the Portuguese. They believed sincerely in
their religion, and the principal use they made of their influence
when they were firmly established in Asia was to spread it abroad.
Again and again orders were sent from Portugal that the missionaries
were to be assisted in every possible way.
The Franciscan friars who first came to India were engaged in looking
after the souls of the Portuguese soldiers, but they were followed,
and in increasing numbers after the successes of Saint Francis, by
priests and friars and Jesuits, who left Europe for the express
purpose of converting the heathen. The history of the Roman Catholic
missions in India, for which there is plenty of material, {192} would
need a volume in itself. It must suffice to point out that those
missions did not begin to attain their full development until after
the Portuguese had reached their highest political power during the
governorship of Dom João de Castro, and were beginning to decline.
In 1538 the Pope nominated for the first time a Bishop of Goa in the
person of Frei João de Albuquerque, a Franciscan friar, and a
relative of the great Governor. This holy man, who won a great
reputation for sanctity, died in 1553, and in 1557 the see of Goa was
raised to an archbishopric and conferred upon Dom Gaspar de Leão
Pereira. The archbishops soon rivalled the viceroys in wealth and
dignity, and in at least one instance, at the beginning of the
seventeenth century, an archbishop also acted as governor. Other sees
were speedily established at Cochin, Malacca, and Macão, and many
missionary bishops were appointed for other parts of India, China,
and Japan. The first labourers in the mission field were the
Franciscans. They were soon followed by other religious orders, and
were exceeded in success and ability by the Jesuits.
In 1560, after the death of Dom João de Castro and of St. Francis
Xavier, the Holy Inquisition was established in Goa. It was granted
as its headquarters the magnificent palace of Yusaf Adil Sháh, which
had been the residence of the viceroys until 1554. Its first action
was rather corrective than persecuting, and it was not until the
seventeenth {193} century that the periodical burnings of relapsed
converts and supposed witches, which are known as _Autos da Fé_,
commenced their sanguinary work. The most notable event in the
religious history of the Portuguese in India, the condemnation of the
doctrines and ritual of the Nestorian Christians of the Malabar
coast, did not occur till the Synod of Diamper (Udayampura) in 1599.
The educational work of the missionaries, their custom of dwelling
among the people and imitating their mode of life, as well as their
building of superb churches in the Portuguese cities, well deserve an
extended notice, which cannot be adequately given in this volume. It
is enough to say that Albuquerque, though zealous and desirous of
spreading the faith, did not initiate the policy of persecution. It
was his feeble successors who threw away the opportunity afforded for
the propagation of the Christian faith, by the existence of a native
Christian community in the very part of India where the Portuguese
first landed.
When the sealed order of succession was opened, after the lamented
death of Dom João de Castro, it was found that the two first
nominees, Dom João Mascarenhas and Dom Jorge Tello de Menezes, had
already left India for Portugal. The third packet opened contained
the name of Garcia de Sá, an aged gentleman, who had spent nearly all
his life in India. He hastened to make peace with Ibráhím Adil Sháh
of Bijápur, and with Muhammad III of Gujarát. To {194} the former he
promised that the Portuguese would not allow Mir Ali Khán to leave
Goa, and on that condition the cession of Bardes and Salsette was
confirmed. In the treaty with the King of Gujarát it was agreed that
the Portuguese should continue to hold the fortress of Diu, which
they had twice so gallantly defended, while the city and the rest of
the island remained subject to Muhammad III. Garcia de Sá died at Goa
on July 13, 1549, and was succeeded as governor by Jorge Cabral, a
descendant of the second Portuguese captain who visited India.
Cabral, who was Captain of Bassein, assumed the office and engaged in
a war that was raging between the Rájá of Cochin and the Zamorin. He
had taken and sacked Tiracol and Ponáni, and was just about to attack
Calicut, when he received information of the arrival of Dom Affonso
de Noronha as Viceroy. This nobleman was the second son of the
Marquis de Villa Real, and had been selected for the office of
Viceroy by John III, though no Viceroy had been sent out from
Portugal with full powers since Dom Garcia de Noronha in 1538. The
Viceroy, on taking over office from Cabral, declined to attack
Calicut and ordered the fleet back to Goa. He ruled for four years,
during which time he greatly extended the Portuguese power in the
island of Ceylon.
Dom Affonso de Noronha was succeeded as Viceroy in 1554 by Dom Pedro
Mascarenhas, an aged nobleman who had filled the office of ambassador
to the Emperor Charles V and the Pope, and had since {195} acted as
governor to the heir-apparent. He was over seventy years of age when
he was sent to India, and held office but nine months. On his death
the sealed orders were opened, and the first name found in them was
that of Francisco Barreto, a most experienced officer. This governor
is chiefly known from his persecution of the poet Camoens, whom he
sent to the little island of Macão as a punishment for a satire he
had written on the pride and immorality of the officials at Goa. But
Barreto was a very vigorous governor. He did much to strengthen the
various Portuguese fortresses throughout Asia, and showed himself a
skilful and daring general.
During Barreto's government King John III of Portugal died, leaving
the throne to his infant grandson, the ill-fated King Sebastian. One
of the first acts of the widow of John III, Queen Catherine, who
became Regent of the kingdom, was to appoint a prince of the blood
royal, Dom Constantino de Braganza, to be Viceroy. This young prince
was only thirty years of age, but he soon showed that he surpassed
his predecessors in ability as well as in rank. He reached Goa in
1558, and one of his earliest measures was to capture Damán, where he
erected a fortress. This place and Goa and Diu are at the present
time the only relics of the Portuguese power in India. On his return
from Damán he dispatched powerful fleets to Malacca, to Ormuz, and to
Ceylon, and placed the position of affairs in all parts of Asia in a
most favourable condition for the Portuguese.
{196} Dom Constantino de Braganza's internal reforms resembled those
of João de Castro; he endeavoured to put down peculation, and
insisted on the obedience of his officers. In 1560 he made an
expedition with a powerful armament to Ceylon, where he took
Jaffnapatam, which became the capital of the Portuguese power in that
island. The high character of the young prince, no less than his
courage and his enterprise, caused the Rájás of India to treat him
with great respect, and he was begged by the Queen Regent to continue
in office, and even to accept the post of Viceroy of India for life.
He refused, and in 1561 was succeeded as Viceroy by Dom Francisco de
Coutinho, Count of Redondo.
After the resignation of Dom Constantino de Braganza few events of
importance happened for some years to the Portuguese in India. The
Muhammadan King of Bijápur, Ali Adil Sháh, who had succeeded his
father Ibráhím in 1557, was at first more concerned with his scheme
to break the power of the last great Hindu sovereign, the Rájá of
Vijayanagar, than to attack the Portuguese. Freed from danger on this
side, the Portuguese governors were able to scatter their power over
small but successful expeditions. The most notable of these was to
Ceylon, which was gradually brought entirely under the control of the
Portuguese. The Count of Redondo died in March, 1564, at Goa, and was
succeeded as Viceroy, after a short administration as Governor by
João de Mendonça, by Dom Antão de Noronha.
{197} The new Viceroy commenced his government by the capture of
Mangalore, but the important events which occurred during his tenure
of office took place without his active intervention. The first of
these was the siege of Malacca by the King of Achin. The defence of
Albuquerque's conquest ranks with that of Diu. It is true that the
savage Achinese were not such formidable soldiers as the Turks or the
Gujarátís; but, on the other hand, Malacca was further from Goa, and
it was more difficult to obtain reinforcements. The Captain who
maintained the defence was Dom Leonis Pereira, who held out for
several months and eventually beat off his enemies after killing more
than 4000 of them.
The other event was the defeat of the Rájá of Vijayanagar in 1565, at
Tálikot, by the allied Muhammadan kings of the Deccan. It may fairly
be conjectured that Albuquerque would have assisted the last powerful
Hindu monarch against the Muhammadans, for it was a part of his
policy to pose as the protector of the Hindus. But his successors did
not appreciate his policy, and, disgusted by an attack which the
Hindu prince had made some years previously on the Portuguese
settlement of Saint Thomé, they left the Rájá of Vijayanagar to his
fate.
In 1568 Dom Luis de Athaide, an officer who had had much experience
in Indian warfare, and who had been knighted as a lad by Dom Estevão
da Gama in the monastery of Mount Sinai, arrived in Goa as Viceroy.
He quickly perceived that a first result {198} of the victory of
Tálikot must be that the King of Bijápur would attack Goa. The city
of Goa had far outgrown the limits imposed by the wall which
Albuquerque had built. Dom Antão de Noronha had, during his
government, begun to build a new wall, which was to run from the
north-eastern angle of the island of Goa and should terminate at the
west of the city. Dom Luis de Athaide continued this wall, and was in
the act of building other fortifications when Ali Adil Sháh declared
war and made his way into the island with an army estimated at
100,000 men, and accompanied by more than 2000 elephants. This attack
was part of a general scheme formed by the Muhammadan rulers of
India, with the Zamorin of Calicut and the King of Achin, to expel
the Portuguese from Asia. Even sovereigns who had hitherto been
allies of the Portuguese, such as the Rájá of Honáwar, joined in the
league against them.
Never was the situation of the Portuguese more critical; never did
they show more conspicuous valour. The garrison of Goa, when the
siege commenced in 1570, only consisted of 700 Portuguese soldiers.
Consequently the Viceroy placed under arms 300 friars and priests and
about a thousand slaves. The defence was worthy of the best days of
the Portuguese power. For ten months an obstinate resistance was
offered, and at the end of that time Ali Adil Sháh retreated, having
lost by disease and by fighting the larger part of his army.
The defence of Goa, by the Viceroy, was rivalled {199} by the gallant
resistance of Malacca, of Chaul, and of Chalé near Calicut, where Dom
Leonis Pereira, Dom Jorge de Menezes, and Dom Diogo de Menezes, all
repulsed their assailants. On the retreat of Ali Adil Sháh from
before Goa, the Portuguese Viceroy swept the Malabar coast, punishing
all opponents and relieving the other garrisons. His vengeance was
particularly shown at Honáwar, which he burnt. Just after the league
was finally broken, on September 7, 1571, Dom Antonio de Noronha
arrived to succeed Dom Luis de Athaide as Viceroy. The defender of
Goa received a cordial welcome on his return to Lisbon from his
friend, the young King Sebastian, who created him Count of Atouguia.
Dom Antonio de Noronha, who was only a distant relative of the
predecessor of Dom Luis de Athaide, did not possess the powers of
previous Viceroys. King Sebastian perceived the great inconvenience
of leaving the whole of his possessions from the Cape of Good Hope to
Japan under the superintendence of the Goa government. The difficulty
of communication was so great that for months at a time the captains
of the more distant settlements were practically independent. It was
resolved, therefore, to divide the East into three independent
governorships.
Dom Antonio de Noronha, with the title of Viceroy, was to be supreme
from the coasts of Arabia to Ceylon, with his capital at Goa. This
left him entire control of the Indian and Persian trade. Antonio
Moniz Barreto was to govern from Bengal to the {200} furthest East,
with his headquarters at Malacca, and was charged with the control of
the spice trade. Francisco Barreto, the former Governor of India, was
to rule all the Portuguese settlements on the South-East coast of
Africa, with his capital at Mozambique.
Hitherto these African settlements had been regarded solely as
stopping-places for the fleets to and from India. But King Sebastian
wished to use them also as the basis for exploration and conquest in
the interior of Africa. This is not a history of the Portuguese in
Africa, but it may be remarked that much important and interesting
work was done by the Portuguese in that continent during the
sixteenth century which seems to be forgotten by writers on the
opening up of Africa at the present time. Francisco Barreto, for
instance, made his way far into the interior and conquered the
kingdom and city of Monomotapa, where he died.
Dom Antonio de Noronha handed over the government of India in 1573 to
Antonio Moniz Barreto. Ruy Lourenço de Tavora, who was nominated to
succeed as Viceroy, died on his way out, and Dom Diogo de Menezes,
the defender of Chalé, administered the government from 1576 to 1578.
He was superseded by Dom Luis de Athaide, who at the special request
of King Sebastian consented once more to return to India. Athaide's
second viceroyalty was not marked by any important event. He died at
Goa on March 10, 1581; it is said from a broken heart caused by the
news of the defeat of the King Sebastian {201} and of his melancholy
death at Alcacer Quibir (El-Kasr Kebir) in Morocco.
With the death of Dom Luis de Athaide this rapid sketch of the
successors of Albuquerque must end: he was the last great Portuguese
ruler in the East, and none of the Viceroys who succeeded him deserve
separate notice. The commercial monopoly of Portugal lasted some
years longer, but the fabric of the Portuguese power in India was
utterly rotten, and gave way with hardly a struggle before the first
assaults of the Dutch merchant-adventurers.
The causes of the rapid fall of Portuguese influence in Asia are as
interesting to examine as the causes of their rapid success, and,
like the latter, they may be classed under external and internal
headings. The chief external cause was the union of the Portuguese
crown with that of Spain in 1580. Philip II kept the promise he made
to the Cortes of Thomar, and appointed none but Portuguese to offices
in Portuguese Asia. His accession to the throne was everywhere
recognised in the East, and the Prior of Crato who opposed him found
no adherents there. The first Viceroy whom Philip nominated, Dom
Francisco Mascarenhas, bore a name famous in Portugal, and had no
difficulty in persuading the various captains of fortresses to swear
fealty to the Spanish king. It is curious to note among the Viceroys
whom Philip II nominated to Goa two relations of the most famous
Portuguese conquerors in the East, Mathias de Albuquerque and Dom
Francisco da Gama, grandson of {202} the navigator. In spite of
Philip's loyalty in this respect, the fact that he was King of
Portugal involved that country in war with the Dutch and the English.
The merchants of Amsterdam and London were forbidden to come to
Lisbon for Asiatic commodities, and they consequently resolved to go
to the East and get them for themselves. In 1595 the first Dutch
fleet doubled the Cape of Good Hope, and in 1601 it was followed by
the first English fleet, both being despatched by trading companies.
The Portuguese endeavoured to expel the intruders, but they signally
failed.
The reasons for this failure are to be found in the internal causes
of the Portuguese decline. The union with Spain brought their rivals
into the Eastern seas, but it was their own weakness which let those
rivals triumph. The primary cause of that weakness was the complete
exhaustion of the Portuguese nation. Year after year this little
country, which never exceeded 3,000,000 in population, sent forth
fleets to the East, carrying sometimes as many as 3000 and 4000
soldiers. Of these men few ever returned to Europe. Many perished in
battle, in shipwreck, or from the climate, and those who survived
were encouraged to settle down and marry native women. During the
whole of the sixteenth century Portugal was being drained of men, and
those the strongest and bravest of her sons. In return she got plenty
of wealth, but money cannot take the place of brain and muscle.
Besides becoming exhausted {203} in quantity, the Portuguese in the
East rapidly degenerated in quality. It was not only that
Albuquerque's successors in supreme command were his inferiors; some
of them proved worthy of their office; but the soldiers and sailors
and officials showed a lamentable falling off. Brilliant courage was
shown up to the siege of Goa in 1570. After that time it is difficult
to recognise the heroic Portuguese of Albuquerque's campaigns.
Albuquerque's imperial notions were set aside as impracticable, and
interest in commerce and in Christian missions took the place of vast
schemes of conquest and of empire.
The later history of the Portuguese in Asia may be summed up in a
rapid record of their disasters. In 1603 and 1639 the Dutch blockaded
Goa. In 1656 they drove the Portuguese from Cannanore; in 1661 from
Negapatam and Káyenkolam, the port of Quilon; in 1663 from Cranganore
and Cochin. Nor were the Dutch victories confined to India; in 1619
they founded Batavia in the island of Java, and in 1640 they took
Malacca and concentrated the whole trade of the Spice Islands at
their new settlement. The Dutch were equally successful in Ceylon,
which they completely controlled after the capture of Jaffnapatam in
1658. The English were but little later in the field: in 1611 Sir
Henry Middleton defeated the Portuguese off Cambay, and in 1615
Captain Best won a great victory over the Portuguese fleet off
Swally, the port of Surat. The Dutch and English agencies quickly
covered the East, and soon after {204} the middle of the seventeenth
century the Asiatic trade of Portugal had practically disappeared.
What little commerce survived was in the hands of the Jesuits, and
became finally extinct on the suppression of that body by the Marquis
of Pombal in 1742.
It was not only by European competitors that the Portuguese power in
the East was shattered. It was the Emperor Sháh Jahán who took Húglí
in 1629, after an obstinate resistance, and carried away 1000
Portuguese prisoners; and it was Abbas Sháh of Persia, who, with the
assistance of some Englishmen, captured Ormuz in 1622. In 1670 a
small band of Arabs from Muscat plundered Diu, the fortress which,
under Silveira and Mascarenhas, had resisted the utmost power of
great Muhammadan fleets and armies.
The Maráthá confederacy also found it easy and profitable to plunder
Portuguese settlements in India. In 1739 these hardy Hindu soldiers
sacked Bassein, and they extended their incursions to the very walls
of Goa. In the eighteenth century a vigorous effort was made by the
Portuguese to hold their own with the Maráthás, which met with some
success, and led to a considerable increase of the province of Goa.
Lastly, it must not be forgotten that in 1661 the Portuguese ceded
the island of Bombay to England as part of the dowry of Catherine of
Braganza.
The present condition of the Portuguese in India affords a curious
commentary on the high aims and great successes of Albuquerque. The
remaining Portuguese possessions, Goa, Damán, and Diu could {205}
make no pretence of defending themselves against the English Empire
in India. They are maintained by Portugal, not for any benefits to be
derived from them, but as relics of the past and witnesses to former
glory. The condition of the Portuguese is indicated by the treaty
which was signed in 1878 with the British Government, by which the
right of making salt and the customs duties were ceded to the
Government of India for a yearly payment of four lakhs of rupees.
This sum was hypothecated for the construction of a railway to
Marmagáo, near Goa, which possesses a fine harbour, and will probably
increase in wealth as the port of export for the cotton grown in
Bellary and the neighbouring British districts.
One interesting relic of the former supremacy of the Portuguese was
the right claimed by Portugal to nominate the Roman Catholic prelates
throughout India. This right, natural enough in the sixteenth
century, became absurd in the nineteenth. A long quarrel arising from
this claim has recently been settled by a Concordat between the Pope
and the King of Portugal.
The present volume may appropriately close with two descriptions of
the Portuguese in India by a Muhammadan and a Hindu writer in the
sixteenth century.
'The Franks beginning to oppress and commit hostilities against the
Muhammadans' says Sheik Zín-ud-dín, in his historical work the
_Tohfut-ul-mujahideen_, 'their tyrannical and injurious usage
proceeded to a length that was the occasion {206} of a general
confusion and distraction amongst the population of the country.
This continued for a long period, for nearly eighty years, when the
affairs of the Moslems had arrived at the last stage of decay,
ruin, poverty and wretchedness; since whilst they were too
ill-practised in deceit to dissemble an obedience which was not
sincere, they neither possessed the power to repel nor means to
evade the evils that afflicted them. Nor did the Muhammadan princes
and chieftains who were possessed of large armies, and who had at
their command great military resources, come forward for their
deliverance or bestow any of their wealth in so holy a cause as in
the resistance to these tyrant infidels.' ...[1]
'Sorely did these Franks oppress the faithful, striving all of
them, the great and powerful, the old and young, to eradicate the
Muhammadan religion; and to bring over its followers to
Christianity (may God ever defend us from such a calamity!).
Notwithstanding all this, however, they preserved an outward show
of peace towards the Muhammadans, in consequence of their being
compelled to dwell amongst them; since the chief part of the
population of the seaports consisted of Muhammadans ... Lastly it
is worthy of remark that the Franks entertain antipathy and hatred
only towards Muhammadans, and to their creed alone; evincing no
dislike towards the Nairs and other Pagans of similar
description.'[2]
[Footnote 1: _Tohfut-ul-mujahideen_, Rowlandson's translation, pp. 6,
7.]
[Footnote 2: _Tohfut-ul-mujahideen_, Rowlandson's translation, pp.
109, 110.]
In the following terms, according to Dr. Burnell, does Venkatacarya,
a Bráhman of Conjevaram, speak about the Portuguese:--
'This Bráhman wrote about A.D. 1600 a Sanskrit poem called
Vicvagunadarca, often printed and once rudely {207} translated
(Calcutta, 1825, 4to.) In it he mentions the Portuguese, whom he
calls Hûna. In abuse of them he says they are very despicable, are
devoid of tenderness, and do not value Bráhmans a straw, that they
have endless faults, and do not observe ceremonial purity. But he
praises their self-restraint and truthfulness, their mechanical
skill, and their respect for law.'[3]
[Footnote 3: _A Tentative List of Books and some MSS. relating to the
History of the Portuguese in India Proper_, by A. C. Burnell,
Mangalore, 1880, p. 131.]
Had the Bráhman poet known Albuquerque, or the greatest of his
successors, he would have praised also their valour, their tenacity,
and their disinterested unselfishness. But striking is the contrast
between Albuquerque and even the greatest of his successors. His
contemporaries felt this, and his son, in the dedication of the
second edition of the _Commentaries_ to King Sebastian, in 1574,
gives an anecdote which illustrates this general opinion.
'I shall say no more,' he says, 'than tell you what a soldier said
who always accompanied him in war. This man being very old and
staying in the city of Goa, when he reflected upon the disorder of
Indian affairs, went with a stick in his hand to the chapel of
Affonso de Albuquerque, and, striking the sepulchre wherein he was
lying buried, cried out:--"Oh! great captain, thou hast done me all
the harm thou couldst have done, but I cannot deny that thou hast
been the greatest conqueror and sufferer of troubles that the world
has known: arise thou, for what thou hast gained is like to be
lost!"'
{208}
INDEX
Proper names preceded by 'da,' 'de,' 'do' are indexed under the
succeeding initial letter.
ABBAS SHÁH took Ormuz, 204.
ABD-EL-KHURI rocks, Sodré wrecked on, 30.
ABREU, Antonio de, explored the Spice Islands, 109.
ABYSSINIA, Covilhão in, 23:
interest taken in, 127:
Albuquerque's schemes about, 128:
Christovão da Gama killed in, 184.
ACENHEIRO, reply of Affonso V to, 45.
ACHINESE repulsed from Malacca, 197, 199.
ADEN, Albuquerque ordered to take, 94:
its importance, 126, 127:
Albuquerque repulsed from, 127:
Egyptians fail to take, 171:
offered to Soares, 172:
taken by the Turks, 181.
AFFONSO V, King of Portugal, expeditions of, to Morocco, 19:
Albuquerque educated at his Court, 44:
served under in Morocco, 45:
character of, 45.
AFFONSO SANCHES, ancestor of Albuquerque, 42.
AFFONSO, Master, the physician, attends Albuquerque's deathbed, 141.
AFRICA, Portuguese discoveries on the coast of, 21-23:
settlements on the south-east coast, 34:
exploration in the interior, 200.
AHMAD, Rais, Minister of Ormuz, 136:
killed by Albuquerque's orders, 137.
AHMADÁBÁD, Kings of. _See_ GUJARÁT.
AKBAR kindly received Portuguese missionaries, 191.
ALBERGARIA. _See_ SOARES.
ALBUQUERQUE, castle of, 42.
ALBUQUERQUE, Affonso de, first voyage to India, 30, 31, 47:
not allowed to take up office, 38, 39, 60-62:
ancestry, 41-43:
family, 43, 44:
birth and education, 44, 45:
at Court of John II, 45, 46:
in Morocco, 46:
Asiatic policy, 48:
sent again to Asia, 48:
instructions to, 48, 49:
campaign on African coast, 50:
wounded at Socotra, 51:
left in independent command, 52:
quarrels with his captains, 52, 53, 55-57:
at Ormuz, 54-57:
deserted by his captains, 57, 58:
attacks Calayate, 58:
reply to Cogeatar, 59, 60:
intrigues against, 60, 61:
imprisoned at Cannanore, 61:
recognised as Governor, 62:
magnanimity, 63:
attitude towards Hindus and instructions to Frei Luis, 66, 67:
attack on Calicut, 67-69:
wounded, 69:
decides to attack Goa, 72:
reasons, 72-74:
first capture of Goa, 76:
embassy to Sháh Ismáil, 77, 78:
abandons Goa, 79:
blockaded in the harbour, 79-82:
receives reinforcements, 82-84:
second capture of Goa, 85-88:
builds fortress at, 88, 89:
letter to Ismáil Adil Sháh, 90, 91:
negotiations with Calicut and Gujarát, 91, 92:
sails for the Malay Peninsula, 99:
first capture of Malacca, 101:
speech to his captains, 102-105:
second capture of Malacca, 106:
execution of Utemuta Rájá, 107:
opens relations with China, Siam, &c., 108-110:
wrecked on way back to India, 110:
receives reinforcements, 113:
relieves Goa, 114:
defeats Rasúl Khán, 115:
takes Benastarim, 116:
despatch on Goa, 120-124:
expedition to the Red Sea, 126-128:
fails to take Aden, 127:
establishes a factory at Diu, 129:
builds a fortress at Calicut, 131:
embassy to King of Gujarát, 132, 133:
and to Sháh Ismáil, 134, 135:
expedition to Ormuz, 136-138:
receives news of his supersession, 139:
last letter to the King, 139, 140:
death, 141, 142:
personal appearance and character, 143, 144:
policy of empire, 147:
its bases, 152:
colonisation, 153-155:
settlement of Goa, 155-159:
use of natives, 159, 160:
abolition of _satí_, 160:
commercial reforms, 160-162:
coinage at Goa, 162:
at Malacca, 163:
piety, 164, 165:
causes of his success:--state of India, 165, 166:
superiority of ships, artillery, and soldiers, 166-168:
his own character, 168, 169:
knighted Nuno da Cunha, 177:
not a religious persecutor, 193:
superiority to his successors, 207.
ALBUQUERQUE, Alvaro de, Prior of Villa Verde, brother of Affonso, 44.
ALBUQUERQUE, Braz de, son of Affonso, recognised at Court, 140:
compiled the _Commentaries_, 141:
removed body of Affonso to Portugal, 143:
gives anecdote about Affonso, 207.
ALBUQUERQUE, Fernão de, elder brother of Affonso, 44.
ALBUQUERQUE, Fernão Affonso de, ancestor of Affonso, 43.
ALBUQUERQUE, Francisco de, cousin of Affonso, succours the Rájá of
Cochin, 30:
quarrels with Affonso, 31, 47:
lost at sea, 48.
ALBUQUERQUE, Gonçalo de, Lord of Villa Verde, father of Affonso, 43.
ALBUQUERQUE, João de, first Bishop of Goa, 192.
ALBUQUERQUE, Jorge de, cousin of Affonso, Captain of Cochin, 126:
of Malacca, 134.
ALBUQUERQUE, Martim de, brother of Affonso, 44:
killed at Arzila, 46.
ALBUQUERQUE, Mathias de, Viceroy, 202.
ALBUQUERQUE, Pedro de, uncle of Affonso, Lord High Admiral of
Portugal, 43.
ALBUQUERQUE, Pedro de, son of Jorge, commanded expedition to Ormuz
and the Persian Gulf, 135, 136:
Captain of Ormuz, 138.
ALGOA BAY reached by Dias, 23.
ALHANDRA, Albuquerque born at, 44.
ALI ADIL SHÁH, King of Bijápur, accession and policy, 196:
besieges Goa, 198.
ALMEIDA, Dom Francisco de, appointed first Viceroy, 34:
policy in Africa, 34:
viceroyalty, 34-39:
victory off Diu, 38:
death, 39:
policy in Asia, 39, 40:
letter to the King, 40:
letter censuring Albuquerque, 58, 59:
opposition to Albuquerque's ideas, 60:
imprisons Albuquerque, 61:
resigns office to him, 62:
friendly to Timoja, 71:
comparison of his policy and Albuquerque's, 73:
supporters of his policy, 102, 118.
ALMEIDA, Dom Lourenço de, bombards Quilon, 35:
visits Ceylon, 35:
defeats the Calicut fleet, 35, 36:
sacks Ponáni, 36:
defeated and killed at Chaul, 37.
ALPOEM, Pedro de, _Ouvidor_ of India, condemns Ruy Dias to death, 81:
and Utemuta Rájá, 107:
executor of Albuquerque, 142.
ANDRADE, Fernão Peres de, arrested by Albuquerque, 81:
released, 83:
at capture of Malacca, 101:
visited Canton, 109:
Captain of Malacca squadron, 110:
quarrels with the Captain of Malacca, 133:
his naval victory, 134.
ANDRADE, Simão de, commander of a galley, 76:
arrested by Albuquerque, 81:
released, 83.
ANGOJA burnt by Da Cunha and Albuquerque, 50.
ARABS plunder Diu, 204.
ARAUJO, Ruy de, Factor at Malacca, 97:
imprisoned there, 98:
communicates with Albuquerque, 98, 99:
letter to Albuquerque, 100:
released, 101:
advises execution of Utemuta Rájá, 107:
Factor and Judge at Malacca, 110.
ARZILA, Albuquerque in garrison at, 45, 46.
ATHAIDE, Dona Leonor de, mother of Albuquerque, 43.
ATHAIDE, Dom Luis de, first viceroyalty, 197-199:
defence of Goa, 198:
second viceroyalty, 200:
death, 201.
AYAZ, Málik, Nawáb of Diu, helps to win victory at Chaul, 37:
defeated off Diu, 38:
allows a factory at Diu, 129:
goes to Ahmadábád, 132.
AZORES discovered by Prince Henry's sailors, 21.
BAHÁDUR SHÁH, King of Gujarát, grants Bassein to the Portuguese, 180:
and Diu, 181:
killed at Diu, 181.
BARDES ceded to the Portuguese, 184:
cession confirmed, 194.
BARRETO, Antonio Moniz, burnt Cambay, 187:
Governor of Malacca, 200:
of India, 200.
BARRETO, Francisco, Governor of India, 195:
of South-east Africa, 200:
invasion of Monomotapa, 200.
BARRETO, Jorge, married Albuquerque's niece, 44.
BASSEIN granted to the Portuguese, 180:
sacked by Maráthás, 204.
BATAVIA founded by the Dutch, 203.
BATICALA [Bhatkal], port of Rájá of Vijayanagar, 67:
Portuguese propose to build a fort at, 126.
BEJA, Diogo Fernandes de, flag-captain of Albuquerque, commands a
galley at taking of Panjim, 76:
ambassador to Bijápur, 126:
to Ahmadábád, 132, 133:
friend of Albuquerque, 138.
BENASTARIM occupied by Fulad Khán, 111:
by Rasúl Khán, 112:
blockaded by the Portuguese, 114:
taken, 116:
fortress built at, 125.
BENDARA, the, Prime Minister of Malacca, 97.
BENGAL, Portuguese relations with, 178, 179.
BENGALÍS numerous at Malacca, 96.
BEST, Captain, defeats the Portuguese, 203, 204.
BHATKAL. _See_ BATICALA.
BIJÁPUR, Kings of. _See_ ALI, IBRÁHÍM, ISMÁIL, YUSAF ADIL SHÁH.
BOMBAY ceded to England by the Portuguese, 204.
BRABOA or BRAVA, burnt by Da Cunha and Albuquerque, 50, 51.
BRAGANZA, Dom Constantino de, Viceroyalty of, 195, 196.
BRAZIL, discovery of, 26.
BRITO, Lourenço de, defends Cannanore, 38.
BROACH offered to Albuquerque as site for a fortress, 133.
BUKKUR, offered to Albuquerque as site for a fortress, 133.
BURMA, Albuquerque sends envoy to, 109.
BURMESE, a trading community at Malacca, 95:
favoured by Albuquerque, 106.
BURNELL, A. C., Sanskrit account of the Portuguese quoted from, 207.
CABRAL, Jorge, Governor of India, 194.
CABRAL, Pedro Alvares, commands second fleet sent to India, 26, 27.
CALAYATE (K[a-macron]lh[a-macron]t) visited by Albuquerque, 54:
sacked, 58.
CALICUT, Vasco da Gama at, 24, 25:
Portuguese factor murdered, 27:
ships burnt at, 27:
bombarded, 29, 32:
attacked by Albuquerque, 67-70:
blockaded, 112, 125, 126:
Mopla merchants ruined, 129:
fortress built at, 131:
Cabral prevented from attacking, 194:
see also ZAMORIN.
CAM or CÃO, Diogo, discovers the Congo, 23.
CAMBAY burnt by Portuguese, 187:
Portuguese defeated at, 204.
CAMINHA, João Alvares de, settled Goa island, 158.
CAMOENS, Luis de, on Lourenço de Almeida, 37:
on execution of Ruy Dias, 81:
exiled by Barreto, 195.
CAMPO, Antonio do, one of Albuquerque's mutinous captains, 52:
signs protest at Ormuz, 56:
deserts Albuquerque, 57, 58.
CANNANORE visited by Vasco da Gama, 25:
by Cabral, 27:
factory established at, 30:
Rájá of, punished by Almeida, 35:
fort at, defended by Brito, 38:
Albuquerque imprisoned at, 61:
Portuguese driven from by the Dutch, 203.
CAPE OF GOOD HOPE first doubled by the Portuguese, 23.
CASTELLO-BRANCO, Nuno Vaz de, joins Albuquerque, 98.
CASTRO, Dom Alvaro de, knighted at Mount Sinai, 183:
his gallantry, 185:
sent to relief of Diu, 186:
sacked Surat, 187.
CASTRO, Dom Fernão de, his gallantry, 185:
killed at Diu, 186.
CASTRO, Dom João de, Governor of India, 184-188:
defeats King of Bijápur, 186:
relieves Diu and defeats King of Gujarát, 186, 187:
internal reforms, 187:
death and character, 188.
CATHERINE, Queen-Regent of Portugal, allows Albuquerque's bones to be
removed to Portugal, 143:
appoints Constantino de Braganza Viceroy, 195.
CERNICHE, Dinis, arrested for attempting to leave Goa, 94, 95.
CEYLON, first visited by L. de Almeida, 35:
Portuguese power established in, 172, 194, 196:
taken by the Dutch, 203.
CHALÉ, defence of, 199.
CHANOCA, Gaspar, envoy to Vijayanagar, 126:
secretary to the _Tanadar_, 157.
CHARLES V, Emperor, admires valour of João de Castro, 184.
CHAUL, defeat of Portuguese off, 37:
fortress built at, 175:
Portuguese headquarters in north-west India, 180:
defence of, 199.
CHINESE, trading community at Malacca, 96:
favoured by Albuquerque, 106:
result of this policy, 108.
CHITTAGONG, visited by the Portuguese, 178, 179.
CHRISTIANS, a ruling caste on Malabar coast, 17, 25:
Greek, at Socotra, 51:
Nestorian, condemned at Synod of Diamper, 193.
_See_ MISSIONARIES.
CINNAMON obtained from Ceylon, 35, 161.
_Cirne_, the, Albuquerque's flagship in first Ormuz campaign, 52.
COCHIN visited by Cabral, 26:
factory established at, 27, 29:
Rájá succoured by F. de Albuquerque, 30:
fortress built at, 31, 47:
defence of by Pacheco, 31:
first headquarters of Portuguese government, 35:
Albuquerque invests new Rájá of, 84:
Vasco da Gama dies and is buried at, 175:
at war with Calicut, 194:
taken by the Dutch, 203.
COCHIN CHINA, Albuquerque sends to explore, 109.
COELHO, Duarte, sent to Cochin China, 109.
COELHO, João, first Portuguese to visit Bengal, 178.
COELHO, Nicolas, commanded a ship under Vasco da Gama, 23.
COGEATAR (Khojah Atár), Prime Minister of Ormuz, Albuquerque's
relations with, 54-57:
refuses to surrender Portuguese deserters, 57:
sends Almeida's letter to Albuquerque, 58:
Albuquerque's reply, 59, 60:
death, 134.
COGE ÇOFAR (Khojah Zufar) besieges Diu, 186.
COINAGE, Albuquerque's, at Goa, 162:
at Malacca, 163.
COLOMBO, Portuguese build fortress at, 172.
COLONISATION, Albuquerque's policy of, 152-155.
COMMERCE, trade routes of Asiatic, 19-21:
establishment of, the first aim of the Portuguese, 28, 94, 118,
145-148:
a royal monopoly, 148, 189:
Albuquerque's commercial reforms, 160-162:
palmiest days of Portuguese, 189, 190:
ruin of Portuguese, 204.
CONCORDAT, the, 205.
COROMANDEL COAST, Portuguese settlements on, 178.
CORREA, Ayres, Factor, killed at Calicut, 27.
CORREA, Diogo, Captain of Cannanore, 113.
CORREA, Gaspar, his dates of Vasco da Gama's voyage, 24:
quoted on Timoja, 71:
referred to, 76_n_, 89_n_, 102.
CORREA, Pedro, Ferdinand's remarks on Albuquerque to, 143, 144.
CORVINEL, Francisco, first Factor at Goa, 93.
COSTA, Affonso Lopes da, one of Albuquerque's mutinous captains at
Ormuz, 52:
signs protest, 56:
deserts, 57, 58.
COUTINHO, Dom Fernão de, Marshal of Portugal, places Albuquerque in
power, 39, 62:
insists on attacking Calicut, 68:
killed, 69.
COUTINHO, Dom Francisco de. _See_ REDONDO, Count of.
COUTINHO, Ruy Pereira, discovers Madagascar, 50.
COVILHÃO, João Peres de, travels overland to India and Abyssinia, 22,
23, 127.
CRANGANORE, Almeida advises a fortress at, 40:
taken by the Dutch, 203.
CRATO, Antonio, Prior of, gets no support in India, 201.
CUNHA, Manoel da, knighted on capture of Goa, 88:
killed in battle, 111.
CUNHA, Nuno da, Governor of India, 177-183:
ability and activity, 178:
policy in Bengal, 179:
obtains Bassein, 180:
and Diu, 181:
disgrace and death, 182, 183.
CUNHA, Ruy da, ambassador to Pegu, 109.
CUNHA, Tristão da, selected to be first Viceroy, 34:
assisted in sack of Ponáni, 36:
related to Albuquerque, 43:
sent to the East with him, 48:
difference of temperament, 49:
serves with him in Africa, 50:
knighted by him, 51:
goes to India after capture of Socotra, 51, 52:
returns to Portugal, 52.
CURIATE sacked by Albuquerque, 54.
DÁBHOL, attacked by L. de Almeida, 36:
sacked by F. de Almeida, 38:
blockaded, 125, 129:
taken by João de Castro, 187.
DAMÁN taken by C. de Braganza, 195:
still belongs to Portugal, 205.
DAVID, Emperor of Abyssinia, receives Portuguese envoys, 128.
DIAMPER (Udayampura), Synod of, 193.
DIAS, Bartholomeu, doubles the Cape of Good Hope, 23.
DIAS, Ruy, executed in Goa harbour, 81.
DINIZ, King of Portugal, ancestor of Albuquerque, 41, 42.
DIU, Almeida's victory off, 38:
offered as site for a fortress, 92, 121:
refused, 133:
factory founded at, 129:
fortress built at, 181:
first siege, 181, 182:
second siege, 186:
finally ceded, 194:
plundered by Arabs, 204:
still belongs to Portugal, 205.
DIVARIM, fortress built at, 125.
DOMINGOS, Frei, Albuquerque's confessor, 141:
present at his death, 142.
DUMBES, offered to Albuquerque as site for a fortress, 133.
DUTCH, the, their position in Asia compared and contrasted with that
of the Portuguese, 28, 145-148:
first go to India, 202:
victories over the Portuguese, 203.
EÇA, Dom João de, Captain of Goa, 136.
EGYPT derived wealth from passage of Asiatic trade, 20:
sends a fleet to India, 36:
at war with the Turks, 49, 150:
Albuquerque's schemes against, 128:
fails to conquer Aden, 171:
conquered by the Turks, 177.
ELEPHANT, the first, sent from Ceylon, 35.
ELEPHANTS used in battle at Malacca, 101.
EMMANUEL, King of Portugal, said to have selected Vasco da Gama, 23:
joy at discovery of direct sea route, 25:
his original views, 27, 28:
neglects Pacheco, 32, 33:
modifies his policy and commences war on the Muhammadans, 33:
looked coldly on Albuquerque, 46:
desires to close the Red Sea to commerce, 48, 70, 94, 150, 171:
orders war against Calicut, 68, 130:
commercial greed, 84, 160:
orders Socotra to be abandoned and Aden occupied, 94:
directs arguments on the retention of Goa to be laid before a
council, 118, 119:
resolves to keep Goa, 124, 171:
supersedes Albuquerque, 124, 139:
but partially retracts, 141:
would not let Albuquerque's bones be taken to Portugal, 143:
his policy, 149, 150:
death and character, 173, 174.
ENGLISH, the, early alliance with the Portuguese, 18:
empire in India compared and contrasted with the Portuguese, 28,
67, 145-148:
go to India, 202:
defeat the Portuguese, 203, 204:
treaty of 1878 with Portugal, 205.
EVANGELHO, Fernão Martins, Factor at Diu, 129.
FACTORIES founded at Calicut, 26:
Cochin, 27:
Cannanore, 30:
Quilon, 31:
Goa, 93:
Malacca, 97, 110:
Diu, 129.
FANATICISM, causes of Portuguese, against Muhammadans, 18, 19.
FERDINAND, King of Arragon, his praise of Albuquerque, 143, 144.
FERISHTA, referred to, 74, 90.
FERNANDES, Duarte, sent to Siam, 109.
FERNANDES, Frederico, knighted for leading assault on Goa, 88.
FERREIRA, Miguel, his embassy to Ismáil Sháh, 135.
_Flor de la Mar_, the, at Ormuz, 53:
wrecked, 110.
_Flor da Rosa_, the, Albuquerque's last ship, 138:
he died on board, 142.
FOGAÇA, Jorge, arrested for opposing execution of Ruy Dias, 81:
not released, 83.
FORTRESSES or forts built at Cochin, 31:
Quiloa, 34:
Cannanore, 38:
Socotra, 51:
Ormuz commenced, 54; completed, 137:
Goa, 76, 88:
Malacca, 106, 110:
Benastarim, Panjim, Divarim, 125:
Calicut, 131:
Colombo, 172:
Chaul, 175:
Bassein, 180:
Diu, 181:
Damán, 195.
FORTRESSES, Almeida's arguments against, in India, 40, 147:
Albuquerque's views on, 102, 103, 122, 132, 147, 152.
FRANCISCAN friars the first Christian missionaries in India, 192.
FULAD KHÁN invades the island of Goa, 111:
defeats the Portuguese, 111:
driven out of Benastarim, 112.
GÁ, Tristão de, envoy to Gujarát, 126:
mint master at Goa, 162.
GAMA, Dom Christovão da, killed in Abyssinia, 184.
GAMA, Dom Estevão da, Governor of India, 183, 184:
campaign in the Red Sea, 183.
GAMA, Dom Francisco da, Viceroy of India, 202.
GAMA, Paulo da, captain of a ship in first voyage to India, 23:
died on way home, 25.
GAMA, Dom Vasco da, his first voyage to India, 23-25:
honours conferred on, 26:
his second voyage, 28-30:
burnt the ships of Timoja, 71:
sent ambassadors to Abyssinia, 128:
his viceroyalty, 174, 175:
death, 175.
GOA, city, Timoja suggests attack upon, 71, 72:
situation, 72:
reasons for attacking, 73, 74:
history, 74, 75:
first capture, 76:
Portuguese retire from, 79:
second capture, 85-89:
effect of its conquest, 91, 92:
besieged, 112:
relieved by Albuquerque, 114-117:
arguments for abandoning, 118, 119:
Albuquerque's despatch on, 120-124:
Albuquerque's love for, 138, 141:
buried at, 142:
bishopric of, 192:
Inquisition established at, 192:
defended by Athaide, 198:
blockaded by the Dutch, 203.
GOA, harbour, its advantages, 72:
Portuguese fleet blockaded in, 79-82.
GOA, island, its situation, 72:
invaded by Yusaf Adil Sháh, 79:
by Fulad Khán, 111:
fortified, 125, 126:
administration of, 156-159:
invaded by Ali Adil Sháh, 198:
by the Maráthás, 204:
still belongs to Portugal, 205.
GOMES, Ruy, ambassador to Sháh Ismáil, 77.
GOMIDE, João Gonçalvez de, grandfather of Albuquerque, 43.
GONZALES, Sebastião, typical Portuguese adventurer, 190.
GRACIOSA, fort at, defended by Albuquerque, 46.
GUJARÁT, Kings of. _See_ BAHÁDUR, MAHMÚD, MUHAMMAD III, MUZAFFAR II.
GUJARÁTÍS control Malacca trade, 96:
oppose the Portuguese at, 100.
HENRY THE NAVIGATOR, Prince, schemes and discoveries, 21.
HIDALCÃO, Portuguese version of Adil Khán, 75.
HINDUS favoured by the Portuguese against the Muhammadans, 65, 206:
by Albuquerque, 66, 67, 169:
grief at Albuquerque's death, 142, 143.
HONÁWAR, Rájá of punished by Almeida, 35:
Albuquerque at, 82, 84:
joins league against the Portuguese, 198:
burnt by Athaide, 199.
HORSES, Persian trade in, 54, 67, 74, 90.
HÚGLÍ, Portuguese headquarters in Bengal, 179:
taken by Sháh Jahán, 204.
HUMÁYÚN, Emperor, invasion of Gujarát by, assists Portuguese to
obtain Diu, 180, 181.
HUSAIN, Emir, commands Egyptian fleet, 36:
defeats L. de Almeida off Chaul, 37:
defeated off Diu, 38:
expelled from Gujarát, 92:
builds fleet in the Red Sea, 171.
IBRÁHÍM ADIL SHÁH, King of Bijápur, cedes Bardes and Salsette, 184:
defeated by João de Castro, 186, 187:
peace made with, 194.
INFANTE, João, doubles the Cape of Good Hope with Dias, 23.
INQUISITION, the, established in Portugal, 174:
at Goa, 192.
ISMÁIL ADIL SHÁH, King of Bijápur, Albuquerque's letter to, 90, 91.
ISMÁIL SHÁH OF PERSIA, Albuquerque receives envoys from, 77:
sends Ruy Gomes to, 77, 78:
sends embassy to Ahmadábád, 132, 133:
Ormuz acknowledges supremacy and religion of, 134:
Albuquerque sends Ferreira to, 135:
at war with Egypt and Turkey, 150:
favoured the Portuguese, 165.
JAFFNAPATAM, capital of the Portuguese in Ceylon, 196:
taken by the Dutch, 203.
JAVA, Albuquerque sends envoys to, 109:
conquered by the Dutch, 203.
JAVANESE, ruling community at Malacca, 96:
assist Albuquerque, 106:
attack Malacca, 133:
defeated, 134.
JESUITS, their missions in India, 191, 192:
suppression of, 204.
JOÃO AFFONSO, ancestor of Albuquerque, 42.
JOHN I, King of Portugal, 18.
JOHN II, King of Portugal, encourages exploration, 22, 23:
friend of Albuquerque, 44-46:
trained the future conquerors of India, 23, 173.
JOHN III, King of Portugal, would not let Albuquerque's bones be
removed to Portugal, 143:
policy and bigotry, 174:
death, 195.
JUSARTE, Martim Affonso de Mello, sent to aid the King of Bengal,
179.
K[A-macron]LH[A-macron]T. _See_ CALAYATE.
KAMAL KHÁN, Minister of Bijápur, arrangement with Albuquerque as to
Goa, 90:
murdered, 126.
KILWA. _See_ QUILOA.
LACERDA, Manoel de, gallantry at capture of Goa, 87:
Captain of the Indian Sea, 95:
abandons blockade of Calicut, 112:
Captain of Goa, 112:
commanded cavalry in action with Rasúl Khán, 115.
LEMOS, Duarte de, Captain of the Arabian Sea, demands help for
Socotra, 70:
joins Albuquerque, 83:
demands leave to return to Portugal, 84:
advises abandonment of Goa, 119.
LIMA, Dom Jeronymo de, anecdote of, 86, 87.
LIMA, Dom João de, at capture of Goa, 86, 87:
of Malacca, 101.
LOPES, Fernão, a renegade, his punishment, 116.
LOUREIRO, Frei Francisco, noble conduct of, 164.
LUIS, Dom, friend of João de Castro, 184.
LUIS, Frei, envoy to Vijayanagar, Albuquerque's instructions to,
66, 67.
MADAGASCAR, discovery of, 50.
MADEIRA, discovery of, 21:
Albuquerque asks for miners from, 128.
MAGALHÃES, Fernão de [Magellan], sent to the Spice Islands, 110.
MÁHIM, offered to Albuquerque as site for a fortress, 133.
MAHMÚD SHÁH BEGÁRA, King of Gujarát, gives up Portuguese prisoners,
39:
sends envoys to Albuquerque, 83, 91:
offers him Diu, 92, 121:
death, 129.
MALABAR COAST, condition of, at the arrival of the Portuguese, 17,
18, 64, 65.
MALACCA, reasons for attacking, 95, 96:
history and trade, 96:
Sequeira at, 96-98:
Albuquerque reaches, 99:
first capture, 101:
Albuquerque's speech on, 102-105:
second capture, 106:
Albuquerque's policy at, 106-110:
settlement of, 110:
reinforcements sent to, 125:
troubles at, 133:
Jorge de Albuquerque Captain of, 134:
new coinage at, 163:
besieged by Achinese, 197, 199:
made seat of independent government, 200:
taken by the Dutch, 203.
MALHÁR RÁO, Governor of Goa island, 93, 156:
defeated by Fulad Khán, 111:
becomes Rájá of Honáwar, 111.
MAMELUKE dynasty in Egypt, overthrown by the Turks, 177.
MANGALORE, taken by the Portuguese, 197.
MARÁTHÁS, their wars with the Portuguese, 204.
MARMAGÁO, railway made to, 205.
MASCARENHAS, Dom Francisco, first viceroy appointed by Spain, 201.
MASCARENHAS, Dom João, defended Diu, 186:
named Governor of India, 193.
MASCARENHAS, Pedro, commanded a division in the battle with Rasúl
Khán, 115:
gallantry at Benastarim, 115:
Captain of Goa, 136:
named Governor of India, but not allowed to succeed, 176.
MASCARENRAS, Dom Pedro, Viceroy of India, 194, 195.
MEDINA, place of pilgrimage, 127:
Albuquerque's scheme to seize Muhammad's body from, 128.
MELINDA, pilots obtained at by Da Gama, 24:
by Cabral, 26:
visited a second time by Da Gama, 29:
by Da Cunha and Albuquerque, 50.
MENDONÇA, João de, Governor of India, 196.
MENEZES, Dom Diogo de, defended Chalé, 199:
Governor of India, 200.
MENEZES, Dom Duarte de, Governor of India, 173:
forced to resign, 175.
MENEZES, Dom Henrique de, Governor of India, 176.
MENEZES, Dom Jorge de, defended Chaul, 199.
MIDDLETON, Sir H., defeats Portuguese off Cambay, 203.
MIR ALI KHÁN, Bardes and Salsette ceded for the surrender of, 184:
João de Castro refuses to surrender, 185:
final arrangement about, 194.
MIRANDA, Antonio de, ambassador to Siam, 109.
MISSIONARIES, Christian, in India, 190-193.
MOLUCCA ISLANDS, Albuquerque's expedition to explore, 109.
MOMBASSA, made tributary by Almeida, 34:
conquered by Nuno da Cunha, 178.
MONOMOTAPA, Barreto's expedition to, 200.
MOORS, Portuguese wars with, in Europe, 18:
in Morocco, 18, 19, 45, 46, 201.
MOPLAS, Arab merchants on Malabar Coast, intrigue against Portuguese
at Calicut, 25:
murder Correa, 27:
at Quilon, 32, 35:
at Ponáni, 36:
at Cannanore, 38:
not favoured by Hindu rulers, 65:
of Calicut ruined, 129:
their position in India, 149.
MORADIAS, Albuquerque's power to grant, 64.
MORENO, Lourenço, Factor at Cochin, advises abandonment of Goa, 113.
MOROCCO, Portuguese expeditions to, 18, 19:
Albuquerque's service in, 45, 46:
Sebastian's death in, 201.
MOZAMBIQUE, Da Gama at, 24:
Albuquerque sails direct to, 47:
capital of a Portuguese government, 200.
MUGHAL Emperors not in power when Portuguese reached India, 17, 165.
MUHAMMAD, Albuquerque's plan to carry off the body of, 128.
MUHAMMAD SHÁH II, King of the Deccan, conquers Goa, 74.
MUHAMMAD SHÁH III, King of Gujarát, besieges Diu, 181, 182, 186:
defeated by João de Castro, 186:
makes peace with the Portuguese, 194.
MUHAMMADANS, Portuguese in Asia a check on their advance in Europe,
15, 16:
not concentrated in India, when Portuguese arrived, 17:
controlled the early trade routes, 20:
war with, the keynote of Emmanuel's and Albuquerque's policy, 33,
48, 66, 67, 74, 95, 103, 104, 125, 149-152:
Da Gama's cruelty towards, 29:
Albuquerque's cruelty towards, 54, 58, 79, 88:
Albuquerque willing to be tolerant to, 151, 169:
their divisions in Asia a cause of Portuguese success, 78, 150,
165, 166, 206.
MUSCAT, taken by Albuquerque, 54:
Arabs from, plunder Diu, 204.
MUZAFFAR SHÁH II, submission of Málik Ayaz to, 129:
Albuquerque sends envoys to, 132, 133.
NAIRS, a military class on Malabar coast, 25:
repulse Portuguese attack on Calicut, 68, 69:
Portuguese did not persecute, 206.
NARSINGHA. _See_ VIJAYANAGAR.
NEGAPATAM, taken by the Dutch, 203.
NESTORIAN CHRISTIANS, a military class on Malabar Coast, 17, 24, 65,
165:
condemned by Synod of Diamper, 193.
NILE, Albuquerque's scheme for altering the course of the, 128.
NINACHATU, his kindness to Portuguese prisoners, 99:
made chief of the Hindu community at Malacca, 106, 110.
NOGUEIRA, Francisco, Captain of Calicut, 130.
NORONHA, Dom Affonso de, Albuquerque's nephew, Captain of Socotra,
51:
wrecked off coast of Gujarát, 83, 84, 121, 164.
NORONHA, Dom Affonso de, Viceroy, 194.
NORONHA, Dom Antão de, Viceroy, 196:
builds new wall at Goa, 198.
NORONHA, Dom Antonio de, Albuquerque's nephew, his support of
Albuquerque, 52:
gallantry at Calayate, 58:
commands reserve at Calicut, 68:
saves the Portuguese army, 69:
storms Panjim, 76:
Captain of Goa, 76:
death and character, 80, 81.
NORONHA, Dom Antonio de, Viceroy with reduced powers, 199, 200.
NORONHA, Dona Constance de, Albuquerque's sister, 44.
NORONHA, Dom Garcia de, Albuquerque's nephew, joins him with
reinforcements, 113:
commands a division in battle with Rasúl Khán, 115:
brings despatch on Goa, 118:
blockades Calicut, 125:
leaves Albuquerque at Ormuz, 137:
Viceroy, 181:
relieves Diu, 181:
death, 183.
NOVA, João de, leads opposition to Albuquerque at Ormuz, 53:
signs protest, 56:
arrested, 57:
deserts him, 58:
excites Almeida against him, 61:
buried by him, 63.
ONOR. _See_ HONÁWAR.
ORMUZ, its wealth and importance, 53:
Albuquerque commences a fortress at, 54:
his difficulties at, 55-57:
second visit to, 58-60:
Ruy Gomes poisoned at, 77:
Pedro de Albuquerque at, 136:
fortress completed, 137:
tribute exacted from by Nuno da Cunha, 178:
taken by Sháh Abbas, 204.
PACEM, King of, in Sumatra, aided by Portuguese, 134.
PACHECO, Duarte, defeats Zamorin's army and fleet, 31, 32:
relieves Quilon, 32:
return to Portugal and death, 32, 33.
PAIVA, Affonso de, sent overland to India, 22.
PAIVA, Gaspar de, at capture of Malacca, 101.
PANJIM, first capture of, 76:
second capture, 80:
Portuguese fortress built at, 125.
PANTOJA, Francisco, Constable of Goa, 93:
passed over for captaincy, 111.
PATALIM, Ruy de Brito, Captain of Malacca, 110:
quarrels with Andrade, 133:
returns to India, 134.
PEDIR in Sumatra, Albuquerque reaches, 99.
PEPPER, Quilon chief port for Malabar, 29:
also sent from Malacca, 104.
PEREIRA, Diogo Fernandes, discovered Socotra, 51.
PEREIRA, Gaspar, his remark on the Nairs of Calicut, 68.
PEREIRA, Dom Gaspar de Leão, first Archbishop of Goa, 192.
PEREIRA, Dom Leonis, defends Malacca against Achinese, 197, 199.
PERSIA. _See_ ISMÁIL SHÁH.
PERSIA, trade of, concentrated at Ormuz, 53, 54.
PERSIAN GULF, ancient trade route, 20:
Albuquerque proposes to close, 48:
Albuquerque sails for, 53:
explored by Pedro de Albuquerque, 136.
PESTANA, Francisco Pereira, Captain of Goa, dismissed by Vasco da
Gama, 175.
PHILIP II, of Spain, prosperity of Portuguese trade under, 189:
kept promises made at his accession to throne of Portugal, 201:
yet his accession a cause of the ruin of Portugal in Asia, 202.
PILOTS, the first got at Melinda, 24, 26:
service of, established, 34.
PINTO, Fernão Mendes, typical Portuguese adventurer, 190.
POLO, Marco, describes Greek Christians of Socotra, 51.
PONÁNI, sacked by Portuguese, 36, 194.
PORTUGUESE, importance of their establishment in Asia, 15, 16:
fitness for this task, 18, 19:
comparison and contrast of their empire in India to that of the
Dutch and English, 28, 67, 145-148:
causes of their success, 165-168:
their missionary efforts, 190-192:
causes of their decline, 201-203:
present condition in India, 205:
description of contemporaries, 206, 207.
QUILOA (Kilwa), Vasco da Gama at, 24:
fortress built at, 34.
QUILON, Da Gama asked to trade with, 29:
factory established at, 31, 47:
relieved by Pacheco, 32:
bombarded, 35:
taken by the Dutch, 203.
RASÚL KHÁN (Roçalcão), left in command at Goa, 85:
takes Benastarim, 112:
defeated by Albuquerque, 115:
surrenders Benastarim, 116:
interview with Albuquerque, 126.
REBELLO, Rodrigo, Captain of Goa, 93:
killed in action, 111.
REDONDO, Dom Francisco Coutinho, Count of, his viceroyalty, 196.
RED SEA, chief trade route, 20:
Emmanuel and Albuquerque desire to close to commerce, 48, 70, 94,
125:
campaign of Albuquerque in, 128:
of Lopo Soares, 171, 172:
of Estevão da Gama, 183.
SÁ, Antonio de, Factor at Quilon, killed by Moplas, 35.
SÁ, Francisco de, tried to stop execution of Ruy Dias, 81.
SÁ, Garcia de, Governor of India, 193, 194.
SABAIO, the, Portuguese name for Yusaf Adil Sháh, 75.
SAINT THOMÉ, first Portuguese settlement on the Coromandel Coast,
178:
attacked by the Rájá of Vijayanagar, 197.
SALDANHA, Antonio de, explores south-east coast of Africa, 30:
visits Socotra, 51.
SALDANHA BAY, Almeida killed at, 39.
SALSETTE, ceded to the Portuguese, 184:
cession confirmed, 194.
SAM PAIO, Lopo Vaz de, blockades Dábhol, 129:
Governor of India, 176:
sent home in chains, 178.
_Satí_, abolished by Albuquerque at Goa, 160.
SEBASTIAN, King of Portugal, accession of, 195:
divides the viceroyalty, 199:
desires exploration of interior of Africa, 200:
death, 201:
Commentaries of Albuquerque dedicated to, 207.
SELIM I, of Constantinople, at war with Egypt, 49, 150:
with Ismáil Sháh, 78, 134:
conquers Egypt, 177.
SEQUEIRA, Diogo Lopes de, offered governorship of India, 62:
at Malacca, 97, 98:
Governor of India, 173:
builds fortress at Chaul, 175.
SEQUEIRA, Gonçalo de, refuses to assist Albuquerque against Goa, 84:
advises abandonment of Goa, 119.
SERRÃO, Francisco, takes Magellan to the Spice Islands, 109.
SERRÃO, João, joins Albuquerque with reinforcements, 84.
SHÁH JAHÁN takes Húglí, 204.
SHER SHÁH, Portuguese assist the King of Bengal against, 179.
SIAM, Albuquerque's relations with, 109.
SILVA, Ayres da, blockades Benastarim, 114.
SILVA, Duarte da, at capture of Malacca, 101.
SILVEIRA, Antonio da, defends Diu, 181, 182.
SILVEIRA, João da, visits Chittagong, 178, 179.
SILVEIRA, Jorge da, killed at Aden, 129.
SINAI, Mount, Estevão da Gama at, 183.
SLAVE TRADE, negro, started by the Portuguese, 21.
SOARES DE ALBERGARIA, Lopo, bombards Calicut, 32:
succeeds Albuquerque, 138, 139:
his governorship, 170-173:
campaign in the Red Sea, 171, 172:
builds fort at Colombo, 173.
SOCOTRA, island, taken by Da Cunha and Albuquerque, 51:
settlement of, 52:
garrison half starved, 58:
help demanded for, 70:
abandoned, 94.
SODRÉ, Vicente, left in command of a squadron, 29:
wrecked, 30.
SOUSA, Dona Aldonsa de, mistress of King Diniz, ancestress of
Albuquerque, 41.
SOUSA, Garcia de, blockades Dábhol, 125:
killed at Aden, 127.
SOUSA, Martim Affonso de, Governor of India, 184.
SPICE ISLANDS, Albuquerque sends to explore, 109:
taken by the Dutch, 203.
SUEZ, Estevão da Gama fails in attack on, 183.
SULÁIMÁN, the Magnificent, his opinion of Albuquerque, 144:
prepares attacks on the Portuguese in India, 177, 183.
SULÁIMÁN PASHA commands Muhammadan fleet sent to India, 177:
besieges Diu, 181, 182:
death, 183.
SULÁIMÁN, Rais, fails to take Aden, 171.
SUMATRA, visited by Sequeira, 97:
Albuquerque reaches, 99:
enters into relations with, 109:
wrecked off, 110:
Portuguese victory in, 134.
SURAT, offered to Albuquerque as site for a fortress, 133:
sacked by Alvaro de Castro, 187.
SWALLY, English defeat the Portuguese off, 204.
TÁLIKOT, battle of, 65, 197.
_Tanadars_ appointed in island of Goa, 157.
TANGIER, Albuquerque at capture of, 45.
TAVORA, Francisco de, one of Albuquerque's mutinous captains, 52:
suspended, 55:
signs protest at Ormuz, 56:
disgraced, 58:
accompanies Lopo Soares to India, 139.
TAVORA, Ruy Lourenço de, dies on way to India as Viceroy, 200.
TEIXEIRA, Jaymé, stops Mendes' ship from leaving Goa, 95:
ambassador to Ahmadábád, 132.
TELLES, Manoel, one of Albuquerque's mutinous captains, 52:
signs protest at Ormuz, 56:
deserts, 58.
TIMOJA, advises attack on Goa, 71:
a Hindu corsair, 71, 72:
surrender of demanded, 79:
leaves Goa harbour, 82:
advises second attack on Goa, 82, 85:
governor of Goa island, 93, 156-158:
defeat and death of, 111:
asks Albuquerque to strike money, 162.
TIRACOL, sacked by the Portuguese, 194.
_Tohfut-ul-mujahideen_ quoted, on attack on Calicut, 69, 70:
on capture of Goa, 89, 90:
on the Portuguese in India, 206.
TRADE routes of Asiatic commerce, 20.
TURKS still progressive in the 16th century, 16:
made overland trade routes unsafe, 20:
_see_ SELIM, SULÁIMÁN.
UTEMUTA RÁJÁ, assists Albuquerque, 106:
executed, 107.
VASCONCELLOS, Diogo Mendes de, joins Albuquerque, 82:
accompanies him to Goa, 84:
opposition to Albuquerque, 94:
Captain of Goa, 111:
stupid policy and courage, 112:
accompanies Lopo Soares to India, 139:
discourages mixed marriages, 154.
VAZ. _See_ CASTELLO-BRANCO, SAM PAIO.
VENICE, its wealth as distributor of Asiatic trade, 20:
damage done to by Portuguese successes in India, 104:
press Turks to attack the Portuguese, 177.
VENKATACARYA, Bráhman poet, his opinion of the Portuguese, 207.
VICEROY, Almeida takes title of, 34:
Albuquerque not a, 64:
Vasco da Gama appointed second, 174:
João de Castro made, 188.
VIEIRA, Braz, appointed a Tanadar, 157.
VIJAYANAGAR or Narsingha, powerful Hindu kingdom, 17, 65:
Frei Luis sent as envoy to, 66, 67:
at one time ruled over Goa, 74:
expected to have Goa returned to, 76:
Chanoca ambassador to, 126:
disgust of Rájá at Albuquerque's fortress at Calicut, 131:
destroyed by battle of Tálikot, 197.
VYPÍN, island, Rájá of Cochin besieged in, 30.
XAVIER, Saint Francis, João de Castro died in arms of, 188:
his missionary activity, 191.
YUSAF ADIL SHÁH, King of Bijápur, his history, 74, 75:
fondness for Goa, 75:
retakes Goa, 79:
chivalry, 81, 82:
leaves Goa on Albuquerque's departure from the harbour, 82, 85:
death, 90.
YUSAF GURGI, Málik, Muhammadan governor of Goa, his cruelty, 75:
his flight from Goa, 76.
ZAMORIN of Calicut, receives Vasco da Gama, 24:
meaning of the word, 24_n_:
intrigues of Moplas with, against the Portuguese, 25:
attacked by Cabral, 27, and Da Gama, 29:
besieges Cochin and is repulsed, 30:
defeated on land and sea by Pacheco, 31, 32:
fleet defeated by L. de Almeida, 35, 36:
palace burnt, 69:
sues for peace, 91:
poisoned, 131.
THE END.
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