Portuguese India Armadas
Encyclopedia
The Portuguese India armadas (armadas da Índia) were the fleets of ships, organized by the Portuguese crown and dispatched on an annual basis from Portugal
to India
, principally Goa
. These armadas undertook what was called the Carreira da Índia ("India Run"), following the sea route around the Cape of Good Hope
opened up by Vasco da Gama
in 1497-1499.
in 1497-1499, the sea route to India via the Cape of Good Hope
was dominated by the Portuguese India armada – the annual fleet dispatched from Portugal to India. Between 1497 and 1650, there were 1033 departures of ships at Lisbon for the Carreira da Índia ("India Run").
Each leg of the voyage took approximately six months. The critical determinant of the timing was the monsoon
winds of the Indian Ocean
. The monsoon was a southwesterly wind (i.e. blew from East Africa to India) in the Summer (between April and September) and then abruptly reversed itself and became a northeasterly (from India to Africa) in the Winter (between October and March). The ideal timing was to catch the late summer monsoon to India, and return with the early winter monsoon, minimizing the time at sea.
The India armada typically left Lisbon
in the early Spring (February–April).Duarte Pacheco Pereira (1509) strongly recommended February as the ideal departure month. That would bring it to the Cape of Good Hope
around June–July, and to the East Africa
n middle coast by August, just in time to catch the summer monsoon winds to India. The return trip from India would typically begin in January, taking the winter monsoon across the Indian Ocean and down East Africa, double the Cape in reverse around April, and arrive in Lisbon by the Summer. Overall, the round trip took a little over a year.
The critical step was ensuring the armada reached East Africa on time. Ships that failed to reach the equator
latitude on the East Africa
n coast by late August would be stuck in Africa and have to wait until next Spring to undertake an Indian Ocean crossing. And then they would have to wait in India until the Winter to begin their return. So any dilly-dallying in East Africa during those critical few weeks of August could end up adding an entire extra year to a ship's journey.
Because of the timing, an armada had to leave Lisbon before the previous year's armada returned. To get news of the latest developments in India, the outgoing armada relied on notes and reports left along the way at various African staging posts by the returning fleet.
The circumnavigation of Madagascar
opened an alternative route to get to India, which gave more flexibility in timing. The rule that quickly emerged was that if an outbound armada doubled the Cape of Good Hope
before mid-July, then it should follow the old "inner route" – that is, sail into the Mozambique Channel
, up the East African coast until the equator
latitude (around Malindi
, Seychelles
), then take the southwesterly monsoon across the ocean to India. If, however, the armada doubled the Cape after mid-July, then it was obliged to sail the "outer route" – that is, strike out straight east from South Africa, go under the southern tip of Madagascar, and then turn up from there, taking a northerly path through the Mascarenes islands, across the open ocean to India. While the outer route did not have the support of African staging posts, it side-stepped sailing directly against the post-summer monsoon.
Return fleets were a different story. Between 1525 and 1579, all return fleets were ordered to follow the outer route (east of Madagascar), which was deemed calmer and safer for their precious cargo than the dangerous waters of the inner Mozambican channel. This rule was temporarily suspended between the 1570s and 1590s. From 1615, a new rule was introduced whereby return fleets from Goa
were allowed to use the inner route, but return fleets from Cochin still had to use the outer route.
s of the India Run, see Duarte Pacheco Pereira
(1509), João de Lisboa (1519: p.69ff) and Manuel Pimentel (1746: p.381ff)
Setting out from Lisbon
(February–April), India-bound naus took the easy Canary current
straight southwest to the Canary Islands
. The islands were owned by Castile
and so this was not a usual watering stop for the Portuguese India naus, except in emergencies.
The first real obstacle on the route was the Cape Verde peninsula (Cap-Vert, Senegal
), around which the Canary current ends and the equatorial drift begins. Although not difficult to double, it was a concentration point of sudden storms and tropical cyclones
, so ships were frequently damaged. (see Cape Verde-type hurricane
)
The Cape Verde islands, to the west of Cape Verde peninsula was the usual first stop for India ships. Relative scarcity of water and supplies on the islands made this a suboptimal stop. Nonetheless, the islands (esp. Santiago
) served as a harbor against storms and was frequently a pre-arranged point for the collection and repair of tempest-tossed ships.
The Angra de Bezeguiche (Bay of Dakar
, Senegal) was a common watering stop for ships after doubling Cape Verde. The shores were controlled by Wolof
and Serer
kingdoms, whose relations with the Portuguese were ambivalent, so a warm reception on the mainland could not be counted on. In the middle of the bay was the island of Gorée
(ilha de Bezeguiche), a safe anchoring spot, but the island itself lacked drinkable water. As a result ships frequently watered and repaired at certain mainland points along the Petite Côte
of Senegal shore such as Rio Fresco (now Rufisque
) and Porto de Ale (now Saly-Portudal
). It was not unheard of for India naus to water much further south, e.g. among the many inlets and islands (e.g. Bissagos
) along the African coast to Serra Leoa (Sierra Leone
).
Below Cape Verde, around the latitudes of Sierra Leone, are the Atlantic doldrums
- that is a calm low pressure region around the equator with little or no winds. Below the doldrums was first the counter-clockwise gyre of the South Atlantic
and the southeasterly trade winds, which prevented sailing directly southeast to the Cape.
Passing the doldrums was a navigational challenge, and pilots had to avail themselves deftly of the currents and every little breeze they could get to stay on course. The usual tactic was to strike southwest sharply, and hope to catch the south equatorial drift
(top arm of the South Atlantic gyre) towards the coast of Brazil
. This was usually referred to as following the volta do mar
(literally,'turn of the sea', i.e. the South Atlantic gyre).
[The volta do mar was usually contrasted to the rota da Mina (Mina route). The latter meant striking southeast in the doldrums to catch the equatorial counter-current
(or 'Guinea current') east into the Gulf of Guinea
. This was the usual route to the fort of São Jorge da Mina
on the Portuguese Gold Coast
. This was not part of the India run. The route from Mina down to South Africa involved tacking
against the southeasterly trade winds and the contrary Benguela Current
, a particularly tiresome task for heavy square rig
ged carracks. However, it sometimes happened that by poor piloting, India naus would be inadvertently caught by the Guinea counter-current and forced to take that route, but such ships would not be likely to reach India that year.]The rota da Mina had been the usual route used by all Portuguese explorers to Africa until the end of the 15th C. The first fleet to sail the volta do mar was Vasco da Gama
's first fleet in 1497. However, credit for the discovery of the 'volta do mar' as a route to the Cape ought to be given to Bartolomeu Dias
, who in 1488-89, first discovered the westerlies
below the 30°S and the South Atlantic Current
, from which was deduced the probable existence of the quicker and easier volta do mar route to the Cape. See Coutinho (1951-5: 319-63) and Waters (1988)
Assuming the India armada successfully caught the south equatorial current of the volta do mar, the armada would drift southwest through the doldrums and reach the soutbound Brazil Current
off the coast of Brazil (around Pernambuco
). Although India naus did not usually stop in Brazil, it was not unheard of to put in a brief watering stop at Cape Santo Agostinho
(Pernambuco
, Brazil), especially if the southeasterly trade winds were particularly strong (pilots had to be careful not to allow themselves to be caught and driven backwards).
From the environs of Penambuco, the India naus sailed straight south along the Brazil Current
, until about the latitude of the Tropic of Capricorn
, visibly the Abrolhos
islands or the Trindade and Martim Vaz
islands, where they began to catch more favorable prevailing Westerly winds
. These would take them quickly straight across the South Atlantic to South Africa.
The Cape of Good Hope
– once aptly named the 'cape of storms' – was a very challenging headland on the India Run. The outbound crossing was always difficult, and many a ship was lost here. Larger armadas often broke up into smaller squadrons to attempt the crossing, and would re-collect only on the other side – indeed quite far on the other side. There was usually no stop or collection point after the Cape crossing until well inside the Mozambique Channel
. The reason for this is that outbound ships tried to steer clear from the South African coast, to avoid the rushing waters of the contrary Agulhas current
.
The exception was the Agoada de São Brás (Mossel Bay
, South Africa), a watering stop after the Cape. It was not always used on the outbound journey since individual ships often charted wide routes around the Cape, and sighted coast again only well after this point. However, ships damaged during the crossing frequently had no choice but to put in there for emergency repairs. Trade for food supplies with the pastoral Khoikhoi
peoples that lived in the area was frequent (although there were also occasional skirmishes). São Braz was a more frequent stop on the return journey, as a place to repair the ships to tip-top shape before doubling the Cape the other way. As a result, particularly in early years, São Brás was used as a postal station, where messages from the returning armadas would be left for the outward armadas, reporting on the latest conditions in India.
If the armada went by the 'inner route', then the next daunting obstacle was Cape Correntes
, at the entrance of the Mozambique Channel
. Treacherously fast waters, light winds alternating with unpredictably violent gusts, and treacherous shoals and rocks made this cape particularly dangerous. It is estimated that nearly 30% of all ships lost on the India Run, capsized or ran aground around here, more than any other place.
The ideal passage through the Mozambique Channel
would be to sail straight north through the middle of the channel, where a steady favorable wind could be relied upon at this season. But this was a particularly hard task in an era where longitude
was determined largely by dead reckoning
. If a pilot miscalculated and charted a course too close to the African coast, the current ran south, the winds were light or non-existent, subject to arbitrary gusts from strange directions and the coasts littered with shoal
s.Indeed, another reason ships steered clear away from the South African coast after crossing the Cape of Good Hope was precisely that the contrary Agulhas current
threw off the dead reckoning calculations, and often misled pilots into turning too soon into the Mozambique channel, forcing them on a dangerous too-western route up the channel. Into this dreaded mix, Cape Correntes
added its own special terror to the experience. The Cape was not only a confluence point of opposing winds, creating unpredicable whirlwinds, it also produced a strange and extraordinarily fast southerly current, violent enough to break a badly-sewn ship, and confusing enough throw all reckoning out the window and lure pilots into grievous errors.
The temptation would be to err in the opposite direction, and keep on pushing east until the island of Madagascar
was sighted, then move up the channel (the current here ran north), keeping the Madagascar coast in sight at all times. Although a Madagascar-hugging route cleared up the longitude problem, it was also abundant in fearful obstacles – coral islets, atolls, shoals, protruding rocks, submerged reefs, made for a particularly nerve-wracking experience to navigate, especially at night or in bad weather.
To avoid the worst consequences of doubling Cape Correntes, India ships stayed as far from the African coast as possible but not so close to Madagascar to run into its traps. To find the ideal middle route through the channel, pilots tended to rely on two dangerous longitude markers - the Bassas da India
and the Europa rocks
. Although conveniently situated in the middle of the channel, they were not always visible above the waves, so sailors often watched for hovering clusters of seabirds, which colonized these rocks, as an indicator of their location. Unfortunately, this was not a reliable method, and many an India ship ended up crashing on those rocks.
If they succeeded sailing up the middle channel, the India naus usually saw African coast again only around the bend of Angoche
. If the ships were in a bad shape, they could stop at the Primeiras Islands
(off Angoche) for urgent repairs. The Primeiras were a long row of low coral islets – not much more than mounds above the waves – but they formed a channel of calm waters between themselves and the mainland, a useful shelter for troubled ships. But virtually uninhabited, water and supplies were hard to come by.
The preferable stop was a little further north on Mozambique Island, a coral island off the coast, with two outlying smaller islands (São Jorge and Sant' Iago). Mozambique's main attribute was its splendid harbor, that served as the usual first stop and collection point of Portuguese India armadas after the crossing of the Cape of Good Hope. The island had a town and a fortress, so some stock of supplies was usually at hand.
The conditions of the ships by the time they reached Mozambique was often quite woeful. Notice that with the occasional exception of Cape Santo Agostinho and Mossel Bay, there are no stops between Cape Verde and Mozambique Island, an extraordinarily long time for 16th C. ships to remain at sea without repairs, watering or resupply. Already before the Cape, provisions had grown stale, scurvy
and dysentry had often set in, and deaths of crews and passengers from disease had begun. The ship itself, so long at sea without re-caulking or re-painting, was in a fragile state. To then force the miserable ship through the mast-cracking tempests of Cape of Good Hope, the seam-ripping violent waters of Cape Correntes and the treacherous rocks of the channel, turned this final stage into a veritable hell for all aboard.
Mozambique Island was originally an outpost of the Kilwa Sultanate
, a collection of Muslim Swahili
cities along the East African coast, centered at Kilwa
, that formed a Medieval commercial empire from Cape Correntes
in the south to the Somali borderlands in the north, what is sometimes called the "Swahili Coast
". The Kilwa Sultanate began disintegrating into independent city-states around the time of the Portuguese arrival (1500), a process speeded along by the intrigues and interventions of Portuguese captains.
[The original object of Portuguese attentions had been the southerly Swahili city of Sofala
, the main outlet of the Monomatapa gold trade, and the first Portuguese fortress in East Africa was erected there in 1505 (Fort São Caetano
de Sofala). But Sofala's harbor was marred by a long moving sandbank and hazardous shoals, making it quite unsuitable as a stop for the India armadas. So in 1507, the 9th Armada seized Mozambique Island and erected a fortress there (Fort São Gabriel, later replaced by Fort São Sebastião in 1558), simply because its spacious and well-sheltered harbor was so much more preferable.]
The principal drawback was that Mozambique Island was parched and infertile. It produced practically nothing locally, it even had to ferry drinkable water by boat from elsewhere. Replenishing the islands was not a simple matter. Although Mozambique islanders had established watering holes, gardens and coconut palm groves (essential for timber) just across on the mainland (at Cabaceira inlet), the Bantu inhabitants of the area were generally hostile to both the Swahili and the Portuguese, and often prevented the collection of supplies. So ensuring Mozambique had sufficient supplies presented its own challenges. The Portuguese factor
s in Mozambique had to ensure enough supplies were shipped in from other points on the East African coast to Mozambique Island before the armada's scheduled arrival. The Mozambican factor also collected East African trade gooods that could be picked up by the armadas and sold profitably in Indian markets – notably gold
, ivory
, copper
, pearls and coral
.
After Mozambique, the rule for the India armadas was generally to continue sailing north until they reached the equator
latitude (the Seychelles
islands, at 4ºS, was a common reference point). It was around here that the all-important southwesterly monsoon
winds began to pick up. The armada would then just sail east, and let the monsoon carry them headlong across the Indian Ocean until India. That is presuming the armada arrived at the equator sometime in August.
In Pimentel's (1746) estimation, ships must leave Mozambique before August 25 to avail themselves of the summer monsoon. If, however, the armada arrived in the latter part of the season, say September, turning at the equator was a risky route. The southwesterly monsoon may be blowing in the right direction at the moment, but the ship ran the risk of not reaching a safe Indian port before the monsoon reversed direction (usually around late September-early October, when it became a northeasterly). So a late season ship was usually stuck in Africa until next April.
Notice that the trajectory, as described, skips over nearly all the towns on the East African coast north of Mozambique – Kilwa
(Quíloa), Zanzibar
, Mombassa (Mombaça), Malindi
(Melinde), Barawa
(Brava), Mogadishu
(Magadoxo), etc. This is not to say Portuguese did not visit those locations – indeed, some even had Portuguese factories and forts (e.g. Fort Santiago in Kilwa, held from 1505 to 1512). But Portuguese armadas on their way to India did not have to stop at those locations, and so usually did not. The stop on Mozambique island was usually the only necessary one.
Nonetheless, if it had time, or got into trouble for some reason, the stopping choice was Malindi
. A Portuguese ally from the earliest trip of Vasco da Gama in 1498, Malindi could usually be counted on to give a warm reception and had plenty of supplies. Unlike most other Swahili towns, Malindi was on the mainland and had an ample hinterlands with fertile cultivated fields, including groves of oranges and lemons (critical to combat scurvy
). The problem was that Malindi didn't really have a suitable harbor. Although waters were kept calm by an offshore reef, the anchorage area was littered with shoals. It did, however, have a peculiar protruding rock that served as a decent natural pier
for loading and unloading goods.
Malindi's other advantage was that, at 3º15'S, it was practically at exactly the right latitude to catch the southwesterly monsoon for an Indian Ocean crossing. Plenty of experienced Indian Ocean pilots - Swahili, Arab or Gujurati - could be found in the city, and Malindi was likely to have the latest news from across the sea. So it was a very convenient stop for the Portuguese before a crossing. However, stops take time. Given the imminent monsoon reversal, that was a scarce commodity. So if the armada had been decently equipped enough at Mozambique island, a stop at Malindi, however delightful or useful, was a rather unnecessary and risky expenditure of time.
Organization was principally in the hands of the Casa da Índia
, the royal trading house established around 1500 by King Manuel I of Portugal
. The Casa was in charge of monitoring the crown monopoly on India trade – receiving goods, collecting duties, assembling, maintaining and scheduling the fleets, contracting private merchants, correspondence with the feitorias (overseas factories
), drafting documents and handling legal matters.
Separately from the Casa, but working in coordination with it, was the Armazém das Índias, the royal agency in charge of nautical outfitting, that oversaw the Lisbon docks and naval arsenal. The Armazém was responsible for the training of pilots and sailors, ship construction and repair, and the procurement and provision of naval equipment – sails, ropes, guns, instruments and, most importantly, maps. The piloto-mor ('chief pilot') of the Armazém, in charge of pilot-training, was, up until 1548, also the keeper of the Padrão Real
, the secret royal master map, incorporating all the cartographic details reported by Portuguese captains and explorers, and upon which all official nautical charts were based. The screening and hiring of crews was the function of the provedor of the Armazém.
From at least 1511 (perhaps earlier), the offices of the Casa da India were based in the ground floor of the royal Ribeira Palace, by the Terreiro do Paço
in Lisbon, with the Armazém nearby. (Neither the Casa nor the Armazem should be confused with the Estado da Índia, the Portuguese colonial government in India, which was separate and reported directly to the monarch.)
Ships could be and sometimes were owned and outfitted by private merchants, and these were incorporated into the India armada. However, the expenses of outfitting a ship were immense, and few native Portuguese merchants had the wherewithal to finance one, despite eager government encouragement. In the early India runs, there are several ships organized by private consortiums, often with foreign capital provided by wealthy Italian and German trading houses. This fluctuated over time, as the royal duties, costs of outfitting and rate of attrition and risk of loss on India runs were sometimes too high for private houses to bear. Private Portuguese merchants did, however, routinely contract for cargo, carried aboard crown ships for freight charges.
Marine insurance
was still underdeveloped, although the Portuguese had helped pioneer its development and its practice seemed already customary. In May, 1293, King Denis of Portugal
had established the Sociedade de Mercadores Portugueses (Society of Portuguese Merchants), with mutual help clauses that formed the kernel of marine insurance contracts, similar to those in practice in Italian ports such as Genoa
and Pisa
. In 1380 Ferdinand I
established a shipping company (Companhia das Naus
), with a compulsory insurance scheme, whereby member-merchants (essentially all shipowners and merchants outfitting ships above 50t) to contribute a fixed rate of 2% of freight revenue as a premium to a central fund (Bolsa de Seguros), from which claim payouts would be redistributed. Around 1488, Pedro de Santarém (Petrus Santerna), a Portuguese consul in Italy, wrote perhaps the first treatise, De assecurationibus (published 1552-53), outlining the theory and principles behind marine insurance. Around 1578, Cardinal-King Henry established the Consulado, a tribunal explicitly dedicated to decide marine insurance cases (initially suppressed by the Iberian Union
of 1580, the tribunal was resurrected by Philip II of Spain
in 1593, with the modification that a private marine insurance contract had to have the signature of a royal official (comissário de seguros), to be valid in the law courts). This formed the framework for marine insurance in which the India Armadas operated. Later developments include the establishment of an insurance house (Casa de Seguros) as an organ of the Junta do Comércio Geral (Board of General Trade) by regent-prince Peter II of Portugal in 1668, subsequently replaced by the Mesa do Bem Comum do Comércio (Board of Common Trade Welfare) in 1720. Around 1750, the Marquis de Pombal persuaded the monarch to fold the older house into a new entity, the Real Junta do Comércio (Royal Board of Trade). (DeSouza, 1977).
of Gama's 1497 fleet, one of the largest of the time, was only 120t. But this was quickly increased as the India run got underway. In the 1500 Cabral armada, the largest carracks, Cabral's flagship and the El-Rei, are reported to have been somewhere between 240t-300t. The Flor de la Mar
, built in 1502, was a 400t nau, while at least one of the naus of the Albuquerque armada of 1503 is reported to have been as large as 600t. The rapid doubling and tripling of the size of Portuguese carracks in a few short years reflected the needs of the India runs. The rate of increase tapered off thereafter. For much of the remainder of the 16th C., the average carrack on the India run was probably around 400t.
In the 1550s, during the reign of John III
, a few 900t behemoths were built for India runs, in the hope that larger ships would provide economies of scale
. The experiment turned out poorly. Not only was the cost of outfitting such a large ship disproportionately high, they proved unmaneouverable and unseaworthy, particularly in the treacherous waters of the Mozambique Channel
. Three of the new behemoths were quickly lost on the southern African coast – the São João (900t, built 1550, wrecked 1552), the São Bento (900t, built 1551, wrecked 1554) and the largest of them all, the Nossa Senhora da Graça (1,000t, built 1556, wrecked 1559).
These kind of losses prompted King Sebastian
to issue an ordinance in 1570 setting the upper limit to the size of India naus at 450t. Nonetheless, after the Iberian Union
of 1580, this regulation would be ignored and shipbuilders, probably urged on by merchants hoping to turn around more cargo on every trip, pushed for larger ships. The size of India naus accelerated again, averaging 600t in the 1580-1600 period, with several spectacularly large naus of 1500t or greater making their appearance in the 1590s.
If the lesson was not quite learned then, it was certainly learned in August, 1592, when English privateer
Sir John Burroughs
(alt. Burrows, Burgh) captured the Madre de Deus
in the waters around the Azores
islands. The Madre de Deus, built in 1589, was a 1600t carrack, with seven decks and a crew of around 600. It was the largest Portuguese ship to go on an India run. The great carrack, under the command of Fernão de Mendonça Furtado, was returning from Cochin with a full cargo when it was captured by Burrough. The value of the treasure and cargo taken on this single ship is estimated to have been equivalent to half the entire treasury of the English crown. The loss of so much cargo in one swoop confirmed, once again, the folly of building such gigantic ships. The carracks built for the India run returned to their smaller ideal size after the turn of the century.
In the early Carreira da India, the carracks were usually accompanied by smaller caravels (caravelas), averaging 50t-70t (rarely reaching 100t), and capable of holding 20-30 men at most. Whether lateen-rigged
or square-rigged
(redonda), these shallow-drafted, nimble vessels had a myriad of uses. Caravels served as forward lamp, scouts and fighting ships of the convoy. Caravels on the India run were often destined to remain overseas for coastal patrol duty, rather than return with the main fleet.
In the course of the 16th C., caravels were gradually phased out in favor of a new escort/fighting ship, the galleon
(galeão), which could range anywhere between 100t to 1000t. Based on the design of the carrack
, but slenderer and lower, with forecastle diminished or removed to make way for its famous 'beak', the galleon became the principal fighting ship of the India fleet. It was not as nimble as the caravel, but could be mounted with much more cannon, thus packing a bigger punch. With the introduction of the galleon, carracks became almost exclusively cargo ships (which is why they were pushed to such large sizes), leaving any fighting to be done to the galleons. One of the largest and most famous of Portuguese galleons was the São João Baptista (nicknamed Botafogo, 'spitfire'), a 1,000-ton galleon built in 1534, said to have carried 366 guns.
Many fleets also brought small supply ships on outward voyage. These were destined to be scuttled along the way once the supplies were consumed. The crews were redistributed and the abandoned ships usually burned to recover their iron nails and fittings.
Average speed of an India Armada was around 2.5 knots, but some ships could achieve speeds of between 8 and 10 for some stretches.
With a few exceptions (e.g. Flor de la Mar
, Santa Catarina do Monte Sinai
), Portuguese India naus were not typically built to last longer than four or five years of useful service. That a nau managed to survive a single India run was already an achievement, given that few ships of any nation at the time were able to stay at sea for even a quarter as long without breaking apart at the seams.
The success of the India nau depended on 15th C. innovations in Portuguese shipbuilding that greatly improved the seaworthiness and longevity of the ship. Notable among these were the use of iron nails (rather than wooden pegs) to hold planks, the mixing of lead
in the seams, and a caulking
technique that improved upon traditional oakum
with 'galagala' paste (a mixture of oakum, lime
and olive oil
, producing a kind of putty that could be pressed between the planks). Hulls were amply coated in pitch
and pine tar
(imported in bulk amounts from northern Germany), giving the India naus their famous (and, to some observers, sinister) dark tone.
King John II of Portugal
is often credited for pioneering, while still a prince in 1474, the introduction of a reinforced deck on the old Henry-era caravel
to allow the mounting of heavy guns. In 1489, he introduced the first standardized teams of trained naval gunners (bombardeiros) on every ship, and development of naval tactics that maximized broadside cannonades rather than the rush-and-grapple of Medieval galleys.
The Portuguese crown appropriated the best cannon technology available in Europe, particularly the new, more durable and far more accurate bronze
cannon developed in Central Europe, replacing the older, less accurate cast-iron cannon. By 1500, Portugal was importing vast volumes of copper
and cannon from northern Europe, and had established itself as the leading producer of advanced naval artillery in its own right. Being a crown industry, cost considerations did not curb the pursuit of the best quality, best innovations and best training. The crown paid wage premiums and bonuses to lure the best European artisans and gunners (mostly German) to advance the industry in Portugal. Every cutting-edge innovation introduced elsewhere was immediately appropriated into Portuguese naval artillery – that includes bronze cannon (Flemish/German), breech-loading swivel-guns (prob. German origin), truck carriages (possibly English), and the idea (originally French, c. 1501) of cutting square gunports (portinhola) in the hull to allow heavy cannon to be mounted below deck.
In this respect, the Portuguese spearheaded the evolution of modern naval warfare, moving away from the Medieval warship, a carrier of armed men, aiming for the grapple, towards the modern idea of a floating artillery piece dedicated to resolving battles by gunnery alone.
According to Gaspar Correia, the typical fighting caravel of Gama's 4th Armada
(1502) carried 30 men, four heavy guns below, six falconets
(falconete) above (two fixed astern) and ten swivel-guns
(canhão de berço) on the quarter-deck and bow.
An armed carrack, by contrast, had six heavy guns below, eight falconets above and several swivel-guns, and two fixed forward-firing guns before the mast. Although an armed carrack carried more firepower than a caravel, it was much less swift and less manoeuvrable, especially when loaded with cargo. A carrack's guns were primarily defensive, or for shore bombardments, whenever their heavier firepower was necessary. But by and large, fighting at sea was usually left to the armed carvels. The development of the heavy galleon removed even the necessity of bringing carrack firepower to bear in most circumstances.
The loss rate was higher in certain periods than others, reflecting greater or lesser attention and standards of shipbuilding, organization, supervision, training, etc. which reveals itself in shoddily-built ships, overloaded cargo, incompetent officers, as well as the expected higher dangers of wartime. The rates fluctuated dramatically. By one estimate, in 1571-75, 90% of India ships returned safely; by 1586-1590, the success rate fell to less than 40%; between 1596 and 1605, the rate climbed above 50% again, but in the subsequent years fell back to around 20%.
That only four ships on India runs were known to be captured by the enemy seems quite astonishing. These were:
This does not count, of course, ships that were attacked by enemy action and subsequently capsized or destroyed. It also does not count ships that were captured later in the East Indies (i.e. not on the India route at the time). The most famous of these was probably the mighty Portuguese carrack Santa Catarina (not to be confused with its earlier Mount Sinai namesake), captured in 1603, by Dutch captain Jacob van Heemskerk
. The Santa Catarina was on a Macau
to Malacca
run with a substantial cargo of Sino-Japanese wares, most notably a small fortune in musk
, when it was captured by Heemskerk in Singapore
. The captured cargo nearly doubled the capital of the fledgling Dutch VOC
.]
Ships losses should not be confused with crew losses from disease, deprivation, accident, combat and desertion. These tended to be horrifically high – one third, or even as much as one half, even in good years.
Each India ship had a capitão (captain
). As the position of captain could be quite profitable, it became quite attractive to lesser nobles and men of ambition hoping for a quick and easy fortune. The crown was often happy to 'sell' captain positions on India runs as a form of royal patronage to candidates with little or no experience at sea. Nonetheless, the captain was formally the king's representative and highest authority on his ship. Everyone, even noble passengers of greater formal rank, were under his jurisdiction. The supremacy of a captain's authority was curtailed only if the captain-major came aboard his ship, and when he docked in Goa
(jurisdiction passed to the Vice-Roy or Governor).
Another important figure on an India ship was the escrivão (clerk
), the de facto royal agent. The clerk was in charge of the written record of everything on the ship, especially the cargo inventory, which he tracked with meticulous precision. The clerk was carefully screened by the Casa da Índia
, and was the crown's most trusted agent on board ship, and expected to keep an eye for crown interests. This gave him, in practice, a greater authority on the ship than his formal title suggests. At departure, the clerk was presented with the keys to the hold
(porão). and a royal signet to seal the cargo. Nobody, not even the captain, was allowed to visit the cargo hold without the clerk present. It is said that rations could not be distributed, nor even a cup of water drawn from a barrel, without notifying the clerk. Upon the capture of an enemy ship, the clerk was immediately escorted aboard the captured vessel to seal the holds, cabins and chests, and take inventory of the loot.
Technical command of the ship was in the hands of the piloto (who combined the roles of pilot
and navigator
) and his assistant, the soto-piloto (second or under-pilot). The pilot and his assistant not merely steered the ship, but were responsible for all navigational matters – charts, instruments, plotting the course, etc. As captains were often quite inexperienced, the pilot was usually the highest trained naval officer aboard. Captains frequently deferred to them on the running of the ship.
Lacking a formal navigation school, early pilots were trained by apprenticeship
. New pilots received their instruction, both practical and theoretical, first-hand from master pilots aboard ship and kept a tight lid on their professional secrets. This changed in the late 1550s or early 1560s, with the establishment of formal courses of instruction for India pilots in Lisbon by the cosmógrafo-mor Pedro Nunes
, which included a final examination and formal certification.
Despite their general secretiveness, several early India pilots compiled written navigation manuals, probably initially merely as notes for themselves, but eventually passed on and copied by others. These included general instructions on how to read, plot and follow routes by nautical chart, how to use the principal nautical instruments of the day - the mariner's compass
, the quadrant
, the astrolabe
, the nocturlabe
and the cross-staff (balestilha) - and astronomical tables (notably that of solar declination, derived from Abraham Zacuto
and later Pedro Nunes's own) to correctly account for "compass error" (the deviation of the magnetic north from the true north
) by recourse to the Pole Star
, Sun
and Southern Cross, the flux and reflux of tides, etc. These manuals often contained a roteiro (rutter
), giving the detailed instructions (by geographical coordinates and physical description) of the routes to India. Two of the few which have survived were Duarte Pacheco Pereira
's Esmeraldo de Situ Orbis (c.1509) and João de Lisboa's Livro da Marinharia (c.1514).
Relative to the ships of other nations (e.g. French, Dutch), clerks and pilots on Portuguese vessels held an unusually high degree of authority.
Next in a ship's hierarchy was the mestre (master
). The ship's master was the officer in charge of all sailors, ship's boys and the rest of the crew. His primary job at sea was to ensure the crew implemented the technical manoeuvre orders of the pilot – raising and lowering sails, etc. As such, the master required a good degree of sailing knowledge – knowing how to translate the pilot's instructions into sail & crew instructions. He was often sufficiently trained in navigation to take over pilot's duties if the pilot and under-pilot were incapacitated. But a ship which lost all three officers would usually be in serious trouble.
Assisting the master, was the contramestre (or soto-mestre, boatswain
). The boatswain was the crew enforcer – he ensured the master's orders were implemented by the crew. In practice, they usually partitioned the deck between them, with the master in charge of implementation in the stern
, and the boatswain in the bow (ship)
. The boatswain was also in charge of the maintenance of rigging, anchors and supervising the loading and unloading of cargo, etc. The boatswain had his own assistant, the guardião (boatswain's mate).
The bulk of the crew were all-purpose sailors – usually half of them marinheiros (seamen), the other half grumetes (ship-boys). The partition between the two classes was akin to the modern distinction between able seaman
and ordinary seamen
, e.g. ship-boys were assigned the drudgery duties, swabbing and scrubbing, moving cargo, etc., while seamen would be given 'higher' responsibilities, e.g. assigned to hold the wheel on the quarterdeck
(tolda). The contramestre (boatswain) was considered the head of the seamen, and served as the intermediary between the seamen and the higher officers (master, pilot, etc.). The guardião (boatswain's mate) had authority only over the ship-boys; seamen would not obey a guardiãos order.
Then there were the specialized crew. A Portuguese India nau usually had two estrinqueiros, skilled sailors in charge of the windlass
that operated the round sails
(one for the main mast, another for the fore mast). The meirinho (bailiff
), a judicial officer, was in charge of dispensing punishment and supervising on-board dangers (fires, gunpowder stores, weapon caches). The capelão (chaplain
) was in charge of saving souls, the barbeiro (barber surgeon
) in charge of saving lives. A large nau usually had a number of pagens (pages
), who not only attended upon the officers and the cabins, but also served as runners delivering orders across the deck.
The despenseiro (purser
/steward
) was in charge of food stores and rations. Unlike ships of other nations, Portuguese vessels did not usually have a cook aboard, sailors were expected to cook their own meals themselves at the ship's ovens. Rations were composed primarily of ship biscuit (the main staple, rationed at 2 lb per person per day). Other provisions included wine, salt, olive oil, salted cod, sardines, pork, cheese, rice, and the like, with fresh fruits and vegetables available on the initial part of the journey. Rations were suspended if the ship was at dock and the men ashore. On the return journey, the crown would only supply enough biscuit and water for a ship to reach the Cape of Good Hope; the ship's crew would have to find its own provisions thereafter.
Perhaps the most valued of the specialized positions was the repair crew. This was usually composed of two carpenter
s (carpinteiro) and two caulkers (calafate) that fixed anything that was broken, plus the cooper
(tanoeiro), who ensured the cargo and water stores remained preserved. A nau might also have mergulhadores (divers), crew specially trained to go down the outside of the ship to check and help repair hull damage below the water level.
Military personnel aboard a nau varied with the mission. Except for some specialists and passengers, most of the crew was armed before encounters and expected to fight. But every nau also had, at the very least, a small specialized artillery
crew of around ten bombardeiros (gunners), under the command of a condestável (constable
). As naval artillery was the single most important advantage the Portuguese had over rival powers in the Indian Ocean, gunners were highly trained and enjoyed a bit of an elite status on the ship. (Indeed, many gunners on Portuguese India ships were highly skilled foreigners, principally Germans, lured into Portuguese service with premium wages and bonuses offered by crown agents.).
Ships that expected more military encounters might also carry homens d'armas (men-at-arms
), espingardeiros (arquebusiers/musketeer
s) and besteiros (crossbowmen). But, except for the gunners, soldiers aboard ship were not regarded as an integral part of the naval crew, but rather just as passengers.
The following is a sample composition of a typical 16th C. Portuguese India nau (carrack
):
Total = 127 crew
Plus any soldiers and passengers that might be taken aboard.
, captains and crew members were allowed to engage in trade on their own account (up to a certain amount). That is, they were authorized to import into Portugal a pre-specified volume of pepper and a certain number of boxes of assorted goods (caixas forras de fretes e direitos, or caixas de liberdades, "liberty chests"). These were to be purchased in India out of their own pockets, of course, but the crown would allow these cargoes to be brought back on crown ships free of freight charge and duties, and sold in Lisbon markets (at pre-set prices), for their own personal profit. Liberty chests had standard dimensions 4' × 3' × 2.5'
In the early armadas, the captain-major and captains of the carracks were obliged, by King Manuel I of Portugal
, to pay the vintena de Belém , a 5% duty of the earnings from the private sales of imported goods for the construction and maintenance of the Jerónimos Monastery
in Belém
. This rule was introduced in 1502 and continued until about 1522.
The following compensation schedule is taken from the Second India Armada
of 1500
The Casa da India allowed the captain-major to draw as much as 5,000 cruzados of his salary in advance, a captain 1,000. Any married crewman could draw up to one year in salary in advance, while a single man could draw up to six months.
Officers, soldiers and officials that were to remain in India in some capacity (patrol ship captains, factors, clerks, magistrates (alcaide-mor), etc.) typically signed employment contracts of three years duration. Soldiers who signed an overseas service contract received a bonus of 800 reais
per month en route, bumped up to 1200 per month in India (to pay for living expenses), and the right to ship back an additional 2.5 quintals of pepper per year (in addition to the quintals they were already authorized to send back according to the standard pay scale).
Even if not formally authorized, captains sometimes supplemented their earnings by undertaking a bit of piracy and extortion on the side. Although it did not necessarily encourage India armadas to pursue activities that might endanger their ships and cargoes, rules were still set out for the partition of the spoils of captured ships and extortion of tribute from 'unfriendly' ports.
The rules of plunder were as follows: first of all, the captain-major has the 'right to a jewel', i.e. he is allowed to pick one item from the spoils for himself, provided it is worth no more than 500 cruzados. Then one-fifth is set aside for the crown. The remainder is subsequently divided into three parts: 2/3 for the crown again (albeit to be expended on the armada itself in the form of equipment, supplies and ammunition), and the remaining third distributed among the crew for private taking. The partition of this last third worked out as follows:
Once again, the captain-major and captains of large carracks had to contribute 10% of their part to the Jerónimos monastery of Belém (although that does not seem to apply to the others).
Black Pepper
, grown locally in Kerala
, composed as much as 90% of the return cargo of the early armadas. But the other glorious spices could also be found in Calicut, Cochin and other major markets on the Malabar coast
of India – cinnamon
was imported in large amounts from Ceylon, while, from further east, via Malacca
, came long pepper
(from Java
), cloves (grown exclusively in the Moluccan islands of Ternate
and Tidore
) and, in smaller amounts, highly-valued nutmeg and mace
(grown only in the Banda Islands
).
The armadas also loaded less glorious spices found in Indian markets, notably locally-grown ginger
(the principal 'filler' cargo), cardamom
and tamarind
, balms and aromatics like Artemisia indica
(wormwood), Socotra aloe
, galbanum
, camphor
and myrrh
. Also brought back from India were dyes like lac
, indigo
and dyewood and precious ornamental objects and materials like ivory
, ebony
and pearl
s.
It is estimated that the average India carrack brought back between 6,100 and 6,800 quintal
s of imported spices and goods - or, around 25,000 to 30,000 quintals for the average yearly India armada (4-5 ships). Exceptionally large armadas and/or behemoth ships could push it up to 40,000 in some years. It is estimated that around 15% of the cargo was lost at sea, spoilage, etc. over the long run.
A greater difficulty involved determining the cargo on the outgoing journey. The following list, from the Fourth Armada
of 1502, gives an idea of the kind of European items brought by the Portuguese to sell in India: "cut and branch coral
, copper
in pigs and sheets, quicksilver
, vermilion
, rugs, Flanders brass basins, coloured cloths, knives, red barret-caps, mirrors and coloured silk
s." But, by and large, European products did not sell well in Asia, which meant that ship holds were frequently empty, or nearly so, on the outward leg. In other words, outbound ships carried little more than the metal bullion – principally silver
, but also copper
and lead
– needed to purchase spices in Asian markets.
However, if they stopped by Mozambique Island on the outward leg (as almost all India armadas did), they could expect the local Portuguese factors to have a stockpile of East African trade goods – gold, ivory, coral, pearls, acquired during the year at several points along the Swahili Coast
– ready to be picked up by the armadas for sale in India.
Instead, the Portuguese relied on the ancient 'factory' system. That is, in every major market, the Portuguese erected a warehouse ('factory
', feitoria) and left behind a purchasing agent ('factor'
, feitor). The factor and his assistants would remain in the city and buy spices from the markets slowly over the course of the year, and deposit them into the warehouse. When the next armada arrived, it would simply load up the accumulated spices from the warehouse and set sail out at once.
The first Portuguese factory in Asia was set up in Calicut (Calecute, Kozhikode), the principal spice entrepot on the Malabar Coast
of India in September 1500, but it was overrun in a riot a couple of months later. Consequently, the first lasting factory was set up in the nearby smaller city of Cochin (Cochim, Kochi) in late 1500. This was followed up by factories in Cannanore
(Canonor, Kannur) (1502) and Quilon
(Coulão, Kollam) (1503).
Although some Portuguese factories were defended by palisade
s that eventually evolved into Portuguese forts garrisoned by Portuguese troops (e.g. Fort Manuel
was erected around the Cochin factory in 1503, Fort Sant' Angelo
around the Cannanore factory in 1505), not all did. The two concepts are distinct. Factories were commercial outposts, not political, administrative or military. The factor was formally an employee of the Casa da India (the trading house), not an officer of the Estado da India (the colonial government).
was the offloading point of the India armada, it was not the endpoint of the Portuguese spice trade
. There remained the matter of distribution of the spices in Europe.
Until the Portuguese breakthrough into the Indian Ocean, the supply of eastern spices to European consumers had been largely in the hands of Republic of Venice
. Arab and Gujarati merchants ferried spices from Indian ports like Calicut, across the Arabian Sea
and into the Red Sea
ports like Jeddah
. From there, they would be carried overland to ports in the eastern Mediterranean, such as Alexandria
, where they would be picked by Venetian merchants and then sold on European markets.
The Portuguese India armadas challenged this old spice route, for a brief period disrupted it, but they did not eliminate it. Despite Portuguese efforts to secure monopolies at the source, enough spices still slipped through the old Venetian-Arab route and forced competition on the sale end in Europe.
Realizing that the Mediterranean was saturated with spices supplied by Venetian merchants, the Portuguese decided to avoid head-to-head competition that might cut into their profits there, and focused on selling their spices in northern Europe, a market the Venetians had barely touched. To this end, the Casa da Índia set up a factory (feitoria de Flandres) in the Brabantine
town of Antwerp in 1508. The factory had two purposes: firstly, to serve as a distribution center of the Portuguese spices to the rest of northern Europe; secondly, to acquire the silver bullion needed by the Portuguese India armadas to buy spices in Asia.
It is in the silver trade that Portugal and Venice competed directly. Both needed large volumes of European silver to buy spices in Asia, yet the only significant silver source was in Central Europe, dominated by major German trading families like the Welser
s, the Hochstetter
s and the Fuggers of Augsburg
. To get their hands on this silver, the Portuguese and Venetians offered gold, not only from their revenues of spice sales, but also from overseas sources: the Portuguese had access to gold from the Akan
fields on the Gold Coast
of west Africa, while the Venetians had access to the gold mines of the Sudan
(which was freighted up the Nile
to Alexandria
). Via river routes, the German silver merchants directed silver bullion supplies up to the Portuguese factory in Antwerp, from where ships would carry them to Lisbon, to be loaded onto to the India armadas.
The intercontinental streams of spices, gold and silver flowing in and out of the Portuguese factory transformed Antwerp overnight from a sleepy town into arguably the leading commercial and financial center of Europe in the 16th C., a position it would enjoy until its sack by mutinous Spanish soldiers
in 1576.
Recent research has shown that, after 1505, most of the trade that moved between Lisbon and Antwerp side-stepped the Portuguese royal "factory of Flanders". Most of the European leg of the trade was directly contracted between the Casa da India in Lisbon and private foreign consortiums (usually Italian and German) in Antwerp and freighted largely by Dutch, Hanseatic and Breton ships. As a result, the bulk of the profits of the Portuguese spice trade accrued not to the Portuguese crown, but to the private consortiums (Smith calculates that, in 1517-19, as much as half the price difference for spices between Indian and European markets was pocketed by private European merchants on this leg; by 1585, the share reaped by the Portuguese crown had fallen to a mere 15%)
issued a decree revoking the royal monopoly, and opening up trade with India to any private Portuguese merchant. As few took up the offer, the free trade decree was replaced in 1578 by a new system of annual monopolies, whereby the Casa sold the rights of the India trade to a private merchant consortium, guaranteeing them a monopoly for one year. The annual monopoly system was abandoned in 1597, and the royal monopoly resumed. But by that time, everything had changed.
For an entire century, the Portuguese had managed to monopolize the India run. The spice trade itself was not monopolized - through the 16th C., the Republic of Venice
had kept up its competition through its overland Levantine routes - but the sea route by the Cape remained exclusively Portuguese. Despite occasional leaks (e.g. the Cantino planisphere
of 1502), details of the Portuguese Carreira da India had been largely kept secret, or at least was not exploited by competitors. But this changed in the 1590s.
The capture of the Portuguese ship São Filipe by the English privateer Sir Francis Drake in 1587, with its rutter and detailed maps, prompted the first English attempt to sail to the East Indies, a private three-ship fleet organized by London merchants, and led by Sir James Lancaster
. It was a disaster - most of the ships and crews were lost, and Lancaster had to resort to piracy to fill his hold - but it opened the way.
In the Netherlands, the preacher and cartographer Petrus Plancius
had long been urging his countrymen to set out on their own route, rather than relying on the Portuguese hauls. The Dutch effort received an injection from the information provided by Cornelis de Houtman
, a Dutch spy dispatched to Lisbon in 1592 to scout the spice trade, and Jan Huyghen van Linschoten
, a Dutch sailor who had served on many Portuguese India armadas from the 1580s. With this information in hand, the Dutch finally made their move in 1595, when a group of Amsterdam
merchants formed the Compagnie van Verre and sent out their first expedition, under de Houtman, to the East Indies, aiming for the market port of Bantam
. That same year, Linschoten published a little tract in Amsterdam entitled Reysgheschrift vande navigatien der Portugaloysers in Orienten, a rutter
giving the details of the sailing directions of the Portuguese India Run. It was republished in 1596, as part of a larger book, the Itinerario, where Linschoten gave the details of the trade and the condition of Portuguese defenses in Asia. It was an explosive sensation. It was immediately translated into English, German, Latin and soon French.
1597 was the bellwether year - the year of Houtman's successful return, and the spread of Linschoten's tracts. A slate of new Dutch companies (voorcompagnie) to trade with the East Indies were immediately erected by various competing merchant consortiums in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Middelburg and elsewhere - often with the help of exiled Antwerp merchants ('Brabantsche'), who had long been involved on the distribution end of the Portuguese spice trade, but expelled by the Hapsburg conflict. At least fifteen separate Dutch expeditions to the East Indies, each involving enormous amounts of men, ships and treasure, were sent out by the voorcompanies in 1598-1601. From this ethusiastic anarchic beginning, the Dutch trade got organized in 1601, when the Dutch government forced the voorcompagnie to fold under a single monopoly company, the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie
(VOC).
Fearful of being left behind, the English had founded their own East India Company
(EIC) in 1600, and managed to organize a small English expedition to Bantam in 1601, but enthusiasm was weaker and the EIC had problems competing with the better-organized and better-financed Dutch.
The vigorous Dutch VOC
and English EIC
encroachments on the Portuguese empire
and trade in Asia, prompted the monarchy (then in Iberian Union
with Spain) to experiment with different arrangements. In 1624, Philip IV of Spain
(III of Portugal) granted a monopoly charter to a Portuguese Companhia do commércio da Índia
, a private joint-stock company organized on the same lines as the Dutch and English companies. The Companhia was to take over all the responsibilities of the Casa da India, including the annual India armada. It proved to be a fiasco. The Anglo-Dutch breach of the Portuguese East Indies trade was irreparable by this time, squeezing profit margins and rendering the Companhia unprofitable. It was liquidated in 1633, and what remained of the dwindling Portuguese India trade was brought back under the royal Casa da India.
(ms. 525).
Another codex of the same nature is the Memória das Armadas que de Portugal passaram à Índia ("Memory of the Armadas that from Portugal passed to India") or Livro das Armadas, held by the Academia das Ciências
in Lisbon
. It covers the period from 1497 to 1567 (although missing the armada of 1517).
The first Portuguese chronicler to attempt a systematic chronology of the India Armadas seems to have been Diogo do Couto
, in his appendix to João de Barros
's Décadas da Ásia ("Decades of Asia"), entitled " "De todas as Armadas que os Reys de Portugal mandáram à Índia, até que El-Rey D. Filippe succedeo nestes Reynos", de 1497 a 1581" (Dec X, Pt.1, Bk. 1, c.16).
Other codices include "Relação das Náos e Armadas da India com os Sucessos dellas que se puderam Saber, para Noticia e Instrucção dos Curiozos, e Amantes da Historia da India" ("Relation of the Ships and Armadas of India") (Codex Add. 20902 of the British Library
), covering the period from 1497 to 1653. It was compiled on the order of D. António de Ataíde, who was himself responsible for a good part of its extensive marginal annotations. Other annotations were added by later unidentified writers.
One of the more exhaustive chronologies, at least up to 1640, was compiled by Manuel de Faria e Sousa
in his Ásia Portugueza (part III, end of volume), published posthumously in 1675. Faria e Sousa includes not only the India Armadas, but all the Portuguese fleets from 1412, including those dispatched to Africa under Prince Henry the Navigator.
There are several chronicle
s of Portuguese India written by contemporaries and historians, which provide substantive descriptions of the various armadas. João de Barros
's Décadas da Ásia and Damião de Góis
's royal chronicles (Crónica do Felicíssimo Rei D. Manuel, 1566–67 and Crónica do Principe D. João, 1567) were official chronicles. As a result, while comprehensive, they have the drawbacks of being carefully censored
and consciously propagandistic
. Both Barros and Gois constructed their accounts primarily from archives in Lisbon although Barros's vast work was far more comprehensive and more conscientiously faithful to accuracy (Góis's was an unabashed hagiography
, whereas Barros frequently updated his account on the discovery of any new scrap of information). Barros's work was supplemented later by several additional volumes written by Diogo do Couto
, who had spent most of his career in India.
Of the unofficial accounts, Jerónimo Osório's De rebus Emmanuelis, is essentially a Latin
restatement of the earlier chronicles, hoping for a wider European audience, and provides little that we don't already know. Fernão Lopes de Castanheda
's História do descobrimento e conquista da Índia pelos portugueses ("History of the Discovery and Conquest of the East Indies by the Portuguese", 1554–59), although unofficial, is generally regarded as 'respectable' and reliable. Unlike Barros, Góis or Osório, Castanheda actually visited the East, spending ten years in India, and supplemented the archival material with independent interviews he conducted there and back in Coimbra.
Distinct from all the others is Gaspar Correia
's Lendas da Índia ("Legends of India", written c. 1556, manuscript found and published only in 1885). This is almost entirely original material, his facts and names are often at variance with the official chronicles. Correia spent nearly his entire life in India, and drew primarily from materials available there. His style of writing is also much more entertaining, intense and replete with 'gossipy' details. Although not regarded as reliable, Correia's account supplies a lot of information that the others miss or prefer to remain silent on.
Besides these comprehensive chronicles, there are many accounts of particular armadas – on-board diaries, accounts, memoirs and letters written by their passengers.
There is quite some conflict between the various sources over the exact composition of the various India Armadas, particularly in the names of the captains of the vessels. Attempts have been made to reconcile the differences between the sources (e.g. Quintella's Annaes da Marinha Portugueza), although these inevitably involve some degree of conjecture, dispute and revision.
Other 1500 events
Other 1501 events
Other 1502 events
Other 1503 events
Note: In some lists, Pêro Dinis (or Dias) de Setúbal is substituted with two small ships, one under Simão de Alcáçova, another under Cristovão de Távora
, bringing the total to fourteen. To get thirteen again, they assume Albergaria doesn't have his own ship, but is aboard Pêro de Mendonça's ship on outbound journey.
Other 1504 events
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
to India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, principally Goa
Goa
Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
. These armadas undertook what was called the Carreira da Índia ("India Run"), following the sea route around the Cape of Good Hope
Cape of Good Hope
The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...
opened up by Vasco da Gama
Vasco da Gama
Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira was a Portuguese explorer, one of the most successful in the Age of Discovery and the commander of the first ships to sail directly from Europe to India...
in 1497-1499.
The India run
For a long time after its discovery by Vasco da GamaVasco da Gama
Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira was a Portuguese explorer, one of the most successful in the Age of Discovery and the commander of the first ships to sail directly from Europe to India...
in 1497-1499, the sea route to India via the Cape of Good Hope
Cape of Good Hope
The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...
was dominated by the Portuguese India armada – the annual fleet dispatched from Portugal to India. Between 1497 and 1650, there were 1033 departures of ships at Lisbon for the Carreira da Índia ("India Run").
Timing
Monsoon
Monsoon is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation, but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with the asymmetric heating of land and sea...
winds of the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
. The monsoon was a southwesterly wind (i.e. blew from East Africa to India) in the Summer (between April and September) and then abruptly reversed itself and became a northeasterly (from India to Africa) in the Winter (between October and March). The ideal timing was to catch the late summer monsoon to India, and return with the early winter monsoon, minimizing the time at sea.
The India armada typically left Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
in the early Spring (February–April).Duarte Pacheco Pereira (1509) strongly recommended February as the ideal departure month. That would bring it to the Cape of Good Hope
Cape of Good Hope
The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...
around June–July, and to the East Africa
East Africa
East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easterly region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. In the UN scheme of geographic regions, 19 territories constitute Eastern Africa:...
n middle coast by August, just in time to catch the summer monsoon winds to India. The return trip from India would typically begin in January, taking the winter monsoon across the Indian Ocean and down East Africa, double the Cape in reverse around April, and arrive in Lisbon by the Summer. Overall, the round trip took a little over a year.
The critical step was ensuring the armada reached East Africa on time. Ships that failed to reach the equator
Equator
An equator is the intersection of a sphere's surface with the plane perpendicular to the sphere's axis of rotation and containing the sphere's center of mass....
latitude on the East Africa
East Africa
East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easterly region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. In the UN scheme of geographic regions, 19 territories constitute Eastern Africa:...
n coast by late August would be stuck in Africa and have to wait until next Spring to undertake an Indian Ocean crossing. And then they would have to wait in India until the Winter to begin their return. So any dilly-dallying in East Africa during those critical few weeks of August could end up adding an entire extra year to a ship's journey.
Because of the timing, an armada had to leave Lisbon before the previous year's armada returned. To get news of the latest developments in India, the outgoing armada relied on notes and reports left along the way at various African staging posts by the returning fleet.
The circumnavigation of Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
opened an alternative route to get to India, which gave more flexibility in timing. The rule that quickly emerged was that if an outbound armada doubled the Cape of Good Hope
Cape of Good Hope
The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...
before mid-July, then it should follow the old "inner route" – that is, sail into the Mozambique Channel
Mozambique Channel
The Mozambique Channel is a portion of the Indian Ocean located between the island nation of Madagascar and southeast Africa, primarily the country of Mozambique. It was a World War II clashpoint during the Battle of Madagascar...
, up the East African coast until the equator
Equator
An equator is the intersection of a sphere's surface with the plane perpendicular to the sphere's axis of rotation and containing the sphere's center of mass....
latitude (around Malindi
Malindi
Malindi is a town on Malindi Bay at the mouth of the Galana River, lying on the Indian Ocean coast of Kenya. It is 120 kilometres northeast of Mombasa. The population of Malindi is 117,735 . It is the capital of the Malindi District.Tourism is the major industry in Malindi. The city is...
, Seychelles
Seychelles
Seychelles , officially the Republic of Seychelles , is an island country spanning an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, some east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar....
), then take the southwesterly monsoon across the ocean to India. If, however, the armada doubled the Cape after mid-July, then it was obliged to sail the "outer route" – that is, strike out straight east from South Africa, go under the southern tip of Madagascar, and then turn up from there, taking a northerly path through the Mascarenes islands, across the open ocean to India. While the outer route did not have the support of African staging posts, it side-stepped sailing directly against the post-summer monsoon.
Return fleets were a different story. Between 1525 and 1579, all return fleets were ordered to follow the outer route (east of Madagascar), which was deemed calmer and safer for their precious cargo than the dangerous waters of the inner Mozambican channel. This rule was temporarily suspended between the 1570s and 1590s. From 1615, a new rule was introduced whereby return fleets from Goa
Goa
Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
were allowed to use the inner route, but return fleets from Cochin still had to use the outer route.
Outward voyage
Although different armadas charted different routes, there were several staging posts along the route of India Run that were repeatedly used.For old roteiroRutter
- As surname :* Barrie Rutter : English actor and theatre director* Brad Rutter : US quiz show host* Dale Rutter : birth name of US pornographic actor Dale DaBone...
s of the India Run, see Duarte Pacheco Pereira
Duarte Pacheco Pereira
Duarte Pacheco Pereira, called the Great, was a 15th century Portuguese sea captain, soldier, explorer and cartographer. He travelled particularly in the central Atlantic Ocean west of the Cape Verde islands, along the coast of West Africa and to India...
(1509), João de Lisboa (1519: p.69ff) and Manuel Pimentel (1746: p.381ff)
Setting out from Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
(February–April), India-bound naus took the easy Canary current
Canary Current
The Canary Current is a wind-driven surface current that is part of the North Atlantic Gyre. This eastern boundary current branches south from the North Atlantic Current and flows southwest about as far as Senegal where it turns west and later joins the Atlantic North Equatorial Current. The...
straight southwest to the Canary Islands
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...
. The islands were owned by Castile
Crown of Castile
The Crown of Castile was a medieval and modern state in the Iberian Peninsula that formed in 1230 as a result of the third and definitive union of the crowns and parliaments of the kingdoms of Castile and León upon the accession of the then King Ferdinand III of Castile to the vacant Leonese throne...
and so this was not a usual watering stop for the Portuguese India naus, except in emergencies.
The first real obstacle on the route was the Cape Verde peninsula (Cap-Vert, Senegal
Senegal
Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
), around which the Canary current ends and the equatorial drift begins. Although not difficult to double, it was a concentration point of sudden storms and tropical cyclones
Cape Verde-type hurricane
A Cape Verde-type hurricane is an Atlantic hurricane that develops near the Cape Verde islands, off the west coast of Africa. The average hurricane season has about two Cape Verde-type hurricanes, which are usually the largest and most intense storms of the season because they often have plenty of...
, so ships were frequently damaged. (see Cape Verde-type hurricane
Cape Verde-type hurricane
A Cape Verde-type hurricane is an Atlantic hurricane that develops near the Cape Verde islands, off the west coast of Africa. The average hurricane season has about two Cape Verde-type hurricanes, which are usually the largest and most intense storms of the season because they often have plenty of...
)
The Cape Verde islands, to the west of Cape Verde peninsula was the usual first stop for India ships. Relative scarcity of water and supplies on the islands made this a suboptimal stop. Nonetheless, the islands (esp. Santiago
Santiago, Cape Verde
Santiago , or Santiagu in Cape Verdean Creole, is the largest island of Cape Verde, its most important agricultural centre and home to half the nation’s population. At the time of Darwin's voyage it was called St. Jago....
) served as a harbor against storms and was frequently a pre-arranged point for the collection and repair of tempest-tossed ships.
The Angra de Bezeguiche (Bay of Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...
, Senegal) was a common watering stop for ships after doubling Cape Verde. The shores were controlled by Wolof
Wolof people
The Wolof are an ethnic group found in Senegal, The Gambia, and Mauritania.In Senegal, the Wolof form an ethnic plurality with about 43.3% of the population are Wolofs...
and Serer
Serer people
The Serer people along with the Jola people are acknowledged to be the oldest inhabitants of The Senegambia....
kingdoms, whose relations with the Portuguese were ambivalent, so a warm reception on the mainland could not be counted on. In the middle of the bay was the island of Gorée
Gorée
Île de Gorée Île de Gorée Île de Gorée (i.e. "Gorée Island"; is one of the 19 communes d'arrondissement (i.e. "commune of arrondissement") of the city of Dakar, Senegal. It is a island located at sea from the main harbor of Dakar ....
(ilha de Bezeguiche), a safe anchoring spot, but the island itself lacked drinkable water. As a result ships frequently watered and repaired at certain mainland points along the Petite Côte
Petite Côte
The Petite Côte is a stretch of coast in Senegal, running south from the Cap Vert peninsula to the Sine-Saloum delta.The northern section near Dakar contains popular seaside resorts such as Saly-Portudal, Rufisque, Nianing and Popenguire, while the entire coast is home to the city of M'Bour and...
of Senegal shore such as Rio Fresco (now Rufisque
Rufisque
Rufisque is a city in the Dakar region of western Senegal, at the base of the Cap-Vert Peninsula. It has a population of 179,797 . In the past it was an important port city in its own right, but is now a suburb of Dakar....
) and Porto de Ale (now Saly-Portudal
Saly
Saly is a seaside resort area on the Petite Côte of Senegal, south of Dakar. It is the top tourist destination in all of West Africa.-History:...
). It was not unheard of for India naus to water much further south, e.g. among the many inlets and islands (e.g. Bissagos
Bissagos Islands
The Bissagos Islands or Bijagós Archipelago are a group of 18 major islands and dozens more smaller ones in the Atlantic Ocean with an area of 2,624 km2 and a population of 30,000...
) along the African coast to Serra Leoa (Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...
).
Below Cape Verde, around the latitudes of Sierra Leone, are the Atlantic doldrums
Doldrums
The doldrums is a colloquial expression derived from historical maritime usage for those parts of the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean affected by the Intertropical Convergence Zone, a low-pressure area around the equator where the prevailing winds are calm...
- that is a calm low pressure region around the equator with little or no winds. Below the doldrums was first the counter-clockwise gyre of the South Atlantic
South Atlantic Gyre
The South Atlantic Gyre is the southern branch of the subtropical gyre in the south Atlantic. This gyre is heavily influenced by northwesterly winds that drive a broad eastward drift, which makes it difficult to distinguish between the northern boundary of the subtropical gyre and the southern...
and the southeasterly trade winds, which prevented sailing directly southeast to the Cape.
Passing the doldrums was a navigational challenge, and pilots had to avail themselves deftly of the currents and every little breeze they could get to stay on course. The usual tactic was to strike southwest sharply, and hope to catch the south equatorial drift
South Equatorial Current
The South Equatorial Current is a significant Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Ocean current that flows east-to-west between the equator and about 20 degrees south. In the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, it extends across the equator to about 5 degrees north....
(top arm of the South Atlantic gyre) towards the coast of Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
. This was usually referred to as following the volta do mar
Volta Do Mar
"Volta do mar", "volta do mar largo" or "volta do largo", is a navigational technique perfected by Portuguese navigators during the Age of Discovery in the late fifteenth century, using the dependable phenomenon of the great permanent wind wheel, the North Atlantic Gyre...
(literally,'turn of the sea', i.e. the South Atlantic gyre).
[The volta do mar was usually contrasted to the rota da Mina (Mina route). The latter meant striking southeast in the doldrums to catch the equatorial counter-current
Equatorial Counter Current
The Equatorial Counter Current is a significant ocean current in the Pacific and Indian oceans that flows west-to-east at approximately five degrees north. The Counter Currents result from balancing the west flow of water in each ocean by the North and South Equatorial currents...
(or 'Guinea current') east into the Gulf of Guinea
Gulf of Guinea
The Gulf of Guinea is the northeasternmost part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean between Cape Lopez in Gabon, north and west to Cape Palmas in Liberia. The intersection of the Equator and Prime Meridian is in the gulf....
. This was the usual route to the fort of São Jorge da Mina
Elmina
Elmina, is a town in the Central Region, situated on a south-facing bay on the Atlantic Ocean coast of Ghana, about 12 km west of Cape Coast...
on the Portuguese Gold Coast
Portuguese Gold Coast
The Portuguese Gold Coast was a Portuguese colony on the West African Gold Coast on the Gulf of Guinea.-History:The Portuguese established the following settlements on the Gold Coast from January 21, 1482:...
. This was not part of the India run. The route from Mina down to South Africa involved tacking
Tacking
Tacking may refer to:*Tacking or coming about, a sailing maneuver*Tacking , a technical legal concept relating to competing priorities between security interests arising over the same asset...
against the southeasterly trade winds and the contrary Benguela Current
Benguela Current
The Benguela Current is the broad, northward flowing ocean current that forms the eastern portion of the South Atlantic Ocean gyre. The current extends from roughly Cape Point in the south, to the position of the Angola-Benguela Front in the north, at around 16°S. The current is driven by the...
, a particularly tiresome task for heavy square rig
Square rig
Square rig is a generic type of sail and rigging arrangement in which the primary driving sails are carried on horizontal spars which are perpendicular, or square, to the keel of the vessel and to the masts. These spars are called yards and their tips, beyond the last stay, are called the yardarms...
ged carracks. However, it sometimes happened that by poor piloting, India naus would be inadvertently caught by the Guinea counter-current and forced to take that route, but such ships would not be likely to reach India that year.]The rota da Mina had been the usual route used by all Portuguese explorers to Africa until the end of the 15th C. The first fleet to sail the volta do mar was Vasco da Gama
Vasco da Gama
Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira was a Portuguese explorer, one of the most successful in the Age of Discovery and the commander of the first ships to sail directly from Europe to India...
's first fleet in 1497. However, credit for the discovery of the 'volta do mar' as a route to the Cape ought to be given to Bartolomeu Dias
Bartolomeu Dias
Bartolomeu Dias , a nobleman of the Portuguese royal household, was a Portuguese explorer who sailed around the southernmost tip of Africa in 1488, the first European known to have done so.-Purposes of the Dias expedition:...
, who in 1488-89, first discovered the westerlies
Westerlies
The Westerlies, anti-trades, or Prevailing Westerlies, are the prevailing winds in the middle latitudes between 30 and 60 degrees latitude, blowing from the high pressure area in the horse latitudes towards the poles. These prevailing winds blow from the west to the east, and steer extratropical...
below the 30°S and the South Atlantic Current
South Atlantic Current
South Atlantic Current is an eastward ocean current, fed by the Brazil Current. That fraction of it which reaches the African coast feeds the Benguela Current...
, from which was deduced the probable existence of the quicker and easier volta do mar route to the Cape. See Coutinho (1951-5: 319-63) and Waters (1988)
Assuming the India armada successfully caught the south equatorial current of the volta do mar, the armada would drift southwest through the doldrums and reach the soutbound Brazil Current
Brazil Current
The Brazil Current is a warm water current that flows south along the Brazilian south coast to the mouth of the Río de la Plata. This current is caused by diversion of a portion of the Atlantic South Equatorial Current from where that current meets the South American continent...
off the coast of Brazil (around Pernambuco
Pernambuco
Pernambuco is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. To the north are the states of Paraíba and Ceará, to the west is Piauí, to the south are Alagoas and Bahia, and to the east is the Atlantic Ocean. There are about of beaches, some of the most beautiful in the...
). Although India naus did not usually stop in Brazil, it was not unheard of to put in a brief watering stop at Cape Santo Agostinho
Cabo de Santo Agostinho
Cabo de Santo Agostinho is 35 km south of the city of Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. Although the official Portuguese discovery of Brazil was by Pedro Cabral on April 21, 1500, some historians believe that Vicente Yáñez Pinzón already had set anchor in a bay in Cabo de Santo Agostinho on January...
(Pernambuco
Pernambuco
Pernambuco is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. To the north are the states of Paraíba and Ceará, to the west is Piauí, to the south are Alagoas and Bahia, and to the east is the Atlantic Ocean. There are about of beaches, some of the most beautiful in the...
, Brazil), especially if the southeasterly trade winds were particularly strong (pilots had to be careful not to allow themselves to be caught and driven backwards).
From the environs of Penambuco, the India naus sailed straight south along the Brazil Current
Brazil Current
The Brazil Current is a warm water current that flows south along the Brazilian south coast to the mouth of the Río de la Plata. This current is caused by diversion of a portion of the Atlantic South Equatorial Current from where that current meets the South American continent...
, until about the latitude of the Tropic of Capricorn
Tropic of Capricorn
The Tropic of Capricorn, or Southern tropic, marks the most southerly latitude on the Earth at which the Sun can be directly overhead. This event occurs at the December solstice, when the southern hemisphere is tilted towards the Sun to its maximum extent.Tropic of Capricorn is one of the five...
, visibly the Abrolhos
Abrolhos Marine National Park
The Abrolhos Marine National Park is a Marine Park located in the Abrolhos Archipelago since 1983.The Abrolhos are an archipelago of 5 islands with coral reefs off the southern coast of Bahia state in the northeast of Brazil, between 17º25’—18º09’ S and 38º33’—39º05’ W.-External links:***...
islands or the Trindade and Martim Vaz
Trindade and Martim Vaz
Trindade and Martim Vaz is an archipelago located about 1,200 kilometers east of Vitória in the Southern Atlantic Ocean, belonging to the State of Espírito Santo, Brazil. The archipelago has a total area of 10.4 km² and a population of 32...
islands, where they began to catch more favorable prevailing Westerly winds
Westerlies
The Westerlies, anti-trades, or Prevailing Westerlies, are the prevailing winds in the middle latitudes between 30 and 60 degrees latitude, blowing from the high pressure area in the horse latitudes towards the poles. These prevailing winds blow from the west to the east, and steer extratropical...
. These would take them quickly straight across the South Atlantic to South Africa.
The Cape of Good Hope
Cape of Good Hope
The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...
– once aptly named the 'cape of storms' – was a very challenging headland on the India Run. The outbound crossing was always difficult, and many a ship was lost here. Larger armadas often broke up into smaller squadrons to attempt the crossing, and would re-collect only on the other side – indeed quite far on the other side. There was usually no stop or collection point after the Cape crossing until well inside the Mozambique Channel
Mozambique Channel
The Mozambique Channel is a portion of the Indian Ocean located between the island nation of Madagascar and southeast Africa, primarily the country of Mozambique. It was a World War II clashpoint during the Battle of Madagascar...
. The reason for this is that outbound ships tried to steer clear from the South African coast, to avoid the rushing waters of the contrary Agulhas current
Agulhas Current
The Agulhas Current is the Western Boundary Current of the southwest Indian Ocean. It flows down the east coast of Africa from 27°S to 40°S. It is narrow, swift and strong...
.
The exception was the Agoada de São Brás (Mossel Bay
Mossel Bay
Mossel Bay is a harbour town of about 130,000 people on the Southern Cape of South Africa. It is an important tourism and farming region of the Western Cape Province...
, South Africa), a watering stop after the Cape. It was not always used on the outbound journey since individual ships often charted wide routes around the Cape, and sighted coast again only well after this point. However, ships damaged during the crossing frequently had no choice but to put in there for emergency repairs. Trade for food supplies with the pastoral Khoikhoi
Khoikhoi
The Khoikhoi or Khoi, in standardised Khoekhoe/Nama orthography spelled Khoekhoe, are a historical division of the Khoisan ethnic group, the native people of southwestern Africa, closely related to the Bushmen . They had lived in southern Africa since the 5th century AD...
peoples that lived in the area was frequent (although there were also occasional skirmishes). São Braz was a more frequent stop on the return journey, as a place to repair the ships to tip-top shape before doubling the Cape the other way. As a result, particularly in early years, São Brás was used as a postal station, where messages from the returning armadas would be left for the outward armadas, reporting on the latest conditions in India.
If the armada went by the 'inner route', then the next daunting obstacle was Cape Correntes
Cape Correntes
Cape Correntes is a cape or headland in the Inhambane Province in Mozambique. It sits at the southern entry of the Mozambique Channel.•...
, at the entrance of the Mozambique Channel
Mozambique Channel
The Mozambique Channel is a portion of the Indian Ocean located between the island nation of Madagascar and southeast Africa, primarily the country of Mozambique. It was a World War II clashpoint during the Battle of Madagascar...
. Treacherously fast waters, light winds alternating with unpredictably violent gusts, and treacherous shoals and rocks made this cape particularly dangerous. It is estimated that nearly 30% of all ships lost on the India Run, capsized or ran aground around here, more than any other place.
The ideal passage through the Mozambique Channel
Mozambique Channel
The Mozambique Channel is a portion of the Indian Ocean located between the island nation of Madagascar and southeast Africa, primarily the country of Mozambique. It was a World War II clashpoint during the Battle of Madagascar...
would be to sail straight north through the middle of the channel, where a steady favorable wind could be relied upon at this season. But this was a particularly hard task in an era where longitude
Longitude
Longitude is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east-west position of a point on the Earth's surface. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees, minutes and seconds, and denoted by the Greek letter lambda ....
was determined largely by dead reckoning
Dead reckoning
In navigation, dead reckoning is the process of calculating one's current position by using a previously determined position, or fix, and advancing that position based upon known or estimated speeds over elapsed time, and course...
. If a pilot miscalculated and charted a course too close to the African coast, the current ran south, the winds were light or non-existent, subject to arbitrary gusts from strange directions and the coasts littered with shoal
Shoal
Shoal, shoals or shoaling may mean:* Shoal, a sandbank or reef creating shallow water, especially where it forms a hazard to shipping* Shoal draught , of a boat with shallow draught which can pass over some shoals: see Draft...
s.Indeed, another reason ships steered clear away from the South African coast after crossing the Cape of Good Hope was precisely that the contrary Agulhas current
Agulhas Current
The Agulhas Current is the Western Boundary Current of the southwest Indian Ocean. It flows down the east coast of Africa from 27°S to 40°S. It is narrow, swift and strong...
threw off the dead reckoning calculations, and often misled pilots into turning too soon into the Mozambique channel, forcing them on a dangerous too-western route up the channel. Into this dreaded mix, Cape Correntes
Cape Correntes
Cape Correntes is a cape or headland in the Inhambane Province in Mozambique. It sits at the southern entry of the Mozambique Channel.•...
added its own special terror to the experience. The Cape was not only a confluence point of opposing winds, creating unpredicable whirlwinds, it also produced a strange and extraordinarily fast southerly current, violent enough to break a badly-sewn ship, and confusing enough throw all reckoning out the window and lure pilots into grievous errors.
The temptation would be to err in the opposite direction, and keep on pushing east until the island of Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
was sighted, then move up the channel (the current here ran north), keeping the Madagascar coast in sight at all times. Although a Madagascar-hugging route cleared up the longitude problem, it was also abundant in fearful obstacles – coral islets, atolls, shoals, protruding rocks, submerged reefs, made for a particularly nerve-wracking experience to navigate, especially at night or in bad weather.
To avoid the worst consequences of doubling Cape Correntes, India ships stayed as far from the African coast as possible but not so close to Madagascar to run into its traps. To find the ideal middle route through the channel, pilots tended to rely on two dangerous longitude markers - the Bassas da India
Bassas da India
Bassas da India is part of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands. It is an uninhabited, roughly circular atoll about in diameter, which corresponds to a total size of . It is located in the southern Mozambique Channel, about half-way between Madagascar and Mozambique, and northwest of...
and the Europa rocks
Europa Island
Europa Island is a 28 km² low-lying tropical island in the Mozambique Channel, about a third of the way from southern Madagascar to southern Mozambique, at . It has 22.2 kilometres of coastline, but no ports or harbours. Anchorage is possible offshore...
. Although conveniently situated in the middle of the channel, they were not always visible above the waves, so sailors often watched for hovering clusters of seabirds, which colonized these rocks, as an indicator of their location. Unfortunately, this was not a reliable method, and many an India ship ended up crashing on those rocks.
If they succeeded sailing up the middle channel, the India naus usually saw African coast again only around the bend of Angoche
Angoche
Angoche is a city of Nampula Province in Mozambique. The city was named António Enes until 1976, after the 19th century Portuguese journalist and colonial administrator, António José Enes...
. If the ships were in a bad shape, they could stop at the Primeiras Islands
Primeiras and Segundas Archipelago
The Primeiras and Segundas Archipelago is a chain of 10 sparsely inhabited barrier islands and two coral reef complexes situated in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Mozambique and near the coastal city of Angoche...
(off Angoche) for urgent repairs. The Primeiras were a long row of low coral islets – not much more than mounds above the waves – but they formed a channel of calm waters between themselves and the mainland, a useful shelter for troubled ships. But virtually uninhabited, water and supplies were hard to come by.
The preferable stop was a little further north on Mozambique Island, a coral island off the coast, with two outlying smaller islands (São Jorge and Sant' Iago). Mozambique's main attribute was its splendid harbor, that served as the usual first stop and collection point of Portuguese India armadas after the crossing of the Cape of Good Hope. The island had a town and a fortress, so some stock of supplies was usually at hand.
The conditions of the ships by the time they reached Mozambique was often quite woeful. Notice that with the occasional exception of Cape Santo Agostinho and Mossel Bay, there are no stops between Cape Verde and Mozambique Island, an extraordinarily long time for 16th C. ships to remain at sea without repairs, watering or resupply. Already before the Cape, provisions had grown stale, scurvy
Scurvy
Scurvy is a disease resulting from a deficiency of vitamin C, which is required for the synthesis of collagen in humans. The chemical name for vitamin C, ascorbic acid, is derived from the Latin name of scurvy, scorbutus, which also provides the adjective scorbutic...
and dysentry had often set in, and deaths of crews and passengers from disease had begun. The ship itself, so long at sea without re-caulking or re-painting, was in a fragile state. To then force the miserable ship through the mast-cracking tempests of Cape of Good Hope, the seam-ripping violent waters of Cape Correntes and the treacherous rocks of the channel, turned this final stage into a veritable hell for all aboard.
Mozambique Island was originally an outpost of the Kilwa Sultanate
Kilwa Sultanate
The Kilwa Sultanate was a Medieval sultanate, centered at Kilwa , whose authority, at its height, stretched over the entire length of the Swahili Coast. It was founded in the 10th century by Ali ibn al-Hassan Shirazi...
, a collection of Muslim Swahili
Swahili people
The Swahili people are a Bantu ethnic group and culture found in East Africa, mainly in the coastal regions and the islands of Kenya, Tanzania and north Mozambique. According to JoshuaProject, the Swahili number in at around 1,328,000. The name Swahili is derived from the Arabic word Sawahil,...
cities along the East African coast, centered at Kilwa
Kilwa Kisiwani
Kilwa Kisiwani is a community on an island off the coast of East Africa, in present day Tanzania.- History :A document written around AD 1200 called al-Maqama al Kilwiyya discovered in Oman, gives details of a mission to reconvert Kilwa to Ibadism, as it had recently been effected by the Ghurabiyya...
, that formed a Medieval commercial empire from Cape Correntes
Cape Correntes
Cape Correntes is a cape or headland in the Inhambane Province in Mozambique. It sits at the southern entry of the Mozambique Channel.•...
in the south to the Somali borderlands in the north, what is sometimes called the "Swahili Coast
Swahili Coast
The Swahili Coast refers to the coast or coastal area of East Africa inhabited by the Swahili people, mainly Kenya, Tanzania, and north Mozambique...
". The Kilwa Sultanate began disintegrating into independent city-states around the time of the Portuguese arrival (1500), a process speeded along by the intrigues and interventions of Portuguese captains.
[The original object of Portuguese attentions had been the southerly Swahili city of Sofala
Sofala
Sofala, at present known as Nova Sofala, used to be the chief seaport of the Monomotapa Kingdom, whose capital was at Mount Fura. It is located on the Sofala Bank in Sofala Province of Mozambique.-History:...
, the main outlet of the Monomatapa gold trade, and the first Portuguese fortress in East Africa was erected there in 1505 (Fort São Caetano
Fort São Caetano
Fort São Caetano is a fort that was built in the 16th century in the present town of Sofala, Mozambique. The fort precisely dates from 1505. Pêro de Anaia assumed the title of Captain-General of Sofala and made Sofala the first Portuguese colony in the region....
de Sofala). But Sofala's harbor was marred by a long moving sandbank and hazardous shoals, making it quite unsuitable as a stop for the India armadas. So in 1507, the 9th Armada seized Mozambique Island and erected a fortress there (Fort São Gabriel, later replaced by Fort São Sebastião in 1558), simply because its spacious and well-sheltered harbor was so much more preferable.]
The principal drawback was that Mozambique Island was parched and infertile. It produced practically nothing locally, it even had to ferry drinkable water by boat from elsewhere. Replenishing the islands was not a simple matter. Although Mozambique islanders had established watering holes, gardens and coconut palm groves (essential for timber) just across on the mainland (at Cabaceira inlet), the Bantu inhabitants of the area were generally hostile to both the Swahili and the Portuguese, and often prevented the collection of supplies. So ensuring Mozambique had sufficient supplies presented its own challenges. The Portuguese factor
Factor (agent)
A factor, from the Latin "he who does" , is a person who professionally acts as the representative of another individual or other legal entity, historically with his seat at a factory , notably in the following contexts:-Mercantile factor:In a relatively large company, there could be a hierarchy,...
s in Mozambique had to ensure enough supplies were shipped in from other points on the East African coast to Mozambique Island before the armada's scheduled arrival. The Mozambican factor also collected East African trade gooods that could be picked up by the armadas and sold profitably in Indian markets – notably gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
, ivory
Ivory
Ivory is a term for dentine, which constitutes the bulk of the teeth and tusks of animals, when used as a material for art or manufacturing. Ivory has been important since ancient times for making a range of items, from ivory carvings to false teeth, fans, dominoes, joint tubes, piano keys and...
, copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
, pearls and coral
Coral
Corals are marine animals in class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria typically living in compact colonies of many identical individual "polyps". The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.A coral "head" is a colony of...
.
After Mozambique, the rule for the India armadas was generally to continue sailing north until they reached the equator
Equator
An equator is the intersection of a sphere's surface with the plane perpendicular to the sphere's axis of rotation and containing the sphere's center of mass....
latitude (the Seychelles
Seychelles
Seychelles , officially the Republic of Seychelles , is an island country spanning an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, some east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar....
islands, at 4ºS, was a common reference point). It was around here that the all-important southwesterly monsoon
Monsoon
Monsoon is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation, but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with the asymmetric heating of land and sea...
winds began to pick up. The armada would then just sail east, and let the monsoon carry them headlong across the Indian Ocean until India. That is presuming the armada arrived at the equator sometime in August.
In Pimentel's (1746) estimation, ships must leave Mozambique before August 25 to avail themselves of the summer monsoon. If, however, the armada arrived in the latter part of the season, say September, turning at the equator was a risky route. The southwesterly monsoon may be blowing in the right direction at the moment, but the ship ran the risk of not reaching a safe Indian port before the monsoon reversed direction (usually around late September-early October, when it became a northeasterly). So a late season ship was usually stuck in Africa until next April.
Notice that the trajectory, as described, skips over nearly all the towns on the East African coast north of Mozambique – Kilwa
Kilwa Kisiwani
Kilwa Kisiwani is a community on an island off the coast of East Africa, in present day Tanzania.- History :A document written around AD 1200 called al-Maqama al Kilwiyya discovered in Oman, gives details of a mission to reconvert Kilwa to Ibadism, as it had recently been effected by the Ghurabiyya...
(Quíloa), Zanzibar
Zanzibar
Zanzibar ,Persian: زنگبار, from suffix bār: "coast" and Zangi: "bruin" ; is a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania, in East Africa. It comprises the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of numerous small islands and two large ones: Unguja , and Pemba...
, Mombassa (Mombaça), Malindi
Malindi
Malindi is a town on Malindi Bay at the mouth of the Galana River, lying on the Indian Ocean coast of Kenya. It is 120 kilometres northeast of Mombasa. The population of Malindi is 117,735 . It is the capital of the Malindi District.Tourism is the major industry in Malindi. The city is...
(Melinde), Barawa
Barawa
Barawa or Brava is a port town on the south-eastern coast of Somalia. The traditional inhabitants are the Tunni Somalis and the Bravanese people, who speak Bravanese, a Swahili dialect.-History:...
(Brava), Mogadishu
Mogadishu
Mogadishu , popularly known as Xamar, is the largest city in Somalia and the nation's capital. Located in the coastal Benadir region on the Indian Ocean, the city has served as an important port for centuries....
(Magadoxo), etc. This is not to say Portuguese did not visit those locations – indeed, some even had Portuguese factories and forts (e.g. Fort Santiago in Kilwa, held from 1505 to 1512). But Portuguese armadas on their way to India did not have to stop at those locations, and so usually did not. The stop on Mozambique island was usually the only necessary one.
Malindi
Malindi is a town on Malindi Bay at the mouth of the Galana River, lying on the Indian Ocean coast of Kenya. It is 120 kilometres northeast of Mombasa. The population of Malindi is 117,735 . It is the capital of the Malindi District.Tourism is the major industry in Malindi. The city is...
. A Portuguese ally from the earliest trip of Vasco da Gama in 1498, Malindi could usually be counted on to give a warm reception and had plenty of supplies. Unlike most other Swahili towns, Malindi was on the mainland and had an ample hinterlands with fertile cultivated fields, including groves of oranges and lemons (critical to combat scurvy
Ascorbic acid
Ascorbic acid is a naturally occurring organic compound with antioxidant properties. It is a white solid, but impure samples can appear yellowish. It dissolves well in water to give mildly acidic solutions. Ascorbic acid is one form of vitamin C. The name is derived from a- and scorbutus , the...
). The problem was that Malindi didn't really have a suitable harbor. Although waters were kept calm by an offshore reef, the anchorage area was littered with shoals. It did, however, have a peculiar protruding rock that served as a decent natural pier
Pier
A pier is a raised structure, including bridge and building supports and walkways, over water, typically supported by widely spread piles or pillars...
for loading and unloading goods.
Malindi's other advantage was that, at 3º15'S, it was practically at exactly the right latitude to catch the southwesterly monsoon for an Indian Ocean crossing. Plenty of experienced Indian Ocean pilots - Swahili, Arab or Gujurati - could be found in the city, and Malindi was likely to have the latest news from across the sea. So it was a very convenient stop for the Portuguese before a crossing. However, stops take time. Given the imminent monsoon reversal, that was a scarce commodity. So if the armada had been decently equipped enough at Mozambique island, a stop at Malindi, however delightful or useful, was a rather unnecessary and risky expenditure of time.
Organization
The size of the armada varied, from enormous fleets of twenty-something ships, to small fleets of only four or five. This changed over time. In the first decade (1500–1510), when the Portuguese were establishing themselves in India, the armadas averaged around 15 ships per year. This declined to around 9-10 ships in 1510-1525. From 1526 to the 1540s, the armadas declined further to 7-8 ships per year, with a few exceptional cases of large armadas (e.g. 1533, 1537, 1547) brought about by military exigency, but also several years of exceptionally small fleets. In the second half of the 16th C., the Portugues India armada stabilized at 5-6 ships annually, with very few exceptions (rose above seven only in 1551 e 1590 and below 4 only in 1594 and 1597).Organization was principally in the hands of the Casa da Índia
Casa da Índia
Casa da Índia was the Portuguese organization that managed all overseas territories during the heyday of the Portuguese Empire in the 16th century. It was both the central authority for managing all aspects of overseas trade, the central shipment point and clearing house...
, the royal trading house established around 1500 by King Manuel I of Portugal
Manuel I of Portugal
Manuel I , the Fortunate , 14th king of Portugal and the Algarves was the son of Infante Ferdinand, Duke of Viseu, , by his wife, Infanta Beatrice of Portugal...
. The Casa was in charge of monitoring the crown monopoly on India trade – receiving goods, collecting duties, assembling, maintaining and scheduling the fleets, contracting private merchants, correspondence with the feitorias (overseas factories
Factory (trading post)
Factory was the English term for the trading posts system originally established by Europeans in foreign territories, first within different states of medieval Europe, and later in their colonial possessions...
), drafting documents and handling legal matters.
Separately from the Casa, but working in coordination with it, was the Armazém das Índias, the royal agency in charge of nautical outfitting, that oversaw the Lisbon docks and naval arsenal. The Armazém was responsible for the training of pilots and sailors, ship construction and repair, and the procurement and provision of naval equipment – sails, ropes, guns, instruments and, most importantly, maps. The piloto-mor ('chief pilot') of the Armazém, in charge of pilot-training, was, up until 1548, also the keeper of the Padrão Real
Padrão Real
The Padrão Real was a secret master Portuguese map produced and maintained by the Portuguese government organization, the Casa da Índia, where the new discoveries made by the Portuguese were recorded in secret...
, the secret royal master map, incorporating all the cartographic details reported by Portuguese captains and explorers, and upon which all official nautical charts were based. The screening and hiring of crews was the function of the provedor of the Armazém.
From at least 1511 (perhaps earlier), the offices of the Casa da India were based in the ground floor of the royal Ribeira Palace, by the Terreiro do Paço
Praça do Comércio
The Praça do Comércio is located in the city of Lisbon, Portugal. Situated near the Tagus river, the square is still commonly known as Terreiro do Paço , because it was the location of the Paços da Ribeira until it was destroyed by the great 1755 Lisbon Earthquake...
in Lisbon, with the Armazém nearby. (Neither the Casa nor the Armazem should be confused with the Estado da Índia, the Portuguese colonial government in India, which was separate and reported directly to the monarch.)
Ships could be and sometimes were owned and outfitted by private merchants, and these were incorporated into the India armada. However, the expenses of outfitting a ship were immense, and few native Portuguese merchants had the wherewithal to finance one, despite eager government encouragement. In the early India runs, there are several ships organized by private consortiums, often with foreign capital provided by wealthy Italian and German trading houses. This fluctuated over time, as the royal duties, costs of outfitting and rate of attrition and risk of loss on India runs were sometimes too high for private houses to bear. Private Portuguese merchants did, however, routinely contract for cargo, carried aboard crown ships for freight charges.
Marine insurance
Marine insurance
Marine insurance covers the loss or damage of ships, cargo, terminals, and any transport or cargo by which property is transferred, acquired, or held between the points of origin and final destination....
was still underdeveloped, although the Portuguese had helped pioneer its development and its practice seemed already customary. In May, 1293, King Denis of Portugal
Denis of Portugal
Dinis , called the Farmer King , was the sixth King of Portugal and the Algarve. The eldest son of Afonso III of Portugal by his second wife, Beatrice of Castile and grandson of king Alfonso X of Castile , Dinis succeeded his father in 1279.-Biography:As heir to the throne, Infante Dinis was...
had established the Sociedade de Mercadores Portugueses (Society of Portuguese Merchants), with mutual help clauses that formed the kernel of marine insurance contracts, similar to those in practice in Italian ports such as Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
and Pisa
Pisa
Pisa is a city in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the River Arno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa...
. In 1380 Ferdinand I
Ferdinand I of Portugal
Ferdinand I , sometimes referred to as the Handsome or rarely as the Inconstant , was the ninth King of Portugal and the Algarve, the second son of Peter I and his wife, Constance of Castile...
established a shipping company (Companhia das Naus
Companhia das Naus
The Companhia das Naus was a Portuguese institution founded in 1380 by King Ferdinand I. It functioned as a kind of insurance company, providing owners of Portuguese vessels with some security in case of accident and thereby fostering the development of the Portuguese navy.All vessels weighing...
), with a compulsory insurance scheme, whereby member-merchants (essentially all shipowners and merchants outfitting ships above 50t) to contribute a fixed rate of 2% of freight revenue as a premium to a central fund (Bolsa de Seguros), from which claim payouts would be redistributed. Around 1488, Pedro de Santarém (Petrus Santerna), a Portuguese consul in Italy, wrote perhaps the first treatise, De assecurationibus (published 1552-53), outlining the theory and principles behind marine insurance. Around 1578, Cardinal-King Henry established the Consulado, a tribunal explicitly dedicated to decide marine insurance cases (initially suppressed by the Iberian Union
Iberian Union
The Iberian union was a political unit that governed all of the Iberian Peninsula south of the Pyrenees from 1580–1640, through a dynastic union between the monarchies of Portugal and Spain after the War of the Portuguese Succession...
of 1580, the tribunal was resurrected by Philip II of Spain
Philip II of Spain
Philip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....
in 1593, with the modification that a private marine insurance contract had to have the signature of a royal official (comissário de seguros), to be valid in the law courts). This formed the framework for marine insurance in which the India Armadas operated. Later developments include the establishment of an insurance house (Casa de Seguros) as an organ of the Junta do Comércio Geral (Board of General Trade) by regent-prince Peter II of Portugal in 1668, subsequently replaced by the Mesa do Bem Comum do Comércio (Board of Common Trade Welfare) in 1720. Around 1750, the Marquis de Pombal persuaded the monarch to fold the older house into a new entity, the Real Junta do Comércio (Royal Board of Trade). (DeSouza, 1977).
Ships
The ships of an India armada were typically carracks (naus), with sizes that grew over time. The first carracks were modest ships, rarely exceeding 100-tonnes, carrying only up to 40-60 men, e.g. the São GabrielSão Gabriel (ship)
The São Gabriel was the flagship of Vasco da Gama's armada on his first voyage to India in 1497-1499.-São Gabriel:The São Gabriel was a Portuguese "nau" that, like its sister ship, the São Rafael, was built specifically for the expedition; both exhibited similar construction...
of Gama's 1497 fleet, one of the largest of the time, was only 120t. But this was quickly increased as the India run got underway. In the 1500 Cabral armada, the largest carracks, Cabral's flagship and the El-Rei, are reported to have been somewhere between 240t-300t. The Flor de la Mar
Frol de la mar
Flor de la Mar or Flor do Mar was a Portuguese nau of 400 tons, which over nine years participated in decisive events in the Indian Ocean until her sinking in November 1511...
, built in 1502, was a 400t nau, while at least one of the naus of the Albuquerque armada of 1503 is reported to have been as large as 600t. The rapid doubling and tripling of the size of Portuguese carracks in a few short years reflected the needs of the India runs. The rate of increase tapered off thereafter. For much of the remainder of the 16th C., the average carrack on the India run was probably around 400t.
In the 1550s, during the reign of John III
John III of Portugal
John III , nicknamed o Piedoso , was the fifteenth King of Portugal and the Algarves. He was the son of King Manuel I and Maria of Aragon, the third daughter of King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile...
, a few 900t behemoths were built for India runs, in the hope that larger ships would provide economies of scale
Economies of scale
Economies of scale, in microeconomics, refers to the cost advantages that an enterprise obtains due to expansion. There are factors that cause a producer’s average cost per unit to fall as the scale of output is increased. "Economies of scale" is a long run concept and refers to reductions in unit...
. The experiment turned out poorly. Not only was the cost of outfitting such a large ship disproportionately high, they proved unmaneouverable and unseaworthy, particularly in the treacherous waters of the Mozambique Channel
Mozambique Channel
The Mozambique Channel is a portion of the Indian Ocean located between the island nation of Madagascar and southeast Africa, primarily the country of Mozambique. It was a World War II clashpoint during the Battle of Madagascar...
. Three of the new behemoths were quickly lost on the southern African coast – the São João (900t, built 1550, wrecked 1552), the São Bento (900t, built 1551, wrecked 1554) and the largest of them all, the Nossa Senhora da Graça (1,000t, built 1556, wrecked 1559).
These kind of losses prompted King Sebastian
Sebastian of Portugal
Sebastian "the Desired" was the 16th king of Portugal and the Algarves. He was the son of Prince John of Portugal and his wife, Joan of Spain...
to issue an ordinance in 1570 setting the upper limit to the size of India naus at 450t. Nonetheless, after the Iberian Union
Iberian Union
The Iberian union was a political unit that governed all of the Iberian Peninsula south of the Pyrenees from 1580–1640, through a dynastic union between the monarchies of Portugal and Spain after the War of the Portuguese Succession...
of 1580, this regulation would be ignored and shipbuilders, probably urged on by merchants hoping to turn around more cargo on every trip, pushed for larger ships. The size of India naus accelerated again, averaging 600t in the 1580-1600 period, with several spectacularly large naus of 1500t or greater making their appearance in the 1590s.
If the lesson was not quite learned then, it was certainly learned in August, 1592, when English privateer
Privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having to spend public money or commit naval officers...
Sir John Burroughs
Sir John Burroughs
Sir John Burroughs or "Borough" was a 17th-century English soldier and military commander in the protestant army commanded by Horace Vere in the Palatinate, during the Eighty Years' War and the Thirty Years' War....
(alt. Burrows, Burgh) captured the Madre de Deus
Madre de Deus
Madre de Deus was a Portuguese ship, renowned for her fabulous cargo, which stoked the English appetite for trade with the Far East, then a Portuguese monopoly....
in the waters around the Azores
Azores
The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...
islands. The Madre de Deus, built in 1589, was a 1600t carrack, with seven decks and a crew of around 600. It was the largest Portuguese ship to go on an India run. The great carrack, under the command of Fernão de Mendonça Furtado, was returning from Cochin with a full cargo when it was captured by Burrough. The value of the treasure and cargo taken on this single ship is estimated to have been equivalent to half the entire treasury of the English crown. The loss of so much cargo in one swoop confirmed, once again, the folly of building such gigantic ships. The carracks built for the India run returned to their smaller ideal size after the turn of the century.
In the early Carreira da India, the carracks were usually accompanied by smaller caravels (caravelas), averaging 50t-70t (rarely reaching 100t), and capable of holding 20-30 men at most. Whether lateen-rigged
Lateen
A lateen or latin-rig is a triangular sail set on a long yard mounted at an angle on the mast, and running in a fore-and-aft direction....
or square-rigged
Square rig
Square rig is a generic type of sail and rigging arrangement in which the primary driving sails are carried on horizontal spars which are perpendicular, or square, to the keel of the vessel and to the masts. These spars are called yards and their tips, beyond the last stay, are called the yardarms...
(redonda), these shallow-drafted, nimble vessels had a myriad of uses. Caravels served as forward lamp, scouts and fighting ships of the convoy. Caravels on the India run were often destined to remain overseas for coastal patrol duty, rather than return with the main fleet.
In the course of the 16th C., caravels were gradually phased out in favor of a new escort/fighting ship, the galleon
Galleon
A galleon was a large, multi-decked sailing ship used primarily by European states from the 16th to 18th centuries. Whether used for war or commerce, they were generally armed with the demi-culverin type of cannon.-Etymology:...
(galeão), which could range anywhere between 100t to 1000t. Based on the design of the carrack
Carrack
A carrack or nau was a three- or four-masted sailing ship developed in 15th century Western Europe for use in the Atlantic Ocean. It had a high rounded stern with large aftcastle, forecastle and bowsprit at the stem. It was first used by the Portuguese , and later by the Spanish, to explore and...
, but slenderer and lower, with forecastle diminished or removed to make way for its famous 'beak', the galleon became the principal fighting ship of the India fleet. It was not as nimble as the caravel, but could be mounted with much more cannon, thus packing a bigger punch. With the introduction of the galleon, carracks became almost exclusively cargo ships (which is why they were pushed to such large sizes), leaving any fighting to be done to the galleons. One of the largest and most famous of Portuguese galleons was the São João Baptista (nicknamed Botafogo, 'spitfire'), a 1,000-ton galleon built in 1534, said to have carried 366 guns.
Many fleets also brought small supply ships on outward voyage. These were destined to be scuttled along the way once the supplies were consumed. The crews were redistributed and the abandoned ships usually burned to recover their iron nails and fittings.
Average speed of an India Armada was around 2.5 knots, but some ships could achieve speeds of between 8 and 10 for some stretches.
Seaworthiness
Portuguese India ships distinguished themselves from the ships of other navies (especially those of rival powers in the Indian Ocean) on two principal accounts: their seaworthiness (durability at sea) and their artillery.With a few exceptions (e.g. Flor de la Mar
Frol de la mar
Flor de la Mar or Flor do Mar was a Portuguese nau of 400 tons, which over nine years participated in decisive events in the Indian Ocean until her sinking in November 1511...
, Santa Catarina do Monte Sinai
Santa Catarina Do Monte Sinai
Santa Catarina do Monte Sinai was a higher-castled Portuguese carrack with 140 cannons, launched down in 1520 . Built in Kochi, India around 1512 it had two square rig masts and is depicted on a painting attributed to Joachim Patinir. In 1523 it was the flagship of Vasco da Gama....
), Portuguese India naus were not typically built to last longer than four or five years of useful service. That a nau managed to survive a single India run was already an achievement, given that few ships of any nation at the time were able to stay at sea for even a quarter as long without breaking apart at the seams.
The success of the India nau depended on 15th C. innovations in Portuguese shipbuilding that greatly improved the seaworthiness and longevity of the ship. Notable among these were the use of iron nails (rather than wooden pegs) to hold planks, the mixing of lead
Lead
Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...
in the seams, and a caulking
Caulking
Caulking is one of several different processes to seal joints or seams in various structures and certain types of piping. The oldest form of caulking is used to make the seams in wooden boats or ships watertight, by driving fibrous materials into the wedge-shaped seams between planks...
technique that improved upon traditional oakum
Oakum
Oakum is a preparation of tarred fiber used in shipbuilding, for caulking or packing the joints of timbers in wooden vessels and the deck planking of iron and steel ships, as well as cast iron plumbing applications...
with 'galagala' paste (a mixture of oakum, lime
Lime (fruit)
Lime is a term referring to a number of different citrus fruits, both species and hybrids, which are typically round, green to yellow in color, 3–6 cm in diameter, and containing sour and acidic pulp. Limes are a good source of vitamin C. Limes are often used to accent the flavors of foods and...
and olive oil
Olive oil
Olive oil is an oil obtained from the olive , a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin. It is commonly used in cooking, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and soaps and as a fuel for traditional oil lamps...
, producing a kind of putty that could be pressed between the planks). Hulls were amply coated in pitch
Pitch (resin)
Pitch is the name for any of a number of viscoelastic, solid polymers. Pitch can be made from petroleum products or plants. Petroleum-derived pitch is also called bitumen. Pitch produced from plants is also known as resin. Products made from plant resin are also known as rosin.Pitch was...
and pine tar
Tar
Tar is modified pitch produced primarily from the wood and roots of pine by destructive distillation under pyrolysis. Production and trade in tar was a major contributor in the economies of Northern Europe and Colonial America. Its main use was in preserving wooden vessels against rot. The largest...
(imported in bulk amounts from northern Germany), giving the India naus their famous (and, to some observers, sinister) dark tone.
Artillery
Naval artillery was the single greatest advantage the Portuguese held over their rivals in the Indian Ocean – indeed over most other navies – and the Portuguese crown spared no expense in procuring and producing the best naval guns European technology permitted.King John II of Portugal
John II of Portugal
John II , the Perfect Prince , was the thirteenth king of Portugal and the Algarves...
is often credited for pioneering, while still a prince in 1474, the introduction of a reinforced deck on the old Henry-era caravel
Caravel
A caravel is a small, highly maneuverable sailing ship developed in the 15th century by the Portuguese to explore along the West African coast and into the Atlantic Ocean. The lateen sails gave her speed and the capacity for sailing to windward...
to allow the mounting of heavy guns. In 1489, he introduced the first standardized teams of trained naval gunners (bombardeiros) on every ship, and development of naval tactics that maximized broadside cannonades rather than the rush-and-grapple of Medieval galleys.
The Portuguese crown appropriated the best cannon technology available in Europe, particularly the new, more durable and far more accurate bronze
Bronze
Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
cannon developed in Central Europe, replacing the older, less accurate cast-iron cannon. By 1500, Portugal was importing vast volumes of copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
and cannon from northern Europe, and had established itself as the leading producer of advanced naval artillery in its own right. Being a crown industry, cost considerations did not curb the pursuit of the best quality, best innovations and best training. The crown paid wage premiums and bonuses to lure the best European artisans and gunners (mostly German) to advance the industry in Portugal. Every cutting-edge innovation introduced elsewhere was immediately appropriated into Portuguese naval artillery – that includes bronze cannon (Flemish/German), breech-loading swivel-guns (prob. German origin), truck carriages (possibly English), and the idea (originally French, c. 1501) of cutting square gunports (portinhola) in the hull to allow heavy cannon to be mounted below deck.
In this respect, the Portuguese spearheaded the evolution of modern naval warfare, moving away from the Medieval warship, a carrier of armed men, aiming for the grapple, towards the modern idea of a floating artillery piece dedicated to resolving battles by gunnery alone.
According to Gaspar Correia, the typical fighting caravel of Gama's 4th Armada
4th Portuguese India Armada (Gama, 1502)
The Fourth India Armada was assembled in 1502 on the order of King Manuel I of Portugal and placed under the command of D. Vasco da Gama. It was Gama's second trip to India...
(1502) carried 30 men, four heavy guns below, six falconets
Falconet (cannon)
The falconet or falcon was a light cannon developed in the late 15th century. During the Middle Ages guns were decorated with engravings of reptiles, birds or beasts depending on their size. For example, a culverin would often feature snakes, as the handles on the early cannons were often decorated...
(falconete) above (two fixed astern) and ten swivel-guns
Swivel gun
The term swivel gun usually refers to a small cannon, mounted on a swiveling stand or fork which allows a very wide arc of movement. Another type of firearm referred to as a swivel gun was an early flintlock combination gun with two barrels that rotated along their axes to allow the shooter to...
(canhão de berço) on the quarter-deck and bow.
An armed carrack, by contrast, had six heavy guns below, eight falconets above and several swivel-guns, and two fixed forward-firing guns before the mast. Although an armed carrack carried more firepower than a caravel, it was much less swift and less manoeuvrable, especially when loaded with cargo. A carrack's guns were primarily defensive, or for shore bombardments, whenever their heavier firepower was necessary. But by and large, fighting at sea was usually left to the armed carvels. The development of the heavy galleon removed even the necessity of bringing carrack firepower to bear in most circumstances.
Losses
According to historian Oliveria martins, of the 806 naus sent on the India Run between 1497 and 1612, 425 returned safely to Portugal, 20 returned prematurely (i.e. without reaching India), 66 were lost, 4 were captured by the enemy, 6 were scuttled and burnt, and 285 remained in India (which went on to meet various fates of their own in the East.)The loss rate was higher in certain periods than others, reflecting greater or lesser attention and standards of shipbuilding, organization, supervision, training, etc. which reveals itself in shoddily-built ships, overloaded cargo, incompetent officers, as well as the expected higher dangers of wartime. The rates fluctuated dramatically. By one estimate, in 1571-75, 90% of India ships returned safely; by 1586-1590, the success rate fell to less than 40%; between 1596 and 1605, the rate climbed above 50% again, but in the subsequent years fell back to around 20%.
That only four ships on India runs were known to be captured by the enemy seems quite astonishing. These were:
- (1) 1508, the ship of Job Queimado, originally part of the 8th Armada of Tristão da CunhaTristão da CunhaTristão da Cunha was a Portuguese explorer and naval commander. In 1514 he served as ambassador from king Manuel I of Portugal to Pope Leo X leading a luxurious embassy presenting in Rome the new conquests of Portugal...
that set out in 1506. It was captured in 1508 by the French corsair MondragonMondragon-Places:* Mondragon, Vaucluse, a town and commune in France.* Mondragon, Northern Samar, a municipality in the Philippines.* Mondragón/Arrasate, a town and municipality in the Basque region of Spain, famous for its cooperative movement....
(said by one account to be in the Mozambique ChannelMozambique ChannelThe Mozambique Channel is a portion of the Indian Ocean located between the island nation of Madagascar and southeast Africa, primarily the country of Mozambique. It was a World War II clashpoint during the Battle of Madagascar...
, but it is unlikely Mondragon would have taken the trouble of doubling the CapeCape of Good HopeThe Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...
; it was more likely captured on the Atlantic side, probably near the AzoresAzoresThe Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...
). Mondragon was himself tracked down and taken prisoner by Duarte Pacheco PereiraDuarte Pacheco PereiraDuarte Pacheco Pereira, called the Great, was a 15th century Portuguese sea captain, soldier, explorer and cartographer. He travelled particularly in the central Atlantic Ocean west of the Cape Verde islands, along the coast of West Africa and to India...
in January, 1509, off Cape FinisterreFinisterreFinisterre, Finisterra, Fisterra, or Finistère may refer to:Places* Cape Finisterre , headland in Galicia, north-west Spain, the Southern landfall of the Bay of Biscay...
.
- (2) 1525, Santa Catarina do Monte SinaiSanta Catarina Do Monte SinaiSanta Catarina do Monte Sinai was a higher-castled Portuguese carrack with 140 cannons, launched down in 1520 . Built in Kochi, India around 1512 it had two square rig masts and is depicted on a painting attributed to Joachim Patinir. In 1523 it was the flagship of Vasco da Gama....
, the great carrack built in GoaGoaGoa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
in 1512. It had been used to carry Vasco da GamaVasco da GamaVasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira was a Portuguese explorer, one of the most successful in the Age of Discovery and the commander of the first ships to sail directly from Europe to India...
in 1523 to serve as the new viceroy of India, and was on its way back to Portugal in 1525, with the former governor D. Duarte de MenezesDuarte de MenezesDom Duarte de Menezes , was a 16th C. Portuguese nobleman and colonial officer, governor of Tangier from 1508 to 1521 and 1536 to 1539 and governor of Portuguese India from 1522 to 1524.- Background :...
, when it was taken by French corsairs. (However, some have speculated that there was no foreign attack, that Menezes himself simply decided to go piratical and took command of the ship.)
- (3) 1587, São Filipe, returning from an India run, was captured by English privateer Sir Francis DrakeFrancis DrakeSir Francis Drake, Vice Admiral was an English sea captain, privateer, navigator, slaver, and politician of the Elizabethan era. Elizabeth I of England awarded Drake a knighthood in 1581. He was second-in-command of the English fleet against the Spanish Armada in 1588. He also carried out the...
, off the Azores. The triumph of the São Filipe cargo, one of the wealthiest hordes ever captured, was overshadowed only by the even wealthier trove of paperwork and maps detailing the Portuguese trade in Asia which fell into English hands. This set in motion the first English expedition to India, under Sir James LancasterJames LancasterSir James Lancaster was a prominent Elizabethan trader and privateer.Lancaster came from Basingstoke in Hampshire. In his early life, he was a soldier and a trader in Portugal...
in 1591.
- (4) 1592 Madre de Deus, the gigantic carrack captured by Sir John BurroughsSir John BurroughsSir John Burroughs or "Borough" was a 17th-century English soldier and military commander in the protestant army commanded by Horace Vere in the Palatinate, during the Eighty Years' War and the Thirty Years' War....
near the Azores, already described above.
This does not count, of course, ships that were attacked by enemy action and subsequently capsized or destroyed. It also does not count ships that were captured later in the East Indies (i.e. not on the India route at the time). The most famous of these was probably the mighty Portuguese carrack Santa Catarina (not to be confused with its earlier Mount Sinai namesake), captured in 1603, by Dutch captain Jacob van Heemskerk
Jacob van Heemskerk
Jacob van Heemskerk was a Dutch explorer and later admiral commanding the Dutch fleet at the Battle of Gibraltar.-Arctic exploration:...
. The Santa Catarina was on a Macau
Macau
Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...
to Malacca
Malacca
Malacca , dubbed The Historic State or Negeri Bersejarah among locals) is the third smallest Malaysian state, after Perlis and Penang. It is located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, on the Straits of Malacca. It borders Negeri Sembilan to the north and the state of Johor to the south...
run with a substantial cargo of Sino-Japanese wares, most notably a small fortune in musk
Musk
Musk is a class of aromatic substances commonly used as base notes in perfumery. They include glandular secretions from animals such as the musk deer, numerous plants emitting similar fragrances, and artificial substances with similar odors. Musk was a name originally given to a substance with a...
, when it was captured by Heemskerk in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
. The captured cargo nearly doubled the capital of the fledgling Dutch VOC
Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...
.]
Ships losses should not be confused with crew losses from disease, deprivation, accident, combat and desertion. These tended to be horrifically high – one third, or even as much as one half, even in good years.
Crews
The admiral of an armada, necessarily a nobleman of some degree, was known as the capitão-mor (captain-major), with full jurisdiction over the fleet. There was also usually a designated vice-admiral (soto-capitão), with a commission to assume command should tragedy befall the captain-major. The vice-admirals were also useful if a particular armada needed to be split into separate squadrons. If an armada carried a viceroy or governor of the Indies, he typically assumed the senior position (although in practice many delegated the decision-making during the journey to their flagship's captain).Each India ship had a capitão (captain
Captain (nautical)
A sea captain is a licensed mariner in ultimate command of the vessel. The captain is responsible for its safe and efficient operation, including cargo operations, navigation, crew management and ensuring that the vessel complies with local and international laws, as well as company and flag...
). As the position of captain could be quite profitable, it became quite attractive to lesser nobles and men of ambition hoping for a quick and easy fortune. The crown was often happy to 'sell' captain positions on India runs as a form of royal patronage to candidates with little or no experience at sea. Nonetheless, the captain was formally the king's representative and highest authority on his ship. Everyone, even noble passengers of greater formal rank, were under his jurisdiction. The supremacy of a captain's authority was curtailed only if the captain-major came aboard his ship, and when he docked in Goa
Goa
Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
(jurisdiction passed to the Vice-Roy or Governor).
Another important figure on an India ship was the escrivão (clerk
Captain's clerk
A captain's clerk was a rating, now obsolete, in the Royal Navy for a person employed by the captain to keep his records, correspondence, and accounts. The regulations of the Royal Navy demanded that a purser serve at least one year as a captain's clerk, so the latter was often a young man working...
), the de facto royal agent. The clerk was in charge of the written record of everything on the ship, especially the cargo inventory, which he tracked with meticulous precision. The clerk was carefully screened by the Casa da Índia
Casa da Índia
Casa da Índia was the Portuguese organization that managed all overseas territories during the heyday of the Portuguese Empire in the 16th century. It was both the central authority for managing all aspects of overseas trade, the central shipment point and clearing house...
, and was the crown's most trusted agent on board ship, and expected to keep an eye for crown interests. This gave him, in practice, a greater authority on the ship than his formal title suggests. At departure, the clerk was presented with the keys to the hold
Hold (ship)
thumb|right|120px|View of the hold of a container shipA ship's hold is a space for carrying cargo. Cargo in holds may be either packaged in crates, bales, etc., or unpackaged . Access to holds is by a large hatch at the top...
(porão). and a royal signet to seal the cargo. Nobody, not even the captain, was allowed to visit the cargo hold without the clerk present. It is said that rations could not be distributed, nor even a cup of water drawn from a barrel, without notifying the clerk. Upon the capture of an enemy ship, the clerk was immediately escorted aboard the captured vessel to seal the holds, cabins and chests, and take inventory of the loot.
Technical command of the ship was in the hands of the piloto (who combined the roles of pilot
Maritime pilot
A pilot is a mariner who guides ships through dangerous or congested waters, such as harbours or river mouths. With the exception of the Panama Canal, the pilot is only an advisor, as the captain remains in legal, overriding command of the vessel....
and navigator
Navigator
A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation. The navigator's primary responsibility is to be aware of ship or aircraft position at all times. Responsibilities include planning the journey, advising the Captain or aircraft Commander of estimated timing to...
) and his assistant, the soto-piloto (second or under-pilot). The pilot and his assistant not merely steered the ship, but were responsible for all navigational matters – charts, instruments, plotting the course, etc. As captains were often quite inexperienced, the pilot was usually the highest trained naval officer aboard. Captains frequently deferred to them on the running of the ship.
Lacking a formal navigation school, early pilots were trained by apprenticeship
Apprenticeship
Apprenticeship is a system of training a new generation of practitioners of a skill. Apprentices or protégés build their careers from apprenticeships...
. New pilots received their instruction, both practical and theoretical, first-hand from master pilots aboard ship and kept a tight lid on their professional secrets. This changed in the late 1550s or early 1560s, with the establishment of formal courses of instruction for India pilots in Lisbon by the cosmógrafo-mor Pedro Nunes
Pedro Nunes
Pedro Nunes , was a Portuguese mathematician, cosmographer, and professor, from a New Christian family. Nunes, considered to be one of the greatest mathematicians of his time , is best known for his contributions in the technical field of navigation, which was crucial to the Portuguese period of...
, which included a final examination and formal certification.
Despite their general secretiveness, several early India pilots compiled written navigation manuals, probably initially merely as notes for themselves, but eventually passed on and copied by others. These included general instructions on how to read, plot and follow routes by nautical chart, how to use the principal nautical instruments of the day - the mariner's compass
Compass
A compass is a navigational instrument that shows directions in a frame of reference that is stationary relative to the surface of the earth. The frame of reference defines the four cardinal directions – north, south, east, and west. Intermediate directions are also defined...
, the quadrant
Quadrant (instrument)
A quadrant is an instrument that is used to measure angles up to 90°. It was originally proposed by Ptolemy as a better kind of astrolabe. Several different variations of the instrument were later produced by medieval Muslim astronomers.-Types of quadrants:...
, the astrolabe
Astrolabe
An astrolabe is an elaborate inclinometer, historically used by astronomers, navigators, and astrologers. Its many uses include locating and predicting the positions of the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars, determining local time given local latitude and longitude, surveying, triangulation, and to...
, the nocturlabe
Nocturnal (instrument)
A nocturnal is an instrument used to determine the time based on the position of a certain star in the night sky. Sometimes called a "horologium nocturnum" or nocturlabe , it is closely related to the sun dial. A nocturnal is typically a navigational instrument...
and the cross-staff (balestilha) - and astronomical tables (notably that of solar declination, derived from Abraham Zacuto
Abraham Zacuto
Abraham Zacuto was a Sephardi Jewish astronomer, astrologer, mathematician and historian who served as Royal Astronomer in the 15th century to King John II of Portugal. The crater Zagut on the Moon is named after him....
and later Pedro Nunes's own) to correctly account for "compass error" (the deviation of the magnetic north from the true north
True north
True north is the direction along the earth's surface towards the geographic North Pole.True geodetic north usually differs from magnetic north , and from grid north...
) by recourse to the Pole Star
Pole star
The term "Pole Star" usually refers to Polaris, which is the current northern pole star, also known as the North Star.In general, however, a pole star is a visible star, especially a prominent one, that is approximately aligned with the Earth's axis of rotation; that is, a star whose apparent...
, Sun
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
and Southern Cross, the flux and reflux of tides, etc. These manuals often contained a roteiro (rutter
Rutter
- As surname :* Barrie Rutter : English actor and theatre director* Brad Rutter : US quiz show host* Dale Rutter : birth name of US pornographic actor Dale DaBone...
), giving the detailed instructions (by geographical coordinates and physical description) of the routes to India. Two of the few which have survived were Duarte Pacheco Pereira
Duarte Pacheco Pereira
Duarte Pacheco Pereira, called the Great, was a 15th century Portuguese sea captain, soldier, explorer and cartographer. He travelled particularly in the central Atlantic Ocean west of the Cape Verde islands, along the coast of West Africa and to India...
's Esmeraldo de Situ Orbis (c.1509) and João de Lisboa's Livro da Marinharia (c.1514).
Relative to the ships of other nations (e.g. French, Dutch), clerks and pilots on Portuguese vessels held an unusually high degree of authority.
Next in a ship's hierarchy was the mestre (master
Master (naval)
The master, or sailing master, was a historic term for a naval officer trained in and responsible for the navigation of a sailing vessel...
). The ship's master was the officer in charge of all sailors, ship's boys and the rest of the crew. His primary job at sea was to ensure the crew implemented the technical manoeuvre orders of the pilot – raising and lowering sails, etc. As such, the master required a good degree of sailing knowledge – knowing how to translate the pilot's instructions into sail & crew instructions. He was often sufficiently trained in navigation to take over pilot's duties if the pilot and under-pilot were incapacitated. But a ship which lost all three officers would usually be in serious trouble.
Assisting the master, was the contramestre (or soto-mestre, boatswain
Boatswain
A boatswain , bo's'n, bos'n, or bosun is an unlicensed member of the deck department of a merchant ship. The boatswain supervises the other unlicensed members of the ship's deck department, and typically is not a watchstander, except on vessels with small crews...
). The boatswain was the crew enforcer – he ensured the master's orders were implemented by the crew. In practice, they usually partitioned the deck between them, with the master in charge of implementation in the stern
Stern
The stern is the rear or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite of the bow, the foremost part of a ship. Originally, the term only referred to the aft port section...
, and the boatswain in the bow (ship)
Bow (ship)
The bow is a nautical term that refers to the forward part of the hull of a ship or boat, the point that is most forward when the vessel is underway. Both of the adjectives fore and forward mean towards the bow...
. The boatswain was also in charge of the maintenance of rigging, anchors and supervising the loading and unloading of cargo, etc. The boatswain had his own assistant, the guardião (boatswain's mate).
The bulk of the crew were all-purpose sailors – usually half of them marinheiros (seamen), the other half grumetes (ship-boys). The partition between the two classes was akin to the modern distinction between able seaman
Able seaman
An able seaman is an unlicensed member of the deck department of a merchant ship. An AB may work as a watchstander, a day worker, or a combination of these roles.-Watchstander:...
and ordinary seamen
Ordinary Seaman (occupation)
An ordinary seaman is an unlicensed member of the deck department of a merchant ship. The position is an apprenticeship to become an able seaman, and has been for centuries...
, e.g. ship-boys were assigned the drudgery duties, swabbing and scrubbing, moving cargo, etc., while seamen would be given 'higher' responsibilities, e.g. assigned to hold the wheel on the quarterdeck
Quarterdeck
The quarterdeck is that part of a warship designated by the commanding officer for official and ceremonial functions. In port, the quarterdeck is the most important place on the ship, and is the central control point for all its major activities. Underway, its importance diminishes as control of...
(tolda). The contramestre (boatswain) was considered the head of the seamen, and served as the intermediary between the seamen and the higher officers (master, pilot, etc.). The guardião (boatswain's mate) had authority only over the ship-boys; seamen would not obey a guardiãos order.
Then there were the specialized crew. A Portuguese India nau usually had two estrinqueiros, skilled sailors in charge of the windlass
Windlass
The windlass is an apparatus for moving heavy weights. Typically, a windlass consists of a horizontal cylinder , which is rotated by the turn of a crank or belt...
that operated the round sails
Mast (sailing)
The mast of a sailing vessel is a tall, vertical, or near vertical, spar, or arrangement of spars, which supports the sails. Large ships have several masts, with the size and configuration depending on the style of ship...
(one for the main mast, another for the fore mast). The meirinho (bailiff
Bailiff
A bailiff is a governor or custodian ; a legal officer to whom some degree of authority, care or jurisdiction is committed...
), a judicial officer, was in charge of dispensing punishment and supervising on-board dangers (fires, gunpowder stores, weapon caches). The capelão (chaplain
Chaplain
Traditionally, a chaplain is a minister in a specialized setting such as a priest, pastor, rabbi, or imam or lay representative of a religion attached to a secular institution such as a hospital, prison, military unit, police department, university, or private chapel...
) was in charge of saving souls, the barbeiro (barber surgeon
Barber surgeon
The barber surgeon was one of the most common medical practitioners of medieval Europe - generally charged with looking after soldiers during or after a battle...
) in charge of saving lives. A large nau usually had a number of pagens (pages
Page (servant)
A page or page boy is a traditionally young male servant, a messenger at the service of a nobleman or royal.-The medieval page:In medieval times, a page was an attendant to a knight; an apprentice squire...
), who not only attended upon the officers and the cabins, but also served as runners delivering orders across the deck.
The despenseiro (purser
Purser
The purser joined the warrant officer ranks of the Royal Navy in the early fourteenth century and existed as a Naval rank until 1852. The development of the warrant officer system began in 1040 when five English ports began furnishing warships to King Edward the Confessor in exchange for certain...
/steward
Chief Steward
A chief steward is the senior unlicensed crew member working in the Steward's Department of a ship. Since there is no purser on most ships in the United States Merchant Marine, the steward is the senior person in the department, whence its name...
) was in charge of food stores and rations. Unlike ships of other nations, Portuguese vessels did not usually have a cook aboard, sailors were expected to cook their own meals themselves at the ship's ovens. Rations were composed primarily of ship biscuit (the main staple, rationed at 2 lb per person per day). Other provisions included wine, salt, olive oil, salted cod, sardines, pork, cheese, rice, and the like, with fresh fruits and vegetables available on the initial part of the journey. Rations were suspended if the ship was at dock and the men ashore. On the return journey, the crown would only supply enough biscuit and water for a ship to reach the Cape of Good Hope; the ship's crew would have to find its own provisions thereafter.
Perhaps the most valued of the specialized positions was the repair crew. This was usually composed of two carpenter
Carpenter
A carpenter is a skilled craftsperson who works with timber to construct, install and maintain buildings, furniture, and other objects. The work, known as carpentry, may involve manual labor and work outdoors....
s (carpinteiro) and two caulkers (calafate) that fixed anything that was broken, plus the cooper
Cooper (profession)
Traditionally, a cooper is someone who makes wooden staved vessels of a conical form, of greater length than breadth, bound together with hoops and possessing flat ends or heads...
(tanoeiro), who ensured the cargo and water stores remained preserved. A nau might also have mergulhadores (divers), crew specially trained to go down the outside of the ship to check and help repair hull damage below the water level.
Military personnel aboard a nau varied with the mission. Except for some specialists and passengers, most of the crew was armed before encounters and expected to fight. But every nau also had, at the very least, a small specialized artillery
Naval artillery
Naval artillery, or naval riflery, is artillery mounted on a warship for use in naval warfare. Naval artillery has historically been used to engage either other ships, or targets on land; in the latter role it is currently termed naval gunfire fire support...
crew of around ten bombardeiros (gunners), under the command of a condestável (constable
Constable
A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions.-Etymology:...
). As naval artillery was the single most important advantage the Portuguese had over rival powers in the Indian Ocean, gunners were highly trained and enjoyed a bit of an elite status on the ship. (Indeed, many gunners on Portuguese India ships were highly skilled foreigners, principally Germans, lured into Portuguese service with premium wages and bonuses offered by crown agents.).
Ships that expected more military encounters might also carry homens d'armas (men-at-arms
Man-at-arms
Man-at-arms was a term used from the High Medieval to Renaissance periods to describe a soldier, almost always a professional warrior in the sense of being well-trained in the use of arms, who served as a fully armoured heavy cavalryman...
), espingardeiros (arquebusiers/musketeer
Musketeer
A musketeer was an early modern type of infantry soldier equipped with a musket. Musketeers were an important part of early modern armies, particularly in Europe. They sometimes could fight on horseback, like a dragoon or a cavalryman...
s) and besteiros (crossbowmen). But, except for the gunners, soldiers aboard ship were not regarded as an integral part of the naval crew, but rather just as passengers.
The following is a sample composition of a typical 16th C. Portuguese India nau (carrack
Carrack
A carrack or nau was a three- or four-masted sailing ship developed in 15th century Western Europe for use in the Atlantic Ocean. It had a high rounded stern with large aftcastle, forecastle and bowsprit at the stem. It was first used by the Portuguese , and later by the Spanish, to explore and...
):
- 1 captain (capitão)
- 1 clerk (escrivão)
- 1 chaplain (capelão)
- 2 pilots (piloto, soto-piloto)
- 1 master (mestre)
- 1 boatswain (contramestre)
- 1 boatswain's mate (guardião)
- 2 windlass operators (estrinqueiros)
- 45 seamen (marinheiros)
- 48 ship-boys (grumetes)
- 4 pages (pagems)
- 2 carpenters (carpinteiro and carpinteiro sobressalente)
- 2 caulkers (calafate and calafate sobressalente)
- 1 cooper (tanoeiro)
- 1 steward (despenseiro)
- 1 bailiff (meirinho)
- 1 barber-surgeon (barbeiro)
- 1 constable (condestável)
- 11 gunners (bombardeiros)
Total = 127 crew
Plus any soldiers and passengers that might be taken aboard.
Compensation and spoils
In addition to the cash salaries paid by the Casa da ÍndiaCasa da Índia
Casa da Índia was the Portuguese organization that managed all overseas territories during the heyday of the Portuguese Empire in the 16th century. It was both the central authority for managing all aspects of overseas trade, the central shipment point and clearing house...
, captains and crew members were allowed to engage in trade on their own account (up to a certain amount). That is, they were authorized to import into Portugal a pre-specified volume of pepper and a certain number of boxes of assorted goods (caixas forras de fretes e direitos, or caixas de liberdades, "liberty chests"). These were to be purchased in India out of their own pockets, of course, but the crown would allow these cargoes to be brought back on crown ships free of freight charge and duties, and sold in Lisbon markets (at pre-set prices), for their own personal profit. Liberty chests had standard dimensions 4' × 3' × 2.5'
In the early armadas, the captain-major and captains of the carracks were obliged, by King Manuel I of Portugal
Manuel I of Portugal
Manuel I , the Fortunate , 14th king of Portugal and the Algarves was the son of Infante Ferdinand, Duke of Viseu, , by his wife, Infanta Beatrice of Portugal...
, to pay the vintena de Belém , a 5% duty of the earnings from the private sales of imported goods for the construction and maintenance of the Jerónimos Monastery
Jerónimos Monastery
The Hieronymites Monastery is located near the shore of the parish of Belém, in the municipality of Lisbon, Portugal...
in Belém
Santa Maria de Belém
Santa Maria de Belém, or just Belém , whose name is derived from the Portuguese word for Bethlehem, is a civil parish of the municipality of Lisbon, in central Portugal...
. This rule was introduced in 1502 and continued until about 1522.
The following compensation schedule is taken from the Second India Armada
2nd Portuguese India Armada (Cabral, 1500)
The Second Portuguese India Armada was assembled in 1500 on the order of King Manuel I of Portugal and placed under the command of Pedro Álvares Cabral. Cabral's armada famously discovered Brazil for the Portuguese crown along the way...
of 1500
- captain-major: 10,000 cruzados for entire journey, 500 quintalQuintalQuintal may refer to:* Quintal , a unit of mass* Quartal and quintal harmony in music* Quintal, Haute-Savoie, a commune of the Haute-Savoie département in France* Stéphane Quintal, NHL ice hockey player...
s of pepper, 10 liberty chests - captain: 1,000 cruzados for each 100-tonne ship size they command, 50 quintals, 6 chests
- pilot, master: 500 cruzados, 30 quintals, 4 chests
- constable: 200 cruzados, 10 quintals, 2 chests
- gunners: 10 cruzados per month, 10 quintals, 1 chest
- soldiers: 5 cruzados per month, 3 quintals, 1 chest
- sailors: 10 cruzados per month, 10 quintals, 1 chest
- boatswain & boatswain's mate: 1 and a 1/3 times the sailor's salary.
- specialized crew (chaplain, steward, barber-surgeon, carpenter, caulker, windlass-operator): 2/3 of the sailor's salary
- ship-boys: 1/2 of the sailor's salary
- pages: 1/4 of the sailor's salary
The Casa da India allowed the captain-major to draw as much as 5,000 cruzados of his salary in advance, a captain 1,000. Any married crewman could draw up to one year in salary in advance, while a single man could draw up to six months.
Officers, soldiers and officials that were to remain in India in some capacity (patrol ship captains, factors, clerks, magistrates (alcaide-mor), etc.) typically signed employment contracts of three years duration. Soldiers who signed an overseas service contract received a bonus of 800 reais
Portuguese real
The real was the unit of currency of Portugal from around 1430 until 1911. It replaced the dinheiro at the rate of 1 real = 840 dinheiros and was itself replaced by the escudo at a rate of 1 escudo = 1000 réis...
per month en route, bumped up to 1200 per month in India (to pay for living expenses), and the right to ship back an additional 2.5 quintals of pepper per year (in addition to the quintals they were already authorized to send back according to the standard pay scale).
Even if not formally authorized, captains sometimes supplemented their earnings by undertaking a bit of piracy and extortion on the side. Although it did not necessarily encourage India armadas to pursue activities that might endanger their ships and cargoes, rules were still set out for the partition of the spoils of captured ships and extortion of tribute from 'unfriendly' ports.
The rules of plunder were as follows: first of all, the captain-major has the 'right to a jewel', i.e. he is allowed to pick one item from the spoils for himself, provided it is worth no more than 500 cruzados. Then one-fifth is set aside for the crown. The remainder is subsequently divided into three parts: 2/3 for the crown again (albeit to be expended on the armada itself in the form of equipment, supplies and ammunition), and the remaining third distributed among the crew for private taking. The partition of this last third worked out as follows:
- Captain-major: 15 parts
- captains of the large carracks: 10 parts
- Captains of caravels: 6 parts
- Pilot-Master (i.e. those who served double office of pilot & master): 4 parts
- Masters: 3 parts
- Pilots: 3 parts
- Sailors: 2 parts
- Gunners: 2 parts
- Espingardeiros (arquebusiers/musketeers): 2 parts
- Crossbowmen: 2 parts
- Armed sailors: 1.5 parts
- Men-at-arms: 1.5 parts
- Ship boys: 1 part
Once again, the captain-major and captains of large carracks had to contribute 10% of their part to the Jerónimos monastery of Belém (although that does not seem to apply to the others).
Cargo
While the India armadas were used to ferry troops, officials, missionaries and colonists between Europe and Asia, their primary objective was commercial. They were engaged in the spice trade, importing Asian spices to sell in European markets, especially the five "glorious spices" – pepper, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and mace.  |
 |
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| Pepper Black pepper Black pepper is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit, known as a peppercorn when dried, is approximately in diameter, dark red when fully mature, and, like all drupes, contains a single seed... |
Cinnamon Cinnamon Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several trees from the genus Cinnamomum that is used in both sweet and savoury foods... |
Cloves | Nutmeg Nutmeg The nutmeg tree is any of several species of trees in genus Myristica. The most important commercial species is Myristica fragrans, an evergreen tree indigenous to the Banda Islands in the Moluccas of Indonesia... |
Mace |
| (Kerala Kerala or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions.... ) |
(Ceylon) | (Ternate Ternate Ternate is an island in the Maluku Islands of eastern Indonesia. It is located off the west coast of the larger island of Halmahera, the center of the powerful former Sultanate of Ternate.... & Tidore Tidore Tidore is a city, island, and archipelago in the Maluku Islands of eastern Indonesia, west of the larger island of Halmahera. In the pre-colonial era, the kingdom of Tidore was a major regional political and economic power, and a fierce rival of nearby Ternate, just to the north.-Geography:Tidor... ) |
(Banda Islands Banda Islands The Banda Islands are a volcanic group of ten small volcanic islands in the Banda Sea, about south of Seram Island and about east of Java, and are part of the Indonesian province of Maluku. The main town and administrative centre is Bandanaira, located on the island of the same name. They rise... ) |
(Banda Islands Banda Islands The Banda Islands are a volcanic group of ten small volcanic islands in the Banda Sea, about south of Seram Island and about east of Java, and are part of the Indonesian province of Maluku. The main town and administrative centre is Bandanaira, located on the island of the same name. They rise... ) |
Black Pepper
Black pepper
Black pepper is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit, known as a peppercorn when dried, is approximately in diameter, dark red when fully mature, and, like all drupes, contains a single seed...
, grown locally in Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
, composed as much as 90% of the return cargo of the early armadas. But the other glorious spices could also be found in Calicut, Cochin and other major markets on the Malabar coast
Malabar Coast
The Malabar Coast is a long and narrow coastline on the south-western shore line of the mainland Indian subcontinent. Geographically, it comprises the wettest regions of southern India, as the Western Ghats intercept the moisture-laden monsoon rains, especially on their westward-facing mountain...
of India – cinnamon
Cinnamon
Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several trees from the genus Cinnamomum that is used in both sweet and savoury foods...
was imported in large amounts from Ceylon, while, from further east, via Malacca
Malacca
Malacca , dubbed The Historic State or Negeri Bersejarah among locals) is the third smallest Malaysian state, after Perlis and Penang. It is located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, on the Straits of Malacca. It borders Negeri Sembilan to the north and the state of Johor to the south...
, came long pepper
Long pepper
Long pepper , , sometimes called Indian long pepper, is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. Long pepper has a similar, but hotter, taste to its close relative Piper nigrum - from which black, green and white...
(from Java
Java
Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...
), cloves (grown exclusively in the Moluccan islands of Ternate
Ternate
Ternate is an island in the Maluku Islands of eastern Indonesia. It is located off the west coast of the larger island of Halmahera, the center of the powerful former Sultanate of Ternate....
and Tidore
Tidore
Tidore is a city, island, and archipelago in the Maluku Islands of eastern Indonesia, west of the larger island of Halmahera. In the pre-colonial era, the kingdom of Tidore was a major regional political and economic power, and a fierce rival of nearby Ternate, just to the north.-Geography:Tidor...
) and, in smaller amounts, highly-valued nutmeg and mace
Nutmeg
The nutmeg tree is any of several species of trees in genus Myristica. The most important commercial species is Myristica fragrans, an evergreen tree indigenous to the Banda Islands in the Moluccas of Indonesia...
(grown only in the Banda Islands
Banda Islands
The Banda Islands are a volcanic group of ten small volcanic islands in the Banda Sea, about south of Seram Island and about east of Java, and are part of the Indonesian province of Maluku. The main town and administrative centre is Bandanaira, located on the island of the same name. They rise...
).
The armadas also loaded less glorious spices found in Indian markets, notably locally-grown ginger
Ginger
Ginger is the rhizome of the plant Zingiber officinale, consumed as a delicacy, medicine, or spice. It lends its name to its genus and family . Other notable members of this plant family are turmeric, cardamom, and galangal....
(the principal 'filler' cargo), cardamom
Cardamom
Cardamom refers to several plants of the genera Elettaria and Amomum in the ginger family Zingiberaceae. Both genera are native to India and Bhutan; they are recognised by their small seed pod, triangular in cross-section and spindle-shaped, with a thin papery outer shell and small black seeds...
and tamarind
Tamarind
Tamarind is a tree in the family Fabaceae. The genus Tamarindus is monotypic .-Origin:...
, balms and aromatics like Artemisia indica
Artemisia (plant)
Artemisia is a large, diverse genus of plants with between 200 to 400 species belonging to the daisy family Asteraceae. It comprises hardy herbs and shrubs known for their volatile oils. They grow in temperate climates of the Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere, usually in dry or semi-dry...
(wormwood), Socotra aloe
Aloe perryi
Aloe perryi is a species of plant in the genus Aloe. It is endemic to Socotra in Yemen. Its natural habitat is rocky areas.-References:* Miller, A. 2004. . Downloaded 20 August 2007....
, galbanum
Galbanum
Galbanum is an aromatic gum resin, the product of certain umbelliferous Persian plant species, chiefly Ferula gummosa and Ferula rubricaulis. Galbanum-yielding plants grow plentifully on the slopes of the mountain ranges of northern Iran...
, camphor
Camphor
Camphor is a waxy, white or transparent solid with a strong, aromatic odor. It is a terpenoid with the chemical formula C10H16O. It is found in wood of the camphor laurel , a large evergreen tree found in Asia and also of Dryobalanops aromatica, a giant of the Bornean forests...
and myrrh
Myrrh
Myrrh is the aromatic oleoresin of a number of small, thorny tree species of the genus Commiphora, which grow in dry, stony soil. An oleoresin is a natural blend of an essential oil and a resin. Myrrh resin is a natural gum....
. Also brought back from India were dyes like lac
Lac
Lac is the scarlet resinous secretion of a number of species of insects, namely some of the species of the genera Metatachardia, Laccifer, Tachordiella, Austrotacharidia, Afrotachardina, and Tachardina of the superfamily Coccoidea, of which the most commonly cultivated species is Kerria lacca.The...
, indigo
Indigo
Indigo is a color named after the purple dye derived from the plant Indigofera tinctoria and related species. The color is placed on the electromagnetic spectrum between about 420 and 450 nm in wavelength, placing it between blue and violet...
and dyewood and precious ornamental objects and materials like ivory
Ivory
Ivory is a term for dentine, which constitutes the bulk of the teeth and tusks of animals, when used as a material for art or manufacturing. Ivory has been important since ancient times for making a range of items, from ivory carvings to false teeth, fans, dominoes, joint tubes, piano keys and...
, ebony
Ebony
Ebony is a dense black wood, most commonly yielded by several species in the genus Diospyros, but ebony may also refer to other heavy, black woods from unrelated species. Ebony is dense enough to sink in water. Its fine texture, and very smooth finish when polished, make it valuable as an...
and pearl
Pearl
A pearl is a hard object produced within the soft tissue of a living shelled mollusk. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is made up of calcium carbonate in minute crystalline form, which has been deposited in concentric layers. The ideal pearl is perfectly round and smooth, but many other...
s.
It is estimated that the average India carrack brought back between 6,100 and 6,800 quintal
Quintal
Quintal may refer to:* Quintal , a unit of mass* Quartal and quintal harmony in music* Quintal, Haute-Savoie, a commune of the Haute-Savoie département in France* Stéphane Quintal, NHL ice hockey player...
s of imported spices and goods - or, around 25,000 to 30,000 quintals for the average yearly India armada (4-5 ships). Exceptionally large armadas and/or behemoth ships could push it up to 40,000 in some years. It is estimated that around 15% of the cargo was lost at sea, spoilage, etc. over the long run.
A greater difficulty involved determining the cargo on the outgoing journey. The following list, from the Fourth Armada
4th Portuguese India Armada (Gama, 1502)
The Fourth India Armada was assembled in 1502 on the order of King Manuel I of Portugal and placed under the command of D. Vasco da Gama. It was Gama's second trip to India...
of 1502, gives an idea of the kind of European items brought by the Portuguese to sell in India: "cut and branch coral
Coral (precious)
Precious coral or red coral is the common name given to Corallium rubrum and several related species of marine coral. The distinguishing characteristic of precious corals is their durable and intensely colored red or pink skeleton, which is used for making jewelry.-Habitat:Red corals grow on rocky...
, copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
in pigs and sheets, quicksilver
Mercury (element)
Mercury is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80. It is also known as quicksilver or hydrargyrum...
, vermilion
Vermilion
Vermilion is an opaque orangish red pigment, similar to scarlet. As a naturally occurring mineral pigment, it is known as cinnabar, and was in use around the world before the Common Era began. Most naturally produced vermilion comes from cinnabar mined in China, and vermilion is nowadays commonly...
, rugs, Flanders brass basins, coloured cloths, knives, red barret-caps, mirrors and coloured silk
Silk
Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...
s." But, by and large, European products did not sell well in Asia, which meant that ship holds were frequently empty, or nearly so, on the outward leg. In other words, outbound ships carried little more than the metal bullion – principally silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
, but also copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
and lead
Lead
Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...
– needed to purchase spices in Asian markets.
However, if they stopped by Mozambique Island on the outward leg (as almost all India armadas did), they could expect the local Portuguese factors to have a stockpile of East African trade goods – gold, ivory, coral, pearls, acquired during the year at several points along the Swahili Coast
Swahili Coast
The Swahili Coast refers to the coast or coastal area of East Africa inhabited by the Swahili people, mainly Kenya, Tanzania, and north Mozambique...
– ready to be picked up by the armadas for sale in India.
Factories
Of course, an armada could not just sail into an Indian city and expect to find enough supplies at hand in the city's spice markets to load up five or ten large ships at once. Should it even try, it would likely provoke an instant scarcity and quickly drive up the prices of spices astronomically.Instead, the Portuguese relied on the ancient 'factory' system. That is, in every major market, the Portuguese erected a warehouse ('factory
Factory (trading post)
Factory was the English term for the trading posts system originally established by Europeans in foreign territories, first within different states of medieval Europe, and later in their colonial possessions...
', feitoria) and left behind a purchasing agent ('factor'
Factor (agent)
A factor, from the Latin "he who does" , is a person who professionally acts as the representative of another individual or other legal entity, historically with his seat at a factory , notably in the following contexts:-Mercantile factor:In a relatively large company, there could be a hierarchy,...
, feitor). The factor and his assistants would remain in the city and buy spices from the markets slowly over the course of the year, and deposit them into the warehouse. When the next armada arrived, it would simply load up the accumulated spices from the warehouse and set sail out at once.
Malabar Coast
The Malabar Coast is a long and narrow coastline on the south-western shore line of the mainland Indian subcontinent. Geographically, it comprises the wettest regions of southern India, as the Western Ghats intercept the moisture-laden monsoon rains, especially on their westward-facing mountain...
of India in September 1500, but it was overrun in a riot a couple of months later. Consequently, the first lasting factory was set up in the nearby smaller city of Cochin (Cochim, Kochi) in late 1500. This was followed up by factories in Cannanore
Kannur
Kannur , also known as Cannanore, is a city in Kannur district in the Indian state of Kerala. It is the administrative headquarters of the District of Kannur and 518km north of state capital Trivandrum. During British rule in India, Kannur was known by its old name Cannanore, which is still in...
(Canonor, Kannur) (1502) and Quilon
Kollam
Kollam , often anglicized as ', is a city in the Indian state of Kerala. The city lies on the banks of Ashtamudi Lake on the Arabian sea coast and is situated about north of the state capital, Thiruvananthapuram...
(Coulão, Kollam) (1503).
Although some Portuguese factories were defended by palisade
Palisade
A palisade is a steel or wooden fence or wall of variable height, usually used as a defensive structure.- Typical construction :Typical construction consisted of small or mid sized tree trunks aligned vertically, with no spacing in between. The trunks were sharpened or pointed at the top, and were...
s that eventually evolved into Portuguese forts garrisoned by Portuguese troops (e.g. Fort Manuel
Fort Kochi
Fort Kochi is a region in the city of Kochi in the state of Kerala, India. This is part of a handful of water-bound regions toward the south-west of the mainland Kochi, and collectively known as Old Kochi or West Kochi. Adjacent to this is Mattancherry...
was erected around the Cochin factory in 1503, Fort Sant' Angelo
St. Angelo Fort
St. Angelo Fort , is a fort facing the Arabian Sea, situated 3 km from the town of Kannur, a city in Kerala state, south India.-History:...
around the Cannanore factory in 1505), not all did. The two concepts are distinct. Factories were commercial outposts, not political, administrative or military. The factor was formally an employee of the Casa da India (the trading house), not an officer of the Estado da India (the colonial government).
Age of Antwerp
While LisbonLisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
was the offloading point of the India armada, it was not the endpoint of the Portuguese spice trade
Spice trade
Civilizations of Asia were involved in spice trade from the ancient times, and the Greco-Roman world soon followed by trading along the Incense route and the Roman-India routes...
. There remained the matter of distribution of the spices in Europe.
Until the Portuguese breakthrough into the Indian Ocean, the supply of eastern spices to European consumers had been largely in the hands of Republic of Venice
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...
. Arab and Gujarati merchants ferried spices from Indian ports like Calicut, across the Arabian Sea
Arabian Sea
The Arabian Sea is a region of the Indian Ocean bounded on the east by India, on the north by Pakistan and Iran, on the west by the Arabian Peninsula, on the south, approximately, by a line between Cape Guardafui in northeastern Somalia and Kanyakumari in India...
and into the Red Sea
Red Sea
The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...
ports like Jeddah
Jeddah
Jeddah, Jiddah, Jidda, or Jedda is a city located on the coast of the Red Sea and is the major urban center of western Saudi Arabia. It is the largest city in Makkah Province, the largest sea port on the Red Sea, and the second largest city in Saudi Arabia after the capital city, Riyadh. The...
. From there, they would be carried overland to ports in the eastern Mediterranean, such as Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
, where they would be picked by Venetian merchants and then sold on European markets.
The Portuguese India armadas challenged this old spice route, for a brief period disrupted it, but they did not eliminate it. Despite Portuguese efforts to secure monopolies at the source, enough spices still slipped through the old Venetian-Arab route and forced competition on the sale end in Europe.
Realizing that the Mediterranean was saturated with spices supplied by Venetian merchants, the Portuguese decided to avoid head-to-head competition that might cut into their profits there, and focused on selling their spices in northern Europe, a market the Venetians had barely touched. To this end, the Casa da Índia set up a factory (feitoria de Flandres) in the Brabantine
Duchy of Brabant
The Duchy of Brabant was a historical region in the Low Countries. Its territory consisted essentially of the three modern-day Belgian provinces of Flemish Brabant, Walloon Brabant and Antwerp, the Brussels-Capital Region and most of the present-day Dutch province of North Brabant.The Flag of...
town of Antwerp in 1508. The factory had two purposes: firstly, to serve as a distribution center of the Portuguese spices to the rest of northern Europe; secondly, to acquire the silver bullion needed by the Portuguese India armadas to buy spices in Asia.
It is in the silver trade that Portugal and Venice competed directly. Both needed large volumes of European silver to buy spices in Asia, yet the only significant silver source was in Central Europe, dominated by major German trading families like the Welser
Welser
Welser is the surname of an important German banking and merchant family, originally from Augsburg. Along with the Fugger family, the Welser family controlled various sectors of the European economy, and accumulated enormous wealth through trade and the German colonization of the...
s, the Hochstetter
Hochstetter
The family of Höchstetter from Höchstädt near the banks of the Danube were members of the fifteenth and sixteenth-century mercantile patriciate of Augsburg....
s and the Fuggers of Augsburg
Augsburg
Augsburg is a city in the south-west of Bavaria, Germany. It is a university town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is, as of 2008, the third-largest city in Bavaria with a...
. To get their hands on this silver, the Portuguese and Venetians offered gold, not only from their revenues of spice sales, but also from overseas sources: the Portuguese had access to gold from the Akan
Akan people
The Akan people are an ethnic group found predominately in Ghana and The Ivory Coast. Akans are the majority in both of these countries and overall have a population of over 20 million people.The Akan speak Kwa languages-Origin and ethnogenesis:...
fields on the Gold Coast
Portuguese Gold Coast
The Portuguese Gold Coast was a Portuguese colony on the West African Gold Coast on the Gulf of Guinea.-History:The Portuguese established the following settlements on the Gold Coast from January 21, 1482:...
of west Africa, while the Venetians had access to the gold mines of the Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
(which was freighted up the Nile
Nile
The Nile is a major north-flowing river in North Africa, generally regarded as the longest river in the world. It is long. It runs through the ten countries of Sudan, South Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Egypt.The Nile has two major...
to Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
). Via river routes, the German silver merchants directed silver bullion supplies up to the Portuguese factory in Antwerp, from where ships would carry them to Lisbon, to be loaded onto to the India armadas.
The intercontinental streams of spices, gold and silver flowing in and out of the Portuguese factory transformed Antwerp overnight from a sleepy town into arguably the leading commercial and financial center of Europe in the 16th C., a position it would enjoy until its sack by mutinous Spanish soldiers
Sack of Antwerp
The sack of Antwerp or the Spanish Fury at Antwerp was an episode of the Eighty Years' War.On 4 November 1576, Spanish tercios began the sack of Antwerp, leading to three days of horror among the population of the city, which was the cultural, economic and financial center of the Netherlands. The...
in 1576.
Recent research has shown that, after 1505, most of the trade that moved between Lisbon and Antwerp side-stepped the Portuguese royal "factory of Flanders". Most of the European leg of the trade was directly contracted between the Casa da India in Lisbon and private foreign consortiums (usually Italian and German) in Antwerp and freighted largely by Dutch, Hanseatic and Breton ships. As a result, the bulk of the profits of the Portuguese spice trade accrued not to the Portuguese crown, but to the private consortiums (Smith calculates that, in 1517-19, as much as half the price difference for spices between Indian and European markets was pocketed by private European merchants on this leg; by 1585, the share reaped by the Portuguese crown had fallen to a mere 15%)
The End
Due to a series of costly losses in the 1550s, the Casa da India fell into severe financial straits and was basically bankrupt by 1560. In 1570, King Sebastian of PortugalSebastian of Portugal
Sebastian "the Desired" was the 16th king of Portugal and the Algarves. He was the son of Prince John of Portugal and his wife, Joan of Spain...
issued a decree revoking the royal monopoly, and opening up trade with India to any private Portuguese merchant. As few took up the offer, the free trade decree was replaced in 1578 by a new system of annual monopolies, whereby the Casa sold the rights of the India trade to a private merchant consortium, guaranteeing them a monopoly for one year. The annual monopoly system was abandoned in 1597, and the royal monopoly resumed. But by that time, everything had changed.
For an entire century, the Portuguese had managed to monopolize the India run. The spice trade itself was not monopolized - through the 16th C., the Republic of Venice
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...
had kept up its competition through its overland Levantine routes - but the sea route by the Cape remained exclusively Portuguese. Despite occasional leaks (e.g. the Cantino planisphere
Cantino planisphere
The Cantino planisphere is the earliest surviving map showing Portuguese Discoveries in the east and west. It is named after Alberto Cantino, an agent for the Duke of Ferrara, who successfully smuggled it from Portugal to Italy in 1502...
of 1502), details of the Portuguese Carreira da India had been largely kept secret, or at least was not exploited by competitors. But this changed in the 1590s.
The capture of the Portuguese ship São Filipe by the English privateer Sir Francis Drake in 1587, with its rutter and detailed maps, prompted the first English attempt to sail to the East Indies, a private three-ship fleet organized by London merchants, and led by Sir James Lancaster
James Lancaster
Sir James Lancaster was a prominent Elizabethan trader and privateer.Lancaster came from Basingstoke in Hampshire. In his early life, he was a soldier and a trader in Portugal...
. It was a disaster - most of the ships and crews were lost, and Lancaster had to resort to piracy to fill his hold - but it opened the way.
In the Netherlands, the preacher and cartographer Petrus Plancius
Petrus Plancius
Petrus Plancius was a Dutch astronomer, cartographer and clergyman. He was born as Pieter Platevoet in Dranouter, now in Heuvelland, West Flanders. He studied theology in Germany and England...
had long been urging his countrymen to set out on their own route, rather than relying on the Portuguese hauls. The Dutch effort received an injection from the information provided by Cornelis de Houtman
Cornelis de Houtman
Cornelis de Houtman , brother of Frederick de Houtman, was a Dutch explorer who discovered a new sea route from Europe to Indonesia and managed to begin the Dutch spice trade...
, a Dutch spy dispatched to Lisbon in 1592 to scout the spice trade, and Jan Huyghen van Linschoten
Jan Huyghen van Linschoten
Jan Huyghen van Linschoten was a Dutch Protestant merchant, traveller and historian. An alternate spelling of second name is Huijgen....
, a Dutch sailor who had served on many Portuguese India armadas from the 1580s. With this information in hand, the Dutch finally made their move in 1595, when a group of Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
merchants formed the Compagnie van Verre and sent out their first expedition, under de Houtman, to the East Indies, aiming for the market port of Bantam
Bantam
Bantam may refer to:* Bantam , a small variety of poultry* Bantamweight, a weight class in boxing-Places:* Bantam , a city and former sultanate on Java island, in Indonesia...
. That same year, Linschoten published a little tract in Amsterdam entitled Reysgheschrift vande navigatien der Portugaloysers in Orienten, a rutter
Rutter (nautical)
A rutter is a mariner's handbook of written sailing directions. Before the advent of nautical charts, rutters were the primary store of geographic information for maritime navigation....
giving the details of the sailing directions of the Portuguese India Run. It was republished in 1596, as part of a larger book, the Itinerario, where Linschoten gave the details of the trade and the condition of Portuguese defenses in Asia. It was an explosive sensation. It was immediately translated into English, German, Latin and soon French.
1597 was the bellwether year - the year of Houtman's successful return, and the spread of Linschoten's tracts. A slate of new Dutch companies (voorcompagnie) to trade with the East Indies were immediately erected by various competing merchant consortiums in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Middelburg and elsewhere - often with the help of exiled Antwerp merchants ('Brabantsche'), who had long been involved on the distribution end of the Portuguese spice trade, but expelled by the Hapsburg conflict. At least fifteen separate Dutch expeditions to the East Indies, each involving enormous amounts of men, ships and treasure, were sent out by the voorcompanies in 1598-1601. From this ethusiastic anarchic beginning, the Dutch trade got organized in 1601, when the Dutch government forced the voorcompagnie to fold under a single monopoly company, the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie
Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...
(VOC).
Fearful of being left behind, the English had founded their own East India Company
East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
(EIC) in 1600, and managed to organize a small English expedition to Bantam in 1601, but enthusiasm was weaker and the EIC had problems competing with the better-organized and better-financed Dutch.
The vigorous Dutch VOC
Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...
and English EIC
East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
encroachments on the Portuguese empire
Portuguese Empire
The Portuguese Empire , also known as the Portuguese Overseas Empire or the Portuguese Colonial Empire , was the first global empire in history...
and trade in Asia, prompted the monarchy (then in Iberian Union
Iberian Union
The Iberian union was a political unit that governed all of the Iberian Peninsula south of the Pyrenees from 1580–1640, through a dynastic union between the monarchies of Portugal and Spain after the War of the Portuguese Succession...
with Spain) to experiment with different arrangements. In 1624, Philip IV of Spain
Philip IV of Spain
Philip IV was King of Spain between 1621 and 1665, sovereign of the Spanish Netherlands, and King of Portugal until 1640...
(III of Portugal) granted a monopoly charter to a Portuguese Companhia do commércio da Índia
Portuguese East India Company
- Background :Portuguese trade with India had been a crown monopoly since the Portuguese captain Vasco da Gama opened the sea route to India in 1497-99. The monopoly had been managed by the Casa da Índia, the royal trading house founded around 1500. The Casa was responsible for the yearly India...
, a private joint-stock company organized on the same lines as the Dutch and English companies. The Companhia was to take over all the responsibilities of the Casa da India, including the annual India armada. It proved to be a fiasco. The Anglo-Dutch breach of the Portuguese East Indies trade was irreparable by this time, squeezing profit margins and rendering the Companhia unprofitable. It was liquidated in 1633, and what remained of the dwindling Portuguese India trade was brought back under the royal Casa da India.
Sources
What seems like the first chronology of the Portuguese India armadas can be found in the magnificently illustrated codex known as the Livro de Lisuarte de Abreu ("Book of Lisuarte de Abreu", named after the man who ordered the compilation). It covers the period from Vasco da Gama's first trip (1497–99) to the end of 1563. It is conserved at the Pierpont Morgan Library in New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
(ms. 525).
Another codex of the same nature is the Memória das Armadas que de Portugal passaram à Índia ("Memory of the Armadas that from Portugal passed to India") or Livro das Armadas, held by the Academia das Ciências
Sciences Academy of Lisbon
The Sciences Academy of Lisbon ' was created in 1779 in Lisbon, Portugal, as an institution dedicated to the advancement of science and learning with the goal of promoting academic progress and prosperity to the country...
in Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
. It covers the period from 1497 to 1567 (although missing the armada of 1517).
The first Portuguese chronicler to attempt a systematic chronology of the India Armadas seems to have been Diogo do Couto
Diogo do Couto
Diogo de Couto was a portuguese historian.-Biography:He was born in Lisbon in 1542 and studied Latin and Rhetoric at Saint Antão College and philosophy at the convent at Benfica...
, in his appendix to João de Barros
João de Barros
João de Barros , called the Portuguese Livy, is one of the first great Portuguese historians, most famous for his Décadas da Ásia , a history of the Portuguese in India and Asia.-Early years:...
's Décadas da Ásia ("Decades of Asia"), entitled " "De todas as Armadas que os Reys de Portugal mandáram à Índia, até que El-Rey D. Filippe succedeo nestes Reynos", de 1497 a 1581" (Dec X, Pt.1, Bk. 1, c.16).
Other codices include "Relação das Náos e Armadas da India com os Sucessos dellas que se puderam Saber, para Noticia e Instrucção dos Curiozos, e Amantes da Historia da India" ("Relation of the Ships and Armadas of India") (Codex Add. 20902 of the British Library
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...
), covering the period from 1497 to 1653. It was compiled on the order of D. António de Ataíde, who was himself responsible for a good part of its extensive marginal annotations. Other annotations were added by later unidentified writers.
One of the more exhaustive chronologies, at least up to 1640, was compiled by Manuel de Faria e Sousa
Manuel de Faria e Sousa
Manuel de Faria e Sousa was Portuguese historian and poet during the period of the Iberian Union, frequently writing in Spanish.right|thump|300px|Portrait of Manuel de Faria e Sousa in Ásia portuguesa...
in his Ásia Portugueza (part III, end of volume), published posthumously in 1675. Faria e Sousa includes not only the India Armadas, but all the Portuguese fleets from 1412, including those dispatched to Africa under Prince Henry the Navigator.
There are several chronicle
Chronicle
Generally a chronicle is a historical account of facts and events ranged in chronological order, as in a time line. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and local events, the purpose being the recording of events that occurred, seen from the perspective of the...
s of Portuguese India written by contemporaries and historians, which provide substantive descriptions of the various armadas. João de Barros
João de Barros
João de Barros , called the Portuguese Livy, is one of the first great Portuguese historians, most famous for his Décadas da Ásia , a history of the Portuguese in India and Asia.-Early years:...
's Décadas da Ásia and Damião de Góis
Damião de Góis
Damiao de Góis , born in Alenquer, Portugal, was an important Portuguese humanist philosopher. He was a friend and student of Erasmus. He was appointed secretary to the Portuguese factory in Antwerp in 1523 by King John III of Portugal...
's royal chronicles (Crónica do Felicíssimo Rei D. Manuel, 1566–67 and Crónica do Principe D. João, 1567) were official chronicles. As a result, while comprehensive, they have the drawbacks of being carefully censored
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
and consciously propagandistic
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
. Both Barros and Gois constructed their accounts primarily from archives in Lisbon although Barros's vast work was far more comprehensive and more conscientiously faithful to accuracy (Góis's was an unabashed hagiography
Hagiography
Hagiography is the study of saints.From the Greek and , it refers literally to writings on the subject of such holy people, and specifically to the biographies of saints and ecclesiastical leaders. The term hagiology, the study of hagiography, is also current in English, though less common...
, whereas Barros frequently updated his account on the discovery of any new scrap of information). Barros's work was supplemented later by several additional volumes written by Diogo do Couto
Diogo do Couto
Diogo de Couto was a portuguese historian.-Biography:He was born in Lisbon in 1542 and studied Latin and Rhetoric at Saint Antão College and philosophy at the convent at Benfica...
, who had spent most of his career in India.
Of the unofficial accounts, Jerónimo Osório's De rebus Emmanuelis, is essentially a Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
restatement of the earlier chronicles, hoping for a wider European audience, and provides little that we don't already know. Fernão Lopes de Castanheda
Fernão Lopes de Castanheda
Fernão Lopes de Castanheda was a Portuguese historian in the early Renaissance.His "History of the discovery and conquest of India", full of geographic and ethnographic objective information, was widely translated throughout Europe.- Life :Castanheda was the natural son of a royal officer, who...
's História do descobrimento e conquista da Índia pelos portugueses ("History of the Discovery and Conquest of the East Indies by the Portuguese", 1554–59), although unofficial, is generally regarded as 'respectable' and reliable. Unlike Barros, Góis or Osório, Castanheda actually visited the East, spending ten years in India, and supplemented the archival material with independent interviews he conducted there and back in Coimbra.
Distinct from all the others is Gaspar Correia
Gaspar Correia
Gaspar Correia or Gaspar Corrêa was a Portuguese historian, author of "Lendas da Índia , one of the earliest and most important works about Portuguese rule in Asia, being referred to as a Portuguese Polybius.- Biography :There is little information about the life of the author...
's Lendas da Índia ("Legends of India", written c. 1556, manuscript found and published only in 1885). This is almost entirely original material, his facts and names are often at variance with the official chronicles. Correia spent nearly his entire life in India, and drew primarily from materials available there. His style of writing is also much more entertaining, intense and replete with 'gossipy' details. Although not regarded as reliable, Correia's account supplies a lot of information that the others miss or prefer to remain silent on.
Besides these comprehensive chronicles, there are many accounts of particular armadas – on-board diaries, accounts, memoirs and letters written by their passengers.
There is quite some conflict between the various sources over the exact composition of the various India Armadas, particularly in the names of the captains of the vessels. Attempts have been made to reconcile the differences between the sources (e.g. Quintella's Annaes da Marinha Portugueza), although these inevitably involve some degree of conjecture, dispute and revision.
1497
| 1st India Armada (Vasco da Gama) | |
| Departed: April, 1497 Arrived in India: May 1498 ------------------------- Left India: October 1498 Arrived Portugal: July (Coelho)/Aug (Gama) 1499. ------------------------- Notes: - Travails with Mozambique Island of Mozambique The Island of Mozambique lies off northern Mozambique, between the Mozambique Channel and Mossuril Bay. It has a population of around 14,000 people and is part of Nampula Province.-History:... and Mombassa, - opened relations with Malindi Malindi Malindi is a town on Malindi Bay at the mouth of the Galana River, lying on the Indian Ocean coast of Kenya. It is 120 kilometres northeast of Mombasa. The population of Malindi is 117,735 . It is the capital of the Malindi District.Tourism is the major industry in Malindi. The city is... - Opened sea route to India (Calicut) – one ship scuttled on return journey |
Fleet: 4 ships (2 naus, 1 caravel, 1 supply ship), 170 men 1. São Gabriel São Gabriel (ship) The São Gabriel was the flagship of Vasco da Gama's armada on his first voyage to India in 1497-1499.-São Gabriel:The São Gabriel was a Portuguese "nau" that, like its sister ship, the São Rafael, was built specifically for the expedition; both exhibited similar construction... (Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira was a Portuguese explorer, one of the most successful in the Age of Discovery and the commander of the first ships to sail directly from Europe to India... , pilot: Pêro de Alenquer Pêro de Alenquer Pêro de Alenquer Portuguese explorer of the African coast. Accompanied Bartolomeu Dias in his journey around the Cape of Good Hope in 1487/1488. Latter wrote a description of Vasco da Gama's first voyage to India. Pêro was born in Alenquer.... ) 2. São Rafael (Paulo da Gama Paulo da Gama Paulo da Gama was a Portuguese explorer, son of Estevão da Gama and the older brother of Vasco da Gama.He was a member of the first voyage from Europe to India, led by his brother, commanding the ship São Rafael, which would be later scuttled in the return trip. Paulo da Gama joined the São Gabriel... , pilot: João de Coimbra) – scuttled on return 3. Berrio (Nicolau Coelho Nicolau Coelho Nicolau Coelho was an expert Portuguese sailor during the age of discovery. He participated in the discovery of the route to India by Vasco da Gama where he commanded Berrio, the first caravel to return; was captain of a ship in the fleet headed by Pedro Álvares Cabral who landed in Brazil... , pilot: Pedro Escobar Pedro Escobar Pedro Escobar, also known as Pêro Escobar, was a 15th century Portuguese navigator who discovered São Tomé and Príncipe together with João de Santarém and Fernão do Pó circa 1470. He is then recorded sailing with Diogo Cão on his first voyage in 1482, and as the pilot of the famous Bérrio caravel... ) 4.Unnamed supply ship (Gonçalo Nunes or Duarte Nunes) |
1500
| 2nd India Armada (Pedro Álvares Cabral) (1st Brazil Armada ) |
|
| Departed: March, 1500 Arrived in India: September 1500 ------------------------- Left India: Jan, 1501 Arrived Portugal: June(Coelho)/July (others) 1501. ------------------------- Notes: - 2 ships privately outfitted (9 & 10) - 2 ships designated for Sofala (11 & 12) - 2 ships sent back in Atlantic (9, 13) - Discovers Brazil Brazil Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people... (Porto Seguro Porto Seguro Porto Seguro is a municipality in the Brazilian state of Bahia. It is the site where the Portuguese explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral first set foot on Brazilian soil on April 22, 1500... , April 22, 1500) - 4 ships lost at Cape of Good Hope Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the... (6, 7, 8, 11) - Dias (12) separated, discovers Madagascar Madagascar The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa... and scouts Gulf of Aden Gulf of Aden The Gulf of Aden is located in the Arabian Sea between Yemen, on the south coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and Somalia in the Horn of Africa. In the northwest, it connects with the Red Sea through the Bab-el-Mandeb strait, which is about 20 miles wide.... by himself - Est. factory in Calicut, overrun in riot, Cabral bombards city - Est. alliance and factory in Cochin (Gonçalo Gil Barbosa) - Open relations with Cannanore Kolathunadu Kolathunādu was one of the three most powerful feudal kingdoms on the Malabar Coast during the arrival Portuguese Armadas to India along with Zamorin's Calicut and Venad. Kolathunād had its capital at Ezhimala and was ruled by Kolathiri royal family and roughly comprised the whole northern... , Cranganore and Quilon Quilon Quilon may refer to,* Venad, a former state on Malabar Coast, India* Kollam , Kerala state, India* Kollam district, Kerala state... - one ship (2) lost on return - Tovar (on 5) scouts Sofala Sofala Sofala, at present known as Nova Sofala, used to be the chief seaport of the Monomotapa Kingdom, whose capital was at Mount Fura. It is located on the Sofala Bank in Sofala Province of Mozambique.-History:... - Meet 2nd Brazil Armada in Senegal |
Fleet 13 ships (10 for India, 2 for Sofala, 1 supply ship), 1500 armed men, 1000 crew 1. Flagship (Pedro Álvares Cabral Pedro Álvares Cabral Pedro Álvares Cabral was a Portuguese noble, military commander, navigator and explorer regarded as the discoverer of Brazil. Cabral conducted the first substantial exploration of the northeast coast of South America and claimed it for Portugal. While details of Cabral's early life are sketchy, it... , admiral) 2. El-Rei (Sancho de Tovar Sancho de Tovar Sancho de Tovar, 6th Lord of Cevico, Caracena and Boca de Huérgano was a Portuguese nobleman of Castilian birth, best known as a navigator and explorer during the Portuguese age of discoveries. He was the sub-captain of the fleet that discovered Brazil in 1500, and was later appointed Governor of... , vice-admiral) – lost on return 3. (Nicolau Coelho Nicolau Coelho Nicolau Coelho was an expert Portuguese sailor during the age of discovery. He participated in the discovery of the route to India by Vasco da Gama where he commanded Berrio, the first caravel to return; was captain of a ship in the fleet headed by Pedro Álvares Cabral who landed in Brazil... ) 4. (Simão de Miranda de Azevedo) 5. S. Pedro (Pêro de Ataíde Pêro de Ataíde Pêro de Ataíde or Pedro d'Ataíde , nicknamed O Inferno , was a Portuguese sea captain in the Indian Ocean active in the early 1500s... ) 6. (Aires Gomes da Silva) – lost at Cape 7. (Simão de Pina) – lost at Cape 8. (Vasco de Ataíde Vasco de Ataíde Vasco de Ataíde was a Portuguese sailor who commanded a ship of the expedition of Pedro Álvares Cabral in the discovery of Brazil. We know little about him as his brother Pero de Ataíde... ) – lost at Cape 9. (Luís Pires Luís Pires Luís Pires , was a Portuguese explorer who accompanied Pedro Álvares Cabral in the discovery of Brazil, being one of the captains of the fleet. On leaving the Cape Verde Islands, Pires was forced by a storm to return to Lisbon, never having reached Brazil or India .-See also:*Exploration of Asia... ) – owned by Count of Portalegre Count of Portalegre Count of Portalegre was a Portuguese title of nobility created by royal decree dated from February 6, 1498, by King Manuel I of Portugal, and granted to Diogo da Silva.... , turned back/lost 10. Anunciada (Nuno Leitão da Cunha) – owned by Marchionni Bartolomeo Marchionni Bartolomeo Marchionni was a Florentine merchant established in Lisbon during the Age of Discovery.Bartolomeo Marchionni arrived circa 1468 at Lisbon as an agent to the Cambini. In a long career he become the most successful merchant and one of the richest men in Lisbon at the time... consortium 11. (Bartolomeu Dias Bartolomeu Dias Bartolomeu Dias , a nobleman of the Portuguese royal household, was a Portuguese explorer who sailed around the southernmost tip of Africa in 1488, the first European known to have done so.-Purposes of the Dias expedition:... ) – dest. to Sofala, lost at Cape 12. (Diogo Dias Diogo Dias Diogo Dias, also known as Diogo Gomes, was a 15th-century Portuguese explorer. He was the brother of Bartolomeu Dias and discovered some of the Cape Verde islands together with António Noli.... ) – dest. to Sofala, separates at Cape, returns by himself 13. Supply ship (André Gonçalves André Gonçalves André Gonçalves , Portuguese explorer that accompanied Pedro Álvares Cabral in the discovery of Brazil. Gonçalves was one of Cabral's captains of the fleet. According to some sources he was sent back to Lisbon with important news and not Gaspar de Lemos .... /Gaspar de Lemos Gaspar de Lemos Gaspar de Lemos , Portuguese explorer and captain of the supply ship of Pedro Álvares Cabral's fleet that discovered Brazil. Sent back to Portugal with news of their discovery, he was credited by the Viscount of Santarém as having discovered the Fernando de Noronha archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean.... ) – turned back at Brazil |
Other 1500 events
- May, 1500 Gaspar Corte-RealGaspar Corte-RealGaspar Corte-Real was a Portuguese explorer.He was the youngest of three sons of João Vaz Corte-Real, also a Portuguese explorer, and had accompanied his father on his expeditions to North America...
takes one ship to find Northwest PassageNorthwest PassageThe Northwest Passage is a sea route through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways amidst the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans...
. Goes to GreenlandGreenlandGreenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
and back.
1501
| 3rd India Armada (João da Nova) | |
| Departed: April, 1501 Arrived in India: August 1501 ------------------------- Left India: Jan? 1502 Arrived Portugal: September 1502. ------------------------- Notes: - two crown ships (1 & 2), two private ships (3 & 4) - Discovered islands of Ascension Ascension Island Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic island in the equatorial waters of the South Atlantic Ocean, around from the coast of Africa and from the coast of South America, which is roughly midway between the horn of South America and Africa... , Saint Helena Saint Helena Saint Helena , named after St Helena of Constantinople, is an island of volcanic origin in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha which also includes Ascension Island and the islands of Tristan da Cunha... and Juan de Nova Juan de Nova Island Juan de Nova Island is a low, flat, tropical island in the narrowest part of the Mozambique Channel, about one-third of the way between Madagascar and Mozambique at... - Defeated Calicut fleet off Cannanore Kannur Kannur , also known as Cannanore, is a city in Kannur district in the Indian state of Kerala. It is the administrative headquarters of the District of Kannur and 518km north of state capital Trivandrum. During British rule in India, Kannur was known by its old name Cannanore, which is still in... (December 31, 1501) |
Fleet: 4 ships (+ 1 supply ship?), 350 men 1. Flagship (João da Nova João da Nova João da Nova , Xoán de Novoa or Joam de Nôvoa galician spellings, Juan de Nova, Spanish spelling, was a Galician explorer of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans at the service of Portugal... ) 2. (Francisco de Novais) 3. (Diogo de Barbosa) – owned by D. Álvaro of Braganza Álvaro of Braganza Álvaro of Braganza was the 4th son of Ferdinand I, 2nd Duke of Braganza and his wife, Dona Joana de Castro.-Biography:... 4.(Fernão Vinet) – owned by Marchionni Bartolomeo Marchionni Bartolomeo Marchionni was a Florentine merchant established in Lisbon during the Age of Discovery.Bartolomeo Marchionni arrived circa 1468 at Lisbon as an agent to the Cambini. In a long career he become the most successful merchant and one of the richest men in Lisbon at the time... consortium 5. supply ship (?) |
Other 1501 events
- May, 1501 Second trip of Gaspar Corte-RealGaspar Corte-RealGaspar Corte-Real was a Portuguese explorer.He was the youngest of three sons of João Vaz Corte-Real, also a Portuguese explorer, and had accompanied his father on his expeditions to North America...
(with brother Miguel), three ships to find Northwest PassageNorthwest PassageThe Northwest Passage is a sea route through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways amidst the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans...
. Discover NewfoundlandNewfoundland and LabradorNewfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...
, but Gaspar disappears soon after. Miguel returns with two ships to Portugal in October.
- May 1501 2nd Brazil Expedition Three caravels led by Gaspar de LemosGaspar de LemosGaspar de Lemos , Portuguese explorer and captain of the supply ship of Pedro Álvares Cabral's fleet that discovered Brazil. Sent back to Portugal with news of their discovery, he was credited by the Viscount of Santarém as having discovered the Fernando de Noronha archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean....
(or André GonçalvesAndré GonçalvesAndré Gonçalves , Portuguese explorer that accompanied Pedro Álvares Cabral in the discovery of Brazil. Gonçalves was one of Cabral's captains of the fleet. According to some sources he was sent back to Lisbon with important news and not Gaspar de Lemos ....
), with Amerigo VespucciAmerigo VespucciAmerigo Vespucci was an Italian explorer, financier, navigator and cartographer. The Americas are generally believed to have derived their name from the feminized Latin version of his first name.-Expeditions:...
on board. Exploratory trip to follow up on 2nd India Armada2nd Portuguese India Armada (Cabral, 1500)The Second Portuguese India Armada was assembled in 1500 on the order of King Manuel I of Portugal and placed under the command of Pedro Álvares Cabral. Cabral's armada famously discovered Brazil for the Portuguese crown along the way...
's discovery of BrazilBrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
the previous year. Meet vanguard of returning 2nd Armada at Bezeguiche (Bay of DakarDakarDakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...
) in June. Reach Brazilian coast at Cape São RoqueCape São RoqueCape São Roque or Cape of Saint Roch, is a cape in northeastern tip of Brazil.Cape São Roque is located in the municipality of Maxaranguape, 51 km north of Natal, in the state of Rio Grande do Norte in Brazil. Cape São Roque is the "point" on the bend of the Brazilian mainland coast that is...
in August, discover São Francisco RiverSão Francisco RiverThe São Francisco is a river in Brazil. With a length of , it is the longest river that runs entirely in Brazilian territory, and the fourth longest in South America and overall in Brazil...
in October and Bay of All SaintsBaía de Todos os SantosBaía de Todos os Santos is the main and biggest bay of the state of Bahia, Brazil. Its name expanded to include a whole province, now known as the state of Bahia), where the city of São Salvador da Bahia de Todos os Santos was built...
in November. Sailing past Cabral's landing point (Porto SeguroPorto SeguroPorto Seguro is a municipality in the Brazilian state of Bahia. It is the site where the Portuguese explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral first set foot on Brazilian soil on April 22, 1500...
), the fleet discovers Vitória Bay and are said to reach Cape São Tomé by December. Some accounts claim they turned that corner and went on along the cousthern coast to discover Guanabara BayGuanabara BayGuanabara Bay is an oceanic bay located in southeastern Brazil in the state of Rio de Janeiro. On its western shore lies the city of Rio de Janeiro, and on its eastern shore the cities of Niterói and São Gonçalo. Four other municipalities surround the bay's shores...
in January, 1502 (ergo Rio de Janeiro), Angra dos ReisAngra dos ReisAngra dos Reis is a Brazilian municipality located in the southern part of Rio de Janeiro state. It is located at an altitude of 6 meters and includes in its territory 365 offshore islands. It was discovered on January 6, 1502, but has been under continual settlement since 1556. Its population...
(January 6) and the islands of São Sebastião (January 20) and São VicenteSão Vicente, São PauloSão Vicente is a coastal city of southern São Paulo, Brazil. Its estimated population in 2006 was 329,370 inhabitants.It was the first Portuguese permanent settlement in the Americas and the first capital of the Captaincy of São Vicente, now the state of São Paulo...
(January 22) and what they called Barra do Rio Canonor (in honor of the allied city of CannanoreKannurKannur , also known as Cannanore, is a city in Kannur district in the Indian state of Kerala. It is the administrative headquarters of the District of Kannur and 518km north of state capital Trivandrum. During British rule in India, Kannur was known by its old name Cannanore, which is still in...
, India), later corrupted to CananéiaCananéiaCananéia is the southernmost city in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, near to where the Tordesilhas Line passed. The population in 2008 was 12,377 and the area is 1,242.010 km². The elevation is 8 m. The city of Cananéia is host to the Dr. João de Paiva Carvalho research base belonging to the...
, which they identified as the limit of the Tordesillas lineTreaty of TordesillasThe Treaty of Tordesillas , signed at Tordesillas , , divided the newly discovered lands outside Europe between Spain and Portugal along a meridian 370 leagueswest of the Cape Verde islands...
. They are said to have dropped off the famous degredado known later only as the Bacherel ('Bachelor') of Cananeia, and turned back, arriving in Lisbon in sometime between June and September, 1502.
1502
| 4th India Armada (Vasco da Gama) | |
| Departed: Feb (Sq. 1 & 2) Apr (Sq. 3), 1502 Arrived in India: September 1502 ------------------------- Left India: December 1502 Arrived Portugal: September 1503. ------------------------- Notes: -d'Atougiua (11) dies, Aguiar transfers from 6 to 11, - Pero de Mendoça takes 6, but runs it aground near Sofala - Est. factory in Mozambique island Island of Mozambique The Island of Mozambique lies off northern Mozambique, between the Mozambique Channel and Mossuril Bay. It has a population of around 14,000 people and is part of Nampula Province.-History:... (Gonçalo Baixo) – new caravel, Pomposa, built at Moz., given to João Serrão as patrol – Gama extorts tribute from Kilwa Kilwa Kisiwani Kilwa Kisiwani is a community on an island off the coast of East Africa, in present day Tanzania.- History :A document written around AD 1200 called al-Maqama al Kilwiyya discovered in Oman, gives details of a mission to reconvert Kilwa to Ibadism, as it had recently been effected by the Ghurabiyya... – Aguiar (on 11) secures treaty in Sofala Sofala Sofala, at present known as Nova Sofala, used to be the chief seaport of the Monomotapa Kingdom, whose capital was at Mount Fura. It is located on the Sofala Bank in Sofala Province of Mozambique.-History:... – three squads meet at Malindi Malindi Malindi is a town on Malindi Bay at the mouth of the Galana River, lying on the Indian Ocean coast of Kenya. It is 120 kilometres northeast of Mombasa. The population of Malindi is 117,735 . It is the capital of the Malindi District.Tourism is the major industry in Malindi. The city is... , August 1502, cross together. – Gama reduces Onor Honavar Honavar or Honnavar , is a port town in Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka, India. The town is the headquarters of Honnavar taluk.- History :... and Batecala Bhatkal Bhatkal is also known as Batecala in some historical text especially in Portuguese history.Once ruled by Jain King Bhattakalanka and thus the name. Bhatkal is a port town in Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka, India 126 km from Karwar. The town lies on NH-17 running between Mumbai and Mangalore... to tribute – Est. alliance and factory at Cannanore Kannur Kannur , also known as Cannanore, is a city in Kannur district in the Indian state of Kerala. It is the administrative headquarters of the District of Kannur and 518km north of state capital Trivandrum. During British rule in India, Kannur was known by its old name Cannanore, which is still in... – New factor at Cochin (Diogo Fernandes Correia) – old Cochin factor Gonçalo Gil Barbosa transferred to Cannanore - Gama bombards Calicut again. Indian coastal patrol established, 200 men, 6-7 ships, under V. de Sodré. Composition: i. Vicente de Sodré (on 5) ii. Braz Sodré (on 8) iii. P. A. d'Ataide (on 12?) iv. Antão Vaz (on 10) v. F. Rodrigues Bardaças (on 13) vi. A. Fernandes Roxo (on 14) vii. Pêro Rafael (on 15)? - Both Vicente and Braz Sodré are lost at Kuria Muria (Oman) in March, 1503. - Pêro Álvaro d'Ataide made new patrol captain. |
Fleet: 20 ships in three squadrons (10+5+5), 800-1800 men Multiple configurations given in different sources. One possible arrangement: Squad 1 (Vasco da Gama) 10 ships (4 large naus + 4 navetas (nta) + 2 caravels (cv)) 1. São Jerónimo (Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira was a Portuguese explorer, one of the most successful in the Age of Discovery and the commander of the first ships to sail directly from Europe to India... ) 2. Lionarda (D. Luís Coutinho) 3. São Miguel (Gil Matoso) 4. Batecabello (Gil Fernandes de Sousa) 5. São Rafael (Diogo Fernandes Correia, nta) 6. Santa Elena (Pedro Afonso de Aguiar, nta) 7. Bretoa? (Francisco Mareco/Francisco da Cunha, nta) 8. Vera Cruz? (Rui da Cunha/Rui de Castanheda, nta) 9. Fradeza (João Lopes Perestrello, cv) 10. Salta na Palha? (Antão Vaz do Campo, cv) Squad 2 (Vicente Sodré) 5 ships (2 naus + 3 cvs) 11. Leitoa Nova? (Vicente Sodré Vicente Sodré Vicente Sodré , was a 16th C. Portuguese knight of Order of Christ and the captain of the first Portuguese naval patrol in the Indian Ocean. He was an uncle of Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama.- Background :... /Brás Sodré/Fernan d'Atouguia?) 12. São Paulo (Pêro Álvaro de Ataíde) 13. Santa Marta (João/Fernão Rodrigues Bardaças, cv) 14. Estrella (António Fernandes Roxo, cv) 15. Garrida? (Pêro Rafael?, cv) Squad 3 (Estêvão da Gama) (5 ships (unknown comp.)) 16. (Estevão da Gama Estêvão da Gama (c.1470) Estêvão da Gama was a Portuguese navigator and explorer, discoverer of the Trindade and Martim Vaz islands .Estêvão da Gama was Vasco da Gama's cousin, son of his cousin Aires da Gama, as explained by Manuel de Faria e Sousa, in its work "Ásia Portuguesa"... ) 17. Julia (Lopo Mendes de Vasconcellos) 18. (Thomaz de Carmona/Cremona) – Italian 19. (Lopo Diaz) 20. (João da Bonagracia) – Italian |
Other 1502 events
- May, 1502 Miguel Corte-RealMiguel Corte-RealMiguel Corte-Real was a Portuguese explorer who charted about 600 miles of the coast of Labrador. In 1501 he disappeared while on an expedition and was believed lost at sea.-Life:...
, elder brother of lost Portuguese explorer Gaspar Corte-RealGaspar Corte-RealGaspar Corte-Real was a Portuguese explorer.He was the youngest of three sons of João Vaz Corte-Real, also a Portuguese explorer, and had accompanied his father on his expeditions to North America...
, heads a new expedition to CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
to find him. Like his luckless brother, Miguel disappears at sea. A third brother, Vasco Anes de Corte Real, petitions to search for his lost brothers, but King Manuel I of PortugalManuel I of PortugalManuel I , the Fortunate , 14th king of Portugal and the Algarves was the son of Infante Ferdinand, Duke of Viseu, , by his wife, Infanta Beatrice of Portugal...
vetoes the expedition.
- 1502 Alberto Cantino, Italian spy working for Ercole d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, bribes an unknown cartographer of the Armazem das Indias, to smuggle out a copy of the Portuguese secret master-map, the Padrão Real. This will the basis of the Cantino planisphereCantino planisphereThe Cantino planisphere is the earliest surviving map showing Portuguese Discoveries in the east and west. It is named after Alberto Cantino, an agent for the Duke of Ferrara, who successfully smuggled it from Portugal to Italy in 1502...
published in 1502. In response, Manuel I of PortugalManuel I of PortugalManuel I , the Fortunate , 14th king of Portugal and the Algarves was the son of Infante Ferdinand, Duke of Viseu, , by his wife, Infanta Beatrice of Portugal...
will pass a new law (November 1504) instituting state censorship of all private map and globe production, with outright prohibition of any depiction of coast beyond West Africa.
- 1502 On return of the 2nd Brazil expedition, King Manuel I of Portugal grants a consortium headed by Fernão de LoronhaFernão de NoronhaFernão de Loronha , whose name is often corrupted to Fernando de Noronha or Fernando della Rogna, was a prominent 16th C. Portuguese merchant of Lisbon, of Jewish descent. He was the first charter-holder , the first donatary captain in Brazil and sponsor of numerous early Portuguese overseas...
(or Noronha), a New Christian merchant of Lisbon, a three-year charter for the exclusive commercial exploitation of the 'lands of Santa Cruz' (BrazilBrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
). He will drum up a profitable business in brazilwoodBrazilwoodCaesalpinia echinata is a species of Brazilian timber tree in the pea family, Fabaceae. Common names include Brazilwood, Pau-Brasil, Pau de Pernambuco and Ibirapitanga . This plant has a dense, orange-red heartwood that takes a high shine, and it is the premier wood used for making bows for...
and novelty pets (monkeys, parrots). It is estimated that Loronha will collect some 20,000 quintalQuintalQuintal may refer to:* Quintal , a unit of mass* Quartal and quintal harmony in music* Quintal, Haute-Savoie, a commune of the Haute-Savoie département in France* Stéphane Quintal, NHL ice hockey player...
s of brazilwood between 1503 and 1506, representing a 400-500% profit rate on the 4,000 ducats the charter cost him.
1503
| 5th India Armada (Afonso de Albuquerque) | |
| Departed: Mar (Sq. 1 & 2) Apr (Sq. 3), 1503 Arrived in India: Sq. 2 & Pacheco in Aug, 1503; Albuquerque in October 1503 Fernandes in May 1504, Saldanha and Ravasco in September 1504 ------------------------- Left India: February 1504 (Sq 1 & 2) Arrived Portugal: Sq. 1 arrive July 1504, Sq. 2 lost at sea ------------------------- Notes for Sq. 1 & Sq. 2 - two ships lost at Cape Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the... (3 & 6). - Sq. 2 makes junction with coastal patrol at Anjediva, - Sq. 2 rescue Cochin from attack by Calicut. - Erection of Fort Manuel of Cochin Fort Kochi Fort Kochi is a region in the city of Kochi in the state of Kerala, India. This is part of a handful of water-bound regions toward the south-west of the mainland Kochi, and collectively known as Old Kochi or West Kochi. Adjacent to this is Mattancherry... (Duarte Pacheco Pereira Duarte Pacheco Pereira Duarte Pacheco Pereira, called the Great, was a 15th century Portuguese sea captain, soldier, explorer and cartographer. He travelled particularly in the central Atlantic Ocean west of the Cape Verde islands, along the coast of West Africa and to India... , 150 men, 2 caravels) - Est. factory in Quilon Quilon Quilon may refer to,* Venad, a former state on Malabar Coast, India* Kollam , Kerala state, India* Kollam district, Kerala state... (António de Sá) – Sq. 2 (F. Albuquerque and N. Coelho) lost on return journey Notes for Sq. 3 : - hopelessly lost and split, lose monsoon to India, cross only in 1504. In meantime: - Saldanha (7) discovers Table Bay Table Bay Table Bay is a natural bay on the Atlantic Ocean overlooked by Cape Town and is at the northern end of the Cape Peninsula, which stretches south to the Cape of Good Hope. It was named because it is dominated by the flat-topped Table Mountain.Bartolomeu Dias was the first European to explore this... , extracts tribute from Zanzibar Zanzibar Zanzibar ,Persian: زنگبار, from suffix bār: "coast" and Zangi: "bruin" ; is a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania, in East Africa. It comprises the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of numerous small islands and two large ones: Unguja , and Pemba... - Ravasco (8) extracts tribute from Barawa Barawa Barawa or Brava is a port town on the south-eastern coast of Somalia. The traditional inhabitants are the Tunni Somalis and the Bravanese people, who speak Bravanese, a Swahili dialect.-History:... and Mombassa - Fernandes (9) roams up to Gulf of Aden, discovers Socotra Socotra Socotra , also spelt Soqotra, is a small archipelago of four islands in the Indian Ocean. The largest island, also called Socotra, is about 95% of the landmass of the archipelago. It lies some east of the Horn of Africa and south of the Arabian Peninsula. The island is very isolated and through... island. - Fernandes (9) crosses to India, arrives in middle of Battle of Cochin (May 1504) - Saldanha and Ravasco picked up by Albergaria fleet (6th Armada) in September 1504. |
Fleet: 9 ships in three squadrons (3+3+3) Multiple configurations given in different sources. One possible arrangement: Squad 1 (Afonso de Albuquerque) 1. Sant' Iago (Afonso de Albuquerque Afonso de Albuquerque Afonso de Albuquerque[p][n] was a Portuguese fidalgo, or nobleman, an admiral whose military and administrative activities as second governor of Portuguese India conquered and established the Portuguese colonial empire in the Indian Ocean... ) 2. Espirito Santo (Duarte Pacheco Pereira Duarte Pacheco Pereira Duarte Pacheco Pereira, called the Great, was a 15th century Portuguese sea captain, soldier, explorer and cartographer. He travelled particularly in the central Atlantic Ocean west of the Cape Verde islands, along the coast of West Africa and to India... ) – 350t nau 3. São Cristóvão/Catharina Dias (Fernão Martins de Almada) – lost at Cape Squad 2 (Francisco de Albuquerque) 4. (Francisco de Albuquerque) – lost on return 5. Faial (Nicolau Coelho Nicolau Coelho Nicolau Coelho was an expert Portuguese sailor during the age of discovery. He participated in the discovery of the route to India by Vasco da Gama where he commanded Berrio, the first caravel to return; was captain of a ship in the fleet headed by Pedro Álvares Cabral who landed in Brazil... ) – lost on return 6. (Pedro Vaz da Veiga) – lost at Cape Squad 3 (António de Saldanha) 7. (António de Saldanha António de Saldanha António de Saldanha was a Castilian-Portuguese 16th century captain. He was the first European to set anchor in what is now called Table Bay, South Africa, and made the first recorded ascent of Table Mountain.- Background :... ). 8.(Rui Lourenço Ravasco) 9. (Diogo Fernandes Pereira Diogo Fernandes Pereira Diogo Fernandes Pereira, sometimes called simply Diogo Fernandes, was a Portuguese 16th C. navigator, originally from Setúbal, Portugal. Diogo Fernandes was the first known European captain to visit the island of Socotra in 1503 and the discoverer of the Mascarenes archipelago in 1507... ) |
Other 1503 events
- March–September, 1503 Zamorin of Calicut lays first siege to Portuguese-allied Cochin.
- Spring, 1503 Indian coastal patrol, under Vicente SodréVicente SodréVicente Sodré , was a 16th C. Portuguese knight of Order of Christ and the captain of the first Portuguese naval patrol in the Indian Ocean. He was an uncle of Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama.- Background :...
, strays to the southern coasts of Arabia, where it will remain stuck by tempests and contrary winds until the end of the summer.
- May–June, 1503 3rd Brazil Expedition, financed by Loronha's consortium, 6 ships led by captain Gonçalo CoelhoGonçalo CoelhoGonçalo Coelho was a Portuguese explorer who belonged to a prominent family in northern Portugal. He commanded two expeditions which explored much of the coast of Brazil....
, and once again accompanied by Amerigo VespucciAmerigo VespucciAmerigo Vespucci was an Italian explorer, financier, navigator and cartographer. The Americas are generally believed to have derived their name from the feminized Latin version of his first name.-Expeditions:...
. Discover archipelago they call São João da Quaresma (now called Fernando de NoronhaFernando de NoronhaFernando de Noronha is an archipelago of 21 islands and islets in the Atlantic Ocean, offshore from the Brazilian coast. The main island has an area of and had a population of 3,012 in the year 2010...
islands) off the northern coast of Brazil in July. Set up first Portuguese factoryFactory (trading post)Factory was the English term for the trading posts system originally established by Europeans in foreign territories, first within different states of medieval Europe, and later in their colonial possessions...
in Brazil there, as a warehouse station for brazilwoodBrazilwoodCaesalpinia echinata is a species of Brazilian timber tree in the pea family, Fabaceae. Common names include Brazilwood, Pau-Brasil, Pau de Pernambuco and Ibirapitanga . This plant has a dense, orange-red heartwood that takes a high shine, and it is the premier wood used for making bows for...
harvesting on the mainland. It is said three other factories are established on the mainland on this expedition: at Cabo FrioCabo FrioCabo Frio is a Brazilian municipality in Rio de Janeiro state, founded by the Portuguese on November 13, 1615.The city's economy is mainly based on tourism, as most of the cities situated in the called Região dos Lagos . The city is usually visited by people from Minas Gerais, Brasília and Rio de...
, Guanabara BayGuanabara BayGuanabara Bay is an oceanic bay located in southeastern Brazil in the state of Rio de Janeiro. On its western shore lies the city of Rio de Janeiro, and on its eastern shore the cities of Niterói and São Gonçalo. Four other municipalities surround the bay's shores...
(Feitoria Carioca) and Porto SeguroPorto SeguroPorto Seguro is a municipality in the Brazilian state of Bahia. It is the site where the Portuguese explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral first set foot on Brazilian soil on April 22, 1500...
(Santa Cruz de Cabrália). Coelho and Vespucci quarrel and the fleet is split – Vespucci returning to Lisbon in June, 1504, reporting that Coelho had died. But Coelho was very much alive, and will return around a year or so later. Until 1506 Loronha consortium will dispatch six ships a year to collect brazilwood in the Brazilian factories.
- June 1503 (France) French adventurer Binot Paulmier de GonnevilleBinot Paulmier de GonnevilleBinot Paulmier, sieur de Gonneville, French navigator of the early 16th century, was widely believed in 17th and 18th century France to have been the true discoverer of the Terra Australis...
sails out of Honfleur, Normandy, on his ship l'Espoir, with a few Portuguese sailors, intending to head for the East Indies. But soon loses all sense of direction. Ends up in Santa CatarinaSanta Catarina (state)Santa Catarina is a state in southern Brazil with one of the highest standards of living in Latin America. Its capital is Florianópolis, which mostly lies on the Santa Catarina Island. Neighbouring states are Rio Grande do Sul to the south and Paraná to the north. It is bounded on the east by...
(southern Brazil) around January 1504, fully convinced he had doubled the CapeCape of Good HopeThe Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...
and reached some Indian OceanIndian OceanThe Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
island. He will have a harrowing journey back home, reaching France only in 1505. His exploit will be ignored and forgotten.
1504
| 6th India Armada (Lopo Soares de Albergaria) | |
| Departed: April 1504 Arrived in India: September 1504 ------------------------- Left India: January 1505 Arrived Portugal: Jun/Jul, 1505 ------------------------- Notes: – one ship (5) lost at Cape Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the... . – finds and incorporates ships of Saldanha and Ravasco (3rd Sq of 5th Armada) at Angediva (September 4); – Bombards Calicut for 48 hours, razes Cranganore - Destroys Arab merchant fleet near Calicut. – Barreto stays in command of coastal patrol. – Mendonça ship (2) lost in channel Mozambique Channel The Mozambique Channel is a portion of the Indian Ocean located between the island nation of Madagascar and southeast Africa, primarily the country of Mozambique. It was a World War II clashpoint during the Battle of Madagascar... on return (rescue mission mounted in late 1505) |
Fleet: 13 ships (9 large naus + 4 small ships (navetas/caravels, denoted 'nta' were known) Different in different sources. One possible arrangement: 1. (Lopo Soares de Albergaria Lopo Soares de Albergaria Lopo Soares de Albergaria was the third Governor of Portuguese India, having reached India in 1515 to supersede governor Afonso de Albuquerque.... ) 2. (Pêro de Mendonça/Mascarenhas) – lost on return 3. (Leonel Coutinho). 4. (Tristão da Silva) 5. (Lopo Mendes de Vasconcellos/Lopo Martins) – lost at Cape 6. (Lopo de Abreu da Ilha) 7. (Pedro Afonso de Aguiar) 8. (Filipe de Castro) 9. (Vasco da Silveira/Silva) 10. (Manuel Telles Barreto) 11. (Afonso Lopes da Costa, nta) 12. (Vasco de Carvalho, nta) 13. (Pêro Dinis de Setúbal/Dias, nta) – omitted in some lists. See note below. |
Note: In some lists, Pêro Dinis (or Dias) de Setúbal is substituted with two small ships, one under Simão de Alcáçova, another under Cristovão de Távora
Cristóvão de Távora
Cristóvão de Távora was a Portuguese colonial administrator. He was granted the captaincy of the Fortress of Sofala in Mozambique from 1508 until 1514.He was then Captain of Mozambique from 31 July 1515 to 1 July 1518....
, bringing the total to fourteen. To get thirteen again, they assume Albergaria doesn't have his own ship, but is aboard Pêro de Mendonça's ship on outbound journey.
Other 1504 events
- 1504 King Manuel I of PortugalManuel I of PortugalManuel I , the Fortunate , 14th king of Portugal and the Algarves was the son of Infante Ferdinand, Duke of Viseu, , by his wife, Infanta Beatrice of Portugal...
grants Brazilian charter-holder Fernão de LoronhaFernão de NoronhaFernão de Loronha , whose name is often corrupted to Fernando de Noronha or Fernando della Rogna, was a prominent 16th C. Portuguese merchant of Lisbon, of Jewish descent. He was the first charter-holder , the first donatary captain in Brazil and sponsor of numerous early Portuguese overseas...
the first Brazilian capitaincy (capitania do mar), with hereditary jurisdiction over the São João da Quaresma archipelago (Fernando de NoronhaFernando de NoronhaFernando de Noronha is an archipelago of 21 islands and islets in the Atlantic Ocean, offshore from the Brazilian coast. The main island has an area of and had a population of 3,012 in the year 2010...
islands)
- March, 1504 Zamorin of Calicut launches second siege of Portuguese-allied Cochin. Duarte Pacheco PereiraDuarte Pacheco PereiraDuarte Pacheco Pereira, called the Great, was a 15th century Portuguese sea captain, soldier, explorer and cartographer. He travelled particularly in the central Atlantic Ocean west of the Cape Verde islands, along the coast of West Africa and to India...
holds off the assault until it breaks up in July.
See also
- Estado da Índia Portuguesa
- Portuguese discoveriesPortuguese discoveriesPortuguese discoveries is the name given to the intensive maritime exploration by the Portuguese during the 15th and 16th centuries. Portuguese sailors were at the vanguard of European overseas exploration, discovering and mapping the coasts of Africa, Asia and Brazil, in what become known as the...
- Portuguese East India CompanyPortuguese East India Company- Background :Portuguese trade with India had been a crown monopoly since the Portuguese captain Vasco da Gama opened the sea route to India in 1497-99. The monopoly had been managed by the Casa da Índia, the royal trading house founded around 1500. The Casa was responsible for the yearly India...
- Portuguese IndiaPortuguese IndiaThe Portuguese Viceroyalty of India , later the Portuguese State of India , was the aggregate of Portugal's colonial holdings in India.The government started in 1505, six years after the discovery of a sea route to India by Vasco da Gama, with the nomination of the first Viceroy Francisco de...
- Spice tradeSpice tradeCivilizations of Asia were involved in spice trade from the ancient times, and the Greco-Roman world soon followed by trading along the Incense route and the Roman-India routes...
Chronicles
- Afonso de AlbuquerqueAfonso de AlbuquerqueAfonso de Albuquerque[p][n] was a Portuguese fidalgo, or nobleman, an admiral whose military and administrative activities as second governor of Portuguese India conquered and established the Portuguese colonial empire in the Indian Ocean...
(1557), Commentarios Dafonso Dalboquerque, capitam geral & gouernador da India [1774 Port. ed. trans. 1875-84 by Walter de Gray Birch, as The Commentaries of the great Afonso Dalboquerque, second viceroy of India, 4 volumes, London: Hakluyt Society]
- Duarte BarbosaDuarte BarbosaDuarte Barbosa was a Portuguese writer and Portuguese India officer between 1500 and 1516–17, with the post of scrivener in Cannanore factory and sometimes interpreter of the local language...
(c.1518) O Livro de Duarte Barbosa [Trans. by M.L. Dames, 1918–21, An Account Of The Countries Bordering On The Indian Ocean And Their Inhabitants, 2 vols., 2005 reprint, New Delhi: Asian Education Services.]
- João de BarrosJoão de BarrosJoão de Barros , called the Portuguese Livy, is one of the first great Portuguese historians, most famous for his Décadas da Ásia , a history of the Portuguese in India and Asia.-Early years:...
(1552–59) Décadas da Ásia: Dos feitos, que os Portuguezes fizeram no descubrimento, e conquista, dos mares, e terras do Oriente.. Vol. 1 (Dec I, Lib.1-5), Vol. 2 (Dec I, Lib. 6-10), Vol. 3 (Dec II, Lib.1-5), Vol. 4 (Dec II, Lib. 6-10)
- Diogo do CoutoDiogo do CoutoDiogo de Couto was a portuguese historian.-Biography:He was born in Lisbon in 1542 and studied Latin and Rhetoric at Saint Antão College and philosophy at the convent at Benfica...
"De todas as Armadas que os Reys de Portugal mandáram à Índia, até que El-Rey D. Filippe succedeo nestes Reynos", de 1497 a 1581", in J. de Barros and D. de Couto, Décadas da Ásia Dec. X, Pt.1, Bk.1, c.16
- Luís Vaz de Camões (1572) Os Lusíadas. [Eng. trans. by W.J. Mickle, 1776, as The Lusiad, or the discovery of India, an epic poem. trans. by R.F. Burton, 1880, as The Lusiads; trans. by J.J. Aubertin, 1878–84, The Lusiads of Camoens]
- Fernão Lopes de CastanhedaFernão Lopes de CastanhedaFernão Lopes de Castanheda was a Portuguese historian in the early Renaissance.His "History of the discovery and conquest of India", full of geographic and ethnographic objective information, was widely translated throughout Europe.- Life :Castanheda was the natural son of a royal officer, who...
(1551–1560) História do descobrimento & conquista da Índia pelos portugueses [1833 edition]
- Gaspar CorreiaGaspar CorreiaGaspar Correia or Gaspar Corrêa was a Portuguese historian, author of "Lendas da Índia , one of the earliest and most important works about Portuguese rule in Asia, being referred to as a Portuguese Polybius.- Biography :There is little information about the life of the author...
(c.1550s) Lendas da Índia, first pub. 1858-64, Lisbon: Academia Real de Sciencias Vol 1, Vol. 2, Vol 3 [partially trans. H.E. Stanley, 1869, as The Three Voyages of Vasco de Gama, and his viceroyalty London: Hakluyt Society.]
- Damião de Goes (1566–67) Chrónica do Felicíssimo Rei D. Manuel, da Gloriosa Memoria, Ha qual por mandado do Serenissimo Principe, ho Infante Dom Henrique seu Filho, ho Cardeal de Portugal, do Titulo dos Santos Quatro Coroados, Damiam de Goes collegio & compoz de novo. (As reprinted in 1749, Lisbon: M. Manescal da Costa) online
- João de Lisboa (c.1519) Livro de Marinharia: tratado da agulha de marear. Roteiros, sondas, e outros conhecimentos relativos á navegação, first pub. 1903, Lisbon: Libanio da Silva. online
- Jerónimo Osório (1586) De rebus Emmanuelis [trans. Port., 1804, Da Vida e Feitos d'El Rei D. Manuel, Lisbon: Impressão Regia.] [trans. English 1752 by J. Gibbs as The History of the Portuguese during the Reign of Emmanuel London: Millar, Vol. 1, Vol. 2
- Duarte Pacheco PereiraDuarte Pacheco PereiraDuarte Pacheco Pereira, called the Great, was a 15th century Portuguese sea captain, soldier, explorer and cartographer. He travelled particularly in the central Atlantic Ocean west of the Cape Verde islands, along the coast of West Africa and to India...
(c.1509) Esmeraldo de Situ Orbis online
- Relação das Náos e Armadas da India com os Sucessos dellas que se puderam Saber, para Noticia e Instrucção dos Curiozos, e Amantes da Historia da India (Codex Add. 20902 of the British Library), [D. António de Ataíde, orig. editor.] Transcribed and reprinted in 1985, by M.H. Maldonado, Biblioteca Geral da Universidade de Coimbra. online
- Álvaro VelhoÁlvaro VelhoÁlvaro Velho was a Portuguese writer that participated as a sailor or soldier in the expedition of discovery of sea route to India led by Vasco da Gama in 1497. He was the attributed author of an anonymous logbook, main direct source known describing the expedition...
Diário de bordo de Álvaro Velho [trans. 1888 by E.G. Ravenstein as A Journal of the first voyage of Vasco da Gama, 1497-1499. London: Haklyut Society]
Secondary
- Albuquerque, Luís de (1978) "Escalas da Carreira da Índia", Revista da Universidade de Coimbra, vol. 26, p. 3-10 offprint
- Bouchon, G. (1985) "Glimpses of the Beginnings of the Carreira da India", in T.R. De Souza, editor, Indo-Portuguese history: old issues, new questions. New Delhi: Concept.pp. 40-55.
- Castro, Filipe Vieira de (2005) The Pepper Wreck: a Portuguese Indiaman at the mouth of the Tagus river. College Station, TX: Texas A & M Press.
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