4th Portuguese India Armada (Gama, 1502)
Encyclopedia
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. It was designed as a punitive expedition, targeting Calicut, to avenge the travails of the 2nd Armada
and the massacre of the Portuguese factory in 1500.
Along the way, in East Africa, the 4th Armada established a Portuguese factory in Mozambique
, made contact and opened trade with the gold entrepot of Sofala
and exorted tribute from Kilwa
. Once in India, the armada set about attacking Calicut shipping and disrupting trade along much of the Malabar Coast
. But the ruling Zamorin of Calicut refused to accede to Portuguese demands, arguing that the violent exactions of the armada exceeded any claims they might have for compensation. The 4th Armada left without bringing the Zamorin to terms and leaving matters unresolved. Before departing, the armada established a crown factory in Cannanore
and left behind a small patrol under Vicente Sodré
, the first permanent Portuguese fleet in the Indian Ocean
.
, commanded by Pedro Álvares Cabral
, had arrived in Portugal in the summer of 1501 in a terrible shape. Ship and human losses were tremendous, its mission objectives failed. They had failed to establish a factory in Sofala
, the outlet of the Monomatapa gold trade in East Africa
, and, more worrisomely, opened hostilities with the city-state of Calicut (Calecute, Kozhikode), the principal commercial entrepôt of the Kerala
spice trade and dominant city-state on the Malabar coast
of India
.
By the time this news was received, the 3rd India Armada
under João da Nova
had already departed, a commercial expedition unequipped to deal with the hostile turn of events in the Indian Ocean.
As a result, King Manuel I of Portugal
ordered a new fleet to be assembled, the 4th India Armada, armed to the teeth, with the explicit objective of bringing Calicut to heel.
The command of the 4th Armada was offered to Pedro Álvares Cabral
. But various factions in the Portuguese court and the Casa da India
, opposed Cabral's appointment, on the grounds that it was Cabral's 'incompetence' that had created this unhappy situation to begin with. However, Cabral had his own political supporters that could not be ignored. The king tried to compromise by offering Cabral the position of captain-major (capitão-mor), but letting it be clearly understood that his command of the fleet would not be absolute, that at least one squadron would be placed under the separate command of Vicente Sodré
(an uncle of Vasco da Gama
, and leading opponent of Cabral). Finding this condition an unacceptable affront, Cabral withdrew his name in a huff. Manuel I immediately appointed Vasco da Gama himself as captain-major.
The intrigues behind the appointment have been variously told. By some accounts, the initial offer to Cabral was a pro forma gesture to palliate his faction rather than an earnest offer. In other words, the king never had any intention of letting Cabral lead the expedition, that the onerous conditions were introduced knowing Cabral would find them unacceptable. That these conditions were only revealed at the last minute, just before the fleet's departure, lends credence to the theory, i.e. the monarch did not want to give Cabral time to reconsider or allow opposition to mount against Gama's rapid appointment.
Chronicler Gaspar Correia
tells a slightly different story - he does not mention Sodré's command, but rather relates how King Manuel I summoned Vasco da Gama a mere three days before the scheduled departure date and expressed his "disappointment and mistrust" of Cabral's "dubious fortune" at sea., but that he had made a promise to Cabral and could not break it. On this hint, Gama produced a royal letter (issued by Manuel back in 1500, and reiterated in October 1501), promising Gama a determining role in any future India expedition, and demanded command of the expedition for himself. The king was caught between two commitments - honoring the letter to Gama, or his appointment to Cabral. Hearing of the king's quandary, Cabral voluntarily withdrew his name to graciously allow Manuel I to honor his letter.
The 16th C. chroniclers seem to agree that King Manuel I wanted to deprive Cabral of command, and that the Sodré appointment and/or the Gama letter was just a ploy by the king to wiggle out of appointing Cabral. But some later authors have interpreted the accounts differently, that King Manuel I was wholly behind Cabral, but was forced to yield to the unsavory machinations of the Gama-Sodré family.
Just before his departure, in a solemn ceremony at the Lisbon Cathedral
on January 30, 1502, King Manuel I bestowed upon Vasco da Gama the newly created title of Almirante dos mares de Arabia, Persia, India e de todo o Oriente ("Admiral of the Seas of Arabia, Persia, India and all the Orient") - an overwrought title reminiscent of the ornate Castilian
title borne by Christopher Columbus
. (Evidently, Manuel must have reckoned that if Castile had an 'Admiral of the Seas' running around, then surely Portugal should have one too.)
On a side note, this was the first India armada for which the vintena de Belém was introduced - that is, the 5% tax on profits of private trading by captains and officers of Portuguese India Armadas
, earmarked for the construction and maintenance of the Jerónimos Monastery
in the Belém
district of Lisbon
. The vintena would continue until 1522.
, 5 under the vice-admiral designated to patrol the mouth of the Red Sea
. As it turns out, not all ships were ready by the launch date, so the armada was re-arranged into three squadrons, the first two squadrons (10 under admiral Vasco da Gama
, 5 under his uncle, vice-admiral Vicente Sodré
) to head out at once, and the five remaining ships to go out a little while later as a third squadron under Gama's cousin, Estêvão da Gama
, with instructions to catch up to the main fleet along the way. (Whatever the mechanics behind the appointment, the 4th Armada certainly turned out to be a Gama family affair!)
The exact composition of the three squadrons differs in the various accounts. The following list of ships should not be regarded as authoritative, but a tentative list compiled from various conflicting accounts.
[This list of captains is principally based on João de Barros
's Décadas, Damião de Gois
's Chronica, Castanheda
's História, the Relação das Náos, Couto
's list, Faria e Sousa
's Asia and Quintella's Annaes da Marinha. The list of ship names is from Gaspar Correia
's Lendas da Índia. and should be suspected as unreliable.
As usual, Correia's list of captains differs significantly from the others. In Correia, neither of the Sodré brothers command their own ships - indeed Correia asserts Vicente Sodré was carried as a passenger aboard Vasco da Gama's flagship, with the result that the lead ship of the second squadron was captained by a certain Fernão d'Atouguia (of the Ataíde family
?) and the fifth ship by Pêro Rafael (a name that appears on several other lists). Doubtless, the captain lists are complicated by the fact that there was a rearrangement of the fleet in India, and captains were shuffled around - at which point, both Vicente and Brás Sodré was definitely given command of a ship of his own.]
The most famous ship in the Fourth Armada was arguably the one commanded by Estevão da Gama
, the Flor de la Mar
(sometimes spelled as Frol de la Mar), a 400 tonne carrack
(nau), the largest ship of that kind yet built. The exact sizes of the other large carracks - the flagship São Jerónimo, Lionarda and the Leitoa/Esmeralda are unknown, but also presumed to be quite sizeable (that is, 250t or greater). These large ships were designated to return with spice cargo back to Lisbon. The smaller naus(navetas, 80-120t) and caravels (40-80t), went out as armed fighting ships, to remain as naval patrol vessels in India if necessary.
The Gama clan dominated the fleet - Vasco da Gama
, his cousin Estêvão da Gama
and his uncles Vicente Sodré
and Brás Sodré took the leadership positions. We have assumed Pêro de Ataíde
, to be the same person nicknamed 'o Inferno' ('Hell'), a notable veteran captain of Cabral's Second Armada
. But in some accounts, his name is given as 'Álvaro de Ataíde' a native of the Algarve, thus possibly Vasco da Gama's new brother-in-law (Gama had recently married Catarina de Ataíde in 1500 or 1501; she had a brother by that name). Lopo Mendes de Vasconcellos was a soon-to-be brother-in-law (betrothed to Teresa da Gama, Vasco's sister).
Among the remaining captains, the most significant was probably Dom Luís Coutinho, son of the Count of Marialva
, a high nobleman of considerable rank in the Portuguese court. Diogo Fernandes Correia (archaically, Corrêa) was pre-designated by the Casa da India
as the factor for Cochin (replacing the factor Gonçalo Gil Barbosa that Cabral had left there).
Two ships went out under Italian captains - Tommasio da Cremona ('Thomas de Carmona') and Giovanni Buonagrazia ('João da Bonagracia') of Florence
and likely to be outfitted in collaboration with Italian consortiums (although Buonagrazia's ship is identified as formally belonging to Ruy Mendes de Brito, a gentleman of the royal chamber Lopo Dias is identified by Barros as an employee of D. Álvaro of Braganza
, who had privately outfitted ships in earlier armadas in conjunction with the Marchionni
consortium, so there is reason to presume Dias's ship was outfitted the same way. The Leitoa Nova is said to have been privately outfitted by the powerful nobleman Tristão da Cunha
in conjunction with the mysterious Lisbon merchant-woman Catarina Dias de Aguiar
Aboard the ships, as passengers, were Gaspar da Gama
(the Goese Jew brought by Gama's first journey, who had also served as translator in the Cabral armada), an ambassador from the Kolathiri
Raja of Cannanore
and one of two noble Cochinese hostages taken inadvertently by Cabral's Second India Armada
back to Lisbon (the other Cochinese hostage elected to stay in Lisbon, dispatching a letter to Trimumpara Raja, prince of Cochin
relating the useful role he might serve Cochin by remaining behind in the Portuguese court.)
There were two Italian passengers on the armada - both military engineers, and probably secret Venetian
agents - that would play a sinister role in India. They were known by their Portuguese names as João Maria (Gianmaria) and Pêro António (Pierantonio).
The 4th Armada is unusually blessed with multiple eyewitness accounts to supplement the standard chronicles: (1) an account by an anonymous Flemish sailor aboard the Leitoa Nova in the second squadron, (2) an account by anonymous Portuguese sailor; (3) a brief account by an anonymous German sailor; (4) a detailed account by Thomé Lopes
, clerk of the ship of Giovanni Buonagrazia in the third squadron; (5) two letters dispatched from Mozambique in April 1503 by an Italian agent Matteo da Bergamo, who, by deduction, was travelling on T. Carmona's ship (6) letters dispatched from Lisbon by Italian agents Francesco Corbinelli and Giovanni Francesco Affaitati drawn from interviews with the newly returning crews in August 1503.
for details).
The Fourth Armada did not set out with enough manpower to conquer Calicut outright. Rather, they expected a strong show of force was enough to intimidate the Zamorin into compliance. They would do this by cutting off Calicut's lifeline - its trade. In the pre-launch plans, the first squadron under Vasco da Gama was supposed to set up a naval blockade of Calicut harbor and prevent the entry of any ships, while the second squadron of Vicente Sodré was to patrol the Gulf of Aden
and bottle up Arab shipping in the Red Sea
. This, it was thought, would be enough to bring the Zamorin to his knees and sue for terms.
The terms envisaged was for the Zamorin to make amends for the factory and restore the Portuguese trade on the Malabar coast (Gama was under instructions to accept nothing less than a fixed price guarantee this time). The Zamorin would also be obliged to prosecute those they identified as the intriguers behind the massacre and expel all Arab merchants from any and all ports under Calicut's sway.
The armada is said by the chroniclers to have been given explicit instructions to establish factories
(feitorias) in Cochin and Cannanore
, Calicut's rival cities on the Malabar coast of India, which had opened good relations with Cabral. However, we know of only one designated crown factor carried by the Fourth Armada - Diogo Fernandes Correia. This has led some historians to suspect that maybe this was only a back-up plan at best. In other words, that it was envisaged that once the quarrel with the Zamorin was resolved, Portuguese operations would be centered on Calicut again, with Diogo Fernandes Correia as factor there, and that the other smaller cities, with their smaller markets, would just fade again into the background.
Finally, the Fourth Armada was instructed to open trade with the East Africa
n city-state of Sofala
. Sofala had been secretly visited by the explorer Pêro da Covilhã
during his overland expedition back in 1487, and he identified it as the end-point of the Monomatapa gold trade. The Portuguese crown had been eager to tap that gold source, but all prior armadas had failed to find it until Sancho de Tovar
, commanding a ship of the 2nd India Armada
, had finally located Sofala the previous year, but he only saw it from afar and did not go ashore. It seems that every ship in this armada was issued explicit royal instructions to try to trade for gold in Sofala.
and 5 ships under vice-admiral Vicente Sodré
- set out from Lisbon.
Late February, 1502 - Fleet anchors in Senegal (either at Porto de Ale (Sali Portudal
) or Bezeguiche (Bay of Dakar
)) to take water. It is reported in one chronicle that Fernan d'Atouguia, captain of the Leitoa Nova falls ill and dies here. Gama transfers the experienced captain Pedro Afonso de Aguiar from the small nau Santa Elena to the large nau Leitoa Nova, and elevates one of his own companions, Pêro de Mendonça, to captain Aguiar's old ship.
Early March, 1502 - The Fourth Armada sails southwest from Africa and may make a brief watering stop at Cape St. Augustine
(Brazil), before heading across the south Atlantic towards the Cape of Good Hope
.
April 1, 1502 The third squadron of the Fourth Armada - five ships under Estêvão da Gama
- finally sets out from Lisbon. Charting its own course, the third squadron will only catch up with the main body of the Fourth Armada in India.
April–May, 1502 Violent storms at the Cape separates the fifteen ships of Vasco da Gama's fleet. Each captain is forced to figure out his own passage around the Cape, and make his own way towards the pre-arranged rendez-vous point on the other side.
May, 1502 After making watering stops in Madeira
and Cape Verde
, Estevão da Gama's third squadron reportedly spots an island in the south Atlantic. Uncertain which one - could be a Cape Verde
island or the Penedo de São Pedro (islets off the Brazilian coast) or even as far as the islands of Trindade and Martim Vaz
(further south), but does not stop to investigate. (By coincidence, that very same month, the returning Third Armada
of João da Nova
discovers the island of Saint Helena
; despite the timing, the returning fleet will not encounter any of the ships of the outward armada. But they will pick up letters Nova left behind in Malindi
, probably describing his outgoing journey and the latest news from India)
June 7, 1502 - The third squadron of Estevão da Gama is caught in a terrible storm around the Cape
and splits into two groups - Estevão da Gama (Flor) and the ships of Lopo Dias and Thomaz de Carmona (with Bergamo on board) hold together as a trio, while Lopo Mendes de Vasconcellos (Julia) and the ship of Buonagrazia (with Lopes on board) form a separate pair.
(p. 272), Vasco da Gama was the among the first ships to arrive in Mozambique Island, the pre-arranged meeting point. Gama is immediately recognized by the local sheikh (with whom Gama had a tussle on his first journey back in 1498). The Mozambique ruler immediately offers his pardon for that affair and puts supplies at the disposal of the tempest-tossed Portuguese. Vasco da Gama remains in Mozambique for a while, waiting for the rest of the battered fleet to trickle in, one by one.
The only known loss is the small nau Santa Elena, captained by the novice Pêro de Mendonça, which captured by bad currents around Cape Correntes
, ends up running aground near the banks of Sofala
. However the crew is safely rescued by the passing ships of Francisco da Cunha Mareco (Bretoa) and Fernão Rodrigues Bardaças (Santa Marta). With surfeit of crew from the capsized Santa Elena, Gama orders the construction of a whole new caravel from scratch on Mozambique Island.
[Although not mentioned in all sources, the caravel of António do Campo ('Antão Vaz' in Correia), is said to have been badly battered at Cape Correntes
, and drifted backwards into Delagoa Bay (Maputo). Campo will not rejoin the 4th Armada on time for the Indian Ocean crossing, and thus remain stuck in Africa until next year. See below.]
According to Correia, while repairing on Mozambique Island, Vasco da Gama dispatches Pedro Afonso de Aguiar (captain of the Leitoa) and two caravels south to the city of Sofala
, the entrepot of the Monomatapa gold trade. Sofala had been missed by all prior armadas, but not this time. Following up on the scout report of Sancho de Tovar
from the previous year (see 2nd India Armada
), Aguiar leads the first Portuguese ships into Sofala harbor. Aguiar goes ashore, initiates some trade in the local markets while seeking out the local ruler, the sultan or shiekh Isuf of Sofala (Yçuf in Barros
; Çufe in Goes). An audience is arranged and Aguiar draws up a commercial and alliance treaty between Portugal and Sofala. Matters settled and gifts exchanged, Aguiar takes aboard a Sofalese ambassador to meet Vasco da Gama back in Mozambique.
[In other accounts, (principally Osório (p. 192), mildly corroborated by other chroniclers and the anonymous Portuguese eyewitness and Matteo da Bergamo) it is Vasco da Gama himself, and not Aguiar, who goes to Sofala. According to this alternative account, Gama did not go to Mozambique immediately after the Cape crossing; rather, most of the fleet met at some unnamed bay just a few leagues north of Sofala (possibly the 'Rio dos Boms Sinaes'); Gama ordered Vicente Sodré with the main fleet ahead to Mozambique Island, while he remained behind The construction of the new caravel was thus overseen by Sodré, not Gama. After accounting for all the ships and sending them on to Mozambique, Vasco da Gama himself sailed south with four ships to Sofala, conducted some trade and opened the first contact with the Sofalese ruler. That would mean Gama was the last to arrive in Mozambique. In this alternative account, the lost ship of Mendonça (or Fernandes) was one of the four that went with Gama to Sofala, and capsized while exiting the Sofala banks.]
[A possible reconciliation of both versions may be that Gama did go to Sofala, but did not actually enter the city itself, but limited himself to try to trade for gold with Sofalese merchants by the outer sandbanks of the Sofala estuary, and later on (after arriving in Mozambique) instructed Aguiar to go back and venture inside the city.]
Late June, 1502 - Vasco da Gama makes arrangements to leave Mozambique. A Portuguese factory
is established on Mozambique Island, with Gonçalo Baixo as the factor
, with some ten assistants, to capitalize on the results of the Sofala trade mission. The new caravel finished, Gama christens it Pomposa and places it, together with some 30 crew, under the command of João Serrão
(of future Magellan
fame), with instructions to take any goods from the Sofalese trade.
[According to Correia, Gama was unwilling to wait around for the results of Aguiar's mission to Sofala, and set sail out of Mozambique before Aguiar's returned from Sofala. As a result, Aguiar was forced to leave the Sofalese ambassador in Mozambique (letting him find his own way back home) and set sail for Malindi, hoping to catch Gama there.]
(Quiloa). The dominant city-state on the East Africa
n coast, Kilwa Sultanate
was the formal overlord of Mozambique and Sofala. If the fledgling Portuguese trade presence in those East African towns was to remain unmolested, then the Portuguese must secure Kilwa's consent. Cabral and the 2nd Armada
had tried, and failed, to secure a treaty with Kilwa back in 1500. Gama decided to try again - and was determined not to take no for answer. But, mindful of the lesson at Calicut, Gama also wanted to add a touch of intimidation, to show off his heavily-armed fleet and impress upon the Sultan of Kilwa the consequences of interfering or turning back on any agreement.
July 12, 1502 - Gama's large, menacing armada arrives at the island-city of Kilwa
. Gama sends for the Kilwa ruler
, Emir Ibrahim, inviting him aboard the São Jeronimo, to negotiate a treaty of peace and trade.
Sensing a trap, Emir Ibrahim first asks for a safe-conduct (which da Gama promptly gives him), but fearing treachery, the emir changes his mind, and refuses to go aboard. However, after much discussion, one of his advisors, a certain wealthy nobleman Muhammad ibn Rukn ad Din (called Muhammad Arcone or Ancone or Enconij by the chroniclers ) finally persuades the emir to take up the Portuguese offer. Emir Ibrahim is ferried to the flagship and climbs aboard. After minimal opening cordialities, and ostentatious proclamations of friendship, Gama lays down his price: a treaty with Portugal has to be paid for with a hefty cash tribute to the King of Portugal. The emir is dismayed. Declaring tribute to be a dishonor, he refuses. Gama threatens to level the city and lay it to fire and waste. Emir Ibrahim, effectively captive on board, reluctantly agrees, and signs a treaty making Kilwa tributary to Portugal. Leaving the Kilwan nobleman and advisor Muhammad Arcone aboard as a hostage, the emir returns to shore to make the arrangements.
mid-July, 1502 - After a few days of lingering in Kilwa harbor and no sign of the emir's promised tribute, Gama dispatches a messenger to see what the delay is. Emir Ibrahim sends a message back declining to dispatch the tribute, and telling the Portuguese captain-major that he can do whatever he will with the hostage Muhammad Arcone, given that his poor counsel had proven him unworthy. The angry Gama throws Arcone into a long-boat, without water or shade, to die of heat and exposure. Nonetheless, Muhammad Arcone is a wealthy man in his own right, and servants from his household offer Gama a substantial ransom to release him. Knowing the hostage is otherwise worthless to him, Gama consents.
July 20, 1502 - His vengeance on Muhammad Arcone's bad counsel satisfied, the Emir Ibrahim of Kilwa finally decides to send some tribute - some 1500 gold meticals - to satisfy the Portuguese captain-major. Vasco da Gama, anxious not to miss the monsoon
winds to India, takes what he can get.
[The extorted gold coins of Kilwa were used by the goldsmith Gil Vicente
in 1506 to make the famous gold pyx
or monstrance
known as the Custódia de Belém, for the Jerónimos Monastery
in Belém
. It is considered by many to be one the most magnificent treasure pieces of the Portuguese crown.]
[Correia (p. 282) reports a little knot before departing: several dozen Kilwan women 'picked up' (read: abducted) and taken aboard the ships by bored Portuguese sailors for fun and amusement refuse to return ashore. Although Emir Ibrahim promises that they will be unharmed, he cannot guarantee that those who allowed themselves to be baptized Christian by enthusiastic chaplains on the ships will be taken back by their families. Much to the delight of the crew, Gama reluctantly allows these to come with them.]
c.July 15, 1502 In the meantime, part of the third squadron, the trio that held with Estêvão da Gama (Gama, Dias, Carmona) arrive at Mozambique Island, half-famished and heavily damaged. At that same time, the remaining pair (Vasconcellos, Buonagrazia) alight at the Sofala
banks. The two squads do not reconnect with each other. Estêvão da Gama's trio, following the itinerary left in Mozambique by his cousin, heads off to Kilwa Alone idling before Sofala, Vasconcellos and Buonagrazia proceed north to the mouth of the Rio de Bons Sinaes (Zambezi River), where they put in for repairs and recuperation.
July 23, 1502 Part of the third squad (Estêvão da Gama, Lopo Dias and Thomas de Carmona) arrive in Kilwa
, just in time to reconnect the main armada of Vasco da Gama, preparing to depart fom Kilwa harbor. At that moment (July 22 actually), the remaining two ships of the third squad (Vasconcellos, Buonagrazia) finally arrive in Mozambique Island. Taking note of the notes and itinerary left behind, they set sail for Malindi, hoping to catch the main fleet there.
Late July, 1502 - Vasco da Gama arrives in Malindi
, just in time to be met by Pedro Afonso de Aguiar (from Sofala), who reports to him the results of the Sofala treaty. Gama's fleet does not actually dock in Malindi - they intended to, but miss it, landing a few leagues ahead, unable to turn back because of the weather (although they manage to get some supplies and exchange messages with Malindi emissaries that row out to them).
July 29, 1502 - Vasco da Gama's fleet departs its anchorage near Malindi for its Indian Ocean
crossing. He is missing three ships: Campo, Vasconcelos and Buonagrazia.
August 2, 1502 - The remaining two ships of the third squadron (Lopo Mendes de Vasconcelos and Giovanni Buonagrazia) arrive in Malindi, just a few days after Gama's departure. They are well-received by the Sultan of Malindi. They pick up a few letters left with degredado
Luiz da Moura in Malindi by the returning fleet
of João da Nova
a few months earlier, reporting the latest Indian news. They do not stay long, but immediately set sail after Gama's fleet.
) is said to have been caught up and battered by bad winds at Cape Correntes
and forced to drift with the current of the Mozambique Channel
aimlessly southwest. Campo's caravel is said to have alighted at Delagoa Bay (now Maputo Bay
). The hitherto unknown capacious bay is watered by three rivers: the Maputo
river to the south, the Espirito Santo 'river' to the west (actually an estuary formed by the Umbeluzi, Matola
and Tembe rivers) and the Maniça (now Incomati
) river to the north. Being told by the local inhabitants that the Espírito Santo 'river' was sourced from a great lake deep in the interior, Campo names it Rio da Lagoa (River of the Lagoon), from which we get the name by which Maputo Bay was long known: 'Delagoa Bay'.
Having been forced to linger at Delagoa for repairs, António do Campo hurries north to try to make junction with the rest of the 4th Armada at Malindi
, but arrives too late (mid-September). The fleet having already left for India, and the monsoon winds preventing Campo's own crossing to India. António do Campo will remain behind on the East African coast until next April.
(north of Goa
). These are the territorial waters of the powerful Muslim sultan Adil Shah
(Hidalcão) of Bijapur. Expecting trouble, the fighting ships hoist up their lateen sails and load up their cannon. But no one comes out to challenge them, so they begin coasting south along the Indian coast towards Kerala
.
) and Lopo Mendes de Vasconcellos (Juiloa) finally catch up with the rest of the armada. Save for the ship of Campo (still stuck in Africa) and Serrão (on patrol around the Mozambique factory), all the Portuguese fleet (18 ships out of the 20 that left Lisbon) are together and accounted for.
Around Anjediva island, the armada spots three boats belonging to Timoja, the Hindu privateer
who operates out of Honnavar (Onor), on the frontline between the warring states of Muslim Bijapur and Hindu Vijayanagar
. They give chase unto the mouth of the Sharavathi River
, at which point the pirate boats slip into harbor of Onor. Assured by Gaspar da Gama
(Goese Jew and translator) that Onor is a corsair's nest, Vasco da Gama orders an attack on the city. Portuguese landing crews attack the harbor, plundering and setting fire to the ships and docks.
The day after the raid on Onor, the Fourth Armada arrives at the mouth of the river that leads up to the city of Bhatkal
(Batecala), south of Onor. Perceiving what he considers hostile gestures from shore, the captain-major dispatches his cousin, Estêvão da Gama
upriver to the town to investigate. Surveying the Batecala docks, Estêvão spies several Arab merchant ships and prepares for hostilities. But his attention is soon drawn to a small group of men in ornate robes, rushing down to the docks, frantically calling to him. It is an embassy from the raja of Batecala, requesting an immediate audience with the Portuguese captain-major.
Estêvão brings the embassy to his cousin. Evidently hearing of the fate of Onor, the embassy offers to submit to the Portuguese. Vasco da Gama agrees to leave Batecala in peace in return for a yearly tribute of 1,000 bags of plain rice and 500 bags of quality rice (probably Basmati
). Batecala is also to agree to the exclusion of the Arab merchants from the city, that no pepper
trade is to be carried at this port, and that no ship be allowed to travel between Batecala and Calicut. The treaty is set down in writing and signed.
[Batecala is described by Correia as just a modest rice, iron and sugar port south of Onor; it was actually the principal port and sea outlet of the Vijayanagara Empire
, and its primary line was the horse trade
, specifically, importing large numbers of splendid Persian and Arabian horse
s for the armies of Vijayanagara princes.]
, the common touch-point for ships on the Jedda-Calicut route, evidently intending to catch some prizes before proceeding.
September 29, 1502 - After prowling around Mt. d'Eli for nearly a month with little success (they captured only one minor ship), captain Gil Matoso (on the São Gabriel), spots a large merchant ship carrying Muslim pilgrims returning from Mecca
(or going to it, chronicles contradict). The ship, the Miri, is identified as belonging to a certain al-Fanqi, one of wealthier men of Calicut and said by some to be the Mecca
n factor
in Calicut. Matoso chases the pilgrim ship down, which surrenders rather quickly, probably imagining that its master had enough money to ransom it off. But Vasco da Gama shrugs off all the offers. As the Portuguese crew plunder the ship and transfer its cargo, it quickly becomes evident that Gama intends to burn the ship with all its passengers - men, women and children - on board. When Gama proves deaf to their pleas for mercy, the passengers frantically attack the Portuguese men-at-arms with their bare hands. To no avail.
October 3, 1502 - a day, eyewitness Thomé Lopes
states, "I will never forget for the rest of my days". The pilgrim ship thoroughly plundered, on Gama's orders, the passengers are locked in the hold and the ship burnt and sunk by artilery. It takes several days to finally go down completely. Portuguese soldiers row around the waters on longboats mercilessly spearing survivors.
The sinking of the Miri is an act that will instantly cement Gama's cruel and fearsome reputation, and generate a great deal of hatred for the Portuguese in India. Gama defended his act as "vengeance" for the Calicut massacre
of 1500, arguing that the ship's owner, as a prominent person in Calicut, was 'doubtlessly' responsible for the sinister counsel to the Zamorin that led up to it.
Of the eyewitnesses, all mention it, but only Thomé Lopes
openly condemns the act, claiming Gama acted "with great cruelty and without any mercy whatsoever". The chroniclers do not shy away from describing the event and their unease is evident. Although Barros
and Castanheda
reiterate Gama's justification of the act as revenge for Cabral, they do not seem to embrace it themselves. Indeed, Barros, Góis
and Osório claim the ship belonged to the Sultan of Egypt
, who was in no way responsible for the events in Calicut, thus subtly suggesting Gama may have made a mistake. Gaspar Correia
is a little more open in his disapproval. He notes that several of the Portuguese captains were appalled by Gama's decision and tried to persuade him against it (if only because they would forego a hefty ransom). Correia gives a heart-rending account of the desperate and valiant resistance of the doomed passengers. Poet Luís de Camões
passes over the incident in silence, evidently feeling it detrimental to the heroic portrait of Vasco da Gama.
Estimates of those killed on the Miri hover around 300. Portuguese chroniclers are eager to report that 20 children were spared this fate, and brought back by the 4th Armada to Lisbon, where they will be baptized and raised as friar
s at the Nossa Senhora de Belém
. Among the eyewitnesses Thomé Lopes
and the anonymous Flemish sailor make no mention of this small mercy, although Matteo de Bergamo does point it out.
(Canonor, Kannur), and delivers the Cannanore ambassador that had gone to Lisbon with Cabral's 2nd Armada
. The Kolathiri
Raja of Cannanore invites Gama to come ashore for an elaborate reception, but Gama replies that he swore a personal oath not to set his foot on Indian soil again until his vengeance on Calicut was sated. As a result, the rajah orders a wooden scaffold to be built over the seashore, where they can meet in person without violating the vow.
Gama presents the raja with royal letters and munificent gifts (a jeweled sword, a brocaded armchair) and discussions immediately begin. A commercial treaty is negotiated, establishing a Portuguese crown factory
in Cannanore, and arranging a fixed-price schedule, which the Raja personally guarantees, for the sale of spices to the Portuguese.
The negotiation for the commercial treaty did not go smoothly, particularly the fixed price clause. The Kolathiri Raja protested that he had no power over market prices nor the right to dictate how private merchants disposed of their property. Gama had to resort to feints, threats and then sailed out of Cannanore in anger. Barros credits the role of Paio Rodrigues, the Portuguese factor (private, not crown, an employee of the private employee of D. Álvaro of Braganza
and the Marchionni
consortium), that had been left behind in Cannanore by João da Nova
's Third Armada
at the beginning of the year. After Gama stormed off and ordered sail out of the city, Paio Rodrigues mediated between the Kolathiri Raja and the Captain-Major and finalized the treaty
Correia points out this is the treaty where the Portuguese cartaz
system was first introduced. Henceforth, every merchant ship along the Malabar coast had to present a certificate signed by a Portuguese factor (in Cannanore, Cochin, etc.), or else be subject to attack and seizure by a Portuguese patrol. This licensing system would be subsequently adopted later on other Portuguese-controlled coasts (e.g. East Africa, Malacca, Brazil), with differing degrees of success. It will be largely maintained until the 18th C.
and to get compensation for the overruning of the Calicut factory in 1500
. In response, the Zamorin of Calicut sent back a string of messengers to Cannanore (and along the way to Calicut), each delivering promises that the Zamorin was willing to settle matters with Gama, and compensate the Portuguese for the loss of their factory goods. On the other hand, Gama also receives a message from Gonçalo Gil Barbosa, the Portuguese crown factor in Cochin, warning him that it was all a tactical ruse, that the Zamorin of Calicut had also dispatched a circular letter to all the lords of the Malabar Coast
instructing them to close their ports and markets to the Portuguese.
October 29, 1502 - Gama's large armada finally arrives before the harbor of Calicut (Calecute, Kozhikode). The Zamorin dispatches an emissary, a Brahmin
(dressed as a Christian friar) on a boat to Gama. The Brahmin reports that the Zamorin had arrested twelve of those responsible for the 1500 riot, and offers a peace and friendship treaty and the opening of a discussion of the restoration of the trade goods seized from the Portuguese factory, albeit noting that the Zamorin has also suffered property damages from Portuguese actions and that he intends to deduct it from the final account. Gama is angered, feeling that the Zamorin has changed his tone from his earlier messages, and demands the property taken from the factory be restored in full and brought to his ship, and that all Muslim merchants must be expelled from the Calicut, before any discussion about a treaty begins.
While awaiting the Zamorin's reply, Gama seizes a nearby idling zambuq and some fishing boats that had unwisely ventured into Calicut harbor, taking some fifty fisherman captive. This action evidently angers the Zamorin, who sends a stern reply to Gama, noting that Gama had already taken severalfold times more property from Calicut ships, and slaughtered ten times more of his citizens (on the Miri, etc.) than the Portuguese lost in the 1500 riot. Despite being the net sufferer and the clamor of his citizens for revenge, the Zamorin is prepared to forgive and forget and start anew. The Zamorin also replies that Calicut is a free port and he has no intention of expelling 'the Moors'. Moreover, the Zamorin orders Gama to release his 'hostages', that he will not subject himself to negotiation conditions and that if Gama is unhappy with his offer, then he should leave Calicut harbor at once, for the Zamorin has not given him permission to anchor there, or at any other port in India.
October 31, 1502 - Infuriated by the reply, Gama sends out a strongly worded ultimatum
, declaring that the Zamorin's permission means nothing to him, that he has until noon the next day to deliver the Portuguese factory goods to his ship. Gama uses this overnight interlude to send his boats out to sound the harbor of Calicut to find optimal firing positions. That same night, Calicut forces set about frantically digging entrenchments, erecting a protective timber palisade and laying cannon along the harbor shore.
November 1, 1502 - At noon, having received no reply, Gama orders that his Malabari prisoners be strung up
by their necks from the shipmasts, allocating a few to each ship. Calicut crowds approach the beach to watch the grisly spectacle. Then the armada advances into the harbor and opens fire. The bombardment is principally aimed at clearing the beach and trenches. The Malabari shore cannons are too few, their range and power too weak, to provide an effective reply. The bombardment continues until nightfall. That night, the corpses of the hung Malabaris are taken from masts, their feet and hands severed off and sent by a small boat to the beach, with an insulting message to the Zamorin, including a demand that the Zamorin reimburse the Portuguese for the powder and shot expended on destroying his city.
November 2, 1502 - The city bombardment resumes the next morning. The mostly poor dwellings on the shore having been razed the previous day, the Portuguese cannons now have a clear view of central city and the statelier homes of the richer citizens of Calicut and bring their larger ordnance to bear. The city is relentlessly bombarded all morning - some 400 large rounds and an indeterminate number from the smaller caliber guns At noon, when the Portuguese pause for lunch, a small group of Malabari vessels tries to attack the idling squad, but are quicky seen off.
November 3, 1502 - Barros reports that the two-day bombardment had sufficiently crippled the city that several of the captains urge Gama to authorize a landing of troops to sack
Calicut. But Gama, still hopeful the Zamorin might come to terms, turns down their request, believing a sack would only escalate matters to the point of no return. So, the next morning, vengeance satisfied, Gama sets sail out of Calicut harbor.
[In his somewhat different account, Gaspar Correia does not report the hanging of the prisoners; instead, after the bombardment, while still anchored before the harbor of the smoldering city, the Fourth Armada captures a Coromandel
merchant convoy of 2 large ships and 27 small boats unlucky enough to turn up at Calicut at that very moment. Seizing the convoy, Gama orders the cargoes transferred, the crews tied, their teeth beaten out, their noses and hands cut off and the ships set alight. The Brahmin emissary (still being held by the Portuguese) is sent back to shore with a bag full of severed hands and a note for the Zamorin telling him to "make a curry out of them".]
The violent treatment meted out by Vasco da Gama sends shockwaves throughout the Malabar coast
. Merchant ships in Indian ports hurriedly leave the area or go into concealment. All shipping along the coast essentially freezes.
and his brother Brás Sodré, with some 200 soldiers (mainly crossbowmen), to maintain the blockade on Calicut harbor, and patrol the coast preying on Calicut shipping. The exact composition of the patrol squadron differs in the sources, and it seems there is some reshuffling of captains in the process. The following is only one possible list, compiled from different sources, and should not be taken as authoritative:
[The patrol squadron captains are taken from the lists in Castanheda
, Góis
and Osório Other sources are not so explicit. The ship names are tentatively deduced from Gaspar Correia
, who, as usual, deviates in naming the captains.
hostage taken accidentally by the 2nd Armada
the previous year is delivered, along with the letter of the other Nair who stayed back in Lisbon.
Gama concludes negotiates a new commercial treaty with the ruler of Cochin, this time with a fixed-price schedule, like at Cannanore. Diogo Fernandes Correia, the new designated factor for Cochin, relieves Cabral's factor Gonçalo Gil Barbosa (now slated to be transferred to Cannanore) and sets about his business buying spices for the return journey.
While conducting business at Cochin, Vasco da Gama receives a letter from the queen-regent of Quilon
(Coulão, Kollam), on behalf of her young son, the raja Govardhana Martanda. The queen invites the Portuguese fleet to load up with spices at Quilon. Gama declines politely, noting that he cannot do anything without the permission of his Cochinese hosts. As a result, the queen-regent dispatches a messenger to the prince of Cochin. Trimumpara Raja prevaricates at first, fearing that competition from Quilon's more amply-supplied markets will hurt his own. But Cochin's slender supply is worrying the Portuguese factors. At length, an agreement is reached between all parties: Gama is to dispatch only two ships to load up with spices at Quilon, and promises not to set up a permanent factory in that city. The two ships, carrying temporary factor João de Sá Pereira, the first Portuguese to enter Quilon, will load up quickly, and return to Cochin within ten days.
It is reported that while at Cochin, Gama also receives a message from Syrian Christian
community of nearby Cranganore offering to place themselves under the protection of the King of Portugal.
The Calicut fleet is estimated at 20 large ships, 40 gun-mounted sambuk
s (large dhow
s) and a innumerable number of smaller oar-powered boats, carrying several thousand armed men. Although a large Calicut fleet had failed against the much smaller 3rd Armada
of João da Nova
the previous year, the Zamorin might have calculated that the addition of the Arab Red Sea ships and more experienced captains might tip the balance - particularly against the heavily loaded and less-maneouverable large naus of the 4th Armada.
The Raja of Cochin urges Gama to avoid the fleet and just set sail for Portugal at once. But Vasco da Gama refuses to revise his plans, claiming he needs to retun to Cannanore to deposit a factor there and pick up a cargo of ginger he had ordered. Nonetheless, he dispatches a message to Vicente Sodré's squadron of fighting caravels, then patrolling near Cannanore, to join him in Cochin.
While this discussion is going on, a Brahmin arrives in Cochin, with an offer of peace from the Zamorin, proposing to let bygones be bygones and 'restart' the Calicut-Portuguese relationship afresh. But Gama refuses and accuses the Brahmin of being a spy. Gama has him tortured, mutilated (ears cut off and dog ear's sewn on) and sent back to Calicut.
Early February, 1502, After a final audience with Raja Trimumpara, taking aboard his ambassador to the Lisbon court, leaving Diogo Fernandes Correia as factor in Cochin, and taking Cabral's old factor Gonçalo Gil Barbosa, to serve as factor in Cannanore, Gama's fleet (around ten fully laden ships) finally leaves Cochin. They are soon joined by Sodré's caravel squadron, and set sail warily towards Cannanore, guns ready for the Calicut ambush.
Gama and Sodré spot the Calicut fleet of Coja Casem and Arab privateer Cojambar, near the coast, out of Calicut harbor. In one of the first recorded instances of a naval line of battle
, Gama's spice naus and escort caravels sail in a line end-to-end, concentrating all their immense firepower as they pass against the twenty large Arab ships of Cojambar, before they can get organized, sinking a number of them and doing immense damage to the remainder. Although the Arab squadron is out of commission too soon, Coja Casem nonetheless proceeds forward with his fleet of Malabari sambuks, hoping to use their speed to outmaneouver the guns of the heavy-laden naus and reach for the grapple. But Gama sends the escort caravels under Vicente Sodré to intercept them in their tracks, while the cargo naus hurry on toward Cannanore. Although the caravels are outnumbered, it is not much of a battle. The fight is essentially over when Pero Rafael and Gil Matoso quickly board and capture Coja Casem's flagship (oddly, found with a lot of women and children on board). The Calicut fleet breaks up and rushes back to port. The pursuing caravels capture a number of sambuks, which they proceed to tow and set on fire before Calicut. The long-prepared ambush has been foiled. Danger dispelled, the caravels proceed to Cannanore to make junction with the main fleet.
The Battle of Calicut, like the previous year's naval battle of Cannanore
, once again demonstrated the critical importance of the technical superiority of Portuguese ships and naval artillery. But it also demonstrated to the Portuguese that the Zamorin of Calicut was not as easy to intimidate as they had expected. Despite the terror actions, the bombardment and the naval blockade, the Zamorin steadfastly refused to capitulate to Vasco da Gama's terms. On the contrary, the hiring of an Arab privateer fleet demonstrated a certain resourcefulness and willingness to continue fighting and take the fight to the Portuguese.
The hiring of Cojambar was also a foreboding. The Zamorin clearly understood he had to appeal to foreigners to help close the technical gap between Indian and Portuguese forces. Surely it would only be a matter of time before the Zamorin got his hands on Arab, Turkish and Venetian technology, and more substantial support from these great powers than just a Red Sea pirate or two?
If the battle of Calicut impressed something on Vasco da Gama, it was precisely that the Portuguese in India were living on borrowed time, that it was going to take more resources than he had to bring the Zamorin to heel and secure continued Portuguese access to the spice markets. And that was the message he would bring back to Lisbon.
In the meantime, his priority was to do everything he could to maintain the Portuguese toe in India - that is, to protect the Portuguese factories and Indian allies of Cochin and Cannanore, from the Zamorin's inevitable revenge the moment the 4th Armada left.
More troubling, however, is the India patrol squadron. Back in Lisbon, Vicente Sodré
had been given a commission (regimento) by king Manuel I of Portugal
instructing him to lead a patrol of five or six caravels in the Gulf of Aden
, and prey on the rich Arab prizes going in and out of the Red Sea
. But Vasco da Gama
, realizing the vulnerability of Cochin and Cannanore, invokes rank as captain-major of the armada and orders Sodré to set that mission aside, and maintain his patrol on the Indian coast, to defend the Portuguese factories and their Indian allies against any reaction by the Zamorin.
[Note: some chronicles put Gama's departure from Cannanore on December 28, 1502, meaning all the events described earlier must be compacted within that shorter time period.]
The return journey is quick and relatively smooth, with only one stop in Mozambique Island. It is caught in a slight storm around the Cape, where Estêvão da Gama
's Flor da la Mar parts company from the rest. Estêvão da Gama, making is way back to Lisbon by himself, is said to have stumbled upon the South Atlantic islands of Saint Helena
(already discovered the previous year by João da Nova
's Third Armada
).
Vasco da Gama's main fleet arrives in Lisbon in September, 1503. Gama delivers his report, noting his failure to bring the Zamorin of Calicut to terms, and urging the immediate outfitting of a strong fleet to establish strong permanent Portuguese garrisons to protect the allied cities of Cochin and Cannanore
.
Gama arrives too late to affect the outfitting of the 5th Armada
, which had already departed in April, 1503 under the command of Afonso de Albuquerque
. But his recommendation will guide the formation of the next one, the 6th Armada
, set to sail in the Spring of 1504 under the command of Lopo Soares de Albergaria
.
to keep the caravel patrol squadron close to Cochin. But Vicente Sodré, eager for the easy plunder of the Arab Red Sea shipping, dismisses the rumors, Correia reminds him of Gama's orders, to no avail - Sodré pulls out his old royal regimento and orders the coastal patrol to follow him out to the Red Sea. It is said that at least two of the captains of the coastal patrol refuse Sodré's orders, and willingly surrender the command of their ships rather than disobey Gama's original orders.
The composition of the patrol that set out to the Red Sea varies in different accounts. One arrangement is that it was six ships: 1. Vicente Sodré
, 2. Brás Sodré, 3. Pêro de Ataíde
, 4. Pêro Rafael, 5. Diogo Pires
, 6. Fernão Rodrigues Bardaças.
Vicente Sodré first sets out north to Gujarat, where it captures a great merchant ship off Chaul
. The patrol then sails west into the Gulf of Aden
, at the mouth of the Red Sea
, to catch more prizes. About five Arab merchant ships are seized by the patrol there but, according to the account written later by Pêro de Ataíde
, the Sodré brothers set about claiming a disproportionate share of the plunder for themselves, including embezzling the royal fifth
. In Ataíde's account, Brás Sodré appears as the villain of the story. Already unhappy at the decision to abandon their comrades in India, the patrol captains quarreled with the Sodré brothers and nearly mutinied.
In late April, the patrol anchored in at Kuria Muria islands (off the coast of Oman). The local inhabitants warned them that a seasonal tempest was forming and that they had better move their ships to a safer shelter on the southern side of the island. Four patrol captains moved their ships accordingly, but Vicente Sodré and Brás Sodré refused (the ongoing quarrel over the spoils may have been a factor in this decision.) As the locals predicted, the tempest came, destroyed and sunk the ships of Vicente Sodré and Brás Sodré. Vicente went down with his ship, Brás survived to made it ashore, although he would die soon after in mysterious circumstances
In the aftermath, the four remaining ships of the coastal patrol, who elected of Pêro de Ataíde
as their new commander, set back for India. However, contrary winds make it a difficult journey, and they inch back only painfully and slowly. The battered patrol hobbles into Angediva island sometime in the summer of 1503, where they are forced to stop to repair their crippled ships. Four days after arriving in Angediva, a fifth ship, the caravel of António do Campo (who having missed the previous year's monsoon, was forced to stay in East Africa throughout all this) arrives in Anjediva and joins the patrol. They are still repairing at Angediva when the ships of Francisco de Albuquerque and Nicolau Coelho
, the vanguard of the 5th Armada
, arrives in India in August, 1503.
guard, abandon Cochin city and flee across the harbor to Vypin
, a barrier island of the Vembanad lagoon. Vypin's natural defenses and the deteriorating weather prevent the Zamorin from launching assault boats and seizing the island. Frustrated, the Zamorin burns down the city of Cochin. The siege will drag on for several months, until Francisco de Albuquerque, leading the remnant of the Sodré patrol, hurrying down from Angediva, arrived in Cochin in August–September, and forced the Calicut forces to withdraw.
Sometime during the course of this siege, the two Italian military engineers (and probable Venetian agents) that had come as passengers on Gama's ships - known only as João Maria (Gianmaria) and Pêro António (Pierantonio) - escaped Cochin and made their way to the Zamorin' camp, offering their services to the army of Calicut. Expert gun-founders, the Italians will teach Calicut to found large European guns and help close the technological gap between Indian and Portuguese artillery.
The Zamorin of Calicut, before burning down Cochin, removed an ancient sacred stone, upon which the ancient Kings of Malabar (see Chera Dynasty
) were traditionally ceremonially esconsed as lords of the sea and overlords of all the Malabari states. The sacred stone had originally been housed at the ancient Malabari capital of Cranganore, but had since been moved to Cochin. The Zamorin now moved it once more, to Edapalli.
Chronicles:
Secondary:
Portuguese India Armadas
The Portuguese India armadas were the fleets of ships, organized by the Portuguese crown and dispatched on an annual basis from Portugal to India, principally Goa...
was assembled in 1502 on the order of 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...
and placed under the command of D. 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...
. It was Gama's second trip to India. It was designed as a punitive expedition, targeting Calicut, to avenge the travails of the 2nd 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...
and the massacre of the Portuguese factory in 1500.
Along the way, in East Africa, the 4th Armada established a Portuguese factory in Mozambique
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
, made contact and opened trade with the gold entrepot 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:...
and exorted 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...
. Once in India, the armada set about attacking Calicut shipping and disrupting trade along much of 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...
. But the ruling Zamorin of Calicut refused to accede to Portuguese demands, arguing that the violent exactions of the armada exceeded any claims they might have for compensation. The 4th Armada left without bringing the Zamorin to terms and leaving matters unresolved. Before departing, the armada established a crown factory 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...
and left behind a small patrol under 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 :...
, the first permanent Portuguese fleet in 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...
.
Appointment of Gama
The Second 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...
, commanded by 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...
, had arrived in Portugal in the summer of 1501 in a terrible shape. Ship and human losses were tremendous, its mission objectives failed. They had failed to establish a factory 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:...
, the outlet of the Monomatapa gold trade in 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:...
, and, more worrisomely, opened hostilities with the city-state of Calicut (Calecute, Kozhikode), the principal commercial entrepôt of the 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....
spice trade and dominant city-state 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
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...
.
By the time this news was received, the 3rd India Armada
3rd Portuguese India Armada (Nova, 1501)
The Third India Armada was assembled in 1501 on the order of King Manuel I of Portugal and placed under the command of João da Nova. Nova's armada was relatively small and primarily commercial in objective. Nonetheless, they engaged the first significant Portuguese naval battle in the Indian Ocean...
under 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...
had already departed, a commercial expedition unequipped to deal with the hostile turn of events in the Indian Ocean.
As a result, 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...
ordered a new fleet to be assembled, the 4th India Armada, armed to the teeth, with the explicit objective of bringing Calicut to heel.
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...
. But various factions in the Portuguese court and the Casa da India
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...
, opposed Cabral's appointment, on the grounds that it was Cabral's 'incompetence' that had created this unhappy situation to begin with. However, Cabral had his own political supporters that could not be ignored. The king tried to compromise by offering Cabral the position of captain-major (capitão-mor), but letting it be clearly understood that his command of the fleet would not be absolute, that at least one squadron would be placed under the separate command of 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 :...
(an uncle of 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...
, and leading opponent of Cabral). Finding this condition an unacceptable affront, Cabral withdrew his name in a huff. Manuel I immediately appointed Vasco da Gama himself as captain-major.
The intrigues behind the appointment have been variously told. By some accounts, the initial offer to Cabral was a pro forma gesture to palliate his faction rather than an earnest offer. In other words, the king never had any intention of letting Cabral lead the expedition, that the onerous conditions were introduced knowing Cabral would find them unacceptable. That these conditions were only revealed at the last minute, just before the fleet's departure, lends credence to the theory, i.e. the monarch did not want to give Cabral time to reconsider or allow opposition to mount against Gama's rapid appointment.
Chronicler 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...
tells a slightly different story - he does not mention Sodré's command, but rather relates how King Manuel I summoned Vasco da Gama a mere three days before the scheduled departure date and expressed his "disappointment and mistrust" of Cabral's "dubious fortune" at sea., but that he had made a promise to Cabral and could not break it. On this hint, Gama produced a royal letter (issued by Manuel back in 1500, and reiterated in October 1501), promising Gama a determining role in any future India expedition, and demanded command of the expedition for himself. The king was caught between two commitments - honoring the letter to Gama, or his appointment to Cabral. Hearing of the king's quandary, Cabral voluntarily withdrew his name to graciously allow Manuel I to honor his letter.
The 16th C. chroniclers seem to agree that King Manuel I wanted to deprive Cabral of command, and that the Sodré appointment and/or the Gama letter was just a ploy by the king to wiggle out of appointing Cabral. But some later authors have interpreted the accounts differently, that King Manuel I was wholly behind Cabral, but was forced to yield to the unsavory machinations of the Gama-Sodré family.
Just before his departure, in a solemn ceremony at the Lisbon Cathedral
Lisbon Cathedral
The Patriarchal Cathedral of St. Mary Major is a Roman Catholic parish church located in Lisbon, Portugal. The oldest church in the city is the see of the Archdiocese of Lisbon. Since the beginning of the construction of the cathedral, in the year 1147, the building has been modified several...
on January 30, 1502, King Manuel I bestowed upon Vasco da Gama the newly created title of Almirante dos mares de Arabia, Persia, India e de todo o Oriente ("Admiral of the Seas of Arabia, Persia, India and all the Orient") - an overwrought title reminiscent of the ornate Castilian
Kingdom of Castile
Kingdom of Castile was one of the medieval kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula. It emerged as a political autonomous entity in the 9th century. It was called County of Castile and was held in vassalage from the Kingdom of León. Its name comes from the host of castles constructed in the region...
title borne by Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
. (Evidently, Manuel must have reckoned that if Castile had an 'Admiral of the Seas' running around, then surely Portugal should have one too.)
On a side note, this was the first India armada for which the vintena de Belém was introduced - that is, the 5% tax on profits of private trading by captains and officers of Portuguese India Armadas
Portuguese India Armadas
The Portuguese India armadas were the fleets of ships, organized by the Portuguese crown and dispatched on an annual basis from Portugal to India, principally Goa...
, earmarked 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 the Belém
Belém
Belém is a Brazilian city, the capital and largest city of state of Pará, in the country's north region. It is the entrance gate to the Amazon with a busy port, airport and bus/coach station...
district of 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...
. The vintena would continue until 1522.
The Fleet
The 4th Armada was composed of 20 ships and between 800 and 1800 men. The Armada was originally envisaged as two squadrons - 15 ships under the admiral to head to IndiaIndia
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...
, 5 under the vice-admiral designated to patrol the mouth of 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...
. As it turns out, not all ships were ready by the launch date, so the armada was re-arranged into three squadrons, the first two squadrons (10 under admiral 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...
, 5 under his uncle, vice-admiral 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 :...
) to head out at once, and the five remaining ships to go out a little while later as a third squadron under Gama's cousin, Estêvão 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"...
, with instructions to catch up to the main fleet along the way. (Whatever the mechanics behind the appointment, the 4th Armada certainly turned out to be a Gama family affair!)
The exact composition of the three squadrons differs in the various accounts. The following list of ships should not be regarded as authoritative, but a tentative list compiled from various conflicting accounts.
| First Squadron (Vasco da Gama) | Second Squadron (Vicente Sodré) | Third Squadron (Estêvão da Gama) |
| 10 ships (4 large naus + 4 navetas (nta) + 2 caravels (cv)) | 5 ships (2 naus + 3 cvs) | 5 ships (unknown comp.) |
| 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... ) |
11. Leitoa Nova/Esmeralda (Fernão d'Atouguia or 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 :... ?) |
16. 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... (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"... ) |
| 2. Lionarda (D. Luís Coutinho) | 12. São Paulo (Álvaro/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... 'Inferno') |
17. Julia (Lopo Mendes de Vasconcellos) |
| 3. São Miguel/Gabriel (Gil Matoso) | 13. Santa Marta (João/Fernão Rodrigues 'Bardaças', cv) | 18. (Thomaz de Carmona/Cremona) - Italian |
| 4. Batecabello (Gil Fernandes de Sousa) | 14. Estrella (António Fernandes 'Roxo', cv) | 19. (Lopo Dias) |
| 5. São Rafael (Diogo Fernandes Correia/Corrêa, nta) | 15. Garrida (Pêro Rafael or Brás Sodré?, cv) | 20. (Giovanni Buonagrazia (João da Bonagracia) - Italian |
| 6. Santa Elena (Pedro Afonso de Aguiar, nta) | ||
| 7. Bretoa (Francisco da Cunha 'Marecos', nta) | ||
| 8. Vera Cruz (Rui de Castanheda/da Cunha, nta) | ||
| 9. Fradeza (João Lopes Perestrello, cv) | ||
| 10. Salta na Palha (António do Campo, cv) |
[This list of captains is principally based on 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, Damião de Gois
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 Chronica, 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, the Relação das Náos, 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...
's list, 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...
's Asia and Quintella's Annaes da Marinha. The list of ship names is from 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. and should be suspected as unreliable.
As usual, Correia's list of captains differs significantly from the others. In Correia, neither of the Sodré brothers command their own ships - indeed Correia asserts Vicente Sodré was carried as a passenger aboard Vasco da Gama's flagship, with the result that the lead ship of the second squadron was captained by a certain Fernão d'Atouguia (of the Ataíde family
Count of Atouguia
Count of Atouguia was a Portuguese title of nobility created by a royal decree, dated from 17 December 1448, by King Afonso V of Portugal, and granted to D. Álvaro Gonçalves de Ataíde....
?) and the fifth ship by Pêro Rafael (a name that appears on several other lists). Doubtless, the captain lists are complicated by the fact that there was a rearrangement of the fleet in India, and captains were shuffled around - at which point, both Vicente and Brás Sodré was definitely given command of a ship of his own.]
| First squadron (Vasco da Gama) | Second Squadron (Vicente Sodré) and Third Squadron (Estêvão da Gama) |
The most famous ship in the Fourth Armada was arguably the one commanded by 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"...
, 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...
(sometimes spelled as Frol de la Mar), a 400 tonne 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...
(nau), the largest ship of that kind yet built. The exact sizes of the other large carracks - the flagship São Jerónimo, Lionarda and the Leitoa/Esmeralda are unknown, but also presumed to be quite sizeable (that is, 250t or greater). These large ships were designated to return with spice cargo back to Lisbon. The smaller naus(navetas, 80-120t) and caravels (40-80t), went out as armed fighting ships, to remain as naval patrol vessels in India if necessary.
The Gama clan dominated the fleet - 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...
, his cousin Estêvão 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"...
and his uncles 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 :...
and Brás Sodré took the leadership positions. We have assumed 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...
, to be the same person nicknamed 'o Inferno' ('Hell'), a notable veteran captain of Cabral's Second 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...
. But in some accounts, his name is given as 'Álvaro de Ataíde' a native of the Algarve, thus possibly Vasco da Gama's new brother-in-law (Gama had recently married Catarina de Ataíde in 1500 or 1501; she had a brother by that name). Lopo Mendes de Vasconcellos was a soon-to-be brother-in-law (betrothed to Teresa da Gama, Vasco's sister).
Among the remaining captains, the most significant was probably Dom Luís Coutinho, son of the Count of Marialva
Count of Marialva
Count of Marialva was a Portuguese title of nobility created by a royal decree, issued in 1440, by King Afonso V of Portugal, and granted to Vasco Fernandes Coutinho, 3rd...
, a high nobleman of considerable rank in the Portuguese court. Diogo Fernandes Correia (archaically, Corrêa) was pre-designated by the Casa da India
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...
as the factor for Cochin (replacing the factor Gonçalo Gil Barbosa that Cabral had left there).
Two ships went out under Italian captains - Tommasio da Cremona ('Thomas de Carmona') and Giovanni Buonagrazia ('João da Bonagracia') of Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
and likely to be outfitted in collaboration with Italian consortiums (although Buonagrazia's ship is identified as formally belonging to Ruy Mendes de Brito, a gentleman of the royal chamber Lopo Dias is identified by Barros as an employee of 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:...
, who had privately outfitted ships in earlier armadas in conjunction with the 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, so there is reason to presume Dias's ship was outfitted the same way. The Leitoa Nova is said to have been privately outfitted by the powerful nobleman Tristão da Cunha
Tristão da Cunha
Tristão 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...
in conjunction with the mysterious Lisbon merchant-woman Catarina Dias de Aguiar
Aboard the ships, as passengers, were Gaspar da Gama
Gaspar da Gama
Gaspar da Gama was a merchant of Jewish origin who acted as interpreter and provided many services to the Portuguese, since he first approached Vasco da Gama fleet returning from the first travel from Europe to India. He was known to speak several East and West languages...
(the Goese Jew brought by Gama's first journey, who had also served as translator in the Cabral armada), an ambassador from the Kolathiri
Kolathiri
Kolathiri or Kolathiri Rājā was the title by which the senior most male along the matilinial line of the Mushika or Kolathunādu Royal Family was styled...
Raja of 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...
and one of two noble Cochinese hostages taken inadvertently by Cabral's 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...
back to Lisbon (the other Cochinese hostage elected to stay in Lisbon, dispatching a letter to Trimumpara Raja, prince of Cochin
Kingdom of Cochin
Kingdom of Cochin was a late medieval Hindu kingdom and later Princely State on the Malabar Coast, South India...
relating the useful role he might serve Cochin by remaining behind in the Portuguese court.)
There were two Italian passengers on the armada - both military engineers, and probably secret Venetian
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...
agents - that would play a sinister role in India. They were known by their Portuguese names as João Maria (Gianmaria) and Pêro António (Pierantonio).
The 4th Armada is unusually blessed with multiple eyewitness accounts to supplement the standard chronicles: (1) an account by an anonymous Flemish sailor aboard the Leitoa Nova in the second squadron, (2) an account by anonymous Portuguese sailor; (3) a brief account by an anonymous German sailor; (4) a detailed account by Thomé Lopes
Thomé Lopes
Thomé Lopes or Tomé Lopes was a Portuguese scrivener, writer of an eyewitness account of the second journey of Vasco da Gama to India .Thomé Lopes's background is obscure...
, clerk of the ship of Giovanni Buonagrazia in the third squadron; (5) two letters dispatched from Mozambique in April 1503 by an Italian agent Matteo da Bergamo, who, by deduction, was travelling on T. Carmona's ship (6) letters dispatched from Lisbon by Italian agents Francesco Corbinelli and Giovanni Francesco Affaitati drawn from interviews with the newly returning crews in August 1503.
The Mission
The principal mission of the 4th Armada was to settle scores with the Zamorin of Calicut. This was not a diplomatic mission, but a military one. The armada was to avenge the Zamorin's mistreatment of Cabral and the massacre of the Portuguese in the Calicut factory (see 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...
for details).
The Fourth Armada did not set out with enough manpower to conquer Calicut outright. Rather, they expected a strong show of force was enough to intimidate the Zamorin into compliance. They would do this by cutting off Calicut's lifeline - its trade. In the pre-launch plans, the first squadron under Vasco da Gama was supposed to set up a naval blockade of Calicut harbor and prevent the entry of any ships, while the second squadron of Vicente Sodré was to patrol the 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....
and bottle up Arab shipping in 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...
. This, it was thought, would be enough to bring the Zamorin to his knees and sue for terms.
The terms envisaged was for the Zamorin to make amends for the factory and restore the Portuguese trade on the Malabar coast (Gama was under instructions to accept nothing less than a fixed price guarantee this time). The Zamorin would also be obliged to prosecute those they identified as the intriguers behind the massacre and expel all Arab merchants from any and all ports under Calicut's sway.
The armada is said by the chroniclers to have been given explicit instructions to establish 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...
(feitorias) in Cochin and 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...
, Calicut's rival cities on the Malabar coast of India, which had opened good relations with Cabral. However, we know of only one designated crown factor carried by the Fourth Armada - Diogo Fernandes Correia. This has led some historians to suspect that maybe this was only a back-up plan at best. In other words, that it was envisaged that once the quarrel with the Zamorin was resolved, Portuguese operations would be centered on Calicut again, with Diogo Fernandes Correia as factor there, and that the other smaller cities, with their smaller markets, would just fade again into the background.
Finally, the Fourth Armada was instructed to open trade with 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 city-state 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:...
. Sofala had been secretly visited by the explorer Pêro da Covilhã
Pêro da Covilhã
Pedro or Pêro da Covilhã was a Portuguese diplomat and explorer.He was a native of Covilhã in Beira. In his early life he had gone to Castile and entered the service of Alphonso, Duke of Seville...
during his overland expedition back in 1487, and he identified it as the end-point of the Monomatapa gold trade. The Portuguese crown had been eager to tap that gold source, but all prior armadas had failed to find it until 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...
, commanding a ship of the 2nd 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...
, had finally located Sofala the previous year, but he only saw it from afar and did not go ashore. It seems that every ship in this armada was issued explicit royal instructions to try to trade for gold in Sofala.
Outward Journey
February 10, 1502 Two squadrons of the Fourth Armada - 10 ships under admiral 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...
and 5 ships under vice-admiral 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 :...
- set out from Lisbon.
Late February, 1502 - Fleet anchors in Senegal (either at Porto de Ale (Sali 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:...
) or 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...
)) to take water. It is reported in one chronicle that Fernan d'Atouguia, captain of the Leitoa Nova falls ill and dies here. Gama transfers the experienced captain Pedro Afonso de Aguiar from the small nau Santa Elena to the large nau Leitoa Nova, and elevates one of his own companions, Pêro de Mendonça, to captain Aguiar's old ship.
Early March, 1502 - The Fourth Armada sails southwest from Africa and may make a brief watering stop at Cape St. Augustine
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...
(Brazil), before heading across the south Atlantic towards 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...
.
April 1, 1502 The third squadron of the Fourth Armada - five ships under Estêvão 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"...
- finally sets out from Lisbon. Charting its own course, the third squadron will only catch up with the main body of the Fourth Armada in India.
April–May, 1502 Violent storms at the Cape separates the fifteen ships of Vasco da Gama's fleet. Each captain is forced to figure out his own passage around the Cape, and make his own way towards the pre-arranged rendez-vous point on the other side.
May, 1502 After making watering stops in Madeira
Madeira
Madeira is a Portuguese archipelago that lies between and , just under 400 km north of Tenerife, Canary Islands, in the north Atlantic Ocean and an outermost region of the European Union...
and Cape Verde
Cape Verde
The Republic of Cape Verde is an island country, spanning an archipelago of 10 islands located in the central Atlantic Ocean, 570 kilometres off the coast of Western Africa...
, Estevão da Gama's third squadron reportedly spots an island in the south Atlantic. Uncertain which one - could be a Cape Verde
Cape Verde
The Republic of Cape Verde is an island country, spanning an archipelago of 10 islands located in the central Atlantic Ocean, 570 kilometres off the coast of Western Africa...
island or the Penedo de São Pedro (islets off the Brazilian coast) or even as far as the islands of 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...
(further south), but does not stop to investigate. (By coincidence, that very same month, the returning Third Armada
3rd Portuguese India Armada (Nova, 1501)
The Third India Armada was assembled in 1501 on the order of King Manuel I of Portugal and placed under the command of João da Nova. Nova's armada was relatively small and primarily commercial in objective. Nonetheless, they engaged the first significant Portuguese naval battle in the Indian Ocean...
of 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...
discovers the island of 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...
; despite the timing, the returning fleet will not encounter any of the ships of the outward armada. But they will pick up letters Nova left behind in 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...
, probably describing his outgoing journey and the latest news from India)
June 7, 1502 - The third squadron of Estevão da Gama is caught in a terrible storm around the 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...
and splits into two groups - Estevão da Gama (Flor) and the ships of Lopo Dias and Thomaz de Carmona (with Bergamo on board) hold together as a trio, while Lopo Mendes de Vasconcellos (Julia) and the ship of Buonagrazia (with Lopes on board) form a separate pair.
Contact with Sofala, Factory in Mozambique
c.June 10, 1502 - Chronicles differ on what exactly happens after the first squadrons double the Cape. Following the account of Gaspar CorreiaGaspar 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...
(p. 272), Vasco da Gama was the among the first ships to arrive in Mozambique Island, the pre-arranged meeting point. Gama is immediately recognized by the local sheikh (with whom Gama had a tussle on his first journey back in 1498). The Mozambique ruler immediately offers his pardon for that affair and puts supplies at the disposal of the tempest-tossed Portuguese. Vasco da Gama remains in Mozambique for a while, waiting for the rest of the battered fleet to trickle in, one by one.
The only known loss is the small nau Santa Elena, captained by the novice Pêro de Mendonça, which captured by bad currents around 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.•...
, ends up running aground near the banks 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:...
. However the crew is safely rescued by the passing ships of Francisco da Cunha Mareco (Bretoa) and Fernão Rodrigues Bardaças (Santa Marta). With surfeit of crew from the capsized Santa Elena, Gama orders the construction of a whole new caravel from scratch on Mozambique Island.
[Although not mentioned in all sources, the caravel of António do Campo ('Antão Vaz' in Correia), is said to have been badly battered at 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.•...
, and drifted backwards into Delagoa Bay (Maputo). Campo will not rejoin the 4th Armada on time for the Indian Ocean crossing, and thus remain stuck in Africa until next year. See below.]
According to Correia, while repairing on Mozambique Island, Vasco da Gama dispatches Pedro Afonso de Aguiar (captain of the Leitoa) and two caravels south to the 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 entrepot of the Monomatapa gold trade. Sofala had been missed by all prior armadas, but not this time. Following up on the scout report of 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...
from the previous year (see 2nd 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...
), Aguiar leads the first Portuguese ships into Sofala harbor. Aguiar goes ashore, initiates some trade in the local markets while seeking out the local ruler, the sultan or shiekh Isuf of Sofala (Yçuf in 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:...
; Çufe in Goes). An audience is arranged and Aguiar draws up a commercial and alliance treaty between Portugal and Sofala. Matters settled and gifts exchanged, Aguiar takes aboard a Sofalese ambassador to meet Vasco da Gama back in Mozambique.
[In other accounts, (principally Osório (p. 192), mildly corroborated by other chroniclers and the anonymous Portuguese eyewitness and Matteo da Bergamo) it is Vasco da Gama himself, and not Aguiar, who goes to Sofala. According to this alternative account, Gama did not go to Mozambique immediately after the Cape crossing; rather, most of the fleet met at some unnamed bay just a few leagues north of Sofala (possibly the 'Rio dos Boms Sinaes'); Gama ordered Vicente Sodré with the main fleet ahead to Mozambique Island, while he remained behind The construction of the new caravel was thus overseen by Sodré, not Gama. After accounting for all the ships and sending them on to Mozambique, Vasco da Gama himself sailed south with four ships to Sofala, conducted some trade and opened the first contact with the Sofalese ruler. That would mean Gama was the last to arrive in Mozambique. In this alternative account, the lost ship of Mendonça (or Fernandes) was one of the four that went with Gama to Sofala, and capsized while exiting the Sofala banks.]
[A possible reconciliation of both versions may be that Gama did go to Sofala, but did not actually enter the city itself, but limited himself to try to trade for gold with Sofalese merchants by the outer sandbanks of the Sofala estuary, and later on (after arriving in Mozambique) instructed Aguiar to go back and venture inside the city.]
Late June, 1502 - Vasco da Gama makes arrangements to leave Mozambique. A Portuguese 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...
is established on Mozambique Island, with Gonçalo Baixo as the 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,...
, with some ten assistants, to capitalize on the results of the Sofala trade mission. The new caravel finished, Gama christens it Pomposa and places it, together with some 30 crew, under the command of João Serrão
Juan Serrano
Juan Serrano, in the Spanish version , or João Serrão in the Portuguese original was a 16th century navigator who sailed with Ferdinand Magellan during the first circumnavigation of the world ....
(of future Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan was a Portuguese explorer. He was born in Sabrosa, in northern Portugal, and served King Charles I of Spain in search of a westward route to the "Spice Islands" ....
fame), with instructions to take any goods from the Sofalese trade.
[According to Correia, Gama was unwilling to wait around for the results of Aguiar's mission to Sofala, and set sail out of Mozambique before Aguiar's returned from Sofala. As a result, Aguiar was forced to leave the Sofalese ambassador in Mozambique (letting him find his own way back home) and set sail for Malindi, hoping to catch Gama there.]
Extortion of Kilwa
Gama had gone first to KilwaKilwa 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...
(Quiloa). The dominant city-state 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, 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...
was the formal overlord of Mozambique and Sofala. If the fledgling Portuguese trade presence in those East African towns was to remain unmolested, then the Portuguese must secure Kilwa's consent. Cabral and the 2nd 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...
had tried, and failed, to secure a treaty with Kilwa back in 1500. Gama decided to try again - and was determined not to take no for answer. But, mindful of the lesson at Calicut, Gama also wanted to add a touch of intimidation, to show off his heavily-armed fleet and impress upon the Sultan of Kilwa the consequences of interfering or turning back on any agreement.
July 12, 1502 - Gama's large, menacing armada arrives at the island-city of 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...
. Gama sends for the Kilwa ruler
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...
, Emir Ibrahim, inviting him aboard the São Jeronimo, to negotiate a treaty of peace and trade.
Sensing a trap, Emir Ibrahim first asks for a safe-conduct (which da Gama promptly gives him), but fearing treachery, the emir changes his mind, and refuses to go aboard. However, after much discussion, one of his advisors, a certain wealthy nobleman Muhammad ibn Rukn ad Din (called Muhammad Arcone or Ancone or Enconij by the chroniclers ) finally persuades the emir to take up the Portuguese offer. Emir Ibrahim is ferried to the flagship and climbs aboard. After minimal opening cordialities, and ostentatious proclamations of friendship, Gama lays down his price: a treaty with Portugal has to be paid for with a hefty cash tribute to the King of Portugal. The emir is dismayed. Declaring tribute to be a dishonor, he refuses. Gama threatens to level the city and lay it to fire and waste. Emir Ibrahim, effectively captive on board, reluctantly agrees, and signs a treaty making Kilwa tributary to Portugal. Leaving the Kilwan nobleman and advisor Muhammad Arcone aboard as a hostage, the emir returns to shore to make the arrangements.
mid-July, 1502 - After a few days of lingering in Kilwa harbor and no sign of the emir's promised tribute, Gama dispatches a messenger to see what the delay is. Emir Ibrahim sends a message back declining to dispatch the tribute, and telling the Portuguese captain-major that he can do whatever he will with the hostage Muhammad Arcone, given that his poor counsel had proven him unworthy. The angry Gama throws Arcone into a long-boat, without water or shade, to die of heat and exposure. Nonetheless, Muhammad Arcone is a wealthy man in his own right, and servants from his household offer Gama a substantial ransom to release him. Knowing the hostage is otherwise worthless to him, Gama consents.
July 20, 1502 - His vengeance on Muhammad Arcone's bad counsel satisfied, the Emir Ibrahim of Kilwa finally decides to send some tribute - some 1500 gold meticals - to satisfy the Portuguese captain-major. Vasco da Gama, anxious not to miss the 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 to India, takes what he can get.
[The extorted gold coins of Kilwa were used by the goldsmith Gil Vicente
Gil Vicente
Gil Vicente , called the Trobadour, was a Portuguese playwright and poet who acted in and directed his own plays. Considered the chief dramatist of Portugal he is sometimes called the "Portuguese Plautus,"[3] often referred to as the "Father of Portuguese drama" and as one of Western literature's...
in 1506 to make the famous gold pyx
Pyx
A pyx or pix is a small round container used in the Catholic, Old Catholic and Anglican Churches to carry the consecrated host , to the sick or invalid or those otherwise unable to come to a church in order to receive Holy Communion...
or monstrance
Monstrance
A monstrance is the vessel used in the Roman Catholic, Old Catholic, and Anglican churches to display the consecrated Eucharistic host, during Eucharistic adoration or Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. Created in the medieval period for the public display of relics, the monstrance today is...
known as the Custódia de Belém, for 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...
. It is considered by many to be one the most magnificent treasure pieces of the Portuguese crown.]
[Correia (p. 282) reports a little knot before departing: several dozen Kilwan women 'picked up' (read: abducted) and taken aboard the ships by bored Portuguese sailors for fun and amusement refuse to return ashore. Although Emir Ibrahim promises that they will be unharmed, he cannot guarantee that those who allowed themselves to be baptized Christian by enthusiastic chaplains on the ships will be taken back by their families. Much to the delight of the crew, Gama reluctantly allows these to come with them.]
c.July 15, 1502 In the meantime, part of the third squadron, the trio that held with Estêvão da Gama (Gama, Dias, Carmona) arrive at Mozambique Island, half-famished and heavily damaged. At that same time, the remaining pair (Vasconcellos, Buonagrazia) alight at the 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:...
banks. The two squads do not reconnect with each other. Estêvão da Gama's trio, following the itinerary left in Mozambique by his cousin, heads off to Kilwa Alone idling before Sofala, Vasconcellos and Buonagrazia proceed north to the mouth of the Rio de Bons Sinaes (Zambezi River), where they put in for repairs and recuperation.
July 23, 1502 Part of the third squad (Estêvão da Gama, Lopo Dias and Thomas de Carmona) arrive in 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...
, just in time to reconnect the main armada of Vasco da Gama, preparing to depart fom Kilwa harbor. At that moment (July 22 actually), the remaining two ships of the third squad (Vasconcellos, Buonagrazia) finally arrive in Mozambique Island. Taking note of the notes and itinerary left behind, they set sail for Malindi, hoping to catch the main fleet there.
Late July, 1502 - Vasco da Gama arrives in 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...
, just in time to be met by Pedro Afonso de Aguiar (from Sofala), who reports to him the results of the Sofala treaty. Gama's fleet does not actually dock in Malindi - they intended to, but miss it, landing a few leagues ahead, unable to turn back because of the weather (although they manage to get some supplies and exchange messages with Malindi emissaries that row out to them).
July 29, 1502 - Vasco da Gama's fleet departs its anchorage near Malindi for its 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...
crossing. He is missing three ships: Campo, Vasconcelos and Buonagrazia.
August 2, 1502 - The remaining two ships of the third squadron (Lopo Mendes de Vasconcelos and Giovanni Buonagrazia) arrive in Malindi, just a few days after Gama's departure. They are well-received by the Sultan of Malindi. They pick up a few letters left with degredado
Degredado
A degredado is the traditionalPortuguese term for a convict exile, esp. in 15th-18th C.The term degredado is a traditional Portuguese legal term used to refer to anyone who was subject to legal restrictions on their movement, speech or labor. Exile is only one of several forms of legal impairment...
Luiz da Moura in Malindi by the returning fleet
3rd Portuguese India Armada (Nova, 1501)
The Third India Armada was assembled in 1501 on the order of King Manuel I of Portugal and placed under the command of João da Nova. Nova's armada was relatively small and primarily commercial in objective. Nonetheless, they engaged the first significant Portuguese naval battle in the Indian Ocean...
of 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...
a few months earlier, reporting the latest Indian news. They do not stay long, but immediately set sail after Gama's fleet.
Campo in Delagoa Bay
The last missing ship - António do Campo's caravel from the first squadron - will not make it across to India this year. As already alluded to earlier, the caravel of António do Campo ('Antão Vaz' in CorreiaGaspar 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...
) is said to have been caught up and battered by bad winds at 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.•...
and forced to drift with the current 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...
aimlessly southwest. Campo's caravel is said to have alighted at Delagoa Bay (now Maputo Bay
Maputo Bay
Maputo Bay , formerly Delagoa Bay, Baía da Lagoa is an inlet of the Indian Ocean on the coast of Mozambique, between 25° 40' and 26° 20' S, with a length from north to south of over 90 km long and 32 km wide....
). The hitherto unknown capacious bay is watered by three rivers: the Maputo
Maputo River
The Maputo River , also called Great Usutu River, Lusutfu River or Suthu River, is a river in South Africa, Swaziland and Mozambique. The name Suthu refers to Basotho people who lived near the source of the river, who were attacked and displaced by Swazis...
river to the south, the Espirito Santo 'river' to the west (actually an estuary formed by the Umbeluzi, Matola
Matola
Matola is a city in southern Mozambique, which lies 12 kilometers to the west of the country's capital, Maputo. Matola is the capital of Maputo Province and has had its own elected municipal government since 1998. It has a port and also the biggest industrial area in Mozambique...
and Tembe rivers) and the Maniça (now Incomati
Komati River
The Komati River is a river in South Africa, Swaziland and Mozambique. It is long, with a drainage basin in size. Its mean annual discharge is 111 m³/s at its mouth...
) river to the north. Being told by the local inhabitants that the Espírito Santo 'river' was sourced from a great lake deep in the interior, Campo names it Rio da Lagoa (River of the Lagoon), from which we get the name by which Maputo Bay was long known: 'Delagoa Bay'.
Having been forced to linger at Delagoa for repairs, António do Campo hurries north to try to make junction with the rest of the 4th Armada 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...
, but arrives too late (mid-September). The fleet having already left for India, and the monsoon winds preventing Campo's own crossing to India. António do Campo will remain behind on the East African coast until next April.
Gama in India
mid-August, 1502 - After its Indian Ocean crossing, the Fourth Armada alights near the opulent port of DabulDabhol
Dabhol is a small seaport town in the Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra in India. •- History :Hardly a trace remains of the once-flourishing port of Dabhol , on the north bank of the mouth of the Vashishti River in the Konkan region of India.In the 15th and 16th C., Dabul was an opulent Muslim trade...
(north of 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 are the territorial waters of the powerful Muslim sultan Adil Shah
Yusuf Adil Shah
Yusuf Adil Shah , referred as Adil Khan or Hidalcão by the Portuguese, was the founder of the Adil Shahi dynasty that ruled the Sultanate of Bijapur for nearly two centuries...
(Hidalcão) of Bijapur. Expecting trouble, the fighting ships hoist up their lateen sails and load up their cannon. But no one comes out to challenge them, so they begin coasting south along the Indian coast towards 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....
.
Actions at Onor and Batecala
c. August 20, 1502 Gama's fleet reaches Anjediva island. The next day, the ships of Giovanni Buonagrazia (carrying Thomé LopesThomé Lopes
Thomé Lopes or Tomé Lopes was a Portuguese scrivener, writer of an eyewitness account of the second journey of Vasco da Gama to India .Thomé Lopes's background is obscure...
) and Lopo Mendes de Vasconcellos (Juiloa) finally catch up with the rest of the armada. Save for the ship of Campo (still stuck in Africa) and Serrão (on patrol around the Mozambique factory), all the Portuguese fleet (18 ships out of the 20 that left Lisbon) are together and accounted for.
Around Anjediva island, the armada spots three boats belonging to Timoja, the Hindu 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...
who operates out of Honnavar (Onor), on the frontline between the warring states of Muslim Bijapur and Hindu Vijayanagar
Vijayanagara Empire
The Vijayanagara Empire , referred as the Kingdom of Bisnaga by the Portuguese, was an empire based in South Indian in the Deccan Plateau region. It was established in 1336 by Harihara I and his brother Bukka Raya I of the Yadava lineage. The empire rose to prominence as a culmination of attempts...
. They give chase unto the mouth of the Sharavathi River
Sharavathi River
Sharavathi is a river which originates and flows entirely within the state of Karnataka in India. It is one of the few westward flowing rivers of India and a major part of the river basin lies in the Western Ghats. The famous Jog Falls are formed by this river...
, at which point the pirate boats slip into harbor of Onor. Assured by Gaspar da Gama
Gaspar da Gama
Gaspar da Gama was a merchant of Jewish origin who acted as interpreter and provided many services to the Portuguese, since he first approached Vasco da Gama fleet returning from the first travel from Europe to India. He was known to speak several East and West languages...
(Goese Jew and translator) that Onor is a corsair's nest, Vasco da Gama orders an attack on the city. Portuguese landing crews attack the harbor, plundering and setting fire to the ships and docks.
The day after the raid on Onor, the Fourth Armada arrives at the mouth of the river that leads up to the city of Bhatkal
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...
(Batecala), south of Onor. Perceiving what he considers hostile gestures from shore, the captain-major dispatches his cousin, Estêvão 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"...
upriver to the town to investigate. Surveying the Batecala docks, Estêvão spies several Arab merchant ships and prepares for hostilities. But his attention is soon drawn to a small group of men in ornate robes, rushing down to the docks, frantically calling to him. It is an embassy from the raja of Batecala, requesting an immediate audience with the Portuguese captain-major.
Estêvão brings the embassy to his cousin. Evidently hearing of the fate of Onor, the embassy offers to submit to the Portuguese. Vasco da Gama agrees to leave Batecala in peace in return for a yearly tribute of 1,000 bags of plain rice and 500 bags of quality rice (probably Basmati
Basmati
Basmati is a variety of long grain rice grown in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, notable for its fragrance and delicate, nuanced flavour. Its name means "the fragrant one" in Sanskrit, but it can also mean "the soft rice," and the word coincidentally means "my smile" in Arabic...
). Batecala is also to agree to the exclusion of the Arab merchants from the city, that no 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...
trade is to be carried at this port, and that no ship be allowed to travel between Batecala and Calicut. The treaty is set down in writing and signed.
[Batecala is described by Correia as just a modest rice, iron and sugar port south of Onor; it was actually the principal port and sea outlet of the Vijayanagara Empire
Vijayanagara Empire
The Vijayanagara Empire , referred as the Kingdom of Bisnaga by the Portuguese, was an empire based in South Indian in the Deccan Plateau region. It was established in 1336 by Harihara I and his brother Bukka Raya I of the Yadava lineage. The empire rose to prominence as a culmination of attempts...
, and its primary line was the horse trade
Horse trading
In the original sense, Horse trading is the buying and selling of horses, also called "Horse Dealing". Due to the difficulties in evaluating the merits of a horse offered for sale, the selling of horses offered great opportunities for dishonesty...
, specifically, importing large numbers of splendid Persian and Arabian horse
Arabian horse
The Arabian or Arab horse is a breed of horse that originated on the Arabian Peninsula. With a distinctive head shape and high tail carriage, the Arabian is one of the most easily recognizable horse breeds in the world. It is also one of the oldest breeds, with archaeological evidence of horses...
s for the armies of Vijayanagara princes.]
Massacre of the Pilgrim Ship
Late August/Early September 1502 - Business in Batecala done, Vasco da Gama sets sail towards Cannanore. They anchor in around Mount d'EliEzhimala Hill
Ezhimala , a hill reaching a height of 286 metres, is located in Kannur District of Kerala, South India. As the former capital of the ancient Mushika Kingdom, it is considered to be an important historical site. It is a conspicuous, isolated cluster of hills, forming a promontory 38 km north...
, the common touch-point for ships on the Jedda-Calicut route, evidently intending to catch some prizes before proceeding.
September 29, 1502 - After prowling around Mt. d'Eli for nearly a month with little success (they captured only one minor ship), captain Gil Matoso (on the São Gabriel), spots a large merchant ship carrying Muslim pilgrims returning from Mecca
Mecca
Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...
(or going to it, chronicles contradict). The ship, the Miri, is identified as belonging to a certain al-Fanqi, one of wealthier men of Calicut and said by some to be the Mecca
Sharif of Mecca
The Sharif of Mecca or Hejaz was the title of the former governors of Hejaz and a traditional steward of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina...
n 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,...
in Calicut. Matoso chases the pilgrim ship down, which surrenders rather quickly, probably imagining that its master had enough money to ransom it off. But Vasco da Gama shrugs off all the offers. As the Portuguese crew plunder the ship and transfer its cargo, it quickly becomes evident that Gama intends to burn the ship with all its passengers - men, women and children - on board. When Gama proves deaf to their pleas for mercy, the passengers frantically attack the Portuguese men-at-arms with their bare hands. To no avail.
October 3, 1502 - a day, eyewitness Thomé Lopes
Thomé Lopes
Thomé Lopes or Tomé Lopes was a Portuguese scrivener, writer of an eyewitness account of the second journey of Vasco da Gama to India .Thomé Lopes's background is obscure...
states, "I will never forget for the rest of my days". The pilgrim ship thoroughly plundered, on Gama's orders, the passengers are locked in the hold and the ship burnt and sunk by artilery. It takes several days to finally go down completely. Portuguese soldiers row around the waters on longboats mercilessly spearing survivors.
The sinking of the Miri is an act that will instantly cement Gama's cruel and fearsome reputation, and generate a great deal of hatred for the Portuguese in India. Gama defended his act as "vengeance" for the Calicut massacre
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, arguing that the ship's owner, as a prominent person in Calicut, was 'doubtlessly' responsible for the sinister counsel to the Zamorin that led up to it.
Of the eyewitnesses, all mention it, but only Thomé Lopes
Thomé Lopes
Thomé Lopes or Tomé Lopes was a Portuguese scrivener, writer of an eyewitness account of the second journey of Vasco da Gama to India .Thomé Lopes's background is obscure...
openly condemns the act, claiming Gama acted "with great cruelty and without any mercy whatsoever". The chroniclers do not shy away from describing the event and their unease is evident. Although 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:...
and 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...
reiterate Gama's justification of the act as revenge for Cabral, they do not seem to embrace it themselves. Indeed, Barros, 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...
and Osório claim the ship belonged to the Sultan of Egypt
Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghawri
Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghawri was the second last of the Mamluk Sultans. One of the last of the Burji dynasty, he reigned from 1501 to 1516.On the disappearance of Sultan Al-Adil Sayf ad-Din Tuman bay I, it was not till after some days that the choice of the Emirs and Mamluks fell upon Al-Ashraf...
, who was in no way responsible for the events in Calicut, thus subtly suggesting Gama may have made a mistake. 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...
is a little more open in his disapproval. He notes that several of the Portuguese captains were appalled by Gama's decision and tried to persuade him against it (if only because they would forego a hefty ransom). Correia gives a heart-rending account of the desperate and valiant resistance of the doomed passengers. Poet Luís de Camões
Luís de Camões
Luís Vaz de Camões is considered Portugal's and the Portuguese language's greatest poet. His mastery of verse has been compared to that of Shakespeare, Vondel, Homer, Virgil and Dante. He wrote a considerable amount of lyrical poetry and drama but is best remembered for his epic work Os Lusíadas...
passes over the incident in silence, evidently feeling it detrimental to the heroic portrait of Vasco da Gama.
Estimates of those killed on the Miri hover around 300. Portuguese chroniclers are eager to report that 20 children were spared this fate, and brought back by the 4th Armada to Lisbon, where they will be baptized and raised as friar
Friar
A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders.-Friars and monks:...
s at the Nossa Senhora de Belém
Jerónimos Monastery
The Hieronymites Monastery is located near the shore of the parish of Belém, in the municipality of Lisbon, Portugal...
. Among the eyewitnesses Thomé Lopes
Thomé Lopes
Thomé Lopes or Tomé Lopes was a Portuguese scrivener, writer of an eyewitness account of the second journey of Vasco da Gama to India .Thomé Lopes's background is obscure...
and the anonymous Flemish sailor make no mention of this small mercy, although Matteo de Bergamo does point it out.
Factory in Cannanore
October 18, 1502 - Vasco da Gama's armada finally reaches CannanoreKannur
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), and delivers the Cannanore ambassador that had gone to Lisbon with Cabral's 2nd 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...
. The Kolathiri
Kolathiri
Kolathiri or Kolathiri Rājā was the title by which the senior most male along the matilinial line of the Mushika or Kolathunādu Royal Family was styled...
Raja of Cannanore invites Gama to come ashore for an elaborate reception, but Gama replies that he swore a personal oath not to set his foot on Indian soil again until his vengeance on Calicut was sated. As a result, the rajah orders a wooden scaffold to be built over the seashore, where they can meet in person without violating the vow.
Gama presents the raja with royal letters and munificent gifts (a jeweled sword, a brocaded armchair) and discussions immediately begin. A commercial treaty is negotiated, establishing a Portuguese crown 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...
in Cannanore, and arranging a fixed-price schedule, which the Raja personally guarantees, for the sale of spices to the Portuguese.
The negotiation for the commercial treaty did not go smoothly, particularly the fixed price clause. The Kolathiri Raja protested that he had no power over market prices nor the right to dictate how private merchants disposed of their property. Gama had to resort to feints, threats and then sailed out of Cannanore in anger. Barros credits the role of Paio Rodrigues, the Portuguese factor (private, not crown, an employee of the private employee of 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:...
and the 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), that had been left behind in Cannanore by 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...
's Third Armada
3rd Portuguese India Armada (Nova, 1501)
The Third India Armada was assembled in 1501 on the order of King Manuel I of Portugal and placed under the command of João da Nova. Nova's armada was relatively small and primarily commercial in objective. Nonetheless, they engaged the first significant Portuguese naval battle in the Indian Ocean...
at the beginning of the year. After Gama stormed off and ordered sail out of the city, Paio Rodrigues mediated between the Kolathiri Raja and the Captain-Major and finalized the treaty
Correia points out this is the treaty where the Portuguese cartaz
Cartaz
Cartaz was a naval trade license or pass issued by the Portuguese in the Indian ocean during the sixteenth century , under the rule of the Portuguese empire. It shared similarities with the British navicert system of 1939-45...
system was first introduced. Henceforth, every merchant ship along the Malabar coast had to present a certificate signed by a Portuguese factor (in Cannanore, Cochin, etc.), or else be subject to attack and seizure by a Portuguese patrol. This licensing system would be subsequently adopted later on other Portuguese-controlled coasts (e.g. East Africa, Malacca, Brazil), with differing degrees of success. It will be largely maintained until the 18th C.
Bombardment of Calicut
October 25, 1502 - Fleet departs Cannanore. Chroniclers differ a little on the subsequent sequence of events. While still in Cannanore, Gama had sent Pedro Afonso de Aguiar to Calicut in advance, with the warning that he had come to settle scores for the mistreatment of CabralPedro 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...
and to get compensation for the overruning of the Calicut factory in 1500
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...
. In response, the Zamorin of Calicut sent back a string of messengers to Cannanore (and along the way to Calicut), each delivering promises that the Zamorin was willing to settle matters with Gama, and compensate the Portuguese for the loss of their factory goods. On the other hand, Gama also receives a message from Gonçalo Gil Barbosa, the Portuguese crown factor in Cochin, warning him that it was all a tactical ruse, that the Zamorin of Calicut had also dispatched a circular letter to all the lords of 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...
instructing them to close their ports and markets to the Portuguese.
October 29, 1502 - Gama's large armada finally arrives before the harbor of Calicut (Calecute, Kozhikode). The Zamorin dispatches an emissary, a Brahmin
Brahmin
Brahmin Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin.Brahman, Brahmin and Brahma have different meanings. Brahman refers to the Supreme Self...
(dressed as a Christian friar) on a boat to Gama. The Brahmin reports that the Zamorin had arrested twelve of those responsible for the 1500 riot, and offers a peace and friendship treaty and the opening of a discussion of the restoration of the trade goods seized from the Portuguese factory, albeit noting that the Zamorin has also suffered property damages from Portuguese actions and that he intends to deduct it from the final account. Gama is angered, feeling that the Zamorin has changed his tone from his earlier messages, and demands the property taken from the factory be restored in full and brought to his ship, and that all Muslim merchants must be expelled from the Calicut, before any discussion about a treaty begins.
While awaiting the Zamorin's reply, Gama seizes a nearby idling zambuq and some fishing boats that had unwisely ventured into Calicut harbor, taking some fifty fisherman captive. This action evidently angers the Zamorin, who sends a stern reply to Gama, noting that Gama had already taken severalfold times more property from Calicut ships, and slaughtered ten times more of his citizens (on the Miri, etc.) than the Portuguese lost in the 1500 riot. Despite being the net sufferer and the clamor of his citizens for revenge, the Zamorin is prepared to forgive and forget and start anew. The Zamorin also replies that Calicut is a free port and he has no intention of expelling 'the Moors'. Moreover, the Zamorin orders Gama to release his 'hostages', that he will not subject himself to negotiation conditions and that if Gama is unhappy with his offer, then he should leave Calicut harbor at once, for the Zamorin has not given him permission to anchor there, or at any other port in India.
October 31, 1502 - Infuriated by the reply, Gama sends out a strongly worded ultimatum
Ultimatum
An ultimatum is a demand whose fulfillment is requested in a specified period of time and which is backed up by a threat to be followed through in case of noncompliance. An ultimatum is generally the final demand in a series of requests...
, declaring that the Zamorin's permission means nothing to him, that he has until noon the next day to deliver the Portuguese factory goods to his ship. Gama uses this overnight interlude to send his boats out to sound the harbor of Calicut to find optimal firing positions. That same night, Calicut forces set about frantically digging entrenchments, erecting a protective timber palisade and laying cannon along the harbor shore.
November 1, 1502 - At noon, having received no reply, Gama orders that his Malabari prisoners be strung up
Hanging
Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
by their necks from the shipmasts, allocating a few to each ship. Calicut crowds approach the beach to watch the grisly spectacle. Then the armada advances into the harbor and opens fire. The bombardment is principally aimed at clearing the beach and trenches. The Malabari shore cannons are too few, their range and power too weak, to provide an effective reply. The bombardment continues until nightfall. That night, the corpses of the hung Malabaris are taken from masts, their feet and hands severed off and sent by a small boat to the beach, with an insulting message to the Zamorin, including a demand that the Zamorin reimburse the Portuguese for the powder and shot expended on destroying his city.
November 2, 1502 - The city bombardment resumes the next morning. The mostly poor dwellings on the shore having been razed the previous day, the Portuguese cannons now have a clear view of central city and the statelier homes of the richer citizens of Calicut and bring their larger ordnance to bear. The city is relentlessly bombarded all morning - some 400 large rounds and an indeterminate number from the smaller caliber guns At noon, when the Portuguese pause for lunch, a small group of Malabari vessels tries to attack the idling squad, but are quicky seen off.
November 3, 1502 - Barros reports that the two-day bombardment had sufficiently crippled the city that several of the captains urge Gama to authorize a landing of troops to sack
Looting
Looting —also referred to as sacking, plundering, despoiling, despoliation, and pillaging—is the indiscriminate taking of goods by force as part of a military or political victory, or during a catastrophe, such as during war, natural disaster, or rioting...
Calicut. But Gama, still hopeful the Zamorin might come to terms, turns down their request, believing a sack would only escalate matters to the point of no return. So, the next morning, vengeance satisfied, Gama sets sail out of Calicut harbor.
[In his somewhat different account, Gaspar Correia does not report the hanging of the prisoners; instead, after the bombardment, while still anchored before the harbor of the smoldering city, the Fourth Armada captures a Coromandel
Coromandel Coast
The Coromandel Coast is the name given to the southeastern coast of the Indian Subcontinent between Cape Comorin and False Divi Point...
merchant convoy of 2 large ships and 27 small boats unlucky enough to turn up at Calicut at that very moment. Seizing the convoy, Gama orders the cargoes transferred, the crews tied, their teeth beaten out, their noses and hands cut off and the ships set alight. The Brahmin emissary (still being held by the Portuguese) is sent back to shore with a bag full of severed hands and a note for the Zamorin telling him to "make a curry out of them".]
The violent treatment meted out by Vasco da Gama sends shockwaves throughout 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...
. Merchant ships in Indian ports hurriedly leave the area or go into concealment. All shipping along the coast essentially freezes.
The Coastal Patrol
Before leaving Calicut, Gama assembles a squadron of five or six fighting ships under Vicente SodréVicente 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 :...
and his brother Brás Sodré, with some 200 soldiers (mainly crossbowmen), to maintain the blockade on Calicut harbor, and patrol the coast preying on Calicut shipping. The exact composition of the patrol squadron differs in the sources, and it seems there is some reshuffling of captains in the process. The following is only one possible list, compiled from different sources, and should not be taken as authoritative:
| Captain | Ship | Notes |
| 1. 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 :... |
São Rafael | naveta previously commanded by factor Diogo Fernandes Correia |
| 2. Brás Sodré | Vera Cruz | naveta previously commanded by Rui da Castanheda |
| 3. 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... |
Bretoa? | naveta previously commanded by Francisco da Cunha 'Marecos'? |
| 4. Fernão Rodrigues Bardaças | Santa Marta | caravel |
| 5. Pêro Rafael | Garrida | caravel |
| 6. Diogo Pires Diogo Pires José Diego Pires is Brazilian football player, who plays for ŠK Slovan Bratislava.He has a gifted left foot, one of the main free kick takers.-External links:* at transfermarkt.de... |
Fradeza | caravel previously commanded by João Lopes Perestrello? |
[The patrol squadron captains are taken from the lists in 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...
, 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...
and Osório Other sources are not so explicit. The ship names are tentatively deduced from 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...
, who, as usual, deviates in naming the captains.
Cochin, Quilon
November 3, 1502 His blockade of Calicut in place, Vasco da Gama arrives in Cochin (Cohim, Kochi) with the bulk of the armada. He is received by Trimumpara ruler of Cochin, not without a touch of anxiety. But cordialities soon set that to rest. The NairNair
Nair , also known as Nayar , refers to "not a unitary group but a named category of castes", which historically embody several castes and many subdivisions, not all of whom bore the Nair title. These people historically live in the present-day Indian state of Kerala...
hostage taken accidentally by the 2nd 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...
the previous year is delivered, along with the letter of the other Nair who stayed back in Lisbon.
Gama concludes negotiates a new commercial treaty with the ruler of Cochin, this time with a fixed-price schedule, like at Cannanore. Diogo Fernandes Correia, the new designated factor for Cochin, relieves Cabral's factor Gonçalo Gil Barbosa (now slated to be transferred to Cannanore) and sets about his business buying spices for the return journey.
While conducting business at Cochin, Vasco da Gama receives a letter from the queen-regent of Quilon
Quilon
Quilon may refer to,* Venad, a former state on Malabar Coast, India* Kollam , Kerala state, India* Kollam district, Kerala state...
(Coulão, Kollam), on behalf of her young son, the raja Govardhana Martanda. The queen invites the Portuguese fleet to load up with spices at Quilon. Gama declines politely, noting that he cannot do anything without the permission of his Cochinese hosts. As a result, the queen-regent dispatches a messenger to the prince of Cochin. Trimumpara Raja prevaricates at first, fearing that competition from Quilon's more amply-supplied markets will hurt his own. But Cochin's slender supply is worrying the Portuguese factors. At length, an agreement is reached between all parties: Gama is to dispatch only two ships to load up with spices at Quilon, and promises not to set up a permanent factory in that city. The two ships, carrying temporary factor João de Sá Pereira, the first Portuguese to enter Quilon, will load up quickly, and return to Cochin within ten days.
It is reported that while at Cochin, Gama also receives a message from Syrian Christian
Syrian Malabar Nasrani
The Syrian Malabar Nasrani people, also known as Saint Thomas Christians, "'Nasrani Mappila'" and Nasranis, are an ethnoreligious group from Kerala, India, adhering to the various churches of the Saint Thomas Christian tradition...
community of nearby Cranganore offering to place themselves under the protection of the King of Portugal.
Naval Battle of Calicut
December, 1502-January, 1503 While Vasco da Gama is winding up business in Cochin, and preparing to sail back to Cannanore, Trimumpara Raja of Cochin summons Gama with a piece of disturbing intelligence. The Zamorin of Calicut had hired the services of a Red Sea Arab privateer 'Cojambar' (Khoja Ambar), who had brought several large Arab ships, and slipped past the Portuguese blockade. The Arab ships have joined a fighting fleet assembling at Calicut, under the command of Calicut admiral 'Coja Casem' (Khoja Kassein), intending to ambush the Portuguese on the way to Cannanore.The Calicut fleet is estimated at 20 large ships, 40 gun-mounted sambuk
Sambuk
A Sambuk, Sanbuk or Sambuq is a type of dhow, a traditional wooden Arabic sailing vessel.It has a characteristic keel design, with a sharp curve right below the top of the prow...
s (large dhow
Dhow
Dhow is the generic name of a number of traditional sailing vessels with one or more masts with lateen sails used in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean region. Some historians believe the dhow was invented by Arabs but this is disputed by some others. Dhows typically weigh 300 to 500 tons, and have a...
s) and a innumerable number of smaller oar-powered boats, carrying several thousand armed men. Although a large Calicut fleet had failed against the much smaller 3rd Armada
3rd Portuguese India Armada (Nova, 1501)
The Third India Armada was assembled in 1501 on the order of King Manuel I of Portugal and placed under the command of João da Nova. Nova's armada was relatively small and primarily commercial in objective. Nonetheless, they engaged the first significant Portuguese naval battle in the Indian Ocean...
of 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...
the previous year, the Zamorin might have calculated that the addition of the Arab Red Sea ships and more experienced captains might tip the balance - particularly against the heavily loaded and less-maneouverable large naus of the 4th Armada.
The Raja of Cochin urges Gama to avoid the fleet and just set sail for Portugal at once. But Vasco da Gama refuses to revise his plans, claiming he needs to retun to Cannanore to deposit a factor there and pick up a cargo of ginger he had ordered. Nonetheless, he dispatches a message to Vicente Sodré's squadron of fighting caravels, then patrolling near Cannanore, to join him in Cochin.
While this discussion is going on, a Brahmin arrives in Cochin, with an offer of peace from the Zamorin, proposing to let bygones be bygones and 'restart' the Calicut-Portuguese relationship afresh. But Gama refuses and accuses the Brahmin of being a spy. Gama has him tortured, mutilated (ears cut off and dog ear's sewn on) and sent back to Calicut.
Early February, 1502, After a final audience with Raja Trimumpara, taking aboard his ambassador to the Lisbon court, leaving Diogo Fernandes Correia as factor in Cochin, and taking Cabral's old factor Gonçalo Gil Barbosa, to serve as factor in Cannanore, Gama's fleet (around ten fully laden ships) finally leaves Cochin. They are soon joined by Sodré's caravel squadron, and set sail warily towards Cannanore, guns ready for the Calicut ambush.
Gama and Sodré spot the Calicut fleet of Coja Casem and Arab privateer Cojambar, near the coast, out of Calicut harbor. In one of the first recorded instances of a naval line of battle
Line of battle
In naval warfare, the line of battle is a tactic in which the ships of the fleet form a line end to end. A primitive form had been used by the Portuguese under Vasco Da Gama in 1502 near Malabar against a Muslim fleet.,Maarten Tromp used it in the Action of 18 September 1639 while its first use in...
, Gama's spice naus and escort caravels sail in a line end-to-end, concentrating all their immense firepower as they pass against the twenty large Arab ships of Cojambar, before they can get organized, sinking a number of them and doing immense damage to the remainder. Although the Arab squadron is out of commission too soon, Coja Casem nonetheless proceeds forward with his fleet of Malabari sambuks, hoping to use their speed to outmaneouver the guns of the heavy-laden naus and reach for the grapple. But Gama sends the escort caravels under Vicente Sodré to intercept them in their tracks, while the cargo naus hurry on toward Cannanore. Although the caravels are outnumbered, it is not much of a battle. The fight is essentially over when Pero Rafael and Gil Matoso quickly board and capture Coja Casem's flagship (oddly, found with a lot of women and children on board). The Calicut fleet breaks up and rushes back to port. The pursuing caravels capture a number of sambuks, which they proceed to tow and set on fire before Calicut. The long-prepared ambush has been foiled. Danger dispelled, the caravels proceed to Cannanore to make junction with the main fleet.
The Battle of Calicut, like the previous year's naval battle of Cannanore
3rd Portuguese India Armada (Nova, 1501)
The Third India Armada was assembled in 1501 on the order of King Manuel I of Portugal and placed under the command of João da Nova. Nova's armada was relatively small and primarily commercial in objective. Nonetheless, they engaged the first significant Portuguese naval battle in the Indian Ocean...
, once again demonstrated the critical importance of the technical superiority of Portuguese ships and naval artillery. But it also demonstrated to the Portuguese that the Zamorin of Calicut was not as easy to intimidate as they had expected. Despite the terror actions, the bombardment and the naval blockade, the Zamorin steadfastly refused to capitulate to Vasco da Gama's terms. On the contrary, the hiring of an Arab privateer fleet demonstrated a certain resourcefulness and willingness to continue fighting and take the fight to the Portuguese.
The hiring of Cojambar was also a foreboding. The Zamorin clearly understood he had to appeal to foreigners to help close the technical gap between Indian and Portuguese forces. Surely it would only be a matter of time before the Zamorin got his hands on Arab, Turkish and Venetian technology, and more substantial support from these great powers than just a Red Sea pirate or two?
If the battle of Calicut impressed something on Vasco da Gama, it was precisely that the Portuguese in India were living on borrowed time, that it was going to take more resources than he had to bring the Zamorin to heel and secure continued Portuguese access to the spice markets. And that was the message he would bring back to Lisbon.
In the meantime, his priority was to do everything he could to maintain the Portuguese toe in India - that is, to protect the Portuguese factories and Indian allies of Cochin and Cannanore, from the Zamorin's inevitable revenge the moment the 4th Armada left.
Return to Cannanore
Arriving in Cannanore, Gama leaves Cabral's old factor Gonçalo Gil Barbosa, and two assistants, Bastião Álvares and Diogo Nunes. With the permission of the Kolithiri Raja of Cannanore, Gama erects a small palisade around the factory. Some 200 armed men (others report merely 20) are to remain with the factory.More troubling, however, is the India patrol squadron. Back in Lisbon, 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 :...
had been given a commission (regimento) 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...
instructing him to lead a patrol of five or six caravels in the 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....
, and prey on the rich Arab prizes going in and out of 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...
. But 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...
, realizing the vulnerability of Cochin and Cannanore, invokes rank as captain-major of the armada and orders Sodré to set that mission aside, and maintain his patrol on the Indian coast, to defend the Portuguese factories and their Indian allies against any reaction by the Zamorin.
Return Voyage
Late February, 1503 Vasco da Gama sets sail with his ten (or twelve) laden ships back to Lisbon.[Note: some chronicles put Gama's departure from Cannanore on December 28, 1502, meaning all the events described earlier must be compacted within that shorter time period.]
The return journey is quick and relatively smooth, with only one stop in Mozambique Island. It is caught in a slight storm around the Cape, where Estêvão 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"...
's Flor da la Mar parts company from the rest. Estêvão da Gama, making is way back to Lisbon by himself, is said to have stumbled upon the South Atlantic islands of 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...
(already discovered the previous year by 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...
's Third Armada
3rd Portuguese India Armada (Nova, 1501)
The Third India Armada was assembled in 1501 on the order of King Manuel I of Portugal and placed under the command of João da Nova. Nova's armada was relatively small and primarily commercial in objective. Nonetheless, they engaged the first significant Portuguese naval battle in the Indian Ocean...
).
Vasco da Gama's main fleet arrives in Lisbon in September, 1503. Gama delivers his report, noting his failure to bring the Zamorin of Calicut to terms, and urging the immediate outfitting of a strong fleet to establish strong permanent Portuguese garrisons to protect the allied cities of Cochin and 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...
.
Gama arrives too late to affect the outfitting of the 5th Armada
5th Portuguese India Armada (Albuquerque, 1503)
The Fifth India Armada was assembled in 1503 on the order of King Manuel I of Portugal and placed under the command of Afonso de Albuquerque. It was Albuquerque's first trip to India. It was not a particularly successful armada - navigational mistakes scattered the fleet on the outward journey...
, which had already departed in April, 1503 under the command of 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...
. But his recommendation will guide the formation of the next one, the 6th Armada
6th Portuguese India Armada (Albergaria, 1504)
The Sixth India Armada was assembled in 1504 on the order of King Manuel I of Portugal and placed under the command of Lopo Soares de Albergaria.- The Fleet :...
, set to sail in the Spring of 1504 under the command of 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....
.
Fate of the Sodré patrol
March, 1503 - As soon as Vasco da Gama's 4th Armada leaves India, as predicted, Raja Trimumpara of Cochin receives intelligence that the Zamorin of Calicut is at this very moment preparing a landward invasion of Cochin. Portuguese factor Diogo Fernandes Correia urges Vicente SodréVicente 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 :...
to keep the caravel patrol squadron close to Cochin. But Vicente Sodré, eager for the easy plunder of the Arab Red Sea shipping, dismisses the rumors, Correia reminds him of Gama's orders, to no avail - Sodré pulls out his old royal regimento and orders the coastal patrol to follow him out to the Red Sea. It is said that at least two of the captains of the coastal patrol refuse Sodré's orders, and willingly surrender the command of their ships rather than disobey Gama's original orders.
The composition of the patrol that set out to the Red Sea varies in different accounts. One arrangement is that it was six ships: 1. 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 :...
, 2. Brás Sodré, 3. 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...
, 4. Pêro Rafael, 5. Diogo Pires
Diogo Pires
José Diego Pires is Brazilian football player, who plays for ŠK Slovan Bratislava.He has a gifted left foot, one of the main free kick takers.-External links:* at transfermarkt.de...
, 6. Fernão Rodrigues Bardaças.
Vicente Sodré first sets out north to Gujarat, where it captures a great merchant ship off Chaul
Chaul
Chaul is a former city of Portuguese India, now in ruins. It is located 60 km south of Mumbai, in Raigad District of Maharashtra state in western India....
. The patrol then sails west into the 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....
, at the mouth of 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...
, to catch more prizes. About five Arab merchant ships are seized by the patrol there but, according to the account written later by 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...
, the Sodré brothers set about claiming a disproportionate share of the plunder for themselves, including embezzling the royal fifth
Royal fifth
The royal fifth is an old royal tax that reserves to the monarch 20% of all precious metals and other commodities acquired by his subjects as war loot, found as treasure or extracted by mining...
. In Ataíde's account, Brás Sodré appears as the villain of the story. Already unhappy at the decision to abandon their comrades in India, the patrol captains quarreled with the Sodré brothers and nearly mutinied.
In late April, the patrol anchored in at Kuria Muria islands (off the coast of Oman). The local inhabitants warned them that a seasonal tempest was forming and that they had better move their ships to a safer shelter on the southern side of the island. Four patrol captains moved their ships accordingly, but Vicente Sodré and Brás Sodré refused (the ongoing quarrel over the spoils may have been a factor in this decision.) As the locals predicted, the tempest came, destroyed and sunk the ships of Vicente Sodré and Brás Sodré. Vicente went down with his ship, Brás survived to made it ashore, although he would die soon after in mysterious circumstances
In the aftermath, the four remaining ships of the coastal patrol, who elected of 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...
as their new commander, set back for India. However, contrary winds make it a difficult journey, and they inch back only painfully and slowly. The battered patrol hobbles into Angediva island sometime in the summer of 1503, where they are forced to stop to repair their crippled ships. Four days after arriving in Angediva, a fifth ship, the caravel of António do Campo (who having missed the previous year's monsoon, was forced to stay in East Africa throughout all this) arrives in Anjediva and joins the patrol. They are still repairing at Angediva when the ships of Francisco de Albuquerque and 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...
, the vanguard of the 5th Armada
5th Portuguese India Armada (Albuquerque, 1503)
The Fifth India Armada was assembled in 1503 on the order of King Manuel I of Portugal and placed under the command of Afonso de Albuquerque. It was Albuquerque's first trip to India. It was not a particularly successful armada - navigational mistakes scattered the fleet on the outward journey...
, arrives in India in August, 1503.
First Siege of Cochin
April 1503 – Not long after the Sodré patrol departed for the Red Sea, the Zamorin of Calicut arrived with his 50,000-strong army at Repelim (Edapalli), on the boundaries of the Cochinese state. He demanded that the Raja Trimumpara of Cochin hand his Portuguese guests over to him. But Trimumpara refused and his son Narayan repels two Calicut assaults. By bribery and deceit, the Zamorin manages to detach a lot of Cochin's army, overwhelms the defenses and kills prince Narayan at a battle near the Edapalli ford. The Trimumpara Raja and his Portuguese guests (factor Diogo Fernandes Correia and his assistants), accompanied by a small loyal NairNair
Nair , also known as Nayar , refers to "not a unitary group but a named category of castes", which historically embody several castes and many subdivisions, not all of whom bore the Nair title. These people historically live in the present-day Indian state of Kerala...
guard, abandon Cochin city and flee across the harbor to Vypin
Vypin
Vypin or Vypeen is one among a group of islands, that form part of the city of Kochi, in the state of Kerala, India. The island is about 27 km long...
, a barrier island of the Vembanad lagoon. Vypin's natural defenses and the deteriorating weather prevent the Zamorin from launching assault boats and seizing the island. Frustrated, the Zamorin burns down the city of Cochin. The siege will drag on for several months, until Francisco de Albuquerque, leading the remnant of the Sodré patrol, hurrying down from Angediva, arrived in Cochin in August–September, and forced the Calicut forces to withdraw.
Sometime during the course of this siege, the two Italian military engineers (and probable Venetian agents) that had come as passengers on Gama's ships - known only as João Maria (Gianmaria) and Pêro António (Pierantonio) - escaped Cochin and made their way to the Zamorin' camp, offering their services to the army of Calicut. Expert gun-founders, the Italians will teach Calicut to found large European guns and help close the technological gap between Indian and Portuguese artillery.
The Zamorin of Calicut, before burning down Cochin, removed an ancient sacred stone, upon which the ancient Kings of Malabar (see Chera Dynasty
Chera dynasty
Chera Dynasty in South India is one of the most ancient ruling dynasties in India. Together with the Cholas and the Pandyas, they formed the three principle warring Iron Age Tamil kingdoms in southern India...
) were traditionally ceremonially esconsed as lords of the sea and overlords of all the Malabari states. The sacred stone had originally been housed at the ancient Malabari capital of Cranganore, but had since been moved to Cochin. The Zamorin now moved it once more, to Edapalli.
Sources
Primary accounts:- [Anonymous Flemish sailor] Calcoen (Flemish account), first pub. 1504, Antwerp [English trans. in J.P. Berjeau, 1874, Calcoen, a Dutch narrative of the second voyage of Vasco da Gama to Calicut, printed at Antwerp circa 1504. London. online [Portuguese translation in A.C. Teixeira de Aragão, 1887, Vasco da Gama e a Vidigueira: um estudo historico. Lisbon: Sociedade de Geografia de Lisboa. online[French trans. in J. Denucé, 1931, Calcoen, récit flamand du second voyage de Vasco de Gama vers l'Inde, en 1502-1503]
- [Anonymous German sailor] account first pub. 1986 in M. Krasa, J. Polisensky and P. Ratkos, ed., European Expansion 1494-1519: the voyages of discovery in the Bratislava manuscript Lyc. 515/8. Prague: Charles University.
- [Anonymous Portuguese sailor] account first pub. 1939 in Christine von Rohr, ed., Neue Quellen zur zweiten Indienfahrt Vasco da Gamas, Leipzig: Koehler. [Reprinted with corrections by L. Freire Costa, 1985, "Relação anónima da segunda viagem de Vasco da Gama à índia" in Cidadania e História. Em homenagem a Jaime Cortesão. Lisbon: Sá da Costa.]
- Matteo da Bergamo Two Italian letters from Mozambique written Apr. 1503, pub. in 1902, Prospero Peragallo, ed., "Viaggio di Matteo da Bergamo in India sulla flotta di Vasco da Gama (1502-1503)", Bollettino della Società geografica italiana, p. 92-129 online
- Thomé LopesThomé LopesThomé Lopes or Tomé Lopes was a Portuguese scrivener, writer of an eyewitness account of the second journey of Vasco da Gama to India .Thomé Lopes's background is obscure...
original Portugese version lost; Italian translation first pub. 1550 as "Navigatione verso l'Indie orientali scritta per Thomé Lopez, scrivano de una nave Portoghesa", in Giovanni Battista RamusioGiovanni Battista RamusioGiovanni Battista Ramusio was an Italian geographer and travel writer.Born in Treviso, Italy, Ramusio was the son of Paolo Ramusio, a magistrate in the city-state of Venice...
, ed., Primo volume delle navigationi et viaggi nel qua si contine la descrittione dell'Africa, et del paese del Prete Ianni, on varii viaggi, dal mar Rosso a Calicut,& infin all'isole Molucche, dove nascono le Spetierie et la navigatione attorno il mondo., Venice.online [Translated 1812 into Portuguese as "Navegação as Indias Orientaes, escrita em Portuguez por Thomé Lopes, traduzida da lingua Portugueza para a Italiana, e novamente do Italiano para o Portuguez", by Academia Real das Sciencias in Collecção de noticias para a historia e geografia das nações ultramarinas: que vivem nos dominios portuguezes, ou lhes são visinhas, Vol. 2, Pt. 5
- Pêro de AtaídePêro de AtaídePêro de Ataíde or Pedro d'Ataíde , nicknamed O Inferno , was a Portuguese sea captain in the Indian Ocean active in the early 1500s...
"Carta de Pero de Atayde a El-rei D. Manuel, Fevereiro 20, 1504", as published in Bulhão Pato, R.A. editor, 1898, Cartas de Affonso de Albuquerque, seguidas de documentos que as elucidam. Lisbon: Academia Real de Sciencias, vol. 2 p.262-268.
- Diogo Fernandes Correia "Carta de Diogo Fernandes Corrêa a Afonso de Albuquerque, Dezembro 25, 1503", as published in Bulhão Pato, R.A. editor, 1898, Cartas de Affonso de Albuquerque, seguidas de documentos que as elucidam. Lisbon: Academia Real de Sciencias, vol. 2 p.211-213.
- Francesco Corbinelli "Lettera di Francesco Corbinelli da Lisbona, Aug 22, 1503" [French trans. in P. Teyssier & P. Valentin translators, J. Aubin, ed.,Voyages de Vasco de Gama: relations des expéditions de 1497-1499 & 1502-1503. Paris: Chandeigne. p. 353-55 online
- Giovanni Francesco Affaitati "Lettere di Zuan Francesco di l'Afaitada, data a Lisbona a di 19 avosto, 1503", repr. 1881 in Frederico Stefani, ed., I diarii di Marino Sanuto, Venice, vol.5, p.130f.
Chronicles:
- 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.. Dec. I, Lib 6. - Luís Vaz de Camões, (1572) Os Lusíadas. [trans. by W.J. Mickle, 1776, as The Lusiad, or the discovery of India, an epic poem]
- 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] Lib 1, Ch. 44 - 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; [partially trans. H.E. Stanley, 1869, as The Three Voyages of Vasco de Gama, and his viceroyalty London: Hakluyt Society.] - Manuel de Faria e SousaManuel de Faria e SousaManuel 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...
(1666) Asia Portuguesa, Vol. 1. - *Damião de Goes (1566–67) Chrónica do Felicíssimo Rei D. Manuel, da Gloriosa Memoria (As reprinted in 1749, Lisbon: M. Manescal da Costa) online
- Jerónimo Osório (1586) De rebus Emmanuelis [trans. Port., 1804, Da Vida e Feitos d'El Rei D. Manuel, Lisbon: Impressão Regia.] [trans. Eng. 1752 by J. Gibbs as The History of the Portuguese during the Reign of Emmanuel London: Millar]
- 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 & reprinted in 1985, by M.H. Maldonado, Biblioteca Geral da Universidade de Coimbra. online
Secondary:
- Aubin, J. (1995) "Preface", in Voyages de Vasco de Gama: relations des expéditions de 1497-1499 & 1502-1503. Paris: Chandeigne.
- Brito Rebelo, J.I. (1898) "Navegadores e exploradores portuguezes até o XVI século (Documentos para a sua historia: Vasco da Gama, sua família, suas viagens, seus companheiros", Revista de Educação e Ensino, v. 13
- Bouchon, G. (1975) Mamale de Cananor: Un adversaire de l'Inde portugaise, 1507–1528, Paris: Droz.
- Dames, M.L. (1918) "Introduction" in An Account Of The Countries Bordering On The Indian Ocean And Their Inhabitants, Vol. 1 (Engl. transl. of Livro de Duarte de Barbosa), 2005 reprint, New Delhi: Asian Education Services.
- Danvers, F.C. (1894) The Portuguese in India, being a history of the rise and decline of their eastern empire. 2 vols, London: Allen.
- Diffie, Bailey W., and George D. Winius (1977) Foundations of the Portuguese empire, 1415-1580 Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press
- Logan, W. (1887) Malabar Manual, 2004 reprint, New Delhi: Asian Education Services.
- Madan, K.D. (1998) Life and travels of Vasco Da Gama. New Delhi: Asian Educational Services.
- Quintella, Ignaco da Costa (1839–40) Annaes da Marinha Portugueza, 2 vols, Lisbon: Academia Real das Sciencias.
- Visconde de Sanches da Baena (1897) O Descobridor do Brazil, Pedro Alvares Cabral: memoria apresentada á Academia real das sciencias de Lisboa. Lisbon online
- Saraiva, Cardinal Francisco de S.L. (1849) Os Portuguezes em Africa, Asia, America, e Occeania, Lisbon: Borges.
- Strong, S. Arthur (1895) "The History of Kilwa, edited from an Arabic MS", Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. , p. 385-431. online
- Subrahmanyam, S. (1997) The Career and Legend of Vasco da Gama. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
- Theal, G.M. (1896) The Portuguese in South Africa: with a description of the native races between the River Zambesi and the Cape of Good Hope during the sixteenth century. London Unwin.
- Whiteway, R. S. (1899) The Rise of Portuguese Power in India, 1497-1550. Westminster: Constable.