European Expansion(Portugal) in Indian & Pacific Ocean 1400–1550
19 Abril 2018, 10:00 • Shiv Kumar Singh
- The Iberian kingdoms sponsored voyages of exploration for a number of reasons :
- Adventurous personalities of their leaders
- Long-term trends in European historical development
- The revival of trade
- The struggle with Islam for control of the Mediterranean
- Curiosity about the outside world
- The alliances between rulers and merchants
- The city-states of northern Italy had no incentive to explore Atlantic trade routes
- They had established a system of alliances and trade with the Muslims that gave them a monopoly on access to Asian goods
- Also, Italian ships were designed for the calm waters of the Mediterranean and could not stand up to the violent weather of the Atlantic.
- The Iberian kingdoms had a history of centuries of warfare with Muslims
- They had no significant share in the Mediterranean trade, but had advanced shipbuilding and cannon technology
- They were open to new geographical knowledge, and had exceptional leaders.
- Portuguese Voyages:
The Portuguese gained more knowledge of the sources of gold and slaves south of the Sahara when their forces, led by Prince Henry, captured the North African caravan city of Ceuta. - Prince Henry (“the Navigator”) then sponsored a research and navigation institute at Sagres in order to collect information about and send expeditions to the African lands south of North Africa
- The staff of Prince Henry’s research institute in Sagres studied and improved navigational instruments including the compass and the astrolabe
- They also designed a new vessel, the caravel, whose small size, shallow draft, combination of square and lateen sails, and cannon made it well suited for the task of exploration
- Portuguese explorers cautiously explored the African coast, reaching Cape Verde in 1444 and learning how to return to Portugal faster by sailing northwest into the Atlantic in order to pick up the prevailing westerly winds that would blow them back to Portugal
- The Portuguese voyages were initially financed by income from the properties held by Prince Henry’s Order of Christ
- In the 1440s, the voyages began to produce a financial return,
first from trade in slaves, and then from the gold trade
- Beginning in 1469 the process of exploration picked up speed as private commercial enterprises began to get involved
- The Lisbon merchant Fernao Gomes sent expeditions that discovered and developed the island of Sao Tome and explored the Gold Coast
- Bartolomeu Dias and Vasco da Gama rounded the tip of Africa and established contact with India, thus laying the basis for Portugal’s maritime trading empire.