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Open route to India around the Cape of Good Hope

Vasco da Gama on his first trip to India

(1497-1499)

There is no doubt that Vasco Coda Gama expanded Portugal's trade network to a great extent. His first journey to India (1497-1499) was extremely important in strengthening relations between East and West. During this expedition, the Portuguese came into contact with a wide variety of peoples for the first time. The discovery of a sea route to India around the Cape of Good Hope brought Europe, Africa and Asia closer together.

Although Vasco da Gama is best known as the first European to reach India by sea, he was also the first to sail along the eastern coast of Africa, the so-called Swahili Coast. Thus, in East Africa and India, Vasco da Gama laid the foundation for a Portuguese and European presence in the region that would last for centuries. In my research, I focus on the networks Vasco da Gama established during his first voyage to the Indian Ocean world (Africa and Asia).

Countless historians have done research on Vasco da Gama. Integral among them is the journal of Vasco da Gama's first voyage in 1497-1499, originally written in Portuguese by an anonymous author. As an eyewitness account, it contains much important information about Vasco da Gama's first journey.

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Picture 1. Vasco da Gama by António Manuel de Fonseca , 1838. Greenwich Hospital Collection.

The Portuguese had been sailing along the northwest coast of Africa since the early fourteenth century. To avoid dealing with Arab brokers, they tried to establish a trade route themselves to the Kingdom of Mali, which had huge gold reserves. Finally, in the 1480s, Diogo C?o was the first to reach the mouth of the Congo River and present-day Namibia. There he placed a so-called padr?o, a stone cross bearing the Portuguese coat of arms. His successor will do the same in key locations in Africa and Asia. Back in Lisbon, the Portuguese began to consider sailing around Africa to reach India. The next discoverer was Bartolomeu Dias, who rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 1488, but he was unable to continue his journey as his crew mutinied and forced him to return to Portugal.

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Figure 2. The route of Vasco da Gama’s first voyage.

Nearly ten years after Díaz's expedition, King Manuel I of Portugal ordered Vasco da Gama to sail to India and establish diplomatic and trade relations with the Indians. Three of Vasco da Gama's ships, S?o Gabriel, S?o Rafael and Bérrio, left Lisbon in July 1497. After their longest journey yet across the high seas, they arrived in St. Helena Bay, South Africa, in November. There they met the Khoikhoi people. Initially relations between the Portuguese and the Khoikhoi were good, but after a few days this ended abruptly and both sides began to use force. A similar situation occurred in Mossel Bay after Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope. It was clear that the Portuguese were unable to establish a lasting relationship with the Khoikhoi.

The Portuguese were more successful further north. In what is today southern Mozambique, they encountered people in what the Portuguese called Terra da Boa Gente ("Land of Good People") and Rio dos Bons Signaes ("River of Good Songs"). The latter takes its name from the fact that Vasco da Gama realized that he had almost reached the Indian Ocean's extensive trade network. At Ilha de Mo?ambique ("Island of Mozambique"), one of the southernmost points on the Swahili coast, the Portuguese came into contact with merchants who traded with Arabia, Persia, and India. However, distrust and religious differences led to skirmishes and the Portuguese became notorious on the Swahili coast. In Mombasa, Vasco da Gama clashed with the local king, and the Portuguese appear to have made few friends in East Africa.

Despite this, the Malindi king showed a lot of favor towards the Portuguese, probably because of his conflict with the city of Mombasa. The king provided Vasco da Gama with a pilot who knew how to cross the Arabian Sea to India. On April 24, the S?o Gabriel, S?o Rafael and Bérrio left the city of Malindi with their white houses and set sail for India.

On May 18, 1498, the Portuguese finally saw the mountains of India. They then traveled to the city of Calicut, where they met

"Two Moors from Tunisia who spoke Castilian and Genoese. He (the Portuguese) received the One greeting goes like this: “May the devil take you away! What brought you here? "They asked him what he was looking for so far from home, and he told them that we had come to look for Christians and spices. […] We were very surprised to hear his speech, for we had never imagined that we would be here so far. Our language Portugal was heard far away."

The local Hindu ruler named "Zamorin" welcomed the Portuguese with friendship. During their stay in India, the Portuguese believed that Hinduism was a special form of Christianity, and they viewed the Indians as potential allies. However, just like in Africa, relations are only getting worse. Indian and Arab merchants showed little interest in Portuguese goods, and after three months Vasco da Gama decided to return to Lisbon. There were several hostilities, with some kidnappings on both sides, but eventually the Portuguese left in August.

The return trip turned out to be disastrous. Vasco da Gama lost dozens of his men to disease. Three months later, he finally reached Malindi, where he erected a pillar to commemorate his friendship with the local king. Eventually, two of Vasco da Gama's ships, one of which was burned due to lack of crew, returned to Portugal in July and August 1499.

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Figure 3. Column of Vasco da Gama, Malindi.

Vasco da Gama expanded Portugal's trading network from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean world. After rounding the Cape of Good Hope, Vasco da Gama came into contact with several peoples who were eventually more or less integrated into the Portuguese network. However, on his first journey to India, Vasco da Gama had more enemies than friends. Only the people of Terra da Boa Gente, Rio dos Bons Signaes and Malindi showed goodwill towards the Portuguese, while with Khoikhoi, Ilha de Mo?ambique, Mombasa, Calicut and several times with sailors in the Indian Ocean.

In the sixteenth century, the Khoikhoi and the people of southern Mozambique would not become part of the Portuguese network, while the people of the Swahili coast, Arab traders, and Indians became important trade sources for the Portuguese partner. So actually the Portuguese did not establish a new network in the Indian Ocean world. They simply penetrated into existing networks on the Swahili coast and in India. The importance of Vasco da Gama was therefore less about establishing new networks in the Indian Ocean world than connecting existing ones through the discovery of sea routes around the Cape of Good Hope.