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Portugal Sea Route to India
After the death of Prince Henry, the Portuguese
continued to
explore the coast of Africa, but without their earlier
singleness
of purpose. A dispute had arisen among the military
aristocracy
over whether Portugal could best achieve its strategic
objectives
by conquering Morocco or by seeking a sea route to India.
Duarte
had continued his father's Moroccan policy and undertook a
military campaign against Tangiers but was unsuccessful.
Afonso V
ordered several expeditionary forces to Morocco. In 1458
he
conquered Alcázarquivir; in 1471 he took Arzila, followed
by
Tangiers and Larache. Afonso's successors continued this
policy
of expansion in Morocco, especially Manuel I
(r.1495-1521), who
conquered Safim and Azamor. The Moroccan empire was
expensive
because it kept Portugal in a constant state of war;
therefore,
it was abandoned by João III (r.1521-57), except for Ceuta
and
Tangiers.
In 1469 Afonso V granted to Fernão Gomes a monopoly of
trade
with Guinea for five years if he agreed to explore 100
leagues
(about 500 kilometers) of coast each year. A number of
expeditions were carried out under this contract. In 1471
Portuguese sailors reached Mina de Ouro on the Gold Coast
(present-day Ghana) and explored Cape St. Catherine, two
degrees
south of the equator. Mina de Ouro became the chief center
for
the gold trade and a major source of revenue for the
crown. The
islands of São Tomé and Príncipe were also discovered in
1471,
and Fernão do Pó discovered the island that now bears his
name in
1474.
During the reign of João II, the crown once again took
an
active role in the search for a sea route to India. In
1481 the
king ordered a fort constructed at Mina de Ouro to protect
this
potential source of wealth. Diogo Cão sailed further down
the
African coast in the period 1482-84. In 1487 a new
expedition led
by Bartolomeu Dias sailed south beyond the tip of Africa
and,
after having lost sight of land for a month, turned north
and
made landfall on a northeast-running coastline, which was
named
Terra dos Vaqueiros after the native herders and cows that
were
seen on shore. Dias had rounded the Cape of Good Hope
without
seeing it and proved that the Atlantic connected to the
Indian
Ocean.
In the meantime, João sent Pêro da Covilhã and Afonso
de
Paiva, who were versed in warfare, diplomacy, and Arabic,
on a
mission in search of the mythical Christian kingdom of
Prester
John. Departing from Santarém, they traveled to Barcelona,
Naples, and the island of Rhodes, and, disguised as
merchants,
entered Alexandria. Passing through Cairo, they made their
way to
Aden, where they separated and agreed to meet later in
Cairo at a
certain date. Afonso de Paiva went to Ethiopia, and Pêro
da
Covilhã headed for Calicut and Goa in India by way of
Ormuz,
returning to Cairo via Sofala in Mozambique on the east
coast of
Africa. In Cairo he learned from two emissaries sent by
João II
that Afonso de Paiva had died. One of the emissaries
returned to
Portugal with a letter containing the information Pêro da
Covilhã
had collected on his travels. Da Covilhã then left for
Ethiopia
where he was received by the emperor but not allowed to
leave. He
settled in Ethiopia, married, and raised a family. The
information provided in his letter complemented the
information
from the expedition of Bartolomeu Dias and convinced João
II that
it was possible to reach India by sailing around the
southern end
of Africa. He died during preparations for this voyage in
1494.
Manuel I assumed the throne in 1495 and completed the
preparations for the voyage to India. On July 8, 1497, a
fleet of
four ships commanded by Vasco da Gama set sail from Belém
on the
outskirts of Lisbon. The expedition was very carefully
organized,
each ship having the best captains and pilots, as well as
handpicked crews. They carried the most up-to-date
nautical
charts and navigational instruments. Vasco da Gama's fleet
rounded the Cape of Good Hope on November 27, 1497, and
made
landfall at Natal in present-day South Africa on December
25. The
fleet then proceeded along the east coast of Africa and
landed at
Quelimane in present-day Mozambique in January 1498,
followed by
Mombasa in present-day Kenya. An Arab pilot directed the
fleet to
India. After sailing for a month, the fleet reached
Calicut on
the Malabar coast in southwest India. In August, after
sailing to
Goa, the fleet left for Portugal, arriving in September
1499, two
years and two days after the departure.
In 1500 Manuel organized a large fleet of thirteen
ships for
a second voyage to India. This fleet was commanded by
Pedro
Álvares Cabral and included Bartolomeu Dias, various
nobles,
priests, and some 1,200 men. The fleet sailed southwest
for a
month, and on April 22 sighted land, the coast of
present-day
Brazil. Cabral sent a ship back to Lisbon to report to
Manuel his
discovery, which he called Vera Cruz. The fleet recrossed
the
Atlantic and sailed to India around Africa where it
arrived on
September 13, 1500. After four months in India, Cabral
sailed for
Lisbon in January 1501, having left a contingent of
Portuguese to
maintain a factory at Cochin on the Malabar coast
(see
fig. 3).
Data as of January 1993
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