Vasco da Gama and the sea route to India

	India, as it was seen by a 16th century cartographer.

Part 5. In this fifth and final part, Vasco da Gama and his crew will reach the shores of India and, in due course, find their way back home.
The Sultan of Malindi proved to be a very kind and gentle man. He politely accepted the worthless gifts that were laid before him and he responded by giving away generous amounts of spices and half a dozen sheep. In addition, and this was the most important consideration just then, he offered them his help. The sultan considered da Gama an ally and was very generous.
Rumours that a foreign fleet was heading up along the coast had preceded the Europeans and had reached the ports and coastal cities before the Portuguese arrived. The Arabs remained indifferent, as they saw the intruders as competitors – and they were undoubtedly right.
They suspected that the visitors would destroy the trade and demolish the harmony that had prevailed around the coasts of the Indian Ocean for more than 600 years. But da Gama’s host acted in just the opposite way. A prophet had told him that the white men would conquer the Arabs and dominate the trade. Therefore, he thought that he would win in the end if he remained a friend of the future rulers.

The Portuguese asked for a pilot who could take them the 2,000 nautical miles over the Indian Ocean and to the golden shores of India. The sultan gave them a very skilful and honest man by the name of Ahmed ibn Majid. He had done the voyage several times and he not only knew the larger islands and grounds but also minor reefs and other dangers. This intelligent and well-intentioned man is remembered not only because he took Vasco da Gama to India, but also as the author of “Al Mahet”, an impressive work on navigation.

The fleet left Malindi on April 21st, 1498. After 27 days at sea and with the help of the southwest monsoon and the skill of the pilot, they had landfall on May 18th at the Malabar Coast, about 80 kilometres north of the port of Calicut. The pilot said in a dry and not exactly exhilarated voice: “This is the land you wished to come to.” Just like that.
He had fulfilled his mission when the overwhelmed sailors waded ashore and fell to their knees on the beautiful sandy beach and thanked both the Lord and Providence for taking them to the land they had been dreaming of reaching for so long.
Portuguese sailors had finally found the sea route to India. It was a great triumph and an achievement that was never to be forgotten. But all their problems had not been solved just because they had reached the Promised Land and made the dreams of a whole nation come true. The next step, and this was not an easy one, was to convince both the Indians and the Arab merchants that they had come with honourable intentions – which of course they had not.
And besides, they had to lay their hands on very valuable cargo while paying with gifts that no one wanted. And then, finally, they had to sail home to receive the well-earned congratulations from king and country.
It wasn’t as easy as Vasco da Gama and his crew had thought it would be. They were certainly very warmly welcomed to India but the friendliness didn’t last long.
The foreigners were invited to the Sultan’s palace and were introduced to the local ruler. He was absent-minded from chewing betel, and received them reclining on a green throne.
When the Indians saw the “gifts” the Europeans had brought them, they were both offended and hostile towards the newcomers. Even the most simple of the merchants presented the court with presents far better than the toys da Gama put on the table. The relations deteriorated and the Portuguese were requested to pay harbour fees they could not afford to pay. But Vasco da Gama didn’t give in that easily. If they couldn’t do business with the ruler and his closest associates, maybe they could get spices, some gems and perhaps a few rolls of beautifully woven fabric by exchange with the man in the street. But they had no success there either. The crew, however, managed to barter some minor gems for their own few belongings.

During this first voyage to India, the Portuguese didn’t manage to establish any diplomatic connection, or to lay the grounds for future trade relations.
One day, even the stubborn da Gama had to face this fact and on the 29th August, after three months in India, he set sail and began the long voyage home.
The three ships sailed up along the West Coast and careened the hulls on a beach just south of Goa. They were not really ready to leave before the middle of October. In an attempt to reach Malindi, da Gama steered a south-westerly course. The voyage went wrong from the very beginning. They left at the wrong time and had the winds against them.

The trip from Africa to India had taken only 27 days which had been mostly pleasant. With the help of the experienced pilot, they had gone where they should in the shortest time possible. The return trip took three terrible months. They hadn’t planned or provisioned for such a long voyage and it wasn’t long before the stores were rationed and the fresh water had dried up. Scurvy and other diseases, most of them related to malnutrition and poor hygiene, spread onboard. The men were rotting from the inside. They became deathly pale, palates and throat became swollen, the gums shrivelled and fell to pieces and blood was constantly seeping from the corners of their mouths. Many of them became so weak that they just lay on the deck unable to move, raving, with hollow cheeks and chests – waiting apathetically for death to come and relieve them from their painful life on earth. They were not even strong enough to stop the rats from eating from bodies that were still alive.
We can read about these fearful days in the diary. “Thirty men died, and I am convinced that if the voyage had lasted another 14 days, none of us would have survived.”
Vasco da Gama apparently had as strong a physique as he had a strong will, and he was one of the few who stayed healthy during the whole trip.

All three ships managed to reach Malindi despite the great many deaths and the terrible scenes that took place onboard.
Once again, the Sultan proved to be a skilled diplomat, and a polite and honest human being. The ships anchored in the roads and as soon as he heard about the miserable conditions onboard, he sent smaller ships loaded with meat, poultry and citrus fruit. The fruits were the most important, as they cured the scurvy.
When the sick had recovered and the dead had been buried, it was time to begin the long voyage home. So many good men had died that the remaining crew were too few for three ships. The “Sao Rafael” was sacrificed and burned.
The remaining ships steered a southerly course and avoided landfalls in inhabited places. They rounded the Cape of Good Hope in March 1499 and continued north with good speed under favourable winds as far as Sierra Leone. There, the wind turned and they had to make long tacks to the west to be able to reach the Cape Verde Islands.

The chronicler who gave us such good insight into what it was like to sail with da Gama probably died when they passed Guinea. The last note in the diary is dated the April 25th, 1499 and reads: “We kept our course and we were all longing for home.”
On the 18th September that year, the two ships sailed up the river Tejo and received an enormous welcome. The voyage had lasted for two years and 72 days and they had sailed 25,000 nautical miles.
The expedition was of course considered to be a formidable success, as they had found the sea route to India. However, they had also paid an extremely high price. Only 54 men were still alive; 114 had died during the first voyage to India. That so many men were lost
didn’t bother the king. Manoel I – the Fortunate – was still on the throne. Da Gama’s return made the king even more fortunate than before. He was probably the happiest king history had ever seen.
Manoel I wrote letters to all his neighbouring kings and queens and other competitors and told them what his countrymen had achieved.
He boasted with no restraint and told them all that he knew they didn’t want to hear. He wrote that they had found, and were now in possession of, large cities with fantastic buildings, rivers full of fully loaded ships and spices, fabrics and gems in unbelievable quantities – and, of course – goldmines, rich goldmines.
He didn’t say a word about any difficulties. Not a syllable about the fact that the Muslims and Indians didn’t want to trade with the Europeans and not a hint about the inglorious departure from India and that almost all of the men died during the return trip. No, everything had been great and glorious and he saw what he wanted to see from his comfortable throne in the palace in Lisbon.
He made it clear to everyone that India was his country and only Portuguese ships with Portuguese sailors were allowed to sail on the route. He even had a Papal bill on that: the Treaty of Tordesillas from 1494.

It was very understandable that Manoel was happier than ever. It was during his reign that the Portuguese made their own dreams come true. The sovereign realised that exceptional fortunes would be brought to him once the trade really started. The price of pepper rose by 2,600 per cent between the harbour in Calicut and the marketplace in Lisbon.
With such great expectations at hand, there was no time to loose.
Manoel the Fortunate ordered a new expedition. The exploration of the East had begun.

Tillbaka till SSG 9, October 18

Latest update 18-10-2006 8:49

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