No More Learning

King
Manoel wrote to inform Leo X of the event, and the Pope made the
news the occasion of a series of ceremonies of public thanksgiving of
unusual pomp and splendour. Tristão da Cunha was head of the
special mission sent to Rome, bearing magnificent presents to the
pontiff, including an elephant of extraordinary size, which, as it
passed the papal palace stopped, and kneeling down, bowed thrice
to the Pope who was watching the procession from a window.
Albuquerque reached Cochin again in January, 1512, after an
absence of less than twelve months, to find that affairs had everywhere
fallen into disorder, while Goa was constantly alarmed by persistent
rumours of the advent of the Turkish fleet. “The Rumes are coming"
was the constant cry. In April, 1512, he wrote to King Manoel as
follows: “I would respectfully submit to your Majesty that until we
go to the Red Sea and assure these people that such beings as the
Rumes are not in existence, there can be no confidence or peace for
your Majesty's subjects in these parts”. The security of Goa was not,
however, yet assurred : and at the end of 1512 Albuquerque was
obliged to take a large force to attack the fort of Benasterim, six
miles from Goa, which had been strongly fortified and garrisoned by
the king of Bijapur. The reduction of this fort was one of Albu-
querque's most gallant exploits.
Not till February, 1513, was Albuquerque able to set out for the
Red Sea. He first attacked Aden. His force was composed of 1000
Portuguese and 400 Malabaris, who landed in small boats carrying
with them scaling ladders. The Aden garrison, in order to avoid the
fire of the Portuguese guns, enticed Albuquerque's men within the
city walls, and, after four hours of fierce hand-to-hand fighting, the


## p. 12 (#40) ##############################################

12
THE PORTUGUESE IN INDIA, 1498–1598
1
besieging force was obliged to withdraw to its ships. After this
Albuquerque attempted to proceed to Jedda, but the winds were
unfavourable, and he decided in May to anchor at Kamaran. Haying
destroyed all the fortifications on this island, he returned to Aden,
but, finding it even stronger than when he left it, he set sail for India
in August, 1513. The Portuguese historians tell us that Albuquerque
lay ten days off Aden on his return from Kamaran,' but do not refer
to any further attack on that city; but some Muslim historians speak
of a second unsuccessful attack and assert that the guns of the fort
did great damage to the Portuguese ships lying at anchor. ?
In 1513 Albuquerque came into diplomatic contact with Persia.
Ismail Safavi had sent ambassadors to the kings of Gujarat, Ormuz
and Bijapur; and the ambassador sent to Bijapur visited Albuquerque
at Kannanur, and invited him to send Miguel Ferreira 'to Ismail.
Ferreira returned with the Persian via Ormuz, and at Tabriz had
many interviews with the shah, who expressed a great desire for the
destruction of the sultan and the house of Mecca. When he dismissed
Ferreira, he sent with him an ambassador to Albuquerque with rich
presents. While they were at Ormuz on the return journey, Albu-
querque himself arrived there, but, instead of coming to terms, he
established Portuguese sužerainty over Ormuz, thus denying Shah
Ismail's claims in that quarter.
In November, 1515, Albuquerque, feeling his end was near, set
sail for India, having just learnt that Lopo Soares had been appointed
captain-major in India and that he himself had been recalled. The
last letter he addressed to King Manoel, dated at sea, 6 December,
1515, must be quoted here :
This letter to your Majesty is not wiitten by my hand, as when I write I
am troubled with hiccoughs, which is a sign of approaching death. I have here a
son to whom I bequeath the little I possess. Events in India will speak for
themselves as well as for me. I leave the chief place in India in your Majesty's
:
power, the only thing left to be done being the closing of the gates of the
Straits. I beg your Majesty to remember all I have done for India, and to
make my son great for my sake. 3
He died on 16 December, 1515, having done n. ore than any other
Portuguese leader to establish the prestige of his king, and to make
the name of his fellow-countrymen respected and feared. He realised
that the three keys to the eastern trade were Malacca, Ormuz and
Aden. He obtained complete control of the first two, and almost
secured the third. He combined the most resolute determination with
the greatest personal bravery. He was scrupulously loyal to his
master; and the only blot on his character was his ruthless cruelty
towards his enemies, the Muhammadans.
>
1 Barros, a, viii, $4.
2 See J. R. A. S. Oct. 1921, p. 559.
3 Cartas, I, 380, The Letters of Albuquerque, published by Royal Academy
of Lisbon, 1884.


## p. 13 (#41) ##############################################

DIOGO LOPES DE SEQUEIRA
13
.
1
Had Albuquerque lived long enough to return to Aden from
Ormuz, he would have found the governor of that town ready to
submit, whereas owing to the stupidity of his successor, Lopo Soares,
the chance of adding Aden to the Portuguese possessions was thrown
away. In February, 1516, Lopo set out with a fleet of twenty-seven
sail for the Red Sea in order to engage the fleet which the sultan of
Egypt had been so long preparing at Suez.
Suez. When he arrived unex-
pectedly before Aden, the governor, Amir Mirjan, who had been
recently attacked by Rais Salman, the commander of the Egyptian
fleet, offered the keys of the citadel to the Portuguese general, but
Lopo, instead of taking advantage of this surprising offer, continued
his course in search of the Egyptian fleet, thinking to return and take
possession of Aden when he had disposed of Rais Salman. Hearing
that Salman and his fleet had been driven by stress of weather into
Jedda, he followed him thither; but instead of bombarding the city,
he sailed away two days later on the plea that he had instructions to
fight the fleet but not to attack Jedda. On his return he destroyed
the town of Zeyla, and, on reaching Aden, found Amir Mirjan in a
very different mood, and the fortifications repaired. He returned to
Goa in September, 1516, having achieved nothing. The remaining
two years of his governorship were uneventful, saving that he suc-
ceeded in entering into relations with China.
In December, -1518, he was succeeded by Diogo Lopes de Sequeira,
who in February, 1520, made a fruitless expedition into the Red Sea
with a fleet of twenty-four vessels. On his way back he was enter-
tained by Malik Ayaz at Diu, which the Portuguese had coveted ever
since the time of Albuquerque, and which had once been offered
them. Diogo Lopes in his conversations with Malik Ayaz must have
shown his hand too clearly, for when he revisited the place in
February, 1521, with a large fleet, its defences were so strong that the
Portuguese refrained from attack.
Duarte de Menezes succeeded Diogo Lopes as governor on his
arrival at Goa, September, 1521. His government was marked only
by unpleasant happenings at Ormuz which reflected small credit
on the Portuguese. King John III, who succeeded King Manoel in
1521, selected as viceroy Vasco da Gama, now a man sixty-four years
of age. Vasco reached India in September, 1524, to die on Christmas
Day of the same year. He was buried in Cochin, whence in 1538 his
remains were carried to Portugal. He was succeeded by Henrique
de Menezes, who held the office of governor from 1524 to 1526, mostly
engaged in fighting on the Malabar Coast. The next governor was
Lopo Vaz de Sampaya, who was in turn succeeded by Nino da Cunha.
i Not “Sulaiman"; Castanheda calls him correctly Salmao Rex. The Arabic
historian Ibn ad-Dayba' says that Salman had been sent by Sultan Salim of
Turkey to help the Egyptians against the Portuguese. See J. R. A. S. Oct. 1921,
p. :549.


## p. 14 (#42) ##############################################

14
THE PORTUGUESE IN INDIA, 1498–1598
Nino da Cunha arrived in India in November, 1529. Early in
1530 the headquarters of the government were moved from Cochin
to Goa, which from this date became, as it has ever since remained,
the capital of Portuguese India. The next eight years were mainly
occupied with the dealings of the Portuguese with Sultan Bahadur
of Gujarat, and their acquisition of Diu. The history of this period
is copiously illustrated by both the Portuguese and the Muslims; and
on the whole the various narratives were convincingly consistent. In
order the better to understand the local conditions with which the
Portuguese had to cope, it is necessary to sketch briefly the state of
affairs in Gujarat itself. In the year 1526 the emperor Babur had
made himself master of Hindustan from the Indus to the borders of
Bengal. He, however, died in 1530 before he could subdue the king-
doms of Bengal, Gujarat or the Deccan. His son and successor
Humayun endeavoured to complete his father's work, and one of his
first undertakings was an invasion of Gujarat and Malwa. The
campaign opened with the battle of Mandasor at the beginning of
1535. The troops of Bahadur were in every engagement unsuccess-
ful and in the early stages of the campaign he was deserted by his
most valuable soldier, the famous master-gunner Mustafa Rumi Khan,
who, aggrieved at the treatment he received at Bahadur's hands,
offered his services to Humayun. In October, while Humayun was
still pressing his conquest, Bahadur had made an appeal to the
Portuguese for help, and had agreed to give them a footing at Diu in
return for a contingent of 500 Portuguese. He had already, in 1534,
made considerable concessions, ceding the island of Bassein with all
its dependencies and revenues to the Portuguese. When at last, in
1537, Humayun suddenly withdrew, Bahadur, feeling that his troubles
were over, regretted his promises, and set about negotiating with Nino
da Cunha for his withdrawal from Diu. It may be mentioned inci-
dentally that the 500 men had not been forthcoming. Long discussions
took place with a view to a conference between Bahadur and Nino da
Cunha, who had come up to settle the matter, Bahadur begging the
Portuguese governor to visit him ashore, and the Portuguese insisting
that the sultan should visit the fleet and conduct negotiations on
board. Each thoroughly mistrusted the other; but eventually Baha-
dur consented to visit Nino on board, where a scuffle arose, and
Bahadur was drowned endeavouring to escape.
All Portuguese
historians say that Bahadur had intended to murder the Portuguese
governor on the occasion of his return visit. The exact circumstances
which led to the drowning of Bahadur will probably never be known.
The various narratives for the first time here come in conflict, each
side blaming the other for the disaster, which occurred on 13
February, 1537.
Early in Bahadur's disastrous campaign with Humayun, the king
of Gujarat had made plans for escaping from India with his belong
ings in the event of defeat. He had dispatched a certain Asaf Khan


## p. 15 (#43) ##############################################

SIEGE OF DIU
15
to Mecca with his harem and treasure, and with rich presents for the
sultan Sulaiman-the Ottoman sultans since 1517 had been in posses-
sion of Egypt—entreating him to come to his assistance. The envoy
had an audience with the sultan Sulaiman at Adrianople after the
death of Bahadur; and by way of avenging the death of the Muslim
king the sultan at once gave order for the equipment of a powerful
fleet in Suez to be sent to attack the Portuguese at Diu.
Among the small party that had accompanied Bahadur in his fatal
visit to the Portuguese governor was a certain Khwaja Safar Salmani,
who played an important part in subsequent events. He at first was
on friendly terms with the Portuguese, who put him in charge of Diu,
but when he heard of the arrival of the Egyptian fleet under Sulaiman
Pasha, he at once changed his tactics and attacked them. He reported
to the pasha that there were 500 fighting men in Diu, and that all he
required was guns and munitions. The siege began in October and
came suddenly to an end on 5 November, 1538, when the pasha,
hearing of the arrival of twenty Portuguese ships, sailed away without
striking another blow. The defence of Diu by a tiny garrison com-
manded by Antonio da Silveira is one of the most heroic episodes in
Portuguese history. The brunt of the first attacks fell on Gogala, a
suburb of the island known to the Portuguese as Villa dos Rumes and
to the Muslims as Bandar-i-Turk, which with its garrison of about
eighty men had at last to capitulate. The main fort of Diu, however,
continued to hold out, women and children working with the same
devotion as the men. The besieged were also much favoured by
the great differences which arose between the Turks and the Gujaratis.
In the meanwhile (September, 1538) Garcia de Noronha, nephew
of the great Albuquerque, had reached Goa as viceroy, superseding
Nino da Cunha, who had only held the rank of governor, and who
died broken-hearted on the voyage home. In the fleet of eleven ships
the new viceroy brought with him from Lisbon there also came the
first bishop of Goa, which had been made a bishopric by a bull of
Pope Paul III in 1534. Garcia de Noronha on his arrival in Goa had
collected a powerful fleet and army for the relief of Diu, but seemed
in no haste to lead them into action; so that, when news came of the
departure of Sulaiman Pasha, his people were furious with the delay
which had deprived them of an opportunity of engaging the Turkish
fleet. The viceroy eventually reached Diu in January, 1539, and his
first task was to rebuild the fort. He entered into negotiation with
the new sultan of Gujarat, with whom a peace was signed in March
of that year. Under its terms a high 'wall was to be raised between
1 See An Arabic History of Gujarat, Indian Record Series, vol. 11,
Introduction.
? His name Safar has given rise to much confusion, as it has been variously
corrupted by Portuguese and English writers into Ja'far, Ghazanfar, Suffy,
Cofar and Sitr! See J. R. A. S. January, 1922, p. 17.


## p. 16 (#44) ##############################################

16
THE PORTUGUESE IN INDIA, 1498–1598
the fortress and the town, and one-third of the custom-house receipts
were to be paid to the Portuguese.
In 1540 de Noronha, after a term of office characterised by gross
corruption and cruelty, died, and was succeeded by Estavão da Gama
(second son of Vasco), who had for five years been captain of Malacca.
He immediately prepared for another expedition into the Red Sea.
In February, 1541, with a large fleet of seventy-two sail he reached
Massowah, where he left the greater part of his fleet and sailed with
some lighter vessels to Suez, which he found so well guarded that he
speedily withdrew, without having destroyed a single Turkish galley.
One incident in connection with this fruitless expedition, however,
deserves mention here. On his return to Massowah in June, 1541,
urgent appeals for help were received from the Abyssinians who had
been long engaged in hostilities with their Muhammadan invaders.
In response to the call of these Christians, the governor landed his
young brother Christavão da Gama with 400 men. The adventures
of this handful of men form one of the most romantic tales in history.
Christavão was finally defeated and put to death in August, 1542; but
at the beginning of the following year the king of Abyssinia, with
150 of da Gama's followers who had survived, attacked and defeated
the Muhammadans, and recovered his country.
The next governor, Martim Affonso de Sousa, arrived in India in
1542, carrying with him the great Jesuit saint, Francisco Xavier, who
had been selected by Ignatius Loyola and appointed papal nuncio by
Pope Paul III. Affonso de Sousa was a bad and greedy governor.
His sụccessor, Dom João de Castro, who reached India in August,
1545, was the last of the great Portuguese governors in India. With
his death, in June 1548, began the decline of Portuguese power and
prestige in the eastern seas.
As soon as he had assumed the reins of government, an improve-
ment became visible both in political and military affairs. There had
been continued disputes with the king of Gujarat ever since the con-
clusion of peace in March, 1539, and finally the Portuguese pulled
down the wall between their fortress and the town, built in accordance
with the terms of peace. In April, 1546, Sultan Mahmud III, nephew
of the sultan Bahadur, began to besiege the fortress of Diu, which
was commanded by João Mascarenhas. Although he must have
regarded this attack as inevitable, no preparations for a siege had
been made, and the garrison numbered only about 200 men. In
command of the besieging force was Khwaja Safar Salmani, who is
governor of Surat had received the title of Khudawand Khan, and
who had about 10,000 fighting men under him. On 18 May reinforce-
ments reached the Portuguese from Goa, raising the garrison to about
400 men, but they remained inferior in artillery and musketry. In
1 The full narrative is given by Miguel. Castanhoso. See also Whiteway,
The Portuguese Expedition to Abyssinia.


## p. 17 (#45) ##############################################

PORTUGUESE POLICY
17
1
June Khwaja Safar had his head carried off by a cannon-ball and was
succeeded by his son Ramazan Rumi Khan.
At last in October João de Castro was able to send sufficient troops
to relieve the garrison which by that time was reduced to a mere
handful of wounded, sick and hungry men. In November the viceroy
himself arrived in Diu and led an attack in which 3000 of the enemy,
including Ramazan Rumi Khan, were killed and 600 taken prisoners.
After this success de Castro was able to make a triumphant entry into
Goa in April, 1547, but in May, 1548, he died and was succeeded by
Garcia de Sa.
In the middle of the sixteenth century, when the Portuguese Em-
pire in the East had attained the climax of its grandeur, it was divided
into three sections: (1) from Guardafui to Ceylon, (2) from Pegu to
China, and (3) all territories on the east coast of Africa.
Under the viceroy or governor of India, with his headquarters at
Goa, were placed five governors or captains who ruled respectively
over Mozambique, Ormuz, Maskat, Ceylon and Malacca. The vicerov
or governor had entire control over the military, naval and civil
administration. In civil suits his decision was final, and in criminai
matters his power extended to sentence of death, except in the case
of Portuguese nobles. He was assisted by two councils, the Council of
Ştate, and the Council of the Three Estates.
It will be evident from the brief narrative we have attempted that
this history of one hundred years of Portuguese adventure in the
eastern seas contains little or no indication of any effort to found an
empire; never at any stage did the Portuguese captains assume the
offensive on shore, nor did they actually come into contact with any
of the great fighting races of India. They depended solely on their
control of the high seas; their main objective was always the capture
and occupation of the most important ports and their defence when
occupied. For this purpose were needed, not administrators, but
brave soldiers and sailors; and success was due, first, to the high mili-
tary qualities and personal courage and endurance of most of the
captains, and secondly, to the rich rewards which attracted so many to
undertake perilous journeys (on an average not 60 per cent of the
men who left Portugal reached India, so great was the mortality on
the crowded vessels) and face the countless risks which awaited them
at the other end.
The ultimate decline of Portuguese power in India was due
primarily to two causes: first, the encouragement of mixed marriages
at home and abroad, and secondly, religious intolerance. The former
policy had been adopted, as we have seen, by the great Albuquerque,
who prubably foresaw that the constant drain on the male population
1 See Arabic History of Gujarat, Indian Record Series, vol. 11. Introduction
2


## p. 18 (#46) ##############################################

18
THE PORTUGUESE IN INDIA, 1498–1598
of a relatively small country like his own must ultimately lead to a
shortage of man-power; the latter was pushed to its utmost extreme
by the zealous fervour of the Jesuits who selected Goa as their second
headquarters outside Rome; soon after the foundation of their order.
The arrival of St Francisco Xavier in India in 1542 was an event of
the most far-reaching importance and laid the foundations of that
ecclesiastical supremacy in Portuguese India which sapped the finan-
cial resources and undermined the civil administration of its governor.
Albuquerque and his immediate successors left almost untouched
the customs of the people of Goa, only abolishing, as did the English
later, the rite of sati. It may be recalled, however, that after the
arrival of the Franciscan missionaries in 1517 Goa had become the
centre of an immense propaganda, and already in 1540 by the orders
of the king of Portugal all the Hindu temples in the island of Goa
had been destroyed. The inquisition was introduced into Goa in 1560.
Garcia de Sa only held his high office for thirteen months, during
which period little of importance is recorded. His general policy was
one of conciliation with the Indian princes. In August, 1548, he
concluded a formal treaty with the king of Bijapur, under which it
was stipulated that Salsette and Bardas were to be the property of
the king of Portugal in perpetuity, and that in the event of the Turks
sending a fleet to attack the Portuguese, the Adil Khan should send
men and supplies to help them, but at the expense of the Portuguese.
Peace was also concluded with Sultan Mahmud of Gujarat.
Garcia de Sa was succeeded, on his death in August, 1549, by
Jorge Cabral, who was immediately confronted with trouble in
Cochin, where the safety of the king, was threatened by a league
formed against him by the Zamorin and the king of Pimienta. In
spite of a rumour that the Turks were fitting out a new fleet at Sucz,
Cabral sent an armada of ninety sail to help the king of Cochin, and
himself followed later with a large force of soldiers. The fighting
was protracted and severe, and when Cabral was at last on the point
of negotiating a peace with the enemy he had surrounded, a vessel
arrived (November, 1550) with orders from the new viceroy, Dom
Affonso de Noronha, to stay all proceedings, and the enemy were
thus allowed to escape.
Affonso de Noronha's four years of viceroyalty were not marked
by any very notable event, although Portuguese arms were often
busily engaged in Malacca, Cochin and Ormuz, which nearly fell to
the Turks. Two events of considerable interest, however, occurred
during this period, namely the death of St Francisco Xavier (1552)
and the arrival in India of Luiz de Camoens, the author of the Lusiads
(1553), who, finding a new expedition was ready to sail to help the
king of Cochin against the king of Pimienta, at once attached himselt
to it and, we are told bore no inconsiderable share in the conquest
of the Alagada Islands.


## p. 19 (#47) ##############################################

DAMAN
19
The next viceroy, Pero de Mascarenhas, who had been archbishop
of Goa, only lived to hold office for ten months, and was succeeded
in June, 1555, by Francisco Barreto with the title of governor. His
three years of office showed him to be a man of courage and deter-
mination, but of exceptional cruelty even for those times. Being
invited to come to the aid of the king of Sind, he went with a fleet
and 700 men to Tatta. Finding on arrival that his help was no longer
required, he demanded the payment of expenses incurred in fitting
out the fleet, as had been previously agreed upon. “On this being
refused, Barreto landed his men, entered the city and in his rage
killed over 8000 people. . . and loaded his vessels with one of the
richest booties ever taken in India. "i It was during the governorship
of Francisco Barreto that King John III of Portugal died, and with
his death the fortunes of that country both in Europe and in the East
began to decline. During the minority of Dom Sebastian, however,
the regency selected for the viceroyalty Dom Constantino of Braganza,
brother of the duke of the same name, who was one of the wisest and
worthiest men ever entrusted with that great office. He arrived in
India in September, 1558, and his first act was to recall a fleet which
Barreto had dispatched to Malacca, which was threatened by the king
of Achin. We have seen above how Affonso de Noronha on arrival
in India put a stop to Cabral's proceedings in Cochin, and as Danvers
says “it appears to have been a prevailing custom in India, that
new governors never put into execution the plans of their pre-
decessors”. ? During the governorship of Barreto the territory of
Bassein had been granted to the Portuguese by the king of Gujarat,
and one of the first aims of the new viceroy was to gain possession of
the neighbouring port of Daman, which was only occupied after
several fierce engagements with a rebellious Gujarat noble who had
established himself there (1559). Now the king of Gujarat at that
time, Ahmad II, was a mere puppet in the hands of two rival nobles,
'Imad ul-Mulk and I'timad Khan. The former of these nobles
included among his officers the fief-holder at the port of Daman, a
certain Sayf ul-Muluk Miftah (called by the Portuguese historians
Cide Bofata). In order that he might devote his whole attention to
combating I'timad Khan, he made an agreement with the Portuguese
thai in return for the services of 500 "Frankish" troops, he would
hand over to them the port of Daman. Miftah, however, refused to
surrender the port, even when the original mandate of 'Imad ul-Mulk
had been sent to him. When, finally, the Portuguese got possession
of Daman, they ignored their side of the bargain and sent no men to
help ’Imad ul-Mulk, who then repented his action and resolved on
the recapture of Daman. The Portuguese historians, who call 'Imad
ul-Mulk "Madre Maluco, king of Cambay”, relate that he was pre-
1 Danvers, Portuguese in India, 1, 508.
3 Idem, I, 510.


## p. 20 (#48) ##############################################

20
THE PORTUGUESE IN INDIA, 1498–1598
.
paring for an attack in force on Daman, and the Portuguese governor
of that port, feeling that he could not resist such a force, had recourse
to stratagem. He persuaded Khudawand Khan Rajab, the son of
Khwaja Safar (Portuguese Cedeme), lord of Surat, that his brother-
in-law 'Imad ul-Mulk was in reality intending not to attack Damın
but to drive him out of Surat. Khudawand Khan, believing this
statement, invited his brother-in-law to a party, where on arrival he
was foully murdered with all his attendants. The Muslim historians,
on the other hand, tell us that 'Imad ul-Mulk marched on Surat in
response to an appeal from the inhabitants of that town, who were
grievously oppressed by Khudawand Khan, and make no reference
to an attack on Daman.
Chingiz Khan, the son of 'Imad ul-Mulk,
at once resolved to avenge his father's murder and marched on Surat
which he invested, but being able to produce no effect by this means,
he called in the Portuguese to his assistance, who with ten ships
blockaded the waterway by which provisions entered the port. It
appears from the Portuguese accounts that both the besiegers and the
besieged were given to suppose that the ships had been sent to help
them, but the Muslim historians say that Chingiz Khan made definite
promises of territory to the Portuguese in return for their help. How-
ever this may be, it appears that Chingiz Khan withdrew temporarily,
and on his return to the attack was met by the Portuguese who put
him to rout; for in the interval Khudawand Khan had promised to
give Surat to the Portuguese if they would help him against Chingiz
Khan. But no sooner had the Portuguese accomplished their task
than Khudawand Khan was obliged to flee from his own people, who
were incensed by his intention of surrendering the port. In making
his escape he fell into the hands of one of Chingiz Khan's nobles who
cut off his head and sent it to his master.
The next notable viceroy to be sent to India was Dom Luiz de
Atayde, during whose viceroyalty (1568-71) the Portuguese were
confronted by a danger which threatened their very existence in India.
In 1569 three of the most powerful Indian princes concluded ar
offensive league against the Portuguese which, we are told, had been
discussed among them with the utmost secrecy for the past five years.
These princes were 'Ali II, the Adil Khan of Bijapur, Murtaza Nizam
Shah of Ahmadnagar, and the Zamorin of Calicut. So great was the
confidence of these princes in their ability to drive these unwelcome
strangers out of India, that they had arranged beforehand exactly how
the Portuguese possessions should be divided among them; the Adil
Khan had gone so far as to nominate certain of his officers to posts
in Goa, at the same time promising them certain Portuguese ladies,
famous for their beauty, in marriage. Ignoring all treaties, the Adil
Khan marched against Goa at the head of 100,000 men; and Murtaza
Nizam Shah against Chaul. To protect Goa the viceroy had at his
disposal 650 active troops and about 250 aged and infirm; having
dispatched 600 to reinforce the commander of Chaul. He sent these


## p. 21 (#49) ##############################################

SIEGE OF GOA
21
troops to defend the most vulnerable points of attack, while the
defence of the town of Goa was entrusted to Dominicans, Franciscans
and other priests numbering some 300 in all. In addition to this he
organised 1000 Christian slaves of various nationalities into four
hands, and placed 1500 native Christians under selected Portuguese
officers, with a sprinkling of reliable Portuguese soldiers. His council
strongly urged the abandonment of Chaul and the concentration of
all efforts on the defence of Goa, but the viceroy was resolved that
the enemy should pay dearly for all they might take. The attack
on Goa at the end of December, 1569, opened with the bombardment
of the Pass of Benasterim, which the viceroy himself took command.
The defence of Goa forms one of the most brilliant feats in Portuguese
annals, and the courage and resources shown by Dom Luiz de Atayde
in the face of such overwhelming odds entitle him to rank among the
great soldiers of the world. Although during the siege, which lasted
ten months, he received reinforcements in ships and men, it must be
remembered that he was able not only to send troops to other threat-
ened ports along the coast, but even to dispatch the trading ships
with their annual consignments to Lisbon, as if nothing unusual were
toward. Hardly less remarkable was the defence of Chaul by the
small garrison of Portuguese against the superior forces of the king of
Ahmadnagar which lasted all through the summer, and terminated
in the signing of an offensive and defensive alliance between Murtaza
Nizam Shah and Dom Sebastian of Portugal. The part played by the
Zamorin was of little or no account, and it was not until the beginning
of June, 1570, that he made an attack in force on the fort of Chale,
near Calicut, where a small garrison was only saved from surrender
by the arrival of reinforcements in September. Not until December,
1571, was a final treaty concluded between the new viceroy and the
Adil Khan, whereby the local princes were compelled to recognise
the rights of the Portuguese to their Indian possessions. Thus did
Dom Luiz de Atayde, by his unflinching valour, his single-minded
devotion and his military genius, succeed in re-establishing for a time
the prestige of Portugal in the East, by withstanding the most serious
confederacy that had ever taken arms against her. Dom Luiz returned
in the same year to Portugal, where he was received with great honour.
The newly appointed viceroy, Antonio de Noronha, arrived at Goa
in September, 1571, before the siege of that town had been raised.
Chale, in the meantime, was holding out against desperate odds, and
the reliefs sent by the new viceroy immediately after the conclusion
of peace with the Adil Khan, arrived only to find that the garrison
had surrendered conditionally to the Zamorin. With the appointment
of Antonio de Noronha the administration of the Portuguese posses-
sions in the East were divided, as we have seen above, into three
governments, Noronha becoming viceroy of India, while governors
were appointed to the other two provinces. This experiment led at
once to disputes between the viceroy and Antonio Moniz Barreto,


## p. 22 (#50) ##############################################

22
THE PORTUGUESE IN INDIA. 1498–1598
the governor of Malacca, and ultimately involved the viceroy's recall
in 1573.
It is necessary at this stage to revert to the events which were
passing in Gujarat. Ever since the invasion of that country by the
emperor Humayun, and the tragic death of Sultan Bahadur in 1537,
the kingdom of Cambay, as Gujarat was called by the Portuguese,
had been in a state of almost continuous civil war, the nominal kings
being merely figureheads at the mercy and disposal of whichever of
the rival nobles was able to capture and hold them. Such a state of
affairs was, no doubt, very greatly to the advantage of the Portuguese,
who were able to play one chief off against another, as we have seen
in the case of Surat. Although Humayun had virtually conquered
Gujarat, he had withdrawn without making any arrangements for the
incorporation of that country into the Moghul Empire; and not till
1572 did his son, the great Akbar, who had then been seventeen years
on the Moghul throne, think fit to undertake the reduction of this
rich province. The political situation in Gujarat at this moment has
already been described. It may here suffice to say that it was with
two distinct classes of opponent that Akbar had now to contend. First,
the Gujarat nobles, who were divided always into two or more factions,
the one or the other having the person of the puppet king, and
secondly, the so-called Mirzas, members of the royal house of Tamer-
lane, residing for their personal safety outside the Moghul Empire,
who with the prestige of their descent were able to command a certain
following wherever they went. The Mirzas were a constant source
of trouble to their imperial cousin, especially in Gujarat, and it was
due to them rather than to the Gujarat nobles that the final absorption
of that country into the Moghul Empire was delayed.
The nominal king of Gujarat at this time was Sultan Muzaffar,
and the leading noble was the I'timad Khan who has been mentioned
above. It was at the invitation of the latter that Akbar, towards the
end of 1572, entered Ahmadabad and received the submission of
I'timad Khan and his partisans and later of Sultan Muzaffar, who
was found lurking near Akbar's camp. It was after his entry into the
capital that Akbar visited Cambay, where for the first time he saw
the sea and made acquaintance with the Portuguese, receiving there
certain of their merchants who came to pay their respects. Mean-
time, the Mirzas, headed by Ibrahim Husayn, had collected their
forces in Broach and were plotting against Akbar; and when it
reached the emperor's ears that they had murdered Rustam Khan,
the lord of Broach, who had expressed his intention of obeying Akbar's
summons; Akbar resolved on immediate vengeance and set out at
the head of 200 men for Surat, which was occupied by Muhammad
Husayn. On his way he encountered and defeated Ibrahim Mirza
in superior force at Sarnal (December, 1572). but the Mirza escaped
i Camb. Hist. of India, m, chap. xiti.


## p. 23 (#51) ##############################################

RELATIONS WITH THE MOGHULS
23
to Delhi where he tried to stir up the common people in order to
necessitate Akbar's withdrawal from Gujarat, only to perish shortly
afterwards in Multan. In January, 1573, Akbar began siege opera-
tions against Surat. It was during this siege that Akbar first entered
into negotiations with the Portuguese. The accounts are confusing
but it would appear from a collation of the narratives of Abul Fazi
and Couto, that the besieged in Surat had offered to hand over that
port to the Portuguese if they would help them against Akbar, but
that, when the Portuguese contingent realised the strength of the
Moghuls, they changed their rôle from that of enemies to ambassadors,
and were well received by the emperor who "made enquiries about
the wonders of Portugal and the manners and customs of Europe".
It was, no doubt, a source of great vexation to the emperor to find
that important ports like Diu, Daman and Bassein, were in the hands
of these alien merchants, but the failure of the triple alliance of 1569
had clearly shown that without the co-operation of a powerful fleet
it would be impossible to dislodge the Portuguese from these coastal
strongholds; and it was not within the competency of the Gujaratis,
still less of the Moghuls, to build ships of the requisite strength.
Akbar, therefore, confined his military activities to the reduction of
the ports which still remained in the hands of the Gujaratis, notably
Cambay, Surat and Broach.
To return to the Portuguese, in 1573 Antonio Moniz Barreto
became governor in Goa, and it was during his term of office that
a curious incident occurred which may be fitly recorded here. The
annual pilgrimages of Muslim Indians to Mecca, whose route lay
through Gujarat (which was called the Gate of Mecca) had been for
some years interrupted by the domination of the Arabian Ocean by
the Portuguese and also by the disorder prevailing in Gujarat. Now
that order had been restored in this province and Akbar's relations
with Goa were of a friendly nature, it was considered safe for the
ladies of the imperial household to fulfil a long-cherished desire of
performing this chief act of Muslim piety (for although Akbar himself
in his religious experiments had almost abjured Islam, his family had
remained devout Muslims). The party reached Surat in safety at the
end of 1575, but it was not till the following season that satisfactory
passes were furnished. The ladies, who included the famous Gulbadan
Begum, performed the pilgrimage and returned safely in 1582.
In 1578, under the viceroyalty of Dom Diego de Menezes, Antonio
Cabral (who had met Akbar at Surat in 1573) was accredited to the
emperor's court as ambassador, and it was the conversations of Akbar
and Cabral on religious matters which resulted in the dispatch of the
first Jesuit mission to the Moghul court in 1580. 1 Like Kubilai Khan
in the thirteenth century, Akbar was disposed to give Christianity
a fair hearing, but he had to reckon with the spiritual forces of Islam
1 See Payne, Akbar and the Jesuits.


## p. 24 (#52) ##############################################

24
THE PORTUGUESE IN INDIA, 1498-1598
which he was obliged to conciliate outwardly at least throughout his
progress towards the new religion which was forming in his mind.
In the meanwhile, events of far-reaching importance for the
history of India were passing in Europe.
In August, 1578, Dom Sebastian, then only wenty-five years of
age, was killed in battle near Fez, fighting like a hero in a hopeless
enterprise against the Moors. Philip II of Spain had long coveted the
kingdom of Portugal, and on the death of the cardinal Dom Henrique,
who had assumed the title of king, he invaded that country and totally
defeated the Portuguese at the battle of Alcantara (1580), and in April
1581, was crowned king at Tomar. Portugal thus became a part of
the kingdom of Spain, but it was stipulated that the commerce of
Africa, Persia and India should be reserved to the Portuguese, and
carried only on their vessels.
The first viceroy sent to India under the new régime was Dom
Francisco Mascarenhas, who had already considerable experience of
India. Among the many happenings of his period of office may be
mentioned the rebellion of the ex-sultan of Gujarat, Muzaffar, who,
escaping from captivity, managed to raise an army of some 30,000
men and recovered a large part of his former kingdom (1583). In the
confusion which ensued, the viceroy thought an opportunity possibly
offered of "laying hands on Surat at small cost” , but his plans were
frustrated by the sudden arrival of a Moghul army.
By reason of the assistance given by Queen Elizabeth to the
Netherlands in their revolt against Spain, a declaration of war became
merely a matter of time, and in 1548 diplomatic relations were broken
off between England and Spain, and consequently Portugal. In 1586
six ships sailed from Lisbon for India. Off the Azores they fell in with
Sir Francis Drake, who brought into Plymouth a cargo valued at over
a hundred thousand pounds. This success taught the English and the
Dutch that what the Portuguese had achieved in Indian waters was,
no doubt, equally possible for themselves. Though the merging of
Portugal into the kingdom of Spain may be said to have hastened the
end of Portugal's monopoly of Indian trade, rival European adven-
turers were bound to appear in Indian waters sooner or later in an
age which produced and encouraged such men as Francis Drake.
The only wonder is that other seafaring nations allowed her to enjoy
for so long the advantages she had gained. By the time she had
recovered her independence after “sixty years' captivity", the Dutch
had already deprived her of the greater part of her possessions and
her trade.
The neighbouring island of Ceylon had been discovered by the
Portuguese more or less by accident. It was during the viceroyalty
of Dom Francisco d'Almeida that the Muhammadan merchants, in
1 Couto, x, 6.


## p. 25 (#53) ##############################################

CEYLON
25
order to avoid their new rivals, began to make a detour by way of the
Maldives when proceeding with their spice ships to the Red Sea. In
November, 1505, the viceroy sent his youthful son Lourenço with a
fleet of nine vessels to try and intercept these merchantmen, and while
searching for them Lourenço was driven on to the coast of Ceylon in
the neighbourhood of Galle, where he replenished his stores, and then
proceeded to Colombo. According to some accounts a treaty was
then concluded with the king of Ceylon, whereby the king agreed to
pay tribute in cinnamon and elephants to the Portuguese, who, in
return, undertook to protect Ceylon against all enemies. Seeing that
the next official visit to Ceylon did not take place until 1518, when
Lopo Soares actually secured similar terms from the local king, it
would appear that the first treaty was not regarded very seriously,
although we hear in the interval of Portuguese merchants trading in
cinnamon at Colombo. The only evidence which remains of Dom
Lourenço's visit is a stone, still standing, bearing the royal arms of
Portugal surmounted by a cross, but marked with the unaccountable
date of 1501.
The report sent to King Manoel from Cochin, dated 22 December,
1518, contains the following entry : "Lopo Soares has returned from
Ceylon, where he was erected a fortress of mud, stone and clay, and
obtained tribute of ten elephants and 400 baharis of cinnamon".
In 1520 Lopo de Brito, bringing with him 400 men, arrived in
Colombo, and at once set about the rebuilding of the little fort, which
had suffered badly from the torrential rains. He had scarcely had
time to complete his defences when the inhabitants showed open
hostility, which led to a siege of the little garrison, who were only
saved at the end of six months by the timely arrival of a Portuguese
galley. Hostilities ceased shortly after this and friendly relations were
re-established. The Portuguese had, however, made themselves
thoroughly disliked by the Sinhalese, and the constant exposure of
the garrison to attack led them finally, in 1524, to dismantle the fort
at Colombo, and to confine themselves to a factory under the protection
of the Sinhalese king. In 1538 the Zamorin of Calicut dispatched a
fleet of fifty-one vessels carrying 8000 men to attack Ceylon. A
Portuguese fleet set out in pursuit, and inflicted a severe defeat on
the Zamorin's forces after a very fierce engagement; the grateful king
rewarded his allies with a handsome contribution towards the
expenses of the expedition, but further assistance to meet a renewed
attack by the Zamorin in alliance with the king's brother was not
forthcoming as the Portuguese were at that time too busily engaged
in and around Diu to spare any ships or men. In the following year,
however, the required help was sent, and peace was restored in
Ceylon. Shortly after this (1541) a Sinhalese embassy was sent to
Lisbon carrying, among other gifts to the Portuguese king, an image
of the child who had just been declared heir apparent to the throne.


## p. 26 (#54) ##############################################

26
THE PORTUGUESE IN INDIA, 1498–1598
1
The coronation of the image was celebrated with stately ceremony
and the day was observed as a holiday throughout the land. The
name of this child was Dharmapala, and on the death of his grand-
father in 1550 he ascended the throne. In 1556, thanks mainly to the
wave of religious enthusiasm kindled by the missionary activities of
Francisco Xavier, Dharmapala and his queen were baptised and
received into the Catholic Church. Had the priests by whom he was
surrounded acted with moderation, or even with understanding, this
conversion might have had momentous results; but, no doubt with
the best of intentions, they did everything that was possible to offend
the Buddhist inhabitants of the island; without making any effort to
enquire into the nature of the Buddhist religion they determined to
destroy it by every means in their power, and by their ruthless action
only succeeded in undoing the labours of twenty years. It was at
this time that we find introduced among the Sinhalese that curious
medley of Portuguese names and the high-sounding title of Dom. From
1559 to 1565 the Portuguese were engaged in constant war with the
Sinhalese by whom they were so much hated, and on more than one
occasion were very near to being altogether ejected from the island.
In 1560 matters became so serious that the viceroy, Dom Constantino
of Braganza, himself led a great expedition against the Sinhalese. The
headquarters of the Portuguese had hitherto been Kotte, but in 1565
it was decided to remove the garrison and factory and the native
inhabitants to Colombo, and the ancient capital, thus abandoned,
soon became the haunt of wild beasts. The rest of Ceylon remained
in the undisputed possession of the Sinhalese monarch, the grand-
uncle of Dharmapala, who was now a refugee under the protection
of the Portuguese. In 1578 the old king, feeling he had no longer
the strength to cope with the increasing aggressions of the Portuguese,
abdicated in favour of his son, Raja Sinha, who, in the following year,
laid siege to Colombo, but was driven off. In the meantime Dharma-
pala executed a deed of gift, by which, after setting forth his own title
to the throne, and explaining that nothing had been left him by his
rivals but Colombo, he made over all his claims to the king of Portu-
gal, Dom Henrique, and in 1583 executed another instrument by
which Philip II, who was now lord of Portugal, was made heir to
Dharmapala. Raja Sinha meanwhile devoted all his energies to
raising an efficient army and to erecting strong forts, which became
a source of much anxiety to the Portuguese, who on their side were
engaged in strengthening the fortifications of Colombo. Constant
appeals for assistance were sent to Goa, but seldom met with a satis-
factory response. In 1587 Raja Sinha, with an army of 50,000 men,
made his first great assault on Colombo. The carnage was terrible,
but the half-clothed Sinhalese could not cope with the fully armed
soldiery of Europe, and the assault was turned to a siege, during
which large reinforcements in men and munitions arrived from
Cochin, and later on from Malacca; and finally, in February, 1588,
2


## p. 27 (#55) ##############################################

CEYLON
27
the Portuguese had acquired such superiority over the enemy that
they were able to make a sortie in force, and Colombo was saved. In
1597 Dharmapala died and a convention of delegates was held, which,
after two days spent in negotiations, agreed to recognise Philip II as
the king of Ceylon, provided the Portuguese "would guarantee on his
behalf that the laws and customs of the Sinhalese should be maintained
inviolate for ever".
In considering the achievement of the Portuguese in the Indian
Ocean, it is our duty to recognise the important part they played,
having regard for the future history of India, in successfully frustrating
all the attacks made on them by the Turks. Although we have no
documentary evidence for believing that the Turks ever entertained
the idea of establishing a naval, and still less a military base in India,
it is quite conceivable that if one of their fleets had succeeded in
driving the Portuguese out of their fortresses on the Indian coast, the
establishment of the Christian powers in India might have been
indefinitely postponed.


## p. 28 (#56) ##############################################

CHAPTER II
THE DUTCH IN INDIA
THE first Dutch vessels to sail round the Cape of Good Hope an:
to cross the Indian Ocean in search of trade left the Texel on 2 April,
1595. The owners were a group of Amsterdam merchants who had
formed a company for Indian trade in 1592. The Netherlands had
long been a most important centre for the European trade in the
produce of the colonial world. The wares which the Spaniards and
Portuguese transported from America and the Indies to Seville and
Lisbon were carried further north very largely in Holland and Zee-
land ships. Antwerp had been the great distributing centre for Nor-
thern and Middle Europe, but after its fall in 1585 and the consequent
closure of the Scheldt by the more successful rebels of the northern
provinces, the trading towns of Holland and Zeeland, and particularly
Amsterdam, had inherited its position. The circumstances of the time
made the use of the Iberian ports, all obeying Philip II after the
conquest of Portugal in 1580, as centres of Mediterranean and colonial
trade a perilous practice. Even though the economic dependence of
Spain and Portugal on the Netherlands rebels was too great to permit
the king to adopt a consistent policy of prohibition with respect to
Netherlands trading, the embargoes of 1585 and 1595 served to create
a sense of insecurity in Netherlands trading circles.
To venture out into the vast, unknown regions of the Indian world
however, was an enterprise not lightly to be undertaken. Knowledge
of the route to India was of the vaguest, and ignorance exaggerated
the power of the Spanish-Portuguese Empire to defend its claims.
At first, therefore, attempts were made to reach the Indies by the
north of Asia, although a plan for an expedition round the Cape of
Good Hope had been conceived as early as any of the northern
expeditions. But years of preparation preceded the execution. The
first act of the Company formed in 1592 was to send Cornelis de
Houtman to Lisbon to collect information about the conditions and
methods of Indian trade, and in 1595 it was he who led the expedition.
The famous geographer Petrus Plancius, a Reformed minister who
had fled from Flanders, and who in 1592 had published a map of the
world based, in so far as the Indies are concerned, on Portuguese
data, was commissioned to instruct the skippers and mates who were
to take part in the expedition in the newest discoveries of the science
of navigation. And invaluable was the advice of Jan Huyghen van
Linschoten, whose Reysgeschrift van de navigatein der Portugaloysers,
a seaman's guidebook to India and Far Eastern navigation, appeared
in 1595, while the Itinerario, voyage ofte schipvaert van Jan Huygher:


## p. 29 (#57) ##############################################

EARLY VOYAGES
29
van Linschoten naer Oost ofte Portugails Indien, although published
only in the next year, must have been printed earlier, since we know
that de Houtman took a copy with him on his voyage.
The number of Netherlanders who made the voyage to India in
the Portuguese period and served the Portuguese in some capacity
or other must have been considerable. Some were engaged in trade
out there, and many served on the Portuguese ships, particularly as
gunners. Jan Huyghen van Linschoten in 1583, after some years
spent in Spain and Portugal, accompanied the newly appointed
archbishop of Goa to his post in the capacity of secretary. He was
still a very young man, having been born in 1563. He stayed at Goa
from September, 1583, to January, 1589. He came back to Holland
in September, 1592, and settled at Enkhuizen. He became an active
promoter of the plans for direct trading with the Indies which wers
already in the air. In 1594 and 1595 he took part in fruitless attempts
to find out the North-east Passage, yet in spite of that found time to
work out the notes collected during his travels into the two works
above cited.
Of the two, the Reysgeschrift was probably of the greater imme-
diate use, but it is on the Itinerario that Linschoten's fame is chiefly
founded. It is much more than the ordinary traveller's story. In fact,
Linschoten's personal observation of India was practically confined to
Goa, but in the Itinerario he gives an encyclopaedic, account of the
whole of the extensive area which the Portuguese looked upon as
their special preserve. He describes towns and harbours, the political
organisation, the social conditions and the religions of the various
peoples, and the produce and industries of particular regions; through
it all he traces the ramifications of the Portuguese Empire and of
Portuguese trade, explaining how it works, where it is weak and where
it is strong. One fact he stresses over and over again which must have
stimulated the spirit of enterprise of his countrymen--and no doubt
that was his intention-namely that the Portuguese system was
vulnerable in the extreme, undermined by abuses and corruption,
while Portuguese methods of navigation in particular were far inferior
to those of Dutch seamen. At the same time Linschoten did not
under-estimate the strength of the Portuguese fortified establishments,
and he pointed to the Malay Archipelago as the most suitable area
for Dutch enterprise on account of Sunda Straits being undefended:
there was not a Portuguese fortress on either Java or Sumatra, which
nevertheless offered great opportunities to the European merchant;
Bantam in particular was the centre of a trading, movement to Malacca
on the one side and the Spice Islands, or Moluccas, on the other.
It was excellent advice and it was taken. Houtman set his course
straight for Java, where he found the inhabitants quite willing to
enter into commercial relations with rivals of the Portuguese, and
although he spoiled his chances by injudicious behaviour and this first


## p. 30 (#58) ##############################################

30
THE DUTCH IN INDIA
expedition yielded no profits, in August, 1597, Houtman, with three
out of his four ships, reappeared before the Texel, and the mere fact
of his having accomplished the voyage was encouragement enough.
The pent-up enterprise of the Dutch commercial class burst forth
as if a dyke had been cut. New companies for the Indian trade
sprang up in several towns of Holland and Zeeland. Twenty-two ships
left for the Archipelago in 1598, and about forty more in the next
three years. Some of the so-called Pre-companies made enormous
profits, but it soon became apparent that their keen competition would
in the long run spoil the market both in the East and in Europe,
while their jealousy made it impossible for them to co-operate in
order to secure the new trade against the attempts of the Portuguese
to enforce their monopoly. The foundation of the English East India
Company (1600), which at once sent an expedition in the track of the
Dutch, to Java, drove home the conclusion that unity was necessary.
The Government, anxious lest a promising new source of wealth
should dry up, and realising that the energies of commercial enter-
prise might be so directed as to help the country in its war with the
Spanish Empire, took action. It was the Advocate of Holland, Johan
van Oldenbarnevelt, who initiated negotiations for an amalgamation,
on the basis of a national monopoly. For although public opinion
in the Netherlands was strongly averse to monopolies, in this parti-
cular case it was realised that the amalgamated companies must be
protected from further competition. In December, 1601, delegates of
the various companies, at the invitation of the states-general, met
at the Hague. It was far from easy to reach agreement, Zeeland
interests in particular proving refractory. The Advocate, however,
exerted all his influence and at last a scheme was evolved by which
the Pre-companies consented to be merged into a monopolist char-
tered company and this was at once embodied in a resolution of the
states-general (20 March, 1602).
The United Company was a very powerful organism. The directors
of the Pre-companies, who now became directors of the United
Company, had every time put up their capital for one expedition
only. New capital was now invited from the general public-a total
of 6,500,000 guilders (about £540,000) was subscribed—and that for
ten years; the directors were to be liable only for the amount they
subscribed as shareholders. In fact the return of the capital on the
expiration of the period named in the charter never took place, nor
had the shareholders ever any effective control over the direction of
affairs. In its administrative organisation its origin as the result of
an amalgamation appeared very clearly. It was composed of six
"chambers" which traded each with its own capital, but profit and
loss were pooled. The directors of the several chambers, who held
office for life, were appointed by the government of the town in which
the chamber was situated (by the Provincial States in the case of the


## p. 31 (#59) ##############################################

THE EAST INDIA COMPANY
31
Zeeland Chamber) out of three persons nominated, on the death of
a director, by his surviving colleagues. The Amsterdam Chamber
was by far the most important and appointed eight of the seventeen
general directors. “The Seventeen”, who met three times a year,
could only lay down general lines of policy, the execution of which
rested with the several chambers. This complicated organisation,
intended to reconcile the warring interests of various groups and
political entities, particularly of Amsterdam and Zeeland, lasted as
long as the company.
To this body the states-general by the charter of 20 March, 1602,
delegated important sovereign powers. Not only was the Company
given the exclusive right to trade in all countries between the Cape
of Good Hope and the Straits of Magellan, but within that area it was
empowered to carry on war, to conclude treaties, to take possession
of territory, and to erect fortresses. The Pre-companies had had littie
thought of colonisation or of attacking the Portuguese, whom on the
contrary they sought to avoid. Only on the outskirts of the Portuguese
sphere of influence, in the Moluccas, had the desire to control th:
spice trade inspired attacks on Portuguese posts. The states-general,
by their interference, set a new direction and made the United
Company a great instrument of war and conquest.
The powerful fleets, of about a dozen large ships each, which the
Company sent out annually during the first years of its existence,
boldly attacked the Portuguese Empire at its vital points. Mozam-
bique, Goa, Malacca, were all attacked, but in vain. The Dutch had
the command of the seas, they hindered and interrupted communi-
cations between the Portuguese ports, they even prevented the sending
of reinforcements from the mother country. But they failed to
break Portuguese power ashore. Only in the Moluccas did they
succeed in ousting the Portuguese and securing a foothold for them-
selves. Even there, however, the Portuguese, supported by the Spani-
ards from the Philippines, offered a strong resistance, and the deter-
mined attempt of the Company to become masters of the Moluccas
-in an instruction of 1608, the directors described this as their
principal aim-for a number of years claimed much of its energies.
For a considerable period these were in any case concentrated on the
Malay Archipelago. The spice trade of the Moluccas was looked upon
as the great prize of the Indian world. Java, moreover, was proving
as important as Linschoten had foretold. Factories were established
at Bantam and Jacatra, and these insensibly became the centre of
the trading movement which the Dutch were developing and which
already embraced the Moluccas in the east, China and Japan in the
north, and Coromandel and Surat in the west. In 1609 unity of
command over the scattered ships and posts in the East was secured
by the institution of a central authority, the governor-general and
the council of the Indies. The first governor-general was Pieter Both


## p. 32 (#60) ##############################################

32
THE DUTCH IN INDIA
and his instructions, endorsed by the states-general, ordered him to
establish some fixed seat for the central government in the Indies,
and suggested Johore, Bantam or Jacatra for that purpose. It was
years before these instructions were acted upon, and it was done, not
by Both, but by his second successor, Jan Pietersoon Coen, the real
founder of the Dutch Eastern Empire. In 1619 Coen conquered
Jacatra and founded Batavia on its ruins. At the same time his ruth-
less energy saved the Dutch from being superseded by the English,
whose chances in the Archipelago were in the course of a few years
effectually ruined, and who thenceforward concentrated their atten-
tion on India. Great exertions were stili required of the Dutch, how-
ever, to defend their new capital against the Javanese themselves,
and altogether it was not until the governor-generalship of Antonie
van Diemen (1636-46) that the ruling powers at Batavia felt them-
selves sufficiently secure in the Archipelago to resume the earlier
policy of aggression against the strongholds of Portuguese power in
the Indian Ocean.
In 1633 the Dutch had already begun to blockade Malacca, which
finally they took in 1641. Meanwhile from 1636 onwards a fleet had
been sent every year to blockade Goa during the winter months, the
only time when the port was accessible. In the spring of 1638 the
fleet returning from that blockade attacked Batticaloa and a twenty
years' struggle began in which the Dutch wrested from the Portuguese
all they possessed in Ceylon and in the southern part of the mainlan:
of India itself.
A long time before they made those conquests, the Dutch already
had acquired factories on the Coromandel Coast, in Gujarat, and in
Bengal. Except for the fortress Geldria at Pulicat, these settlements
were merely unfortified trading posts, and the position of the Dutch
in India for a long time remained essentially different from that in
the Archipelago. And the Archipelago was not only the strategic and
administrative centre of their system, it was also the economic centre.
It was pepper and spices, the produce of Sumatra, Java and the
Moluccas, then so much in demand for the European market, that
had originally drawn the Dutch to the islands, and from the early
years of the United Company they set themselves to obtain a mono-
poly in these articles. What took them to India in the first instance
was rather the requirements of the Archipelago than of the European
market; in other words, it was a distinctly subsidiary interest. The
Dutch traders were not slow to discover that the system of paying in
money for the pepper and spices had grave disadvantages. At the
same time they saw that there was an active commercial movement
in existence, with Bantam, and especially Achin, as its intermediary
centres, by which the populations of the Archipelago exchanged their
own products for cotton goods from Gujarat and from the Coromandel


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COROMANDEL COAST
33
Coast.