Portuguese reached India and tried to establish their powers in India

When Vasco Da Gama landed in Calicut, he was cordially received by the Zamorin and permitted to trade in spices and to set up a factory on the coast. The spices carried back by Vasco Da Gama were computed at sixty times the cost of the entire expedition. But this did not satisfy the Portuguese ruler. The Portuguese wanted to enforce a monopoly over the spice trade to Europe and claimed the right of searching the ships of Arab traders. This led to a fight in which the Portuguese living in their factory were massacred.

In retaliation, the Portuguese ships bombarded Calicut before they withdrew. In 1502, Vasco Da Gama returned with a fleet of twenty-five vessels and demanded that the Zamorin should expel all the Muslim merchants settled there and not to allow any Muslim merchants to land at any of his ports or to have any trade relations with them. The Zamorin rejected these demands .on the ground that the port of Calicut was open to all and that it would be impossible to prohibit anyone from trade, whether he was a Muslim or not. Gama’s answer was a brutal assault on Calicut.

This was followed by establishing a number of forts at Cochin, Quilon etc. to dominate the Malabar trade. The Asian convention was of open trade, with the governments backing and supporting trade, but not using their military or naval strength to promote or protect it. This was so even in China where the Court had always exercised close control over foreign trade and treated items of import as “tribute”.

On the other hand, the Mediterranean tradition which the Portuguese brought with them was of a combination of trade with warfare on land and sea. This approach was profoundly upsetting to the Asian traders, as well as too many of the small states of the region, such as, Calicut, Cochin etc. which like some of the city states of Europe, were heavily dependent on trade, but followed the convention of open trade without the use of military or naval force. Alarmed at the growing power of the Portuguese, the Sultan of Egypt fitted a fleet and sent it towards India.

The fleet was joined by a contingent of ships from the ruler of Gujrat. The Zamorin of Calicut also lent his support, as also the rulers of Bijapur and Ahmednagar. After an initial victory in which the son of the Portuguese governor, Don Almaida, was killed, this combined fleet was routed by the Portuguese in 1509. This naval victory made the Portuguese navy supreme in the Indian Ocean for the time being and enabled the Portuguese to extend their operations towards the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. Shortly afterwards, Albuquerque succeeded as the governor of the Portuguese possessions in the east.

Albuquerque initiated this new policy by capturing Goa from Bijapur in 1510. The island of Goa was an excellent natural harbour and fort. It was strategically located and from it the Portuguese could command the Malabar trade and watch the policies of the rulers in the Deccan. It was also near enough to the Gujarat seaports for the Portuguese to make their presence felt there.

Goa was, thus, suited to be the principal centre of Portuguese commercial and political activity in the east. The Portuguese were also able to extend their possession on the mainland opposite Goa and to blockade and sack the Bijapuri ports of Danda-Rajouri and Dabhol, thus paralysing Bijapur’s sea-trade on the mainland. They sacked and blockaded the Bijapuri ports of Danda-Rajouri and Dabhol till the Adil Shah came to terms by ceding Goa.

From their base at Goa, the Portuguese further strengthened their position by establishing a fort at Colombo in Sri Lanka and at Achin in Sumatra and the Malacca port which controlled the exit and entry to the narrow gulf between the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra.

The Portuguese also established a station at the island of Socotra at the mouth of the Red Sea and besieged Aden. Vasco da Gama failed to capture Aden-his only failure in the area. He forced the ruler of Ormuz which controlled entry into the Persian Gulf to permit them to establish a fort there. The Portuguese made two attempts in 1520-21 to capture Diu, but both were defeated by its governor, Ahmad Ayaz.

The Ottomon Turks, under Sulaiman, were passing through the most magnificent period of their history. They were poised to attack Europe and also to complete their conquests in Asia. In 1529, the Turks besieged Vienna which was saved by the timely intervention of the Poles. Earlier, the Turks had defeated the ruler of Iran in 1514 and then conquered Syria, Egypt and Arabia. This implied an increasing role of the Ottoman Turks in the Indian Ocean.

The sultan of Gujarat sent an embassy to the Ottoman ruler congratulating him on his victories and seeking his support. In return, the Ottoman ruler expressed a desire to combat the infidels that is the Portuguese who had disturbed the shores of Arabia. From this time onwards, there was a continuous exchange of embassies and letters between the two countries.

After ousting the Portuguese from the Red Sea in 1529, a strong fleet under Sulaiman Rais was dispatched to aid Bahadur Shah, the ruler of Gujarat. Bahadur Shah received it well and two of the Turkish officials, who were given Indian names, were appointed governors of Surat and Diu respectively. Of these two, Rumi Khan was later to earn a great name for himself as a master-gunner.

Before the Gujarat-Turkish alliance could be consolidated, a bigger threat to Gujarat appeared from the side of the Mughals. Humayun attacked Gujarat. In order to meet this threat, Bahadur Shah granted the island of Bassein to the Portuguese. Following the expulsion of the Mughals from Gujarat, he once again appealed to the Ottoman sultan for help and tried to limit the Portuguese encroachments at Diu. Bahadur Shah was killed in 1536 in a Fracas with the Portuguese. Subsequent efforts to recapture Diu failed.

The Turks made their biggest naval demonstration-against the Portuguese in Indian waters in 1536. Their fleet consisted of 45 galleons carrying 20,000 men, including 7000 land soldiers or janissaries. Many of the sailors had been pressed into service from the Venetian galleys at Alexandria.

The fleet, commanded by Sulaiman Pasha, an old man of 82, who was the most trusted man of the Sultan and had been appointed the governor of Cairo, appeared before Diu in 1538 and besieged it. Unfortunately, the Turkish admiral behaved in an arrogant manner so that the Sultan of Gujarat withdrew his support.

After a siege of two month, the Turkish fleet retired, following news of the arrival of a formidable Portuguese armada to relieve Diu. The Turkish threat to the Portuguese persisted for another two decades. In 1531, Peri Rais, who was assisted by the Zamorin of Calicut, attacked the Portuguese forts at Muscat and Ormuz. Meanwhile, the Portuguese strengthened their position by securing Daman from its ruler. A final Ottoman expedition was sent under Ali Rais in 1554.

The failure of these expeditions resulted in a change in the Turkish attitude. In 1566, the Portuguese and the Ottomans came to an agreement to share the oriental trade, including spices and not to clash in the Arab Sea. Following this, the Ottomans shifted their interest once again to Europe. This precluded a future alliance with the rising Mughal power and the Turks against the Portuguese.