Though corruption was prevalent in India since the 1970s, it climbed unbelievable heights after 1992 when the Indian gov..
Vasco da Gama wanted to plant the Christianity in India and divert all Indian trade to Portugal
A study of India’s relations with the Western world would be
incomplete without a reference to the reasons. Why did the
Europeans want a foothold in India?
1. Indian owned ships from Gujarat, Malabar brought spices, other
goods from Malacca while on the West coast, and Indian owned ships
left from Gujarat while Arab owned ships left from Malabar. Arab
ships from India went to Jidda (in the Red Sea) and Ormuz (in the
Persian Gulf). From Ormuz they went into smaller boats to Basra,
where the trade routes got divided for Trezibond and Aleppo,
Damascus. On the shore of the Mediterranean the goods were
purchased by Venetians and Genoese for distribution over Europe.
From Jidda they went in smaller boats to Suez. From Suez the
merchandise crossed the desert to Cairo on camels and then went
down the Nile to Alexandria.
2. The most important result of this was that the Arabs became the
controllers of eastern spices into Europe. They controlled the
trade that passed through the Persian Gulf and the goods bought
from Mediterranean ports by merchants from Venice and Genoa. So in
a strategic sense the Europeans were totally dependent on the Arabs
for their supplies of products originating from the east.
3. All this made the cost of transmitting wares from India to
Europe very high with duties and transport constituting nearly one
third of the price when wares were shipped from Calicut to Malabar.
Inspite of this, Indian goods fetched a very good price in European
markets. I guess, what the Europeans did not like is that the Arabs
were milking the profits leaving them with marginal benefits. They
wanted to earn that profit themselves and break the Arab
stranglehold.
4. The maritime nations of Portugal and Spain did not like this. By
around 1493-94, the Portuguese had explored the entire West coast
of Africa and even proceeded beyond the Cape of Good Hope.
Therefore, Vasco D Gama was commissioned to find a sea route to
India by which the Portuguese could pocket the huge profits made by
the Arabs and merchants of Venice.
The successful visit of Vasco da Gama was followed by a larger
fleet under Pedro Alvarez Cabral in 1500. After defeating the
Muslim traders and some kings in Kerala he sailed back to Portugal.
On the basis of his report submitted to the King of
Portugal, he decided to divert all Indian trade to Portugal by
curbing the Arab ventures but also to plant the Christian religion
in India. To achieve these objectives, he sent Vasco da Gama in
1502 with a fleet of twenty ships. The barbarous and
inhuman treatment meted out to the Indians by the Portuguese might
compare with Timur. It pains when I read about it.
By Sanjeev Nayyar, [ [email protected]] esamskriti.com
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