How Was Vasco da Gama, Portugal's Columbus, Just as Controversial?

to spice rich India by rounding the southern tip of Africa. But, like his contemporary Christopher Columbus, de Gama is a complex and controversial historical figure. A devout Christian and loyal Portuguese subject, the Gama had no qualms about using violence, including against unarmed civilians, to force his way into the lucrative Indian and African trade routes dominate at the time by Arab

Muslims and the Ottoman Empire. For the article this episode is based on haw Stuff Work, spoke with Sanjay Subrahmanyam, a history professor at e CLA who wrote an eye opening book about de Gama. He explained that Degama left almost no personal writing or journals compared to the prolific Columbus, but that scraps of letters and journal entries penned by de Gama's crew paint a and I quote troubling picture

of an ill tempered, even dangerous character. He said. The accounts written by people on da Gama's voyages portray someone who was, even by the standards of the time, a violent personality. In the fourteen hundreds, the Spanish and Portuguese were in a bitter race to find a sea route to India that bypassed the tortuously long and expensive overland trade route grew unfriendly Ottoman and Egyptian territory. In fourteen eighty eight, the Portuguese took the lead when Bartolomew Diaz

successfully nap negated around the Cape of Good Hope. Diaz called it the Cape of Storms in modern day South Africa, and became the first European to reach the Indian Ocean by water. But Diaz returned to Portugal with bad news. The winds and currents in the Indian Ocean blew northeast to southwest, making it all but impossible to cross the sea from Africa to India. What DEAs didn't understand was how the seasonal monsoons of the region were and that

the winds actually switched directions for half the year. Thinking it was hopeless, Portugal didn't attempt another southern run to India for a decade. In the meantime, Columbus, who learned his trade in Portugal, discovered what he believed to be a western route to the Indies or possibly Japan for Spain. In fourteen ninety two. For the Portuguese, the pressure was on, and King Manuel the First ordered a new expedition to India via the South African route and put Vaskodagama in command.

Historians know little of de Gama's early life, just that he was born sometime in the fourteen sixties in a small coastal city of Scenes to a knight and a noblewoman, which afforded him a good education in navigation and advanced mathematics. At some point he gained practical experience on ships and may have become a captain as early as twenty years

of age. He proved a loyal enforcer when he was sent to put an end to a conflict between Portuguese and French merchants, and by his thirties was considered a guy who got stuff done. On July eighth, fourteen ninety seven, Degama set sail from Lisbon with four ships and one

hundred and seventy men, including his brother Paolo. There was nothing easy about navigating fifteenth century sailboats through unruly seas, but Degama wisely took the advice of Diaz and swung far west into the Southern Atlantic, only six hundred miles or about one thousand kilometers off of Brazil, in order to catch strong winds that would propel them eastward toward

the tip of Africa. This risky plan worked, and after thirteen long weeks on the open water, out of sight of land, Dagama landed just north of the Cape of Good Hope on November seventh, nearly four months after leaving Portugal. The expedition slowly worked its way around the stormy cape and entered the Indian Ocean around Christmas time. But now came the real test, figuring out how to cross the

sea to India. For that, he needed a knowledgeable local captain, who he hoped to recruit or kidnap from eastern Africa. Dagama's first major encounter with an African kingdom was in Mozambique, where he was poorly received, an experience that would be repeated throughout his first voyage. Dagama was following the example of Columbus, who had won over native leaders with simple

European goods like bells, flannel, and metalwork. For the article this episode, it is based on how Stuff Works, also spoke with Mark Nukupp, a historian and museum manager in Hanover County, Virginia. He said, but when Dagama stopped at ports in Eastern Africa and offered these items for trade, people would laugh at him. These weren't impressive to local traders. In Mozambique, the sultan and his people were actually offended

and started to riot. Dagama fled back to a ship and lobbed a few cannonballs at the city as parting shops. They were better received in the African kingdom of Malindi, where Dagama was able to recruit a local pilot who could guide them across the tricky Indian Ocean. After a twenty seven day journey, Dagama and his men arrived in Calicut, a coastal city in southern India known today as Krikota. There, the Portuguese were shocked to find that Muslims were running

the spice trade in India. Subramanyam said they were under the impression that there were a lot of Christians in India and that these people would be their natural allies. Instead, Dagama found outposts of an extensive African Indian trade network, operated largely by Arab Muslims, and again there nobody was impressed with the poultry goods the Portuguese had brought to trade for high end spices. The local traders and merchants made it clear that gold was the only currency that mattered.

After a torturous journey home against the monsoon wins, Dagama returned to Lisbon nearly empty handed, but he was still greeted as a hero for reaching his destination at all and making it home again after two years and twenty four thousand miles at sea about thirty eight thousand kilometers, a sadly scurvy had claimed all but fifty four of his one hundred and seventy man crew, including his brother. Before Degama returned to India, another Portuguese explorer named Pedro Alaves,

Cabral was given command of an Indian expedition. A Cabral sailed with a much larger crew of one thousand, two hundred men and thirteen vessels, including one captain by Diaz. Following the Gama's route, Cabral swung far west, but he ended up going farther than intended and accidentally found what's now Brazil, which he claimed for the Portuguese. Cabral eventually continued onto India, encountering terrible storms that claimed four of

his ships, including the one captain by Diaz. When he finally arrived in Calicut, he met fierce resistance from the Arab Muslim traders, who killed some Portuguese sailors in an attack. Cabral responded by bombarding the city, raiding ten Arab ships, and killing an estimated six hundred people. It was a quote unquote diplomatic style that Dagama would follow to terrible effect.

In fifteen oh two, Dagama set sail again for India in command of ten ships, with his sights set on breaking the Muslim monopoly on the spice trade once and for all. On his way, he threatened African leaders with its cannons in exchange for vows of loyalty to Portugal, and then waged campaign of terror along India's Malabar coast. In perhaps the most horrific incident, Dagama intercepted a ship carrying Muslim families returning from a religious pilgrimage to Mecca

in modern day Saudi Arabia. Dagama locked up the hundreds of passengers in the ship's hull, and, despite pleas from his own crew members not to do it, set the pilgrim ship ablaze, killing all of them. Subrahmanyam said maybe he was trying to create an image for the Portuguese you don't mess with us, and that message did come across. The Pilgrimship. Incident cemented the reputation of the Portuguese as very dangerous and violent people in the Indian Ocean. In Calicut,

there were more skirmishes between Dagama and Arab traders. Dagama responded by killing thirty unarmed local fishermen, dismembering their bodies and letting the remains wash in on the tide. The combined cruelties of Cabral and Dagama succeeded in establishing Portuguese trading outposts in Calicut and in the southern Indian state of Goa, where the Portuguese ruled until nineteen sixty one. Dagama had married after his first voyage and fathered six

sons and one daughter. He spent twenty years as an adviser on Indian affairs to the Portuguese king. In fifteen twenty four, he was sent back to Goa as viceroy to deal with some corruption in the government the Portuguese had established there. He soon became ill and died that same year. In India, Subrami Yam explained that one of the main reasons why Degama's name rings down through the centuries is because the Portuguese needed a national hero to

rival Columbus. He said, the Spaniards made a big deal of Columbus, and the Portuguese were very annoyed by that. The Portuguese made a very deliberate attempt in the sixteenth century to build up de Gama as their Columbus. This included a twelve part epic poem called The Discovery of India, written by the famed sixteenth century Portuguese poet Luis vas d Kamois. It portrays Degama as a Greek style hero,

rivaling not only Columbus, but Achilles and Odysseus. Reconciling that kind of propaganda with the reality of de Gama's ruthless cruelty is part of the work that we all have to do in considering how European exploration and colonization has shaped our world. Newcup said, was he a great explorer? No? But through his efforts, Portugal established a European sea route to India and eventually further to China and the Indies, and helped create what would become the Portuguese Overseas Empire.

Whether that's progress or not is up for debate. Today's episode is based on the article Basco de Gama Portugal's Columbus is just as controversial on HowStuffWorks dot Com, written by Julia Layton. Brain Stuff is production of by Heart Radio in partnership with how Stuffworks dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.