The Portuguese build an empire.

2021 ◽  
pp. 222-234
Author(s):  
James F. Hancock
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Indian Ocean ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Total Weight ◽  
Open Market ◽  
Fair Game ◽  
The Indian Ocean ◽  
Protection Racket ◽  
Alternative Routes ◽  
Far Eastern

Abstract Albuquerque's victory in Malacca gave Portugal a major foothold in the Far Eastern pepper trade, but the Portuguese were never able to fully dominate it. The chapter summarizes the struggles of Portugal's building of its empire. It also discusses the cartaz system, where the Portuguese claimed suzerainty over the Indian Ocean and no one else was allowed to sail unless they purchased a safe conduct pass. The cartaz obliged Asian ships to call at a Portuguese-controlled port and pay customs duties before proceeding on their voyage. Ships without this document were considered fair game and their goods could be confiscated. It was, pure and simple, a protection racket. The cartaz system, plus customs duties and outright piracy, provided most of the funds defraying the costs of the Portuguese navy and its garrisons. The chapter also outlines the importance of Indian cotton in the Spice Trade and the routes of spices into Europe. Further, the chapter provides highlights of the Portuguese profits on spices. Portuguese imports of pepper held strong over most the sixteenth century. The total weight of the spice cargoes averaged 40,000 to 50,000 quintals (1 quintal = 130 pounds or 59 kilograms) annually in the first half of the century and 60,000 to 70,000 quintals later on. Records have been left of one cargo in 1518 that totalled almost 5 million pounds (2.27 million kilograms), of which 4.7 million pounds (2.13 million kilograms) was pepper, 12,000 pounds (5443 kilograms) cloves, 3000 pounds (1360 kilograms) cinnamon and 2000 pounds (907 kilograms) mace (Krondl, 2007). Most of the pepper and other spices were purchased in Malabar on the open market. Portuguese profits on the pepper trade could run as high as 500%. Lastly, the chapter briefly discusses how other European countries looked for alternative routes to the spices.

The Religion and Culture of Indian Immigrants in Mauritius and the Effect of Social Change

1966 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-257 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Hazareesingh
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Napoleonic Wars ◽  
Indian Immigrants ◽  
The Indian Ocean

Mauritius is a British territory in the Indian Ocean 500 miles to the east of Madagascar. It measures 720 square miles and has a population of 700,000 people whose ancestors came from France (the original settlers), Africa (slaves), India (indentured immigrants), and China (shopkeepers). Mauritius was discovered by the Portuguese in the early years of the sixteenth century, and was subsequently occupied and finally abandoned by the Dutch, who exterminated the famous bird the Dodo. It was held by the French from 1715 until 1810 when it was conquered by the British at the end of the Napoleonic Wars.

The Early History of the Sultanate of Angoche

1972 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 397-406 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. D. D. Newitt
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Slave Trade ◽  
Early History ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Indian Ocean ◽  
Set Up

The sultanate of Angoche on the Moçambique coast was founded probably towards the end of the fifteenth century by refugees from Kilwa. It became a base for Muslim traders who wanted to use the Zambezi route to the central African trading fairs and it enabled them to by-pass the Portuguese trade monopoly at Sofala. The Portuguese were not able to check this trade until they themselves set up bases on the Zambezi in the 1530s and 1540s, and from that time the sultanate began to decline. Internal dissensions among the ruling families led to the Portuguese obtaining control of the sultanate in the late sixteenth century, but this control was abandoned in the following century when the trade of the Angoche coast dwindled to insignificance. During the eighteenth century movements among the Macua peoples of the mainland and the development of the slave trade in the Indian Ocean laid the foundations for the revival of the sultanate in the nineteenth century.

Historical Study of Societal Transformations in the Extended Indian Ocean Realm

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 223-235
Author(s):  
Kenneth R. Hall
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
Historical Study ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
The West ◽  
Realistic Approach ◽  
The Indian Ocean ◽  
Western Historiography

Abstract Western historiography placed the indigenous Asia beyond the court political centers and the most commercially prominent ports-of-trade in the background of an exogenous (colonial) foreground. Western historical research from the sixteenth century onward privileged selected aspects and voices of the exogenous, focusing on the Arabic and Persian Middle East, India, China, and the West, represented from the nineteenth century onward by the terms Islamization, Indianization, Sinification, and Westernization. Today, historians who study the Indian Ocean give “agency” to things indigenous when they are juxtaposed to things exogenous. Local activities, events, beliefs, institutions, communities, individuals, and historical narratives are emphasized, given weight, and “privileged” over dependency on the exogenous. Simply taking agency away from the exogenous and giving it to the indigenous may seem to be a more realistic approach to overcoming the “from the deck of a ship” critique, but the issue of emphasis and privileging at the expense of “another” remains. Historians researching the non-West have tempered their previously held stance on this issue and now admit the depth and scale of influence that major exogenous civilizations (e.g., the Middle East, China, India, and the West) have had on some local cultures.

The port of Al Baleed (southern Oman), the trade in franckincense and its coveted treasures

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexia Pavan
Keyword(s):  
International Trade ◽  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Geographical Location ◽  
Dragon’S Blood ◽  
General Overview ◽  
The Indian Ocean ◽  
Strategic Position ◽  
Far Eastern ◽  
The Bronze Age

Medieval times as Zafar. Placed in a strategic position for its geographical location, climate, availability of water and abundance of fodder, its long history dates back to the Bronze Age. The settlement reached its peak in Mediaeval times when it was a (a hub?) of international trade along the Indian Ocean. Many commodities were exported from the region or passed through the port. Among them a number of regional products such as: myrrh, dragon’s blood, aloe and madder, the most important being, however, frankincense and Arabian horses. Frankincense trade in Mediaeval times is barely studied despite its importance and great incomes generated by this trade during the period. The paper will present a general overview of the site of Al Baleed and its importance in the trade of frankincense, mainly in relation with the Far-eastern market with an overview of the coveted treasures from the region of Dhofar.

Chinese and Filipino Seafarers: A Race to the Top or the Bottom?

2005 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 535-557 ◽  
Author(s):  
MINGHUA ZHAO ◽  
MARAGTAS S.V. AMANTE
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Race To The Top ◽  
Shipping Industry ◽  
Ship Owner ◽  
The Indian Ocean ◽  
The Subject

All countries with significant coastlines and groups of islands inevitably produce seafarers at some time or other in the course of their economic development, and the two countries which are the subject of this paper are no exceptions. Chinese ships and seafarers were famously exploring the Indian Ocean more than a century before the arrival of the Portuguese and once the Spanish Pacific empire was established in the sixteenth century, the ships linking Mexico to Manila were mainly crewed by Filipinos. And it need hardly be said that Chinese and Filipinos have both been employed by foreign ship-owners throughout the twentieth century. What is unquestionably new is the magnitude of Filipino seafarers' employment in the world's merchant ships and the extraordinary growth of China as a nation with a major stake in the shipping industry, both as ship-owner and as a source of seafarers.

Problems of Ottoman Economic History and the Core-periphery model

Itinerario ◽  
1982 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-149
Author(s):  
Astrid Kotenbach
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Atlantic Ocean ◽  
Economic History ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Trade Routes ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Indian Ocean ◽  
The Subject

The discovery of new areas beyond the Atlantic Ocean and the pioneering of a new searoute via the Cape to the Indian Ocean led to expansion of western Europe in the sixteenth century. There of course followed the development of trade routes to the new areas outside Europe, but there was also a significant expansion of trade inside Europe and the Middle East, as well as changes in existing trade and production patterns. These are the subject of this paper.

Remembering Indian Ocean Slavery through Film

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-121
Author(s):  
Shihan de Silva Jayasuriya
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Slave Trade ◽  
African Ancestry ◽  
Oral Traditions ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Cultural Traditions ◽  
Transatlantic Slave Trade ◽  
The Indian Ocean

Abstract Due to assimilation, the diversity of the region, and the problems of identification, the presence of Asians with African ancestry in some parts of the Indian Ocean goes largely unnoticed. Whilst Ethiopians came to Sri Lanka voluntarily during the sixth century, the largest known Afro-Sri Lankan community’s history dates back to the island’s colonial era, which began in the sixteenth century. Oral traditions and archival records demonstrate that the Indian Ocean slave trade carried on even after abolition of the transatlantic slave trade. Although their numbers have dwindled due to out-marriage and assimilation, this community’s presence is marked out through its strong cultural memories. This article highlights the significance of film as a medium for making Sri Lankans of African ancestry visible and giving them a space to reflect about their ancestors, cultural traditions and sociolinguistic transformations.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document