Advent of the Europeans in India

Advent of the Europeans in India

Though we associate history with a chronological order of events, in reality, history is a complex amalgam of change and continuity with the changes taking place at different times at different places. Chronological order does not mean that events took place one at a time; events took place simultaneously at different places involving different sets of people. It is customary to divide the study of history into periods. We, thus, talk of ancient, medieval, and modern periods in history. However, it is not always easy to distinguish clearly when one period ends and another begins. The history of modern India is usually associated with the advent of the Europeans, but then we need to go back to what is generally considered the medieval period, i.e., the 15th century itself-indeed, to a time even before the Mughals came and established their empire.

The Portuguese in India

Till the end of the sixth century, European nations like Greece and Rome had extensive trade contacts with India. But with the decline of the Roman Empire, there was a hiatus in this direct contact between the European nations and India. It was only in the late 15th century that this hiatus was broken by the Portuguese.

The Quest for and Discovery of a Direct Sea Route to India

After the decline of the Roman Empire in the 7th century, the Arabs had established their domination in Egypt and Persia.

As a result, direct contact between the Europeans and India declined and the easy accessibility to the Indian commodities like spices, calicoes, silk, and various precious stones that were greatly in demand was affected. In 1453, Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks, who were in the ascendant. Merchandise from India went to the European markets through Arab Muslim intermediaries. The Red Sea trade route was a state monopoly from which Islamic rulers earned tremendous revenues. The land routes to India were also controlled by the Arabs. In the circumstances, the Europeans were keen to find a direct sea route to India.

Fifteenth-century Europe was gripped by the spirit of the Renaissance with its call for exploration. At the same time, Europe made great advances in the art of ship-building and navigation. Hence, there was an eagerness all over Europe for adventurous sea voyages to reach the unknown corners of the East.

The economic development of many regions of Europe was also progressing rapidly with expansion of land under cultivation, the introduction of an improved plough, scientific crop management such as crop rotation, and increased supply of meat (which called for spices for cooking as well as for preservation). Prosperity also grew, and with it the demand for oriental luxury goods also increased.

Venice and Genoa which had earlier prospered through trade in oriental goods were too small to take on the mighty Ottoman Turks or to take up major exploration on their own. The north Europeans were ready to aid Portugal and Spain with money and men, even as the Genoese were ready to provide ships and technical knowledge. It is also to be noted that Portugal had assumed the leadership in Christendom's resistance to Islam even as it had taken on itself the spirit of exploration that had characterised the Genoese.

• Historians have observed that the idea of finding an ocean route to India had become an obsession for Prince Henry of Portugal, who was nicknamed the 'Navigator'; also, he was keen to find a way to circumvent the Muslim domination of  Advent of the Europeans in India

the castern Mediterranean and all the routes that connected India to Europe. Pope Nicholas V. gave Prince Henry a bull in 1454, conferring on him the right to navigate the "sea to the distant shores of the Orient", more specifically "as far as India" in an attempt to fight Islamic influence and spread the Christian faith. However, Prince Henry died before his dream could become a reality.

In 1497, under the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494), the rulers of Portugal and Spain divided the non-Christian world between them by an imaginary line in the Atlantic, some 1,300 miles west of the Cape Verde Islands. Under the treaty, Portugal could claim and occupy everything to the east of the line while Spain could claim everything to the west. The situation was, thus, prepared for the Portuguese incursions into the waters around India.

It was in 1487 that the Portuguese navigator, Bartholomew Dias, rounded the Cape of Good Hope in Africa and sailed up the eastern coast; he was well convinced that the long-sought-after sea route to India had been found. But it was only ten years later, in 1497, that an expedition of Portuguese ships set out for India and arrived in India in slightly less than 11 months' time, in May 1498.