Author: Richard Whiteway

Publisher:

Published: 2018-03-20

Total Pages: 168

ISBN-13: 9781986685399

THE RISE OF PORTUGUESE POWER IN INDIA A.D.1497 - A.D.1550 Richard Stephen Whiteway PREFACE I KNOW of no English book which quite covers the ground that I have attempted to explore. The nearest approach to the subject was made in The History of the Portuguese in India, published a few years since, but I have been unable to avail myself of the undoubted erudition of the author as he has not connected his narrative in any way with the general history of India. In the study of Oriental history the absence of surnames is a great drawback, each individual stands alone, and his name awakens no chord of sympathy as when we read of the Cecil under Elizabeth and of the Cecil under Victoria. The Portuguese occupy an intermediate position between the East and West; the son, as a rule, takes his father's name, but not always : it requires some research to discover that Pero da Silva, Alvaro d'Ataide and Estavao da Gama were all three sons of Vasco da Gama, and meanwhile our interest is dulled. In the matter of Oriental names the Portuguese transliteration presents some difficulties: Çarcamdacao for Sikandar Khan, Codavascao for Khuda Bakhsh Khan, and Xacoez for Shaikh Iwaz are soluble, but some have defied indentification. Where possible the name has been taken from the Taháfatu-l-Mujáhidín, from Elliot's History of India or from Bayley's Gujarat. Before leaving the subject of names it may be noted that the different systems of cataloguing the Portuguese writers throws some difficulty in the way of enquirers. One of the early historians is Fernao Lopez de Castanheda; he is usually quoted as Castanheda and the custom has been followed here, but in the British Museum catalogue he will be found under Lopez, and, worse than all, under Fernao in that monumental work, the Bibliotheca Lusitana of Diogo Barbosa Machado. I have endeavoured to give a history of the rise of the Portuguese power in India derived from the best available sources, and to give, not merely a record of military expeditions and of the change of governors, but also the details which throw light on the social life and on the idiosyncrasies of the chief men of the time. I hope I may have succeeded. The Portuguese connection with Ceylon has been so fully dealt with by Sir Emerson Tennant, and its connection with the Malay States by Crawfurd, that only a summary has been added to give completeness to this book. If the subject prove of sufficient interest the work will be concluded with a volume on the decline of the Portuguese power in India. In the first four chapters authorities have been freely quoted; in the remaining ones they are only given where the narrative is not based on the following historians: Castanheda to 1538 Correa to 1550 Barros to 1526 Couto from 1526 to 1550 I have to thank Sir Alfred Lyall and Mr. E. White for valuable suggestions and advice. I. Introductory II. Portuguese.-Malabar III. Arms and Methods of Warfare-Voyages-Piracy-Land Journeys IV. Religion-Coinage-Remuneration of Officers-Banished Men V. 1497-1501 VI. 1502-1504 VII. D. Francisco d'Almeida, Viceroy, 1505-1509 VIII. Afonso d'Albuquerque, Governor 1509-1515 IX. Lopo Soares, Governor-Diogo Lopes de Sequiera, Governor. 1515-1521 X. D. Duarte de Menezes, Governor-D. Vasco da Gama, Viceroy-D. Henrique de Menezes, Governor-Lopo Vaz de Sampayo, Governor, 1521-1529. Appendix I: Successions Appendix II: Revenue Settlement of Goa XI. Nuno da Cunha, Governor, 1529-1538 XII. D. Garcia de Noronha, Viceroy-D. Estavao da Gama, Governor. 1538-1542 XIII. Martim Afonso de Sousa, Governor, 1542-1545. Simao Botelho, Comptroller of Revenue XIV. D. Joao de Castro, Governor and Viceroy- Garcia de Sa, Governor-Jorge Cabral, Governor. 1545-155o APPENDIX. Malacca-The Moluccas-China