From Them
He Received Much Important Information Respecting The Commercial Cities Of
The West Coast Of India:
And at Melinda he took on board pilots, who
conducted his fleet across the Indian Ocean to Calicut on the coast of
Malabar, where he landed on the 22d of May, 1498, ten months and two days
after his departure from Lisbon.
He returned to Lisbon in 1499, and again
received the command of a squadron in 1502; he died at Cochin in 1525,
after having lived to witness his country sovereign of the Indian seas from
Malacca to the Cape of Good Hope. "The consequence of his discovery was the
subversion of the Turkish power, which at that time kept all Europe in
alarm. The East no longer paid tribute for her precious commodities, which
passed through the Turkish provinces; the revenues of that empire were
diminished; the Othmans ceased to be a terror to the western world, and
Europe has risen to a power, which the three other continents may in vain
endeavour to oppose."
The successful enterprize of Gama, and the return of his ships laden not
only with the commodities peculiar to the coast of Malabar, but with many
of the richer and rarer productions of the eastern parts of India,
stimulated the Portuguese to enter on this new career with avidity and
ardour, both military and commercial. It fortunately happened that Emanuel,
who was king of Portugal at this period, was a man of great intelligence
and grasp of mind, capable of forming plans with prudence and judgment, and
of executing them with method and perseverance; and it was equally
fortunate that such a monarch was enabled to select men to command in
India, who from their enterprize, military skill, sagacity, integrity, and
patriotism, were peculiarly qualified to carry into full and successful
execution all his views and plans.
The consequences were such as must always result from the steady operation
of such causes: twenty-four years after the voyage of Gama, and before the
termination of Emanuel's reign, the Portuguese had reached, and made
themselves masters of Malacca. This place was the great staple of the
commerce carried on between the east of Asia, including China, and the
islands and the western parts of India. To it the merchants of China,
Japan, the Moluccas, &c. came from the east, and those of Malabar, Ceylon,
Coromandel and Bengal, from the west; and its situation, nearly at an equal
distance from the eastern and western parts of India, rendered it
peculiarly favorable for this trade, while by possessing the command of the
straits through which all ships must pass from the one extremity of Asia to
the other, it had the monopoly of the most extensive and lucrative commerce
completely within its power.
From Malacca the Portuguese sailed for the conquest of the Moluccas; and by
achieving this, secured the monopoly of spices. Their attempt to open a
communication and trade with China, which was made about the same time, was
not then successful:
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