## People Diogo Cao. Sent by [[John II of Portugal]] (João II) to explore Africa (p11). He disappears off the historical map before reaching the southerly point of Africa. He either died *** > Black-bearded and long-faced, well-built, and somewhat melancholy in expression, with 'an air of such gravity and authori ty that everyone recognised him as king', João was 'a man who commanded others and who was commanded by no one'. He was perhaps the most remarkable European monarch of the early modern age. To the Portuguese people he would pass into history as the Perfect Prince. His rival Isabella, queen of Castile and then the unified kingdom of Spain, gave him the ultimate accolade. She simply referred to him as "The Man'. João was preoccupied with 'the deep desire to do great things', and the first of the great things to which he stretched out his hand was the exploration of Africa. On his accession he embarked on an intense fiveyear period of state-funded exploration in which he hoped to fulfil two objectives: find a route to the Indies and reach the fabled kingdom of Prester John. It was Diogo Cão, erecting pillars along the west coast of Africa, to whom he had entrusted this task. p18 ![[2024-06-05 12.38.39.png]] [[John II of Portugal]] (João II). Prince Henry the Navigator. Following on from[[John II of Portugal]]. He sponsored exploration of the western side of Africa. Pêro da Covilhã. > He was about forty years old; a quick-witted, multi-talented adventurer of lowly birth, an adept swordsman, a loyal servant of the Portuguese kings, and a spy. As well as Portuguese he spoke Castilian fluently, and, more valuably, Arabic, which he had probably learned from the Arab population of Spain. He had performed undercover operations for João there, and undertaken secret negotiations in Morocco with the king of Fez. p28 He spent four years exploring the trading routes to India, learning lots. [[John II of Portugal]] sent other spies to track him down and they found him in Cairo. He was told to return to Portugal with his findings. He decided to travel on though. And eventually he did track down the mythical Christian “Prester John”, the Christian emperor in Ethiopia. The current ruler of the kingdom, Eskender, received him, but wouldn’t let him leave. He remained there for 30 years until another Portuguese expedition reached him. [[Pêro Dias]]. Explorer and captain of an expedition to reach India. He was the first to get to the bottom of Africa and start going up its east side. He never reached India though. His discoveries were quickly implemented into Portuguese maps, but his achievement wasn’t really recognised at the time. For quite a few years anyway. P33-P35 ### [[Manuel I of Portugal]] - Was on the throne at 26, after [[John II of Portugal]] (João II) died. - Had crazy long arms. They reached his knees, apparently, giving him an ape like look. - It took the death and exile of six people ahead of him for him to become king. John II’s son died in mysterious circumstances in a horse riding accident. ### [[Vasco da Gama]] Appointed by [[Manuel I of Portugal]] to lead the expedition. > It seems that Vasco da Gama was initially only the second choice for this venture. Manuel first requisitioned his older brother Paulo, who pleaded ill-health but agreed to come on the voyage anyway under Vasco's command. Gama, 'an unmarried man and of the age to be able to weather the trials of such a voyage', was then in his thirties. His early career and experience and the reasons for his choice remain somewhat mysterious. He appears in few records prior to 1496; his seafaring knowledge is largely unknown. He came from minor nobility in the sea port of Sines, south of Lisbon. Whatever he was or had been subsequently became, like the life of Columbus, enshrouded in myth. He was apparently short-tempered. At the time of his appointment he had an outstanding charge of violent affray against his name. The obdurate nature of his personality would unfold in the voyage ahead: implacably steeped in the crusading tradition of hatred of Islam, enduring before the hard life of the sea, but crucially impatient of diplomatic niceties, he came to be described as 'bold in action, severe in his orders and very formidable in his anger'. Gama had probably been chosen more to command men and negotiate with the unknown kings of the Orient than to sail ships. P43 ## Notes Portugal announced themselves to the other European powers via an attach of Ceuta, Morocco in 1415. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_conquest_of_Ceuta *** The Romans didn’t know where Africa ended in the south. P5 *** In the early days of the Portuguese empire expansion they had boats called, [[Caravel]]s. Possibly of Arab origin, they were small. Useful for manoeuvrability and hugging the shallow shoreline. But not so good for supplies. There would often be two to three of them on a campaign. With a handful of soldiers with crossbows. P13 This ‘exploration’ had a large religious element. These were crusades. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453 Christian Europe felt very threatened by Islam. The papacy sanctioned and gave financial concessions for a religious war by the Portuguese. Their goal was “to invade, search out, capture, vanquish and subdue all Saracens and pagans whatsoever, and other enemies of Christ perpetual slavery”. P14 *** Apparently their most powerful neighbour was the Kingdom of Castile. I’ve never heard of them before. Need to do some research! P13 *** Africa was 50 times as big as the Iberian peninsula. P17. *** The final aim was to get to the end of Africa so that they could make their way to India, where untold riches were said to lie. They couldn’t go across land due to all the Islamic countries. So they wanted to ‘outflank’ them. P17. *** [[Christopher Columbus]] petitioned [[John II of Portugal]] to sponsor his expedition to reach India via the west. His theory was that the earth was round and it would be quicker to go west instead of east. He developed this idea from Florentine Paolo Toscanelli. The king didn’t like how cocky and sure he was though. *** In the Middle Ages, Europe had less context with the Orient that during the Roman period. The routes had largely been lost or destroyed after the fall of the Mongol empire. And China turned inward and shut down its bordered. P26 *** On one expedition in 1487 to get to the bottom of Africa they had on board two men and four women who had been kidnapped on an earlier mission and taught Portuguese. The plan was to drop them off down the coast finely dressed and supplied with gold and silver to show off the wealth of Portugal and encourage the Africans to engage with them. P29-30 *** In 1492 the Jews were expelled from Spain. Large numbers fled to Portugal. P37 *** The Portuguese and Spanish split up the world to avoid conflict. In 1479 this line was horizontal, running through the americas roughly where the US-Mexican border is today and where Morocco meets Western Sahara today. However in 1484 and the Treaty of Tordesillas it became a vertical line. See below. ![[2024-06-06 14.09.05.png]] *** The Portuguese carried out tests on firing canons to make them more effective. They realised that if they fired them down they could ricochet them off the water, increasing their range (though I’m unsure if this was how they would actually fire their guns in battle). P46-47 *** In 1500 Lisbon had more slaves than anywhere else in Europe. About 15% of the population were Guinea blacks. P45 *** The caravel was a good type of ship, but too small for long voyages. So the Portuguese created a stout carrack (naus) to do better on long trips. P47 *** On the [[Vasco da Gama]] expedition they had musicians on board for sea shanties and to blow ceremonial fanfares. They also had ‘deck fodder’ made up of African slaves, orphans, converted Jews and convicted men. They did menial, heavy work. The trip was funded by gold from Guinea and the wealth left behind by the 1496 expulsion of Jews who would not convert to Christianity (their removal had been required by Spain in order for [[Manuel I of Portugal]] to marry [[Isabella of Aragon, Queen of Portugal]]). They departed on July 8th, 1497. There was between 148 and 166 men. P51-52 *** On the 1497 expedition the sailors were fed biscuits, meat, oil and vinegar, beans and salted fish – and fresh fish, when they could be caught. As the months went on and the drinking water got fowler they would add vinegar to the drinking water. They would also replace the drunk water barrels with sea water to maintain the balance of the ship. P57 *** No one ever washed on board. P57 *** Without vitamin C, symptoms of scurvy present themselves after 68 days. Men start to die after 84 days. In 111 days scurvy wipes out a whole crew. As scurvy took ahold of a person their hands, feet and legs would swell massively. Their gums would become putrid and bloody and grow over their teeth, so they could eat. And their breath would become awful. P58 and p61 *** Like [[Pêro Dias]] had done before them they sailed to the left, into the middle of the Atlantic, before swooping right, using the westerly winds. They averaged 45 miles a day. When they eventually hit Africa again they had been sailing for 93 days and sailed 4500 miles. An amazing fear of resilience and navigation. For context [[Christopher Columbus|Columbus]] did the cross to the Bahamas in 37 days. P58-59 *** Once they were past the Cape of Good Hope they were running very low on water. Each sailor was rationed 333ml a day. And their thirst wouldn’t have been helped by their food being cooked in sea water. P61 *** The Indian Ocean is thirty times the size of that Mediterranean ocean. P64 *** At one point in their expedition the men were so weak they couldn’t lift one of the anchors. They had to cut it instead. *** When the Portuguese did finally reach India the first place they went to was Calicut (Kingdom of Kozhikode). It was centre of spice trading along the Malabar coast. It was a trade dominated place where Muslim’s and Hindu’s lived in relative harmony (there was still the caste system). If you were a trader, they would trade with you, no matter where you were from or your religion. P77 *** The Portuguese seemed so desperate to find other Christians that whenever they came across a peoples that weren’t overtly Muslim they presumed them be some sort of Christian sect. This happened with the Hindu’s in Calicut. They even went into a Hindu temple and thought it was a church. P78-79 *** When Vasco da Gama met the samudri (the Hindu monarch) he abided to one of their customs, which was to cover his mouth with his hand whilst talking to him. P80 *** The Portuguese gifts were not impressive to the Calicut and their king (samudri). They were things like clothes, honey, sugar and oil. They might be impressive to an African tribal king. But to a king of a place that’s part of the wealthy spice trade they were very unimpressive. P81-82 ***