After Da Gama's voyage the Portuguese made haste to
appropriate the wealth of the Indies. Fleet after fleet was sent out to
establish trading stations upon the coasts of Africa and Asia. The great
viceroy, Albuquerque, captured the city of Goa and made it the center of the
Portuguese dominions in India. Goa still belongs to Portugal. Albuquerque also
seized Malacca, at the end of the Malay Peninsula, and Ormuz, at the entrance
to the Persian Gulf. The possession of these strategic points enabled the
Portuguese to control the commerce of the Indian Ocean. They also established
trading relations with China, through the port of Macao, and with Japan, which
was accidentally discovered in 1542 A.D. By the middle of the sixteenth century
they had acquired almost complete ascendancy throughout southern Asia and the
adjacent islands. [14]
[14] The Portuguese colonial empire included Ormuz, the
west coast of India, Ceylon, Malacca, and various possessions in the Malay
Archipelago (Sumatra, Java, Celebes, the Moluccas, or Spice Islands, and New
Guinea). The Portuguese also had many trading posts on the African coast,
besides Brazil, which one of their mariners discovered in 1500 A.D.
PORTUGUESE TRADE MONOPOLY
The Portuguese came to the East as the successors of the
Arabs, who for centuries had carried on an extensive trade in the Indian Ocean.
Having dispossessed the Arabs, the Portuguese took care to shut out all
European trade competitors. Only their own merchants were allowed to bring
goods from the Indies to Europe by the Cape route. For a time this policy made
Portugal very prosperous. Lisbon, the capital, formed the chief depot for
spices and other eastern commodities. The French, English, and Dutch came there
to buy them and took the place of Italian merchants in distributing them
throughout Europe.
