When Weather & Waves Dictated Correspondence

Mackelroy Barreto / TNN / Nov 27, 2017, 23:15 IST

While Portuguese Conquistadors were extending their supremacy over new lands, the king had to preside from the Iberian Peninsula over colonies that were spread over thousands of miles, across regions and continents. Portuguese colonisation occurred in a period when there were no direct modes of communication, making one wonder how decisions were taken; like the Portuguese rule in Asia and Africa, the expansion of its areas of hegemony, trade and other matters. How did the king and his viceroys and governor generals maintain a line of communication over such vast distances?

Communication in those days was perilous and slow, dependent solely on sea routes. There was a high possibility that orders and diktats of the king were lost to weather or unseen events during sea journeys.

Where Goa was concerned, the Portuguese had established the Moncoes do Reino MR) or ‘Monsoon Correspondence’, which contained exchanges between the crown in Lisbon) and its viceroy (in Goa).

Every year, letters, news, reports, instructions, etc were received at Goa from Lisbon, from June to September. Replies with updates and news about politics, trade, conquests and treaties, culture and the reach of religious missionaries, were regularly dispatched via ships from Goa to Lisbon between

December to March, just before the onset of the southwest monsoon in the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea.

It was the monsoon, therefore, that dictated the arrival and dispatch of the fleet of ships carrying the official correspondence to and fro.

Researchers are fortunate this correspondence is still available at the state’s archives department. It forms the largest of all collections currently with the department, covering a staggering 456 volumes of 300-odd pages each, and serves as an important historical record of the goings-on in Portuguese colonies across the world.

“It is the most important record in Goa’s history. The correspondence between the governor generals or viceroys and the king included all subjects and was not necessarily administrative only,” former department director, PP Shirodkar, says.

Goa – the then political capital of Portuguese India – became strategically important as it sat along an accessible coast of the trade-rich Asian continent. It was also in the middle of far-flung Portuguese colonies in Africa, Americas, as well as other regions in South and East Asia, and Arabia. The administrative importance of Goa’s location can be gauged by the sheer number of regions mentioned in the Monsoon Correspondence: Mombasa, Brazil, Africa, China, Macau, St Tome, Philippines, Timor, Indonesia, Malacca, etc.

The volumes currently archived in Goa form an encyclopaedia about the expansion of Portuguese rule in Asia, trade rivalries with the Arabs and European powers, as well as interactions with neighbouring kings and rulers.

A team of palaeographers or escrivaos (writers) meticulously hand-copied the communication received from Portugal into large volumes of thick papers, the effort overseen, signed and sealed by the viceroy or the governor general.

From among the rich trove of letters, there are references to the quirky as well as the strategic; the royal court requesting samples of Goan spices, specifically pepper and cinnamon, to be sent to Brazil for potential cultivation and trade. There is also an instance of the king inquiring about samples of mogras, or Indian jasmine from Goa, possibly to be grown in the royal garden. Portugal’s loss of Ceylon to the Dutch also finds a mention…the Dutch captured Colombo and drove the Portuguese from Ceylon, ending a 150-year rule. The loss affected the spice trade of the Portuguese and represented the biggest loss of territory in Asia.

The correspondence even covers the relationship with the Marathas. There are references to Shivaji’s far-reaching influence. Advice was forwarded to the Portuguese king to maintain ‘friendly relations’ with the Maratha ruler to ensure the Dutch were kept at bay. Shivaji’s build-up of his naval force is also documented and later, Sambhaji’s expeditions against the Portuguese. Among other local updates are the conquests of Kudal, Bicholim and Pednem as well as ‘Ponda Mahal’ being offered to Portugal by the Moghuls. What is noteworthy is that some local rulers wrote in Modi Marathi, which had to be meticulously translated to Portuguese.

Administrative measures are also mentioned in the Monsoon Correspondence, such as the election of municipality officials and an observation of bribery and falsification (circa December 23, 1613). There is also a detailed, village-wise statistical chart showing inhabitants in the Salcete taluka (circa 1806). A report about conversion of locals to Christianity, and 24 churches baptising 1,150 eight-year-old children during 1689-90 and 177 adults during 1690 also exists. Nothing seemed to have missed the Portuguese 'news-finders’.

Then there’s a reference of the astronomical too: a white, luminous comet was reported to have been seen in Goa on November 27, 1664. The record says it was three times bigger than Venus (circa January 17, 1665).

WEB OF CONTROL

The Portuguese colonial empire — one of the largest and longest-lived empires in world history — existed for close to six centuries, from 1415 to 1999. The rule established major trade for the Portuguese in spices, gold, agricultural produce and created markets for Portuguese goods, spread Catholicism, and “civilized” the natives of colonies.

BRAZIL

Ruled: 1500-1822

Largest Portuguese colony by area and population, Brazil was ruled for 300 years, mainly for economic exploitation. Sugar, tobacco, cotton, coffee, and other cash crops were grown by African slaves who were imported. Brazilwood was also extracted from the rainforest and used in European textiles. Portuguese also exported 30,000 pounds of gold a year

GOA Ruled: 1510-1961

Goa was important because of its location and was visited by influential dynasties, seafarers, traders and missionaries since centuries. While the rest of India won independence in 1947 from the British, Goa was ruled for another 14 years by the Portuguese.

ANGOLA, MOZAMBIQUE AND GUINEA-BISSAU

16th century-1974

The Portuguese used the local population for slave trade. Gold and diamonds were also extracted from these colonies. The Portuguese came to these regions with the hope of finding gold, but found slaves were a far more useful commodity.

SRI LANKA 1500-1822

Between these years, a considerable portion of the island was under Portuguese rule. The Portuguese lost Ceylon when the Dutch forced them out and established control over the region, except over the central kingdom of Kandy

MACAU 1557-1999

Located on the South China Sea, Macau was an important Southeast Asian trading port. It was the last Portuguese colony and was handed over to China in 1999. Macau was lent to the Portuguese as a trading post, but remained under Chinese authority and sovereignty. Both Chinese and Portuguese merchants flocked to Macau and it became an important point for major trading routes.

Originally published at: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/when-weather-waves-dictated-correspondence/articleshow/61825346.cms