Portugal's eastern trade: 1508-1595
The profitable trade in eastern spices is cornered by the Portuguese in the 16th century
to the detriment of Venice, which has previously had a virtual monopoly of these
valuable commodities - until now brought overland through India and Arabia, and then
across the Mediterranean by the Venetians for distribution in western Europe.
By establishing the sea route round the Cape, Portugal can undercut the Venetian trade
with its profusion of middlemen. The new route is firmly secured for Portugal by the
activities of Afonso de Albuquerque, who takes up his duties as the Portuguese viceroy
of India in 1508.
The early explorers up the east Africa coast have left Portugal with bases in
Mozambique and Zanzibar. Albuquerque extends this secure route eastwards by
capturing and fortifying Hormuz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf in 1514, Goa on the
west coast of India in 1510 (where he massacres the entire Muslim population for the
effrontery of resisting him) and Malacca, guarding the narrowest channel of the route
east, in 1511.
The island of Bombay is ceded to the Portuguese in 1534. An early Portuguese presence
in Sri Lanka is steadily increased during the century. And in 1557 Portuguese merchants
establish a colony on the island of Macao. Goa functions from the start as the capital of
Portuguese India.
Rivals in the overseas trade: 1555-1595
With this chain of fortified ports of call, and with no vessels in the Indian Ocean capable
of challenging her power at sea, Portugal has a monopoly of the eastern spice trade.
Indeed the English, now developing interests of their own in ocean commerce, consider
that their only hope of trade with the far east is to find a route north of Russia. One of
the first joint-stock enterprises, the Muscovy Company chartered in 1555, results from
early efforts to find a northeast passage.
Of the other Atlantic maritime powers, Spain is mainly occupied with its American
responsibilities. And the Dutch enjoy a direct benefit from Portugal's trade. Their ships
have a monopoly in ferrying the precious eastern cargoes from Lisbon to northern
Europe.
The situation changes suddenly in 1580, when the Spanish (perennial enemies of the
Dutch) occupy Portugal.
The Spanish leave control of the Portuguese empire to Lisbon, but the political change in
itself does damage to Portugal's trading interests. Deprived now of their share of the
eastern trade, the Dutch resolve to build up a commerce of their own. Like the English,
their first instinct is to look for a northeast passage (a task which takes Willem
Barents into uncharted waters). But in 1595 they decide that their best course of
action is to challenge the Portuguese on the southern route.
It is a decision which will lead to major changes in the eastern trade. But in the short
term, the greater volume of trade is now being carried out by Spain across the Atlantic.
Trade winds: from the 16th century
The development of ocean travel in the 16th century brings with it an increasing
knowledge of wind patterns. The phrase 'trade wind' is ancient. Deriving from an old use
of 'trade' to mean a fixed track, it is applied to any wind which follows a predictable
course. Since such winds can be of great value to merchant ships making long ocean
voyages, the term becomes understood in the 18th century to mean winds which favour
trade.
The best known trade winds are those in the Atlantic which blow from the northeast in
the northern hemisphere and from the southeast south of the equator. This predictable
pattern explains why ships sailing between Europe and the Cape take a wide curving
course through the Atlantic.
Even more useful as trade winds are the monsoons which blow in the Indian Ocean.
Their particular benefit to long-distance merchantmen is a change of direction at
different seasons of the year. The northeast monsoon blows from October to March and
the southwest monsoon from April to September.
East Indiamen therefore schedule their journeys to arrive at their eastern destination
before the spring, and to depart for Europe again during the summer.
Spanish silver: 16th century
The wealth of Spain's new colonies in Latin America derives mainly from silver. In 1545
a prodigious source of the metal is discovered at Potos, in modern Bolivia. This region,
high in the Andes, is so rich in both silver and tin that it eventually has as many as 5000
working mines.
In 1546, a year after the discovery at Potos, silver is found at Zacatecas in Mexico.
Other major new sources of the metal are found in Mexico in the next few years. At the
same time sources of gold are being tapped, though in much less quantity.
Convoys of Spanish caravels, after delivering to Portobelo the European goods needed
in the colonies, carry back to Spain the precious bullion with which the colonists pay for
it - together with the 20% of all gold and silver due to the Spanish crown.
These treasures attract privateers from northern Europe - meaning privately owned
vessels operating, even if informally, on behalf of a government. Their captains are
drawn to the Spanish Main (the mainland of Spanish America, where the ships dock) like
wasps to a honey pot. Sailors from England, such as Francis Drake, prey on the Spanish
fleets in what is effectively a programme of national piracy.
At the Spanish end, all trade has to be channelled through the official Casa de
Contratacin (House of Trade) established in Seville in 1503. This monopoly brings great
wealth to Seville, and an increase in prosperity from this flow of bullion spreads
outwards through Europe. The region of Seville, and indeed the whole of Spain, cannot
provide all the goods required by the colonists. Raw materials and manufactured goods
from far flung regions make their way to Seville for transport to America.
Europe in the 16th century is already experiencing, for other reasons, an inflationary
pressure. The Spanish bullion has an added effect in pushing prices up.
The Atlantic cod trade: 1497-1583
The voyage of John Cabot in 1497 directs European attention to the rich stocks of fish in
the waters around Newfoundland. Soon fishing fleets from the Atlantic nations of Europe
are making annual visits to catch cod. They bring with them large supplies of salt.
Summer settlements are established, on the coasts of Newfoundland, to process the fish
before it is transported back to European markets in the autumn.
England plays a leading role in the trade, and in 1583 Humphrey Gilbert formally
annexes Newfoundland on behalf of the English queen. It is a claim which does not go
undisputed - particularly by France, whose fleets are the main rivals of the English in
these waters.
Dutch trade in the east: 1595-1651
The first Dutch expedition round the Cape to the far east, in 1595, is captained by Jan
Huyghen van Linschoten, a Netherlands merchant whose only knowledge of the orient
comes from trading in Lisbon. The survivors of this journey get back to Holland two
years later. They bring valuable cargo. And they have established a trading treaty with
the sultan of Bantam, in Java.
Their return prompts great excitement. Soon about ten private vessels are setting off
each year from the Netherlands to find their fortune in the east. The States General of
the newly independent Dutch republic decide that this unlicensed trading activity, in
distant and dangerous waters, needs both control and protection.
In 1602 the States General form a Dutch East India Company, with extensive privileges
and powers. It is to have a tax-free monopoly of the eastern trade for twenty-one years.
It is authorized to build forts, establish colonies, mint coins, and maintain a navy and
army as required.
With these powers the company takes only a few decades to deprive Portugal of the
spice trade. A capital is established at Batavia, in Java, in 1619. The Portuguese are
driven out of Malacca by 1641 and from Sri Lanka by 1658. But the main focus of
Dutch attention is the Moluccas - the Indonesian islands of which the alternative name,
the Spice Islands, declares their central importance in the eastern trade.
The Moluccas are the source of the most valuable spice of all, the clove, coveted for
many different purposes - as a flavour in food, as a preservative, as a mild anaesthetic,
as an ingredient in perfume, even to mask stinking breath. In pursuit of Moluccan
cloves, and also nutmegs, the Portuguese make local treaties as early as 1512.
In the early decades of the 17th century the Dutch East India Company gradually
excludes the Portuguese from trade in the Moluccas. The Dutch also take on, and oust
from the islands, another European nation attempting to get a foothold in the region the English East India Company.
The Dutch control the trade in cloves with ruthless efficiency. During the 17th century
clove trees are eradicated on all the Spice Islands except two - Amboina and Ternate - to
limit production and keep prices high. Strict measures are taken to ensure that plants
are not exported for propagation elsewhere (a restriction successfully maintained until
the late 18th century).
The Portuguese never recover their trading strength in the east. But in expelling the
English from the Moluccas, the Dutch unwittingly do them a favour. The English East
India Company decides to concentrate its efforts on India.
English trade in the east: 17th century
On the last day of the year 1600 Elizabeth I grants a charter to a 'Company of
Merchants trading into the East Indies'. Early voyages prove successful; by 1614 the
East India Company owns twenty-four ships. But competition with the Dutch in
the spice islands leads to violence, culminating in a massacre of English merchants at
Amboina by their Dutch rivals in 1623.
This disaster causes the company to concentrate on its interests in India. In 1613 a
factory (meaning a secure warehouse for the accumulation of Indian textiles, spices and
indigo) has been formally established on the west coast, at Surat. The first English
vessel with a cargo of these Indian goods sails from Surat in 1615.
Surat remains the English headquarters on the west coast until it is gradually replaced,
between 1672 and 1687, by Bombay (given to Charles IIin 1661 as part of the dowry of
his Portuguese bride, Catherine of Braganza, and leased by him to the company in
1668).
Meanwhile the English are establishing secure footholds on the east coast. Fort St
George is begun at Madras in 1640 and is completed in 1644. Calcutta is eventually
selected, in 1690, as the best site for a trading station in the Ganges delta; it is fortified,
as Fort William, in 1696. By the end of the 17th century the three English presidencies
of Bombay, Madras and Calcutta are securely established.
Triangular trade: 18th century
The triangular trade has an economic elegance most attractive to the owners of the
slave ships. Each of the three separate journeys making up an expedition is profitable in
its own right, with only the 'middle voyage' across the Atlantic involving slaves as cargo.
Ships depart from Liverpool or Bristol with items in demand in west Africa - these
include firearms, alcohol (particularly rum), cotton goods, metal trinkets and beads. The
goods are eagerly awaited by traders in ports around the Gulf of Guinea. These traders
have slaves on offer, captured in the African interior and now awaiting transport to
America.
With the first exchange of merchandise completed, the slaves are packed into the
vessels in appalling conditions for the Atlantic crossing. They are crammed below decks,
shackled, badly fed and terrified. It is estimated that as many as twelve million Africans
are embarked on this journey during the course of the Atlantic slave trade, and that one
in six dies before reaching the West Indies - where the main slave markets on the
American side of the ocean are located.
The most valuable product of the West Indies, molasses extracted from sugar cane, is
purchased for the last leg of the triangle. Back in England the molasses can be
transformed into rum. And so it goes on.
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