one day I will come up with a decent intro but for now you're gonna have to
deal with this what's up today we're talking about Portuguese explorers the
nation of Portugal emerged out of the shadows after liberating themselves from
Muslim rule they would conquer the great city of Ceuta and conduct a series of
expeditions that would change the world following the conquest of Ceuta Prince
Henrique of Portugal began to sponsor expeditions down the western coastline
of Africa in search of gold spices and slaves voyage by voyage Portuguese
explorers continued south along the coast began to map the shape of a
continent each voyage was characterized by several vessels carrying a few
soldiers after crossbows and crab swords ready to reach unknown shores the
vessels themselves known as caravels were developed by the Portuguese they
were small with limited space for supplies but had triangular sails that
could sail against the wind in a zigzag fashion allowing faster travel the city
of Lisbon became the frontier of exploration where Caravels return with
slaves gold ivory and crafted maps and beautifully coloured parrots Portuguese
motivations for exploration were mixed Portugal was a relatively resource poor
nation relying mostly on trade to grow there was a distinct lack of manpower as
the population a small number in less than two million people Henrique himself
was motivated by medieval cartographers who showed it was possible to reach the
legendary kingdom of Mansa Musa who ruled the extremely wealthy kingdom of
Mali early in the 14th century
exploration of Africa halted for a while upon Henriques death until prince Joao
pushed for more projects in the 1470's when Joao became King as Joao the
second in 1481 he had a desire to do great deeds he
began to fund many explorers to complete two objectives the first was to bypass
trade around the despised Muslim enemies the Ottomans the second reason was to
seek out a legendary Christian King Prester John to link up and help them in
crusade one of these explorers was Diogo cão who journeyed further along the west
coast of Africa planting a series of pillars engraved for the Portuguese coat
of arms Diogo cão sailed up the uncharted Congo River became the first
European to encounter the Congo Kingdom initially good relations were
established with the Congo Kingdom and it became a major source of slaves for
Portuguese traders for all his achievements Diego Coe failed to find a
route around Africa and he supposedly died malaria while sailing up the Congo
River on his second voyage upon hearing the news of köves death she while the
second appointed a knight of his household Bartolomeu Dias to command the
next expedition with two caravels and a storage ship Dias sailed down the coast
of Africa and became the first European to sail around South Africa but no
further he named this region the Cape of storms although it laid to be changed
the Cape of Good Hope by the king Dias returned to Lisbon with his
battered caravels after a 16 month voyage and revived the idea that it was
still possible to reach the Indies via sea routes and ultimately reached the
source of the spice trade the man who would accomplish the sea route to India
was Vasco de Gama for his first voyage in July 14 97 he set sail from Lisbon
with four ships down the western coast of Africa but unlike previous explorers
he sailed out into the southern Atlantic from here he used the prevailing
southern winds to stir past the Cape of Good Hope and sail up the east coast of
Africa he stopped at Mozambique for a while before resorting to piracy at
Mombasa looting several Arab merchant ships who are unarmed and slow at the
town of Malindi good relations were established
together they signed a trade agreement and received a guide for the voyage to
India the ship set sail and they arrived to the Indian trading port of Calicut on
the 20th of May 1498 upon his arrival garma met with the
ruler of Calicut in an effort to establish commercial trade terms the
vasco da gama presented goods per proved insufficient to impress the ruler and
his representatives this conflict of interest in hostility from Muslim
traders led to Gama to leave without concluding a treaty or they did
eventually manage to trade the Portuguese sold their goods at a low
price in order to acquire small amounts of spices and jewels upon his return to
Portugal Vasco da Gama was welcomed as a hero he had sailed 24,000 miles 54 of
the 170 crew returned home but the goods he had bought back from India made
profit 60 times that of his journey such was the success that King Manuel ordered
a much larger fleet to sail to India under the command of pedro álvares
cabral Pedro's instructions were simple to capitalise on to Gardner's
discoveries and secure a trading post At calicut upon his arrival however
Pedro would see 50 of his men murdered by Muslim traders he would retaliate by
burning 10 Muslim cargo vessels and killing the nearly 600 sailors aboard
before moving on to Cochin where he established the first Portuguese trading
post in India but this would not be the end of Pedro's explorations though as he
in fact managed to discover Brazil King Manuel ordered Vasco de Gama to dispatch
a second voyage in 1502
Vasco da gama set sail for India again with the fleet of 20 ships but
this time he forced his way into the markets the Portuguese fleet bombarded
the city for nearly two days severely damaging the unfortified city after
attacking a number of Arab merchant ships he reached an agreement with
calicut's ruler and made peace on their return voyage along the east African
coast they established Portuguese trading posts in what is now Mozambique
Vasco de Gama would return to India for a third and final time
becoming the Viceroy of India but soon after his arrival he contracted malaria
and died in the city of Cochin further explorations were continued by the
Portuguese and they reached Malacca in Japan and it is also speculated that the
Portuguese discovered Australia and Canada Ferdinand Magellan also
supposedly circumnavigate the globe under the patronage of Spain but he
didn't really because he died in Indonesia but his fleet did manage to
make it back to Spain however Portugal would never truly be
able to take control of the Indian Ocean spice trade network instead they
captured have controlled a number of coastal cities and set up Trading Post
laying the foundations for the Portuguese Empire vasco da gama had
opened the sea route to reach india for Europeans and in doing so placed the
steps for colonization globalization his voyages had a lasting impact on the
world even though his methods were brutal it played a significant role in
leading up to today thanks for watching next week we look at the Akkad in Empire
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