Last Crusade, The by Cliff Nigel

Author:Cliff, Nigel [Cliff, Nigel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780857897749
Publisher: Atlantic Books

Having delivered his public history lesson, Cabral was to convey another message in private. He was to request the Zamorin to banish every last Muslim from his harbors; the Portuguese would henceforth supply the commodities the Arabs had brought, only better and cheaper. Manuel gave his commander a final, top-secret order: if the Zamorin didn’t quietly consent to trade solely with the Portuguese, Cabral “should make cruel war upon him for his injurious conduct to Vasco da Gama.” The Zamorin might be a fellow Christian, but he was clearly misguided, and Manuel was in a hurry.

Cabral’s orders, which were drawn up with Gama’s advice, also instructed him to establish relations with the other Christian states of India and to do all he could to interfere with Muslim shipping. Among his captains were Bartolomeu Dias, the discoverer of the Cape of Good Hope, and Gama’s close comrade Nicolau Coelho. Pêro Escobar, the pilot of the Berrio, again went as a pilot, and João de Sá and other veterans of Gama’s mission were among the company. Gaspar da Gama was taken along as an interpreter, and also on board were the five men who had been brought as captives from Calicut and the young envoy of the sultan of Malindi.

Even with their combined experience, the mission lurched from mishap to disaster. Soon after the delayed fleet set out on March 9, 1500, a ship was lost off the Cape Verde Islands. When Cabral tried to replicate Gama’s sweep around the Atlantic, he set his course too far to the southwest and hit land. He thought he had discovered a new island, and after holding a mass and erecting a cross he sent one of his captains home with the unexpected news. A terrible tempest struck the remaining eleven ships off the Cape of Good Hope and four were lost with all hands, including the vessel captained by Bartolomeu Dias, who never saw his stormy Cape again. On the crossing to India another ship disappeared in bad weather, and the fleet’s strength was reduced to six.

By then it was late summer, and in line with his orders, Cabral stationed himself off the Malabar Coast to attack the Arab shipping that was expected from the north. The crews were confessed and received the sacraments, but the quarry failed to turn up for the hunt. Instead Cabral carried on to Calicut, where he arrived, flags flying and cannon blazing, in mid-September.

The old Zamorin had died shortly after Gama’s departure, and his ambitious young successor was much keener to open trade with the Europeans. Several local notables came straight out to the ships, followed by a welcoming committee, an orchestra, and the Zamorin himself. This time the Portuguese had come prepared with a treasure trove of gold and silver basins, ewers, and flagons, together with plenty of gold-colored soft furnishings including cushions, canopies, and carpets. Cabral presented Manuel’s remarkable letter, and though the Zamorin’s reaction to the Portuguese king’s expressions of joy at being united with

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