VASCO DA GAMA

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 31, 6 February 1925, Page 3

VASCO DA GAMA

A PORTUGUESE HERO

FOURTH CENTENARY

CAPE ROUTE TO THE EAST.

Lisbon and the Tagus, the scene of a large gathering of the warships of various maritime I'owers, including the United States and Great Britain, in response to an invitation of the Republic of Portugal to take part in the celebration of the 100 th anniversary of the. death of the most distinguished of all her sons, Dom Vasco da Gama, Count of Vidiguiera, the discoverer of the Cape of Good Hope and of Natal and the pioneer of the Cape of Good Hope route from Europe to India and the I'ar Orient.

Until the fifteenth century, writes Frederick Cunlilfe-Owen, 0.8.X., in the "New York Times," .Europe was wholly dependent for her intercourse and trade with India and the b'av East'by overland routes, which were controlled by the Turks, and entirely in Moslem hands, therefore not only terribly costly and perilous, but also well-nigh impracticable. But in July, 1497, Dora Vasco da Gama, descendant of a Portuguese noble family, which flourished at Lisbon and Sines in 1280, was impelled by the. then recent successful voyage of Christopher Columbus resulting in the discovery of America, to start from the iagus southward with a fleet'of four vessels especially built for the enterprise to ascertain whether there was any truth m the stories, of the eiistenco of a.route to India and China by reaching and rounding the southern extremity of the Dark Continent, which had been a subject of rumour and of legend ever since the days of Herodotus. So venturesome was the expedition considered, that before it set forth its commander, with his officers and all the members of nis crews, made their confessions and received the Sacraments in a Email chapel on the site of the Cathedral Uiurch of Santa Maria de Belem, and Monastery of the Hieronymites, which was afterwards built by King Emanuel 1- in 1499 to commemorate the event and in token of the gratitude for the safe return of the explorers. : BOUND SOUTH AFRICA. '■"'

Pour months later Vasco da Gama and his small fleet reached what is now bt. Helen s Bay, at the southern- extremity of Africa, rounded the Cape of Good Hope and after manasins to secure an East Indian pilot at Durban-on Christmas Day and endowing the country there with the name of Natalis (subsequently Natal), because of the date being the anniversary of the-nativity\>f Christ, sailed eastward across the Indian Ocean to Calicut, on the Malabar coast which was reached on 20th May, 1198.' ihere Vasco da Gama set up, according to the custom of his country, a marble pillar to commemorate his discovery of India. • .. • J

Although at first the Hindu Governor •iC' . ut recelved the great navigator with the utmost cordiality, yet the Moslem traders at his Court became so much alarmed at the prospect ol the discovfy °f ,the new Cape route from Europe to Hindustan, realising that it would tjo far towards depriving them of the virtual : monopoly -which- they ■ had until then enjoyed of India's commerce with Europe, uy reason of their control of the overland means of communication, they eventually turned the Hindu Governor against Vasco da Gama, who was forbidden to establish a Portuguese trading station there. But he had remained there long enough to get some idea of me wealth of India and returned home in safety by way once more of the Cape bringing back with him enthusiastic reports of the marvellous riches and resources of India. He was welcomed by his countrymen with the utmost enthusiasm on his arrival at Lisbon, and was overwhelmed with tokens oi gratitude by his Sovereign, King Emanuel the Fortunate, including all sorts of titles and of dignities, including that of Admiral of India."

DISCOVERY OF BRAZIL. In prosecution of Vasco da Gktna's discoveries, .another fleet, this time of fourteen ships, was sent out as speedily as possible to India under Dom Pedro Alvares Cabrel, who, driven by storms too-iar eastward on the accidentallyl hit upon and discovered Brazil which was eventually to becoiiio the richest of all Portugal's oversea dependencies. In due course Cabrel and his ships rounded the Cape ■- of Good Hope, crossed the Indian Ocean and reached Calicut. Encountering resistance instigated by the Moslem traders, he proceeded to bombard the town, which he eventually seized, founding factories there and elsewhere along the Malabar coast. Having firmly established a Portuguese foothold ]n India, he finally returned to Lisbon in 1503 with riclilvladon ships. Meanwhile Vasco da Gama had married and settled down at Lisbon to act as adviser to the King on all matters connected f with , India, with Brazil, and with the maritime and colonial policies of the Crown,' continuing to enjoy the Royal favour throughout the subsequent fifteen or sixteen years, during which he was created Count of Vidiguiera, with extraordinary privileges of civil and criminal jurisdiction and ecclesiastical patronage. - During this time Portugal's oversea empire in Hindustan was greatly, extended by conquest and diplomacy and its capital established at Goa. But in April, 1524, the maladministration and tyranny of the then Governor "of the Portuguese possessions in India had created a crisis there, and in response to an appeal from King John III.", Vasco da Gama, then a man of 64, sailed once more for India with full powers as Viceroy to supersede the Governor and to assume supreme command. ' He inaugurated a number of reforms, restored order where confusion and dishonesty had reigned, and then, overtaken by sudden illness believed to have been due to poison, died' at Goa on. Christmas Day, 1524. That is just over four hundred years ago.

A GREAT MEMORIAL . . Twenty years later his body was conveyed in great state back to Portugal and now rests in the memorial Church of Saint Jeronymos, built in 1499 hy his Royal friend and patron. Dom Ematmel 1., and worthy in every way of his great discovery. Constructed of white limestone, it is the masterpiece of, Joao do Castiino, the greatest of all Portuguese architects. The design is a blend of thirteenth century Gothic, of Renaissance, of Moorish, and of Byzantine, and the lofty domed roof is sustained by four oxquisile marble colums, 150 feet high, so delicate they look almost like lacejvand yet so strong that they remained entirely unaffected by the terirble earthquake which partially destroyed Lisbon in 1755. The basilica, for it-is difficult to describe it asanvthing else than a 'cathedral, contains in addition to the tomb of A'asco da Gama,also those of Portugal's celebrated poet. Camocns, and of Queen Catherine of Bvaganza, the Portuguese consort of King Charles 11. of Great Britain' \iuw da Gama. imiy ba regarded o.i the creator pf I'ortugal's former viiai

colonial empire, which embraced a considerable portion of India, South America, vast regions in Africa, including the city of Tangiers, control of which is now the source of so much international dissension, settlements in China and Japan, etc. Indeed, the official titles of the Kings of Portugal until the establishment of the republic at Lisbon fourteen.years ago comprised those of Sovereign Lord of India, of South America, of Ethiopia, and of Africa and Asia. And there is no doubt that in the sixteenth century Portugal was the greatest and wealthiest of all the colonial powers of Europe..,

DWINDLED. POSSESSIONS. : Her oversea possessions have sadly shrunk since then, and in India, she only retains _the bare 7000 square miles comprised in the Vice Royalty of Goa, with a native population of about half a million. But,-although Goa is a source of expense rather than of revenue to the "P^^V^t; Britain kas repeatedly offered to. purchase it at a large price, especially on administrative grounds, the Portuguese, Eoyaliste, and, Kepubhcans alike, no matter how much pressed they be for money, have never been able to > bring themselves to sacrifice t ni s relatively smaU and useless tract of territory, which is identified in their minds with the glorious memories of the nation's colonial' crandeur in the times of long ago. .It is to sentiments of the' same kind tnat must be ascribed the persistent refusal of the Portuguese to accept the tempting prices which have been repeat,edly_ offered to them for the purchase of their colony of Macao, in China, which prior to the ■ 0 reat War was sought by the German Kaiser and also by Japan, while both Great Britain and Germany were ten and twenty years ago bidding against each other for the possession of Mozambique, on the east coast of Africa, with a population ?m n™e fiVe millions a"d an area of near. 500,000 square miles. Angola, Portugal s great colony.in West Africa, with a coast line of.over one-thousand miles has offered equal attractions to Franca and to Great Britain, while even the United States is said to have been anxious to secure, by purchase, possession of Madeira and also of the Azores, where .Uncle Sam maintained with the permission of the Lisbon Government, a naval base and coaling station during the Great War. There is no doubt that if the Portuguese could be induced to sell any of their colonies, for which they could obtain most advantageous prices from purchasers anxious to buy alike on political and economic' grounds, the money thus realised would go far to extricate them from the financial troubles which contributed so largely to the downfall of the monarchy in 1910, and which have been the blight and curse of the republic ever jsince..: How "unstable are the conditions at Lisbon may. be gathtred from the fact that the nation has had somewhere near forty different,. Ministers, of Finance... since the establishment "of . the republic, four ; years before the Great War. Yet their national pride, their very real patriotism,, and their cherished and proud memories of the time Mihen Portugal was the greatest colonial power of the world prevent them, no matter what-the hue of the political party in power and no matter how dire their need, from bartering for foreign gold the remnants of-their once vast overseas empire.