500 years ago....
It is the year 1499 C.E:
The East dominates the world economy, China & India account for half of the world’s economy as calculated by the economist Angus Maddison. The domination of the Global Economy by Western Europe at the beginning of the 20th Century, which seems natural today would be laughable in the 15th century.
What happened? Why did the world change significantly in the 15th Century? How did Western Europe gain dominance?
Iberia and India have some insights. The ‘Age of Discovery ‘ in the 15th Century transformed our understanding of the world.
A tale of 2 peninsulas :
“Almost an Island” is the literal definition of as Pen-insula. Iberia and India were known more for the one side of Land rather than the coast on the other 3 sides.
Iberia until the 15th-century was dominated by continental Europe than its Atlantic coastline. The Iberian peninsula is connected to continental Europe with a mountainous fence of the Pyrenees in the North- East. This route was the conduit for European visitors to Iberia. Iberia came under the Muslim invasion for the first time with Ummayad Caliphate entering via the port of Gibraltar in 711 C.E.
The Indian subcontinent rammed into the Asian continent more than 40 million years ago to create the Himalayas. The Himalayan Passes was considered the gateway to India, its east coastline was more for trade rather than for defence. The Khyber Pass on the silk road in the Himalayas was called the Dare Hind or the Door to India (for Alexander, The Huns, Ghaznavids, Timur & Babur). The Indian province of Sindh was invaded by Ummayad Caliphate under Muhammad bin Qasim entering via the port of Debal in 711 C.E.
Nearly 500 years ago, these two landmasses connected. It changed History.
The Iberian coastline was considered as the place where Europe ended, by the 15th century it was where the world began.
By the end of the 15th century, the Indian coastline would move beyond trade and gain prominence as the Gateway of India.
Let us look at the Indian perspective of Dharma, Artha & Kama when Iberia & India met.
1499 C.E: Dharma in Iberia
Raja Dharma: Bastard Princess, The Inquisition & The Machiavellian Prince :
Iberia and Europe in the 15th-century were ruled by feuding kingdoms, Iberia consisted of 5 major kingdoms Portugal, Castile, Aragon, Navarre, and Granada.
Granada was a legacy from the Umayyad Caliphate in the 8th century. In 1492, The Moors (Moroccan Muslims) of Granada surrendered to the recently combined Kingdom of Castile and Aragon, making The Emirate of Granada the last Islamic footprint in continental Europe. After the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453, this was considered a counterbalance to the rising domination of Islamic kingdoms in the Mediterranean.
The royal families of Portugal, Castille, Aragon & England were in a long, complicated, and soap-operaesque power struggle over generations. These royal families had enough illegitimate children, consanguine marriages, court intrigue & heresy to put George RR Martin to shame, no dragons though. It was the marriage of 37-year-old King of Portugal Alonso V to his 13-year-old(!) niece Joanna ‘la Beltraneja’ (The illegitimate) heir apparent to the Castillian crown in 1475 that lit the flame of dissent. Joanna was caught in a succession battle with her aunt Isabela for the Castilian crown, much drama and battles later, Isabela was crowned Queen of Castile and Joanna spent the rest of her days as a nun.
Portugal and the recently created Spanish Monarchy (of Castile & Aragon) were not on friendly terms.
The Spanish crown on a high from the recent wins decided to sponsor a Genoese merchant who brought forth the proposition of reaching India via the Syssbian Sea rather than the Meditteranean. He had reached new lands in the West. Over in Portugal, soap opera aside, Prince Henry the Navigator set up a nautical school in the 1450s near the port of Lagos at Sagres on the Atlantic coast. Portuguese annexed Ceuta on the African side of Gibraltar, the promise of lands of gold in Africa from legends like Mansa Musa started looking realistic.
The Portuguese & Spanish had tasted blood, now the coastline beckoned. The Age of Discovery had arrived.
Religious Dharma: The children of a Pope, Tickets to Heaven & The Printing Press
After the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453, the Eastern Orthodox church now looked towards Moscow as their base. The Catholic Church at the Vatican was a power equivalent to and at times even challenging Kings and Queens. It was during this period of ongoing family drama the Reconquista or Reconquest of Christianity in Iberia gained momentum. Catholic fervour triggered the Spanish inquisition against the Jews and Moors.
In most cases, the Church and State often colluded to ensure power remained with a chosen few. The church was present everywhere, its land holdings and taxes fed into the Vatican. For most Europeans, access to the Bible was strictly controlled, Latin was taught to a limited few. The bible was interpreted by the clergy, in some instances to favour Vatican policies. The church was the only route to salvation.
Papal indulgences were offering salvation to one’s ancestors from purgatory for a small price, a veritable ticket to heaven. Papal elections became increasingly political and most votes were bought. The Borgia family installed Pope Alexander VI. He would go on to father several children with multiple mistresses. The Vatican became entered one of its most controversial periods in history.
The Gutenberg Press now made printing more efficient, but there was not much to read in the common tongue.
The combination of the printing press and growing dissidence on Papal policies would soon trigger the Protestant Reformation.
1499 C.E: Dharma in India:
India’s kingdoms in the north were disintegrating from the Delhi Sultanate crippled by infighting, provinces claimed independence. Delhi’s power rested with Ibrahim Lodhi, he was struggling to keep the borders & provinces in check. The northwestern border was regularly being challenged by Afghans most recently by Timur. Westwards, The Sultan of Gujarat and the Multan provinces were stretching their muscles. In the South, Deccan Sultanate split into multiple Bahamani kingdoms. Devagiri and Delhi were again separated by multiple borders.
Vijayanagar was the last bastion of Hindu Kingdoms in the south.
Kingdoms further south were loosely coupled with local kingdoms paying tribute to Hampi. The Vijayanagara empire in the 1490s was going through internal changes of its own. A change of guard was in progress after more than 150 years of Sanga rule. As often happens, descendants of Deva Raya II fell to indulgences. It was a Saluva general fresh from victory on the battlefront who took the reigns. The Vijayanagara empire was mostly preoccupied with skirmishes with its northern neighbours.
Cavalry decided the outcome of battles, the Bahamanis had the advantage of trading with the Arabs for war horses. The Arabian monopoly on warhorses was about to end.
Religious Dharma in India: The rise of Bhakti and songs of devotion
Religion in India was complex as always, sects and subsects thrived while still being under a common religious umbrella. Decentralisation and Regional Diversity were prominent in Hinduism. There was a social movement brewing,
The Bhakti Movement had become pan-Indian, disconnected from each other but under a common umbrella of devotion.
In Punjab, Guru Nanak had just begun his Udasis or Journeys to the nau-khand (nine pilgrimages), he would go on to establish India’s youngest major religions.
The emergence of Islamic kingdoms in India brought a different religion of the ruling class. Temples were often targets of loot both for economic and political reasons. The raids of Bhakityar Khilij and Malik Kafur as south as Madurai still were fresh in memory. After the liberation of the south, Vijayanagara Kings made lavish grants to resurrect fallen temples. This has been captured in the 14th century not only by travellers like Ibn Batuta but also by poetess Ganga Devi in her Madhura Vijayam based on the conquest of Madurai by prince Vira Kamapana of Vijayanagara Empire.
Rituals were a key component of Dharma in India, original scriptures were in Sanskrit and not accessible to many. With Bhakti, people embraced ‘devotion’ as the path to salvation. Music became the conduit for both devotion and knowledge. The Alvars in Tamil Nadu and the vachanakaras of Kannada had already sown the seeds of integrating devotion and music in the common tongue. More than the songs, the lives of the saints themselves soon entered popular thought. Stories and songs intermingled to spread the gospel of devotion. In the beginning of the 15th-century Kumaravyasa retold the Mahabharata in Kannada as a story of devotion to Krishna. Verses were often set to music and sermons were organised in villages and temples.
Pilgrimages with devotees travelling in groups singing the hymns of their tongue started spreading the word through song and stories. Temples on the routes to pilgrim destinations become the forums of religious discussion. Devotion and experience became more the yardstick of salvation, moving away from ritual and knowledge of scripture. Devotion brought inclusivity, salvation came within reach of millions from different walks of life, not just priests but merchants, cobblers, washers, women, princesses, who were now singing their devotion.
Scholar Saints like Annamacharya, brought simple and beautiful songs and venerated places of devotion I which in turn increased pilgrimages and spread songs further. The Dvaita seer Vyasatirtha was the leading pontiff of Madwacharya lineage. He had strategically relocated to the capital Hampi in the 1490s under the Tuluva dynasty.
The Haridasa and Bhakthi movement was about to bloom during this golden age of devotion.
1499 C.E: Artha in Iberia
The fall of Constantinople in 1453 to the Ottomans set in motion their monopoly on all eastern trade including silk, cotton and spices. The Ottomans controlled all routes via the old land routes and the Red Sea. The Arabian merchants had trade connections in all major ports from Gibraltar, Egypt, Aden, India to Indonesia. The Supply chain was constant and consolidated, but the premium was in the last mile in Europe. Genoa and Venice were the main hubs of access to Europe. It was the partners of Ottomans, the Venetians who now dominated the Meditteranean routes and access to the European market. Portugal and Spain had to make do with shipping between the Meditteranean west coast to Flanders in the low countries.
Mercantilism was a Zero-Sum Game, The Ottomans had used it effectively to license and tax trade on the Mediterranean.
Europe had to look beyond the Meditteranean, naval expeditions in Europe were still hugging the coastline of Africa to find places beyond Arabic influence and cut out the middle man. For over 50 years, Portugal had invested in becoming a better sea fairing nation led by Prince Henry the Navigator, collating Portolan charts (maps of ports) of the Meditteranean and European waterfronts. Introducing the Caravel would prove to be one of the most significant game-changers in European maritime discovery and History.
The investment in naval routes paid off, in 1488 Bartholomew Dias had reached the Cape of Good Hope to conclusively prove that the Indian Ocean was not landlocked. It seems obvious now, however that was the widely held belief, as can be seen from ancient maps from Strabo & Ptolemy. A merchant, Fernando Cortes paid 200,000 Dinheiro to the Portuguese crown for the exclusive shipping rights to the African coast off Sierra Leone. Portuguese had reached Africa that was beyond the control of Arab merchants. African gold now found a direct route to Europe. Gold was first introduced in Portuguese coinage for the first time with the Cruzado.
In Spain, near bankruptcy of the Spanish crown was brought on from battles combined with the economic impact of the inquisition. It was during this time period that a Genoese merchant brought forth the proposition of reaching India via the Syssbian Sea rather than the Meditteranean. The Portuguese were having similar ideas to control the Atlantic ocean, so when Columbus landed with news of San Salvador in Lisbon, Portugal was quick to bring the Pope to resolve this Spanish transgression on ‘their’ waters. Thus was formulated the Treaty of Torsedialias, a decision to split the new world into 2 between Spain and England.
Iberia now had opportunities beyond the Mediterranean. Canons had been outfitted on Caravels. The Indian Ocean was beckoning.
1499 C.E: Artha in India:
The East dominated world trade and economy with China & India at the helm. Unlike the nascent Atlantic trade, the Indian Ocean was a veritable Monsoon Marketplace. From the days of the Periplus of the Eritrean Sea in the 2nd century C.E, Indian Ocean trade had a rich trade ecosystem. The heydays of Indian Maritime domination was on the Bay of Bengal during 10th to 14th-century. The Cholas had a strong enough navy to attack and conquer Srivijaya in the Strait of Malacca. Srivijaya was a key gateway in the route between India & China.
Trade between India & China continued to thrive. According to Marco Polo in the 13th century : [Quanzhou is] frequented by all the ships of India, which bring thither spicery and all other kinds of costly wares . . . hither is imported the most astonishing quantity of goods and precious stones and pearls . . . And I assure you that for one shipload of pepper that goes to Alexandria or elsewhere, destined for Christendom, there come a hundred such, aye and more too, to this haven of Zayton; for it is one of the two greatest havens in the world for commerce.
China’s treasure fleet under Zheng He had set the standard in naval technology with The Treasure Fleet in the beginning of the 15th century. The threat of Mongols on the northern border diverted funds from shipbuilding to funding the Great Wall. The Chinese exit left a void in the Indian Ocean trade, Arabs came in and established a near-monopoly, they had trade stations on ports from Indonesia to the Suez. With the Ottomans controlling the overland routes to the Mediterranean for European trade, by 1499 C.E all trade from the Indian Ocean to the West was through Arab merchants.
Indian Ocean trade was powered by the engine of seasonal monsoon winds, well known to local sailors. In fact, when Vasco da Gama crossed the Cape of Good Hope, he was piloted by an Indian Lascar (derived from Persian Lashkar) from Malindi to Calicut.
The Lascars and local sailors are conveniently left out of glorious tales of European explorers.
Meanwhile, In India, the ancient internal trade routes were also evolving. Dr Motichandra’s Sarthavaha has masterfully compiled trade routes and merchant stories in ancient India. Sartha derived from Sanskrit refers to ‘a caravan of travelling merchants who have invested their capital’, Sarthavaha is the leader of the Sartha. These caravans followed ancient routes historically known as the Uttarapatha (The Northern route) & the Dakshinapatha (The Southern route). Uttarapatha in the North connected the Himalayan passes to ports of Bhroach in the Arabian Sea & Tamralipti in the Bay of Bengal. Southern routes typically followed rivers, Godavari, Tungabhadra- Krishna & Kaveri. Prominent routes from Sarthavaha can be seen below. It is necessary to note that these are indicative routes and have evolved over centuries depending on natural & political dynamics. Internal trade from the Dakshina path to the North had ceased with the Delhi Sultanate in the 15th century. Kingdoms of Golconda, Gondwana and Odisha imposed a blockade on trade with the north.
India’s powerful merchant class was the Vaishyas, they formed strong merchant guilds and bankers, they often found lineage from Kuber- the lord of wealth. The merchants found representation in the royal councils. The merchants are often unfortunately ignored in Indian Itihaas. Domestic & Foreign merchants were highly valued. The Amuktamalyada attributed to King Krishnadevaraya says: A king should improve the harbours of his country and so encourage its commerce that horses, elephants, precious gems, sandalwood, pearls and other articles are freely imported into his country. He should arrange that the foreign sailors who landed in his country on account of storms, illness and exhaustion are looked after in a manner suitable to their nationalities.
Indian merchants brought in revenue, luxuries & beasts of war from the Indian Ocean trade.
The Jambudvipa Prajnapti & Mahavastu of the Gupta period describes in detail 18 merchant guilds from potters, singers, fishermen, calico-printers to goldsmiths. The Tiruvalangadu copper plates of Rajendra Chola, which records his gift of the Palaiyanur village to the Tiruvalangadu Siva temple. The most important plate of Uttama Chola (970-985 A.D.) refers to gifts made to a temple in Kanchipuram and the merchant guilds in the town. This copper plate gives evidence about how Kanchipuram evolved into a town with the merchants’ guilds playing a key role in it. From the early period till 13th century A.D., the weavers made a contribution to Kanchipuram’s development.
Avachi Setti was the banker of the King Peda Komati Vema Reddi (r.1402 – 1475) and financed him for building steps to Srisailam and Patalaganaga and probably for raising armies. The Avachi Setti family served the Reddi kings of Kondavidu. Haravilasamu of Telugu poet Srinatha gives a graphic description of foreign trade carried on by a Setti family of Simha Vikramapattanam (Nellore). The work informs us that Avachi Tippayya Setti and his brothers Tirumala Setti and Sami Setti imported valuable articles by both land and sea and supplied them to Harihararaya-II (r. 1377-1404) of Vijayanagara, Kumaragiri Reddi of Kondavidu, Feroz shah Bahmani and Gajapati rulers of Orissa. They had the monopoly of- supplying all the articles necessary for the grand Spring Festival (Vasantotsava)- celebrated by the Reddi King, Kumaragiri of Kondavidu.
Indian goods found their way to ports on both coasts, they were eagerly picked up by Arab merchants, their domination on Indian Ocean trade was about to be challenged.
1499 C.E: Kama in Iberia:
Treasures of the East were a European royal staple. When Alaric the Visigoth sacked Rome in 410 C.E, his quoted a ransom of 5,000 pounds of gold, 30,000 pounds of silver, 4,000 silken tunics, 3,000 hides dyed scarlet, and 3,000 pounds of pepper.
After a 1000 years, Royal textiles for the courts of Europe favoured silks and cottons of the Orient, European pallets craved spices and colour. A measure of Silk, Pepper & Cinnamon was worth the salary of several days for a master craftsman in Venice. Genoa and Venice were the main trade centres in the Mediterranean. Antwerp was emerging as a new Northern trade centre. By 1499 C.E it was the Venetians who had the lion share of the spice trade with the East.
Henry Hobhouse in his ‘Seeds of Change’ writes, “The starting point for European expansion had nothing to do with the rise of any religion or the rise of capitalism – but it had a great deal to do with pepper.”
Prof. John Munro of the University of Toronto has done extensive research on European Economic History during the medieval period. Spices had a markup of 10 to 100 fold in Europe from their source.
Why Were Spices Used and So Highly Valued? Foods cooked with spices taste much more exciting; that it can make eating one of life’s great delights; that it makes eating these meals such a highly prized luxury, to break the routine of bland meals. The cookbook Le Ménagier de Paris (1393) advised cooks to ‘put in the spices as late as possible.’ Spices were preferred for sauces in meat dishes. It was also a matter of both social fashion and social prestige — a sign of wealth, high social status, and conspicuous consumption. Also, the belief that spices and spiced foods served valuable medicinal functions, various spices were reputed to serve as digestive, stimulants, cures for halitosis, fevers, headaches, colic and to relieve flatulence.
Who consumed these meals? Hiett and Butler of the Medieval Cookery for Modern Cooks, believe that the aristocracy, the landed gentry, and probably some of the upper strata of the bourgeoisie, i.e. urban lawyers and professionals, merchants, etc. would frequently have at least one dish of this type during their main meal, which was usually the noon meal; and more such dishes of course during seasonal feasts. Beer and Wine were consumed in large quantities as an alternative to water.
The Orient had inspired exotic and now comical myths. Prester John as an urban legend was worthy to Know and seek, as a Christian King in the east with mythical stories of riches and gold. He was sought after for many years as a possible ally in the crusades. The 15th-century monopoly of the Ottomans after the Mumulk conquest did much more to build and propagate such myths. To maintain their monopoly on the spice trade, keep their source a secret and raise the cachet (and price) of this highly prized spice, Arab traders created the fantastic myth that pepper was cultivated in:
Groves of trees in India are “guarded” by poisonous serpents. In order to harvest the pepper, the trees have to be burned, driving the snakes away and in the process turning the originally white fruit black.
Sugar in Europe was an even rarer commodity, derived from Sanskrit word ‘sharkara’. It was cultivated in the new Atlantic islands of Madiera and Canary islands, they proved to be the unfortunate sandbox for European Colonialism and African Slave trade. The Columbian exchange was about to change the diet of the world.
Italian culture was in vogue in Europe with the Renaissance in full swing, it was bankrolled with the spice trade profits. Exotic colours like Indigo were a valued import not just for textiles, also for art. Merchant families like the Medicis and the Borgia funded artists and architecture. The Italian Renaissance brought together artists like Da Vinci, Michaelangelo, Donatello, Botticelli to create masterpieces. The revival as an event has been contested by some scholars, it nevertheless would spread to other European nations northwards.
Nouveau riche or new money in the hands of Iberians would soon alter the access to luxuries in Europe .
1499 C.E: Kama in India:
Exposure to royal lifestyles of Islamic kingdoms brought an increase in imports of luxuries from the Middle East in India. Gold and precious stones were in constant demand for symbols of wealth but also symbols of class and superior taste. The severance of the northern trade routes enabled direct trade with the Merchants on the coastline.
With trade becoming profitable in the south, the meteoric rise of wealth of neighbouring Kingdoms also invited covetous eyes of rival Kingdoms. More than anything, personal rivalry and economics dominated wars. Military might was key to ensure economic prosperity, a well-timed annexation of a fort I could mean spoils for a kingdom worth decades of trade. Arabian war horses were a sought after imports, war elephants were also welcome spoils of a raid.
Luxury goods had a strong domestic market beyond royal households. Temples and merchants were eager customers.
Temples were also great patrons of art. Medieval India produced remarkable architecture funded by merchants and also exquisite bronzes.
Foreign merchants often ran huge deficits, as high as 75% of the trade payout to India was done in Gold and precious metals, only 25% was with other goods. Therefore, eager merchants were always on the took out for goods other than gold to trade with Indians, wine and exotic women were a common import into royal households. The size of the Royal Seraglio or harems came as an indication of the wealth and power of a kingdom, the budgets and requirements of the royal women set a strong demand for royal textiles and jewellery. From the amphoras to store wine found in Muziris excavations, Indian love for imported wine was well known.
The Tamil poet Nakkeerar even during the Sangam era (300 B.C – 300 C.E) addressing the Pandyan King Nanmaran says, “Ever victorious King, pass your days by drinking perfumed and cold wine brought by the Yavanas (Ionians -Greeks) and poured in golden cups by beautiful cup-bearers”
Merchants in the south imported goods such as camphor, pearls, musk, gold from Jalanogi (Sumatra), elephants from Ceylon, fine horses from Hurumanji (Ormuz), musk from Goa, fine silk from China. In addition, Goa which supplied sandal, aloe-wood, camphor, rose-water, musk and pollen of saffron, were imported collectively. Velvet from the Middle East had become a royal staple.
Portuguese horse merchants Paes and Nuniz describe the Mahanavami celebrations of the Vijayanagara Kingdom in great detail. Although a few centuries later, this British colour film of the Durbar of the King of Alwar in 1938 gives us a flavour of the opulence of the royal courts.
The monopolization of Arab merchants in the Indian ocean, brought wealth ‘exotic imports and gold into the economy, from an agrarian economy, trade goods were also rising in demand.
Trade was about to be disrupted, bringing in new markets & luxuries to India.
Bringing it together: 1499 C.E:
16th Century brings with it a wave of disruption, challenging and shattering old world orders.
Iberia is about to enter its Golden Age. Martin Luther is about rock the foundations of the Vatican. Babur follows his ancestor Timur’s footstep to India. Krishnadevaraya beckons Vijayanagara’s golden age. Purandaradasa gives up a fortune to achieve immortality.
A Storm is approaching.
With the stage set for the 1500s, in the next edition, we will see how these disruptions played out to create a new world order.
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