The 5th India Armada

The Malabar Coast

March - September 1503

After the departure of the 3rd India Armada, the Zamorin of Kozhikode attacked Kochi, which was supporting a Portuguese feitoria. However, they had refused the Portuguese when they asked to build a fortress in the city, and tensions were rather high between the factors and the inhabitants. As such, when the Zamorin’s much larger army showed up, supported by the traditional familial allies of the Kochinese hinterlands, the raja saw now way out now that there was no Portuguese fleet to protect the city. To defend his own throne, he arrested the Portuguese factors, handed them over to the Zamorin, and destroyed the Portuguese feitoria.

The Portuguese were aware of the destruction of their feitoria, but Pêro de Ataíde, admiral of the India Patrol, was now too late to save the city. He had been defending Kannur, blockading Kozhikode, but also sending individual ships out to enforce the nascent Cartaz system. Its effectiveness was still limited by the lack of feitoria owned by the Portuguese around the Indian Ocean. However, Ataíde’s lone patrols’ main activities were exploratory in nature. Sailing north, they found a useful anchoring spot at Goa, but also encountered the cities of Gujarat, Mumbai and Diu. Sailing south, one ship made port at Colombo in Sri Lanka.

In the following periods, Ataíde made some attempts to gain allies in the Malabar hinterlands, but found all of them squarely on the side of the Zamorin. Only Kannur remained a safe port. He ordered the patrol to bombard Kochi on one occasion, but he did not have enough ships to blockade it and maintain the other missions, including the blockade on Kozhikode. He considered the latter more important and refused to spread his ships too thin.

The Red Sea Patrols

In the spring of 1503, the other Portuguese patrol remaining in the Indian Ocean was raiding around the Red Sea. However, the patrol of Pêro de Anaia was not very effective in the raiding effort as they were struggling with the charts and supply. They spent more time than necessary just sailing back and forth to Malindi than actively raiding.

The Outbound Journey

The 5th Armada was commanded by Tristão da Cunha. The journey from Lisbon to Mozambique went well. However, around the cape, one caravel was separated from the fleet and lost in a storm. The rest of the fleet safely made it to Fort São Sebastião in Mozambique, where they met with Anaia. He was appointed Captain of Sofala and given one extra caravel for his patrol. Furthermore, if the lost caravel was found, it would also be assigned to the fleet.

In late August, 1503, the fleet made it to India, meeting with the patrol of Ataíde in Kannur. There, they convinced the raja to officially declare war on the Zamorin, and he allowed the Portuguese to recruit mercenary nair soldiers. These Malabari warriors fought with swords and round shields, wearing little to no armour. Portugal managed to recruit about 3,000 of them for a single expedition, which was to be launched against Kochi.

On September 12th, the Portuguese fleet arrived at Kochi and demanded the surrender of the raja, along with a whole host of other demands. However, the raja refused. The Portuguese bombarded the city with much pomp, but this did not break the city. Then, they landed at Vypin Island to the north of the city, and began the construction of a fort. The construction was finished on October 27th. The sight of this new construction towering over the horizon of Kochi was enough to finally convince the raja to again surrender. He agreed to pay an indemnity, rebuild the feitoria, a fixed price for spices, and to bar the Arab merchants in the city from the spice trade. Furthermore, Vypin Island was ceded to Portugal in its entirety. A resolute victory for the Portuguese.

The Portuguese armada then peeled off the caravels into a new India Patrol, which was now strong enough to blockade Kozhikode and do some raiding (in the name of enforcing the Cartazes). Tristão da Cunha went on the typical spice run, loading up in Kollam, then Kochi and finally Kannur. In Kollam, the news from the north still had not convinced them more formal ties with the Portuguese, including the construction of a feitoria, were in their best interests. It was clear to them that the Zamorin’s ambitions in expelling the Portuguese were far from over.

Cunha could confirm this for himself when the Zamorin refused the new, one-sided Portuguese terms. After the unsuccesful stop in Kozhikode, on the way north, the Armada bombarded the city, but it was to little avail. Following last year’s destruction of the city, the Zamorin had moved his administrative centre away from the coast. Forewarned about the Portuguese arrival, merchants had fled the port, hiding in inlets and rivers with their ships, and quickly transporting all of the wares far enough inland. The new constructions were again reduced to rubble, but Kozhikode had not been seriously damaged.

As the Armada returned to Kannur, they could leisurely repair their ships, divide the cargoes evenly, load up fully, and set back out west. Regrettably, the raja could not be convinced to enforce fixed prices in his harbour, but this time offered to extend credit to the feitoria, so it could more effectively buy up spices throughout the year. However, any Portuguese payments to the raja would have to be made in silver.

The return journey was blessedly boring, and no ships were lost.

The lost caravel?

Blown far off course, the lost caravel eventually saw land far to the east of Africa. Running low on water, they anchored next to the island and landed as the first ever Europeans on what the Arabs called Dina Arobi (Mauritius). They encountered strange birds, which the Portuguese considered inedible. However, there was plenty of fresh water and enough other fowl to hunt. Figuring out their position, they plotted a northwestern course and made it to Mozambique in late September.

Results

Expenses:

• Vypin Island – Fort Isla Santa: 103,000 fl. (military)

Income:

• Kochi indemnity: 50,000 fl. (military)
• Spice revenues: 271,168 fl. (military) and 85,632 fl. (civilian)

Other results:

• Sri Lanka, Goa, Mumbai, Diu found.
• Mauritius discovered.
• The Cartazes strengthened somewhat.
• Area around the mouth of the Red Sea succesfully charted.