Special features of the Portuguese colonial expansion of the XV–XVI centuries

Lokhova Irina Vital'evna ORCID: 0000-0001-8043-579X PhD in History Associate Professor of the Department of General History North Ossetian State University named after Kosta Levanovich Khetagurov 362025, Russia, Republic of North Ossetia - Alania, Vladikavkaz, Vatutina str., 44-46 iv.lokhova@nosu.ru

Introduction. In the light of the current events and the instructions of the President of the Russian Federation, it seems advisable to turn to the history of colonialism (A list of instructions following a meeting with historians and representatives of traditional religions of Russia. 11.12.2022. Pr-2372, item 6 b.). The relevance, in our opinion, is explained by the fact that from the space of one of the civilizations that gained dominance at a certain stage, world expansion begins and this world expansion has been expressed in such phenomena as colonialism, racism, globalization. The first stage of globalization associated with the Great Greek colonization took place in the VIII-VI centuries BC and proceeded through cultural and commodity exchange. The second stage of the globalization process is associated with Great geographical discoveries^[32], although this term is very conditional, because the one who made them did not set a specific goal to discover something. The goal was quite primitive and concerned mainly the search for new resources, precious metals and slaves. Initially, all travel was focused only on profit, the search for new trade routes and trade. And the Portuguese were no exception. The Portuguese colonial Empire, consisting of overseas colonies and territories administered from the metropolis, was one of those empires in world history that were able to survive for a fairly long period. The siege and capture of Ceuta is only the first step, after which Portuguese explorers traveled around the world and discovered many islands and archipelagos. All this led to the formation of an extensive colonial power, the results of which Portugal did not take full advantage of, and already in the middle of the XVII century it lagged far behind the world powers of that era in economic terms.

The relevance of this topic is determined by the fact that in the new Atlantic economic space, the prerequisites for the hegemony of the West over the East were laid and the first steps towards globalization were taken. At an early stage of colonial expansion, the monopoly of Europeans on ocean trade routes was established and huge colonial empires were created. The establishment of colonies contributed to the accumulation of economic development potential and further expansion to the East. It was Portugal that was the first to develop new territories and one of the last to give independence to its colonies^[22].

The scientific analysis of the problem under study contributes to the solution of the question of whether such a long and specific existence of the Portuguese colonial system was an objective condition or was based on historical inertia. The purpose of this article is to identify the features of the process of Portuguese colonial expansion in America, Africa and the East, as well as to reveal the reasons for Portugal's defeat in the fight against the new colonial powers – the Netherlands and Great Britain. In our opinion, the achievement of this goal is possible with the application of a comprehensive analysis of the prerequisites for establishing a monopoly of Europeans (Portuguese) on ocean trade routes, ways and means of realizing the expansion of Europeans, in particular the Portuguese, and the consequences that it had for the process of globalization.

In general, the history of Portuguese colonization is associated with significant difficulties due to the scarcity of data in Russian. The indicated range of problems cannot highlight the full versatility of this issue, but the work does not pretend to be comprehensive. At the same time, we have tried to highlight the causes and prerequisites of Portuguese expansion, to determine the historical significance of Vasco da Gama's journey to India, to reveal the principle of the Portuguese colonial system, its main characteristics, and the features of its functioning. The article pays special attention to the reasons for Portugal's loss of its dominance and transformation from a powerful colonial power into a secondary one, inferior to the leading positions of England and the Netherlands.

Materials and methods. The source base of the research consists of collections of archival documents, chronicles, and messages. To analyze the process of exploring the African coast by the Portuguese, the reports of early Portuguese chroniclers, and in particular Gomisha Zurara, were used^[28]. The chronicle tells about the Portuguese discoveries of the first half of the XV century, and in our opinion, it is a very valuable source, since the author was a contemporary, and sometimes an eyewitness to the events described.

The bull "Inter caetera" of Pope Alexander VI and the agreement concluded in Tordesillas marked the beginning of the colonial policy of European countries, declaring full European hegemony in the world^{[2; 3]}. No European country will subsequently remain aloof from the territorial division of the world. The Treaty of Tordesillas realized the civilizational mission of the world powers, translating their worldview values into actions aimed at the political, economic and cultural dependence of non-European countries.

One of the sources for studying the first Vasco da Gama expedition is a document^[5] containing information about the preparation of expeditions, about moving along the African coast on the way to India, about the life of officers and sailors on the ship. The letter is very interesting, which, although it is a fake, nevertheless conveys well the geographical representations of people of the XV-XVI centuries^[1].

Together with the sources, a number of works were analyzed during the study of this issue ^{[6; 15; 16; etc.]} and collective work^{[8; 14]}. The research on this topic is based on the works of the famous Africanist and orientalist A.M. Khazanov ^[19-22], in which he reveals in detail and in stages the genesis and evolution of the Portuguese colonial empire.

The book by Portuguese professor J. Saraiva^[17], translated for the first time into Russian in 2007, popularly tells the story of a small Pyrenean country that occupies a huge place in the study of the era of great geographical discoveries and globalization.

The monograph by K. Kunin^[13] examines in detail the life and work of the discoverer of the sea route to India, describes all the historical processes that took place in Portugal, which influenced the formation of the personality of Vasco da Gama.

The works of R. Hennig^[24] and I.P., V.I. Magidovich^[14] characterize the main stages of the study of the coasts of South America, East Africa and the islands of Indonesia. The authors pay due attention to the Portuguese navigators' search for a way to the East along the west coast of Africa, using valuable historical and geographical material.

The book by the German historian T. Buettner^[7] is a popular science description of the history of the peoples of Africa. The author introduces the reader to the historical development of African peoples in the pre-colonial era and the consequences of the territorial division of the continent between capitalist powers.

V.A.Zarin demonstrates an exclusively scientific approach to the problem^[10]. The comparative typology of late feudalism and the comparison of the levels of technical and economic development of the West and the East allow the author to explain the reason for the successful colonial policy of Western Europe in the powerful countries of the East; to determine the role of political structures and ideology in ensuring the technical progress of various societies.

In addition to the listed monographs and collective works, materials from periodicals were used in the study of this issue^{[11; 31-33]}.

Using the comparative historical method in the study and conducting a causal analysis, we came to the following results set out below.

Analysis. The Portuguese Empire arose in the 15th century and already at the beginning of the 16th century its bases were spread all over the globe: in North and South America, Africa and various regions of Asia and Oceania^[30]. After the Reconquista, which ended for Portugal in 1250, its sailors began exploring the coast of Africa and the archipelagos of the Atlantic in 1415-1419, using the latest advances in navigation, cartography and marine technology. The first steps of the Portuguese along the African coast are associated with the name of Prince Enrique, who, starting in 1415, organized expeditions along the west coast of Africa. The chronicler of Azurara listed the reasons that prompted the infante to do this: firstly, the desire to open new territories; secondly, to profit from trade with them; thirdly, to find out the limit of Arab influence in this region; fourthly, to find Christian allies in the fight against Muslims, since the fifth and most important According to Azurara, the reason is the spread of the Christian faith^{[28, p. 27-30]}.

The formation of the Portuguese colonial Empire took place at the beginning of the era of great geographical discoveries. In fact, colonization is a complex phenomenon on a global scale, dating back to ancient times and meaning settlements created by immigrants from another country. Then this concept evolves and acquires several shades. The following types of colonization are distinguished, depending on the specific goals of the colonizers: settlement, exploitative, plantation, surrogate and internal ^[31]. Portugal's colonial policy was exploitative, since the small metropolis was unable to provide the vast territories of the colonies with settlers and planters. The process of colonization acquired an aggressive character in the capitalist era, and is associated with the historical changes that took place in the late XV – early XVI centuries not only in Europe, but also in the East.

Economically, in the XV century, throughout Western Europe, the feudal system was already in complete decline, having exhausted the basic resource of the Middle Ages^[25], and the threat of an economic crisis hung over Europe. The need to find ways to solve this problem posed new challenges for Western European civilization, namely, the search for sea routes to the East not through the Mediterranean Sea and a source of resources for the development of capitalist relations. These circumstances brought the peoples of Europe to the forefront of history, putting them "at the head of the progressive path of development of the world historical process"^{[26, p. 202]}. The reasons for the search for new sea routes to the East arose as a result of the Turkic conquests in Arabia and Asia Minor, which captured Constantinople in 1453, traditional routes from Europe to India through the Eastern Mediterranean proved difficult to access and European trade moved west across the Atlantic Ocean.

The European colonial expansion in the XV – XVI centuries was not only the result of economic development, but also a reaction to the lack of natural resources necessary for survival. If we abstract from the formation criteria and try to compare European and Asian societies in terms of economic and technical development, then Europe in the period from the collapse of the Roman Empire to the beginning of the XIII century can be attributed to the backward periphery of the Eurasian region. If we analyze the trade between East and West, we will find out that precious metals, gold and silver, went to the East, instead of luxury goods such as spices, frankincense, precious woods, incense, precious stones, etc. Western Europe constantly found itself in debt to Arab traders, since Oriental goods Reaching the Europeans, through intermediaries, they have already turned out to be many times more expensive. Realizing this discrepancy, the Europeans sought to establish direct trade with the East as soon as possible ^{[16, p. 20]}.

By the beginning of the XVI century, according to K. Cipolla, Europe had become the most developed region of the world^{[28, p. 94]}. The number of large cities is growing, which subsequently become industrial and commercial centers. Commodity-money relations reached a high level, the demand for labor and precious metals increased, which in turn influenced the desire of Western European countries to intensify the search for new lands.

The turning point for the political and economic system of European states turned out to be the XVI-XVII centuries, when the suppression of class institutions, city self-government and the formation of absolute monarchies took place, and absolutism contributed to further political and economic consolidation of the state, the growth of industry, trade and navigation.

In an attempt to identify promising areas of research on colonialism, I would like to turn to the origins of this process and consider in detail how it proceeded in Portugal. The first countries to embark on the path of colonial expansion were those with significant maritime experience, but not the most economically developed states – Portugal and Spain. The colonial systems of Portugal and other European countries were established by force and dealt with societies of different economic and political development, both in the East and in America, as well as in Africa and Australia.

So, turning directly to the study of our question, let's start with the fact that the completion of the territorial formation of the Portuguese Kingdom can be dated to the middle of the XIII century, when these territories were conquered from the Arabs, as a result of the Reconquista and victory in 1212 in the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa. The end of the XIII-beginning of the XIV centuries is the period of the emergence of Portugal as an independent kingdom, the relatively early definition of the borders of which contributed to the tendency towards the centralization of the state and the Portuguese awareness of themselves as a single community^{[14, p. 358]}.

Portugal's remoteness from complex international conflicts made it possible to direct all forces to consolidate its state. Firstly, the geographical location contributed to the development of navigation^{[21, p. 26]}. Secondly, during the Reconquista, a separate class of "fidalgu" nobles was formed, for whom the war with the "infidels" was not only the only worthy occupation, but also a "God-pleasing, holy cause"^{[13, p. 6]}. After the completion of the Reconquista, the Fidalgu squads were not in demand, their incomes fell sharply and the need to search for new sources of enrichment, which they hoped to find in unexplored lands across the ocean, increased.

Attempts to find a sea route to India, skirting the African continent, have been made since the beginning of the XV century by Enrique the Navigator, and then by Bartolomeu Dias. But it was possible to reach the shores of India only in 1498 as a result of another expedition led by Vasco da Gama.

Vasco da Gama is the greatest navigator of the era of geographical discoveries, a symbol of the formation of the Portuguese Empire. It would seem that everything should be known about the great navigator. Works have been written about him in all European languages. The route of his expedition was studied in detail, many documents were identified, and the names of all geographical points where his ships entered were clarified. Nevertheless, much is still unknown about the life of the great navigator. Vasco da Gama's biography is full of nebulae and mysteries from the very beginning. His date of birth is unknown. One can only assume that he was born in Sinix, a seaside town 100 km south of Lisbon, between 1460 and 1469. There is no doubt, however, that he belonged to a rather noble family, since all contemporary chroniclers such as Damian de Gauchy and Juan de Barros mentioned his title of "nobleman (fidalgu) of the royal court"^{[20, p. 4]}. However, his family was not among the most noble and influential or richest families in Portugal.

The first completely reliable evidence of da Gama's life dates back to 1492, when King Juan II of Portugal gave Vasco da Gama a responsible assignment, ordering the confiscation of goods on French ships stationed in the Lisbon raid, in response to the seizure of a Portuguese caravel loaded with gold, returning from Guinea by French pirates^{[20, p. 5]}. The chronicler Garcia de Rezendi writes: "And he then sent with great haste, giving the necessary instructions and great powers, Vasco da Gama, the fidalga of his court, who later became Count of Vidigueira and Admiral of the Indies"^{[20, p. 5]}. Vasco da Gama successfully fulfilled this assignment and some historians, due to the lack of other documentary data, saw in This episode is a proof of experience and merit, explaining the later choice of Vasco da Gama as commander of the fleet in 1479.

In our opinion, this version does not seem convincing, since Vasco da Gama simply carried out one of the many confiscation actions that were very frequent at that time. The famous Portuguese chronicler Juan de Barros described the great navigator in this way: "Vasco da Gama was a man of medium height, rather thickly built, with a chivalrous appearance. He bravely decided on exploits, gave harsh orders, often unjustified and frightening. He was hardy in his labors, severely punished the guilty in the name of justice"^{[20, p. 7]}.

Nevertheless, three ships were built specifically for Vasco da Gama's expedition to India: the flagship San Gabriel, captained by the commander of the Vasco da Gama flotilla; San Rafael, captained by the brother of Commander Paulo da Gama; Berriu, captained by Nicolau Coelho, and an auxiliary vessel with food and water supplies^[5]. The flotilla had artillery and a large amount of ammunition, and the ships were well equipped with navigation devices. On July 8, 1497, she sailed from Lisbon, and by the end of December 1497, the ships were in places where no European had ever been before.

The coast of India appeared on May 17, but with its achievement, the tasks of the expedition were not solved, since it was still necessary to establish trade relations with the locals, which was opposed by Arab merchants who did not want to give up their monopoly positions in intermediary trade^[5]. Vasco da Gama was unable to establish strong trade and diplomatic relations with the Samorin of Calicut due to the hostility of Arab traders. A completely different relationship was established with the native population, who willingly made contact with the team^[5]. However, this is less than what the Portuguese expected to receive. On August 29, 1498, after a three-month stay, without concluding any agreement with Samorin, Vasco da Gama's flotilla left Calicut.

The return trip to Portugal was not easy, and for the crown, Gama's expedition turned out to be very profitable^[11]. The results of the landing of Vasco da Gama in Calicut and the subsequent Portuguese expeditions in the South seas of the Pacific Ocean were very significant. Firstly, the centers of international trade moved to the west, and after that the centers of European civilization. Secondly, the opening of the route to India around the Cape of Good Hope undermined the economic dominance of the East over the West, which contributed to the gradual weakening of the East.

After the Portuguese opened the route to India around Africa during the first decades of the XVI century. a chain of forts and trading posts was created on the African and Asian coasts. The nature of the Portuguese colonial economy consisted in the fact that the activity of the Portuguese trading capital was limited at first to the framework of the African continent. The importance of the colonies founded in Congo, Angola, Benguela, Zanzibar, Mozambique, Melinda is determined by the abundant gold deposits here. In 1493-1520, the Portuguese exported 84 thousand kg of gold from Africa. Methods of obtaining metal: robbery, extortion, tribute and forced sale.

The appalling working conditions in the mines, which are described by available sources, led to the fact that a significant part of those employed in mining simply died. The excerpt below recreates a real and vivid picture of that period: "The work went on at the mine as follows. At first, a large house was built for the ambassadors who oversaw the development and selected the part belonging to the king. Then every four or five Negroes dug a well-shaped depression (it was called the entrance) and dug it thirty fathoms deep, sometimes more, sometimes less. After almost 20 thousand wells of the same depth were ready, they began to choose the rock horizontally so that they all connected. Sometimes the entire upper layer of the earth collapsed when there were 30-40 thousand Negroes below, to the extraordinary joy and pleasure of the rest, because, according to the legend, this was a sign of the presence of a large amount of gold. The worst part is that this sign has always been confirmed... There are so many people that in a day they chose the entire collapsed rock... They found the dead, but not the bodies, but the bones, crushed as if they had lain in the ground for 100 years..."^{[15, pp. 36-37]}.

A yard of worthless cloth was sold to the natives for 4 gold, the best for 15 gold. The horse was sold for 40-50 gold pieces ^{[27, p. 24]}. Another important type of African export is slaves; entire human hunting companies are organized to obtain them. At this time, Lisbon became the center of the slave trade; 12 thousand slaves are sold daily in its markets.

The main importance for Portugal was its colonies in India: they were the basis of its global power and hegemony in the European market in the XVI century. Characteristic of Portuguese colonial policy was the desire to retain only some strategically important points and harbors that served as hubs of trade routes, without conquering vast territories. This is explained by the fact that the object of the Portuguese colonial expansion was a densely populated country, which already in the Middle Ages had lively trade relations with the Italian merchant republics, as a result of which its military conquest was difficult. The main strongholds of Portuguese rule in India were Calicut, Goa and Cochin on the Malabar coast, Colombo on the island of Ceylon, Diu on the Kombai coast, Singapore on Malacca and a number of points in Java, Celebes, the Moluccas and even China, where the Portuguese acquired the island of Macau in 1585.

Thus, within only half a century, the Portuguese managed to establish trading posts on a vast territory from Madeira to Japan. All the threads of colonial trade with the East Indies turn out to be in the hands of the Portuguese. Thus, they export pepper from Goa and Calicut, ginger from Cannor, indigo, opium, silk and cotton fabrics from Diu, rice from Daman, cinnamon and rubies from Ceylon, ambergris, camphor, nutmeg, sandalwood from Malacca, Sunda and Moluccas, and from Hormuz – pearls. Relations with China and Japan give them tea and porcelain. The items imported into India are woolen fabrics, hats, weapons, tin, dry fruits, salted fish, wine and oil.

The exploitation of the colonies by the Portuguese was organized as follows: every year the merchant fleet, accompanied by a military squadron, brought Portuguese merchants to India, where, after paying 30% of the cost of goods (for the use of ships), they acquired the right to trade in any items except pepper, monopolized by the government. Trade agreements concluded with the native princes obliged the latter to sell colonial goods only to the Portuguese. Portuguese merchants themselves were allowed to trade only with the mother country: India's commercial relations with other countries (China, Japan, Hormuz) were in the hands of the government. At the head of all the colonies was the Viceroy, invested with full military and civil authority and obliged to submit to the Government a report on his activities. With the shortening of the term of office of individual viceroys, this institution turns into a simple source of enrichment and leads to such abuses that it becomes necessary to establish a State Council with the aim of limiting the competence of the governor^{[13, p. 237]}. Judicial functions were carried out by the courts under the chairmanship of the governor; the quartermaster general was in charge of finances, who also supervised the supply of troops and loading of ships; junior quartermasters were at the head of small towns in India; naval forces were subordinate to the admiral; the spiritual hierarchy was formed from the archbishop, six bishops and various spiritual orders; the Inquisition was introduced everywhere: its power extended even to the vice- the king. State revenues consisted of customs taxes, a monopoly on spices, and tributes from conquered princes.

The entire management system was adapted to one main goal of maximizing income. However, the flow of precious metals, which began to flow into Western Europe from the first decades of the XVI century, led to a "price revolution" in the second half of the XVI century. Precious metals have fallen sharply in price, and the prices of all goods have risen several times.

Results. The first effects of the import of gold and silver began to be felt in Europe in the 30-40s of the XVI century. First in Spain and Portugal, and then in other countries, an unprecedented price increase for a European person of that time began to occur^[25].

The price revolution had great social consequences in Europe. As a result, it was won by new commercial and industrial classes, as well as large landowners and wealthy peasants associated with the market. In Portugal itself, this did not entail significant social changes. Here, the power of secular and spiritual feudal lords has always been extremely strong, and the commercial stratum has never played any significant role in the life of the country. The commercial bourgeoisie, which had already begun to form in other European countries, did not yet exist in Portugal, and the colonial policy had a pronounced feudal character, which did not contribute to the development of the productive forces of the metropolis. The huge colonial empire exuded the strength of a small metropolis^{[3, 92-93]}. As a result, Portugal was forced to cede its position in the East to more advanced capitalist countries.

Portugal's defeat in the struggle against the new colonial Powers was the result of its backward feudal system and underdeveloped capitalism. It was unable to take advantage of its monopoly position on world trade routes. The colonial conquests did not stimulate the development of capitalism. By the end of the XVI century, Portugal was experiencing an economic crisis, and in the XVII century Portugal became an economically backward country and could not compete with the developed European countries that appeared on the world stage.