40 



INDIA. 



Article* 



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by the n 



Cli'I.U. 



Import* 

 id ex. 



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ind".7 

 A. D. 1498. 



cation that existed before the discovery of the Cape of 

 Good Hope, we shall subjoin an enumeration of the 

 principal articles which the ancients brought from In- 

 dia. 



1 . Spices and aromnllcs. These were in great de- 

 mand, not only as articles of high and expensive luxury, 

 but also for religious purposes ; of course, the ancients 

 required a regular and immense supply of them : but 

 there is reason to believe that they were brought prin- 

 cipally, if not entirely, from Arabia; though it is 

 probable that the Arabians obtained them from the 

 western parts of India ; as at present the extensive de- 

 mands of various provinces of Asia for these articles, 

 especially for frankincense, are supplied by the Arabi- 

 ans from India. 



2. Precious stone's and pearls. Of these India fur- 

 nished the chief part to the luxury and extravagance 

 of the Roman emperors ; and its productions of this 

 kind were allowed to be most abundant, diversified, 

 and valuable. 



S. Silt. As the ancients had no direct communica- 

 tion with China, alt the silk which they obtained, was 



purchased in India, whither it was brought in ships of 



the country. 



Arrian, in his Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, has 



given us some minute and curious particulars respect- 

 ing the homeward and outward cargoes of the ships 



employed in his time, in the Indian trade ; they im- 

 ported into Patala, on the Indus, woollen cloth of a 



slight fabric, linen in chequer work, some precious 



stones, and some aromatics unknown in India, coral, 



storax, glass vessels of different kinds, some wrought 



silver, money, and wine. In return for these, they 



obtained spices of various kinds, sapphires and other 



gems, silk stuffs, and silk thread, cotton cloths, and 



black pepper. Patala, however, was not the only, or 



the principal port, which the ancients frequented in 



India ; the chief emporium of trade was Baragyza, 



which seems to have been situated on the river Ner- 



buddah. The articles of exportation and importation 



here were very various and numerous ; besides those 



already mentioned, there were imported brass, tin, lead, 



girdles or sashes, mertilot, white glass, arsenic, black 



lead, gold and silver coin. Among the exports there 



were the onyx and other gems, ivory, myrrh, various 



kinds of cotton goods, both plain and ornamented, and 



long pepper. The exports from Musiris, which lay 



nearer the eastern parts of India, were still more rare 



and valuable. Arrian specifies particularly pearls in 



great abundance, and of extraordinary beauty, a variety 



of silk stuffs, rich perfumes, tortoise shell, different 



kinds of transparent gems, especially diamonds, and 



pepper in large quantities, and of the best quality. 

 As the demand for these, and other articles the pro- 



duce or manufacture of India, increased along with the 



increasing civilization and wealth of Europe, the com- through his dominions 



merce of India was always an object of great importance fleet, enuinned urincinal 



with all those states of Europe which applied themselves 



to trade. Hence the rivalship of Venice and Genoa 



respecting it ; and hence the attempts which were made 



to reach the East Indies by sea. At length the Cape 



of Good Hope was discovered and doubled ; and the 



Portuguese opened this easy communication with India. 

 After a tedious course of voyages, continued for near- 

 ly half a century, Vasco de Gama, an active and enter- 

 prising Portuguese admiral, doubled the Cape of Good 



Hope, and coasting along the eastern shore of the con- 

 tinent of Africa, sailed from thence across the Indian 



Ocean, and landed at Calicut on the coast of Malabar, 



on the 22d of May 14-y8. At the period of the arrival Kuropcan 

 of the Portuguese in India, the west coast of Hindostan Settlements, 

 was divided between two great sovereigns, tKe kings of * """Y~ 

 Cambay and the Zamorin, each of whom iiad under 

 him numerous petty princes ; at the same period the 

 maritime region on the gulf of Bengal was divided into 

 three sovereignties ; 1st, That of Aracan, or Rokhang, 

 from the Ganges to Cape Negrais ; 2d, Pegu or Bagoo, 

 from the Cape to Martaban ; and 3d, Siatn, from the 

 latter to Tanasserim, near which the Malay peninsu- 

 la commences. The dominions of the Zamorin in- 

 eluded the whole coast from Bombay to Cape Comorin ; 

 Calicut was the capital, and one of the most commer- 

 cial cities in India. De Gama, having received infor- 

 mation of the riches of this city, immediately proceeded 

 thither, and was on the point of concluding a commer- 

 cial treaty with the Zamorin, when his object was de- 

 feated by the jealousy of some Mahomedan merchants ; 

 soon after this, he returned to Lisbon. Cabral was next 

 sent out by the Portuguese court to Calicut ; but the 

 Moors were as little favourable to him as they had been 

 to De Gama, so that he judged it prudent to proceed 

 to Cochin and Cananore. As the kings of these places 

 were tinder the yoke of the Zamorin, which they were 

 desirous of throwing off, they received him very fa- 

 vourably, and entered into alliance with him. The 

 Portuguese thus in a short time acquired so great an 

 influence, as to give law to the whole coast, fixing their 

 own prices on the productions of the country, and 

 building forts in the principal towns. 



In 1508, Albuquerque arrived in India, and took the G a taken] 

 chief command of the Portuguese : hitherto they had by them. 



1508, 



not acquired a good port; and as this was an object of 

 the first consequence, he attacked Goa, and took it with 

 little difficulty ; he was, however, unable to retain it ; 

 for the natives besieged it so closely, that he was in a 

 short time in want of provisions, and compelled to 

 abandon it and retire to his ships. He did not, not- 

 withstanding, give up his object ; but returning in a 

 few months, he took it by surprise, and fortified it in 

 such a manner, as to render it quite impregnable by 

 the forces of the natives. It now became the metro- 

 polis of the settlements of the Portuguese in India, from 

 which they spread their conquests and their commerce 

 over the Eastern seas. 



As the Venetians had been deprived of the most Venetians 

 abundant and certain source of their riches by the dis- jealous ot' 

 covery of the Cape of Good Hope, and the subsequent them - 

 commerce by sea between Portugal and India, they 

 stirred up the Sultan of Egypt to unite with them in 

 the attempt to drive the Portuguese out of India. This 

 he was easily induced to do, as he also had felt the con- 

 sequences of the Portuguese voyages to India, in the re- 

 duced receipt of the transit duties, which he had been 

 accustomed to levy on all Indian merchandise passing 

 through his dominions. Accordingly an Egyptian 

 fleet, equipped principally with materials supplied by 

 the Venetians,, made its way into the Indian sea, and 

 being joined by the fleet of the king of Cambay, at- 

 tacked the Portuguese, at first with some success ; the 

 latter, however, having received reinforcements from 

 Portugal, soon regained their superiority. 



About the same time, the Portuguese having gain- Extent of 

 ed the command of the Red Sea, and the Persian the Portu- 

 Gulf, the commerce between India and Europe by P^j* esta - 

 these routs entirely ceased. Thus secure from com- 

 petition on the western shores of India, they next 

 turned their thoughts to conquests on the East Ne- 

 glecting the coast of Coromandel, which possessed no 



