portuguese-empire

"Haters of idolatry, haters of all that was not the true faith, establishers in Goa of the Inquisition and the burning of heretics, levellers of Hindu temples, the Portuguese had created in Goa something of a New-World emptiness, like the Spaniards in Mexico. They had created in India something not of India, a simplicity, something where the Indian past had been abolished. And after 450 years all they had left behind in this emptiness and simplicity was their religion, their language (without a literature), their names, a Latin-like colonial population, and this cult, from their cathedral, of the Image of the Infant Jesus."

"But in the time of Joao III, evangelisation was taken up as a main object of policy. A Bishopric at Goa was created in 1538 and Frei Joao d’Albuquerque, a cousin of the great Governor, was sent out as Bishop. Cochin was soon raised to a Bishopric, and the Malabar coast was placed under it. The King was particularly anxious about the spread of Christianity and wrote to the Viceroy Joao de Castro demanding that all the power of the Portuguese should be directed to this purpose. “The great concernment which lies upon Christian princes to look to matters of faith and to employ their forces for its preservation makes me advise you how sensible I am that not only in many parts of India under our subjection but in our city of Goa, idols are worshipped, places in which our Faith may be more reasonably expected to flourish ; and being well informed with how much liberty they celebrated heathenish festivals. We command you to discover by diligent officers all the idols and to demolish and break them up in pieces where they are found, proclaiming severe punishments against any one who shall dare to work, cast, make in sculpture, engrave, paint or bring to light any figure of an idol in metal, brass, woo.d, plaster or any other matter, or bring them from other places; and against who publicly or privately celebrate any of their sports, keep by them any heathenish frankincense or assist and hide the Brahmins, the sworn enemies of the Christian profession ... It is our pleasure that you punish them with that severity of the law without admitting any appeal or dispensation in the least.”"

"In judging of the Portuguese and their actions in India, one has to recollect that they were a century nearer feudal Europe than were any of the other nations that invaded the country—a century further back in civilisation and political organisation. In fact, they had very little of the latter, as practically every Factor had a right to address the Portuguese Crown direct and write home what he thought fit—truth or untruth, praise or slander_of the Viceroy, Governor or other superior authority. Authoritative government is impossible under such conditions, and so the Portuguese officials made it. They destroyed even Albuquerque in the end. One wonders indeed that anything at all was accomplished; and the undoubted fact that trade and civilisation did flourish under them for a time supplies yet another instance, of many in history, of the truth of the dictum that human beings act better than they organise."

"He (K.M. Panikkar) begins by showing how it was possible for the Portuguese to accomplish what they managed to do, as, when Vasco da Gama reached the Malabar Coast the country was split up into petty principalities over whom no one had any real authority — not even the Zamorin of Calicut. So it did not require any particular political insight to play off the princelings along the coast against each other and establish foreign authority over small isolated Coastwise areas. Mr. Panikkar has no high opinion of Vasco da Gama and does not class him with the great European explorers. Perhaps he is somewhat hard on him; but, no doubt, Vasco da Gama was not a “great” man in the sense that others of his time and later on were. Mr. Panikkar has indeed but little opinion of any of the Portuguese leaders excepting Albuquerque, Duarte Pacheco as a military luminary, and Affonso Mexia as a financier; and, indeed, these men did some wonderful things, considering the difficulties that surrounded them. He is right also in stating clearly that the Portuguese never had any power or Empire in India, that they never got beyond acquiring a little local authority, strictly confined to small areas around the forts they built along the coast line. Yet, with the fortuitous assistance of general politics in the Near East, and not of their own superior skill, they achieved for a long period their chief object— the destruction of the Egyptian and Venetian trade with the East, and the concentration of it in their own hands on tht sea. Some of their Governors saw that it was in sea power only that their chances of success and greatness lay."

"[The English traveller John Fryer, referring to conditions in Goa in 1675, writes as follows:] The Mass of the People are Canorein though Portuguezed in Speech and Manners; paying great Observance to a White Man, whom when they meet they must give him the Way with a Cringe and Civil Salute, for fear of a stochado."

"The reason for undertaking this voyage to your shores is (to make known to you) these things of such high import and profit as well as of service to the Almighty. We, therefore, request you with brotherly affection to conform to the Divine will for your own profit and that of your kingdom, both spiritual and temporal, and wish that it should please you to be friends with us, which conversation and friendship we offer you most peacefully for His holy service. Be pleased to accept this and deal with our captain and our people with the same spirit of love and truth with which we are sending them to you. For, besides the obvious reasons, the repeated and diverse demonstrations of His will ought to convince you that our coming to you is of His ordination. There is, therefore, all the more reason why you should be pleased with a people who come from such a long distance and with such affection, seeking your friendship and company, and bringing you so much profit as you cannot hope to receive from any other country as from ours."

"We give praise to God for our achievement (in reaching India) and for the information that there are in these countries Christian people. It will be our principal object to speak to you of these latter and to profit, whilst also maintaining the love and fraternity which ought to prevail among Christian kings. For we believe that God, Our Lord, did not permit this great achievement of our navy only to serve our temporal interests, but also to strive for the spiritual betterment of souls and their salvation. It pleased God to bequeath both to you and to us the same Christian faith by which the whole world was united for six hundred years after the birth of Christ, until at last by the sins of mankind, there came certain sects and creeds contrary to the primitive religion of Christ, which sects had to come for the justification of the good and on account of the deceit of the wicked. These merited condemnation and loss, because they did not desire to receive the truth to be saved. Wherefore God warned them of what they should know and understand. For doing wrong and acquiescing in falsehoods they were condemned. These sects occupied the greater part of the land between your country and ours – which impeded communication between us. This communication is now opened afresh by our navigation, and thereby God, to whom nothing is impossible, has cleared an obstacle. Wherefore knowing that the hand of God is manifest in all this and desiring to serve Him by carrying out His will, we are now sending you our captain, ships, and merchandise, besides a factor who, if it is your pleasure, will remain there to carry out his duties. We are also sending some religious versed in the teachings of Christ, and ecclesiastical ornaments for celebrating the divine office and administering the sacraments. These religious will enable you to know the doctrines of the Christian faith, instituted by Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and as imparted to the twelve apostles, His disciples. After His holy resurrection these apostles preached this faith everywhere and it was received by the whole world. Two of them, St. Thomas and St. Bartholomew, preached in your parts of India, working many and stupendous miracles and attracting the people away from unbelief and idolatry – in which ere this the whole world was steeped, and converted them to the truth of the holy Christian creed. One of these apostles, St. Peter, was ordered by Our Lord, Jesus Christ, to be His chief vicar. Preaching in the city of Rome, then the centre of idolatry, he suffered martyrdom for Him, and lies buried there. From that time onwards this city has been the seat of the head of the faith of Christ by His command through the successors of St. Peter, the Holy Fathers. The Lord God wished that just as in former times Rome was the mother of error and falsehood, she should now be and continue for ever more to be the mother of truth."

"It is experience, which will then inspire the interested Powers with the most favourable resolutions for the development of commercial progress in their possessions."

"Everything seems to indicate that a decisive hour has sounded in the history of the world, the hour when an almost virgin continent and ignored races will cooperate in the work of humanity."

"Congo is the oldest independent country in Africa, after Ethiopia (800 BC) and Liberia (1847). The only country that was not colonized in Berlin!"

"The present condition of Central Africa reminds one much of that of America when that continent was first opened up to the European world. How are we to avoid a repetition of the unfortunate events, to which I have just alluded, amongst the numerous African tribes? How are we to guard against exposing our merchants, our colonies and their goods to these dangers? How shall we defend the lives of our missionaries and religion itself against the outburst of savage customs and barbarous passions? Finding ourselves in the presence of those whom we are urging to undertake the work of civilization in Africa, it is our duty to save them from such regrettable experiences as marked the corresponding phase in America."

"Modern international law follows closely a line which leads to the recognition of the right of native tribes to dispose freely of themselves and of their hereditary territory. In conformity with this principle, my Government would gladly adhere to a more extended rule, to be based on a principle which should aim at the voluntary consent of the natives whose country is taken possession of, in all cases where they had not provoked the aggression."

"The slave trade has another character; it is the very denial of every law, of all social order. Man-hunting constitutes a crime of high treason against humanity. It ought to be repressed wherever it can be reached, on land as well as by sea."

"No doubt whatever exists as to the strict and literal sense which should be assigned to the term in commercial matters. It refers exclusively to traffic, to the unlimited power of every one to sell and to buy, to import and to export products and manufactured articles. No privileged situation can be created under this head, the way remains open without any restrictions to free competition in the domain of commerce, but the obligations of local Governments do not go beyond that point."

"The Conference, should draw up a separate convention, applicable throughout the world, and destined to form a complement of the international law on this subject."

"As to the question whether this modification is opportune, the fact must not be lost sight of that the Berlin Conference never intended to fix unalterably the economic system of the Free State, which, as was already then foreseen, would undergo radical modifications under the influence of progress, nor of establishing for an indefinite period regulations which may hinder, check, and even arrest its development. Provision was wisely made for the probability of future changes, which would require a certain latitude in economic matters in order to secure their easy realization... The moment has now come when the marvellous progress made by the infant State is creating fresh needs, when it would be only in accordance with wisdom and foresight to revise an economic system primarily adapted to a creative and transitional period. Can we blame the infant State for a progress which, in its rapidity, has surpassed the most optimistic forecasts? Can we hinder and arrest this progress in refusing her the means necessary for her development? Can we condemn the Sovereign who has already made such great sacrifices to support for an indefinite period a burden which daily becomes heavier, and at the same time impose upon him new and heavy expenses necessitated by the suppression of the slave-trade? We are convinced that there will be but one answer to these questions."

"It would never do, to renew the colonial experience gained in the sixteenth century, when Colonies were brought to ruin by those who pretended to fix in Europe, from a purely metropolitan point of view, their financial and administrative existence."

"All the powers exercising sovereign rights in the said territories will protect and promote, without distinction of nationality and religion, all religious, scientific and charitable institutions and enterprises."

"The trade of all nations shall enjoy complete freedom in the Conventional basin of the Congo."

"No monopoly or favour of any kind in matters of trade."

"Arms and the Heroes, who from Lisbon's shore, Through Seas where sail was never spread before, Beyond where Ceylon lifts her spicy breast, And waves her woods above the watery waste, With prowess more than human forced their way To the fair kingdoms of the rising day: What wars they waged, what seas, what dangers past, What glorious empire crowned their toils at last!"

"The Commercial Revolution of Columbus’ time cleared the routes and prepared the way for the Industrial Revolution. Discoverers refound old lands, opened up new ports, and brought to the ancient cultures the novel products and ideas of the West. Early in the sixteenth century the adventurous Portuguese, having established themselves in India, captured Malacca, sailed around the Malay Peninsula, and arrived with their picturesque ships and terrible guns at Canton (1517). “Truculent and lawless, regarding all Eastern peoples as legitimate prey, they were little if any better than . . . pirates”; and the natives treated them as such. Their representatives were imprisoned, their demands for free trade were refused, and their settlements were periodically cleansed with massacres by the frightened and infuriated Chinese."

"The Portuguese have the worst record of engaging in slavery-like practices, and they too have been repeatedly condemned by international public opinion. One peculiar characteristic Portuguese colonialism was the provision of forced labor not only for its own citizens but also for capitalists outside the boundaries of Portuguese colonies. Angolans and Mozambicans were exported to the South African mines to work for subsistence, while the capitalists in South Africa paid the Portuguese government a certain sum for each laborer supplied."

"Portugal was the lowliest of the colonizing powers in Africa, and its was nothing in Europe without its colonies: so much so that it came to insist that Angola, Mozambique, and Guinea were integral parts of Portugal, just like any province of the European country named Portugal."

"The Portuguese stand out because they boasted the most and did the least. Portugal boasted that Angola, Guinea, and Mozambique have been their possessions for five hundred years, during which time a “civilizing mission” has been going on. At the end of five hundred years of shouldering the white man’s burden of civilizing “African natives,” the Portuguese had not managed to train a single African doctor in Mozambique, and the life expectancy in eastern Angola was less than thirty years. As for Guinea-Bissau, some insight into the situation there is provided by the admission of the Portuguese themselves that Guinea-Bissau was more neglected than Angola and Mozambique!,"

"The labours which we are about to undertake to regulate and develop the commercial relations of our countrymen with that Continent, and to render a service alike to the cause of peace and humanity."

"Wares of whatever origin, imported into these regions, under whatsoever flag, by sea or river, or overland, shall be subject to no other taxes than such as may be levied as fair compensation for expenditure in the interest of trade, and which for this reason must be equally borne by the subjects themselves and by foreigners of all nationalities. All differen- tial dues on vessels, as well as on merchandise, are forbidden."

"The rate of the taxes of compensation is not fixed in any definite manner. The support of foreign capital ought to be placed, with commercial freedom, amongst the most useful aids to the spirit of enterprise, whether it has reference to the exe- cution of works of public interest or whether it has in view the development of the cultivation of the natural products of the African soil. But capital only goes, in general, to places where the risks are sufficiently covered by the chances of profit. The Commission has therefore thought that there would result more disadvantages than advantages from binding too strictly, by restrictions arranged in advance, the liberty of action of public powers or of concessions. If abuses should arise, if the taxes threatened to attain an excessive rate, the cure would be found in the interest of the authorities or of the contractors, seeing that commerce, as experience has more than once proved, would turn away from establishments the access to, or use of, which had been rendered too burdensome."

"The doctrine of state ownership of land established since 1890 is the exact opposite of free trade, the new doctrine is reprehensible, going against both the natural rights of the indigenous people who will be deprived, and the rights of the Imperial powers as determined in the act of Berlin."

"Freedom of trade and navigation in the Congo Basin, exclusion from any differential treatment, assimilation of foreigners to nationals in civil and commercial terms, prohibition of entry rights for twenty years, condemnation of trafficking. There is only one downside: the African work does not have the international character that he would have liked."

"In Portugal in April 1974, before the liberals in the army turned on the oldest Fascist dictatorship in Europe and broke open all the literal and metaphorical prison gates, there had been only one legal party. On May Day of that year, the Socialist and Communist Parties were able to fill the streets of the capital city. Within days, a conservative and a liberal party had been announced, and within a very short time Portugal was, so to say, a “normal” European country. Those parties, with their very seasoned leaders, had been there all along. All that was required was for the brittle carapace of the ancien régime to be shattered."

"The year 1492 marks not only Columbus's voyage, but also one of the major expulsions of the Jews from Spain; Portugal would be next."

"The European Union and many of its countries, which used to take initiatives in the United Nations for peaceful settlements of conflict, are now one of the most important war assets of the U.S./NATO front. Many countries have also been drawn into complicity in breaking international law through U.S./U.K./NATO wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and so on."

"Unlike the fleeting visits paid by Cheng Ho, the actions of the Portuguese and Spanish explorers symbolized a commitment to alter the world's economic and political balances. With their shipborne cannon and musket-bearing soldier, they did precisely that. In retrospect it sometimes seems difficult to grasp that a country with the limited population and resources of Portugal could reach so far and acquire so much. In the special circumstances of European military and naval superiority described above, this was by no means impossible. Once it was done, the evident profits of empire, and the desire for more, simply accelerated the process of aggrandizement."

"The example of family unity, pursuit of education and respect for the elderly set by the Portuguese are profound lessons for all of us."

"Ó mar salgado, quanto do teu sal São lágrimas de Portugal!"

"Cette petite nation se trouvant tout-à-coup maîtresse du commerce le plus riche & le plus étendu de la terre, ne fut bientôt composée que de marchands, de facteurs & de matelots, que détruisoient de longues navigations. Elle perdit aussi le fondement de toute puissance réelle, l'agriculture, l'industrie nationale & la population. II n'y eut pas de proportion entre son commerce & les moyens de le continuer. Elle fit plus mal encore: elle voulut être conquérante, & embrassa une étendue de terrein, qu'aucune nation de l'Europe ne pourroit conserver sans s'affoiblir."

"Most Portuguese soldiers, as AR Disney notes, were “scoundrels from the prisons of Portugal” and were happy to serve in Asia as it gave hope for a better life."

"Notorious for their unethical trade practices, the Portuguese would levy illegal taxes and sometimes seize ships belonging to traders and sell their goods for sheer profit."

"Portuguese wit suggests rebranding the whole country as Poortugal."

"I found my April dream in Portugal with you When we discovered romance, like we never knew. My head was in the clouds, My heart went crazy too, And madly I said: "I love you.""

"Esta é a ditosa pátria minha amada."

"If maps were shaded like balance sheets, the bottom part of mainland Europe would be deepest red. Italy, Spain and Portugal are heavily in debt. They are also Catholic countries. Their predominantly Protestant neighbours to the north, including Germany and Scandinavia, are in comparatively good shape financially. Is that simply a coincidence, or is Max Weber's theory about the Protestant ethic being intertwined with the spirit of capitalism still valid, over 100 years on?"

"As armas e os barões assinalados Que da ocidental praia lusitana Por mares nunca de antes navegados Passaram ainda além da Taprobana Em perigos e guerras esforçados Mais do que prometia a força humana E entre gente remota edificaram Novo Reino, que tanto sublimaram."

"O Christ! it is a goodly sight to see What Heaven hath done for this delicious land!"

"Portugal is a small but, we are sure, proud nation located somewhere in Europe and boasting a history. During the Age of Exploration, Portugal produced many great navigators, men such as Vasco da Gama (literally, "Vasco the Gama"), who set out across the vast, stormy Atlantic in tiny ships, which of course immediately sank like stones, thus paving the way for the Age of Remaining on Land. Today the main industry in Portugal is manufacturing the Portuguese man-of-war, which is a type of jellyfish that can sting you to death if provoked, so tipping is strongly recommended."

"I remember vividly in 1974 being in the mass of people, descending the streets in my native Lisbon, in Portugal, celebrating the democratic revolution and freedom. This same feeling of joy was experienced by the same generation in Spain and Greece. It was felt later in Central and Eastern Europe and in the Baltic States when they regained their independence. Several generations of Europeans have shown again and again that their choice for Europe was also a choice for freedom. I will never forget Rostropovich playing Bach at the fallen Wall in Berlin. This image reminds the world that it was the quest for freedom and democracy that tore down the old divisions and made possible the reunification of the continent. Joining the European Union was essential for the consolidation of democracy in our countries. Because it places the person and respect of human dignity at its heart. Because it gives a voice to differences while creating unity. And so, after reunification, Europe was able to breathe with both its lungs, as said by Karol Wojtiła. The European Union has become our common house. The “homeland of our homelands” as described by Vaclav Havel."