Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Leaving Calicut, India: August 29, 1498


The remainder of my crew and I are leaving here on a bad note. We have gotten little accomplished in the time that we have spent here. The Zamorin did not want to anger the local merchants; therefore I was not able to establish a trading station or trading agreement. Muslim merchants despised us and threatened not to trade with us on a regular basis. On top of all this, when I finally wanted to leave, the Zamorin said that in order to leave I would have to pay a heavy tax and leave all of the goods behind that I had brought with me as a form of collateral. I was certainly not going to agree to this deal, so with five hostages and all of our possessions we finally made it out of Calicut, India. I also made an agreement with the Zamorin before we left. I now have a letter with me stating that the Zamorin will trade spices and gems if the Portuguese could get scarlet cloth, coral, silver, and gold.

No comments:

Post a Comment