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The |
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Portuguese India Route Project
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The objective of this project is the study
of the Portuguese Indiamen that sailed annually from Lisbon to
India, from 1498 to the 17th
century, engaged in the commerce of pepper, spices, cotton, and
many other goods. |
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View
of Lisbon with ships from
Genealogia do Infante
D. Fernando,
1530-34, London, British Library. |
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The Voyage |
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With his successful trip to
India, around the Cape of Good Hope, Vasco da Gama opened a
maritime route to the Asian markets of spices and exotic goods.
The Portuguese crown sought to keep this commerce under state
control, and sent a fleet to India almost every year, for over a
century. These voyages are reasonably well documented, as well
as their routes, their ports of call, the names of the ship's
captains, the Asian governors, and the notable soldiers. We know
a good deal about the economics of this trade, its impact in
16th-Century Europe, the business networks that were generated
and developed in various countries, and the role of the Church
in the European expansion to East. |
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The India Route
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Texts: |
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Who was
who
(Paulo Guinote) |
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Life
Aboard
(Eduardo Frutuoso and
Antonio Lopes) |
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Problemas de recrutamento para as armadas da Carreira da Índia
(Eulália Paulo and
Paulo Guinote) |
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Relação
de capitaens mores e naos que vierão do reyno...
(AHU Document -
Transcription by Eduardo Frutuoso) |
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Armadas
que partiram para a Índia (1509-1640)
(BNL Document -
Transcription by Paulo Guinote) |
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Ascensão
e declínio da Carreira da Índia
(Paulo Guinote) |
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The Ships |
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At present we don't know much
about the principal vehicle of this expansion: the Portuguese
Indiaman. In fact, it is amazing how little is known about the
Portuguese naus that plowed the maritime route to India from
1498 to about 1650. |
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A handful of very interesting
texts and treatises, a small number of representations in
charts, drawings, and paintings, and around twenty shipwrecks
are all the clues we have to interpret, in the attempt to
understand and reconstruct these ships.We know almost nothing
about the standard Portuguese Indiaman, its routes, evolution,
and performance at sea. |
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View of Lisbon with
ships from the so-called
Livro de Horas de D.
Manuel,
1517-c.26, Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisbon.
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We know very little about the
way in which these vessels were conceived and built, and there
are enormous gaps in our knowledge about their size, shape,
construction details, structural strength, design of upper work,
or even basic rigging solutions. |
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The Shipwrecks |
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From an estimated total of
around 220 shipwrecks, only a few Portuguese naus have been
found in the 20th century, and almost all were looted by curious
divers or destroyed by treasure hunters. |
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Shipwreck of the nau
Conceicao from Brito's Historia Tragico-Maritima
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Very few have been excavated
or even surveyed by archaeologists, and the rare scholarly
publications that resulted from the archaeological recording of
these shipwrecks have become precious, considering the scarcity
of information available. |
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This page is intended as a
contribution to this understanding, and a guide through the
bibliography and other information available pertaining to the
Portuguese naus da Índia. |
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The main objective of this
project is to gather, organize, and make easily accessible all
available information on Portuguese Indiamen. |
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List of
Portuguese Indiamen Shipwrecks
(after Paulo Guinote, Eduardo Frutuoso, and Antonio Lopes) |
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Portuguese Indiamen Shipwreck Sites
(I am greatly indebted to Dr. Paul D. Brandt's support and
enthusiasm in the preparation of this section) |
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Portuguese Shipwrecks: Accounts and other Documents
(I am greatly indebted to Eng. Paulo Monteiro's support and
research for this section) |
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Other
Portuguese Shipwreck Sites |
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The nau
Nossa
Senhora dos Mártires,
1606 |
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Bibliography |
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1)
Biblioteca dos Descobrimentos
(ed. Prof. Alfredo
Pinheiro Marques) |
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2)
Francisco Contente Domingues Bibliography |
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3) Basic Bibliography
on India Route Shipwrecks |
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Citation
Information:
Filipe Castro,
2002, India Route Project: Introduction, World Wide Web, URL,
http://nautarch.tamu.edu/shiplab/, Nautical Archaeology
Program, Texas A&M University.
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