Gama’s Portuguese fleet arrives in South India…
May 1498 CE
Gama’s Portuguese fleet arrives in South India at a beach known as Kappad, near Thiruvangoor, on May 20, 1498.
The King of Calicut, the Samudiri (Zamorin), who is at this time staying in his second capital at Ponnani, returns to Calicut on hearing the news of the foreign fleet's arrival.
The navigator is received with traditional hospitality, including a grand procession of at least three thousand armed Nairs, but an interview with the Zamorin fails to produce any concrete results.
The presents that da Gama sends to the Zamorin as gifts from Dom Manuel—four cloaks of scarlet cloth, six hats, four branches of corals, a box with seven brass vessels, a chest of sugar, two barrels of oil and a cask of honey—are trivial, and fail to impress.
While the Zamorin's officials wonder at why there is no gold or silver, the Muslim merchants who consider da Gama their rival suggest that the latter is only an ordinary pirate and not a royal ambassador.
Vasco da Gama's request for permission to leave a factor behind him in charge of the merchandise he cannot sell is turned down by the King, who insists that da Gama pay customs duty—preferably in gold—like any other trader, which strains the relation between the two.
Annoyed by this, da Gama carries off with him by force a few Nairs and sixteen fishermen (mukkuva).
Nevertheless, da Gama's expedition is successful beyond all reasonable expectation, bringing in cargo that is worth sixty times the cost of the expedition.
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