The Fourth Armada finally reaches Cannanore and…

The Fourth Armada finally reaches Cannanore and delivers the Cannanore ambassador that had gone to Lisbon with Cabral's Second Armada.

The Kolathiri Raja of Cannanore invites Gama to come ashore for an elaborate reception, but Gama replies that he had sworn a personal oath not to set his foot on Indian soil again until his vengeance on Calicut was sated.

As a result, the rajah orders a wooden scaffold to be built over the seashore, where they can meet in person without violating the vow.

Gama presents the raja with royal letters and munificent gifts (a jeweled sword, a brocaded armchair) and discussions immediately begin.

A commercial treaty is negotiated, establishing a Portuguese crown factory in Cannanore, and arranging a fixed-price schedule, which the Raja personally guarantees, for the sale of spices to the Portuguese.

The negotiation for the commercial treaty does not go smoothly, particularly the fixed price clause.

The Kolathiri Raja protests that he has no power over market prices nor the right to dictate how private merchants dispose of their property.

Gama has to resort to feints and threats, then sails out of Cannanore in anger.

Barros credits the role of Paio Rodrigues, the Portuguese factor (private, not crown, an employee of the private employee of Don Álvaro of Braganza and the Marchionni consortium), that had been left behind in Cannanore by João da Nova's Third Armada at the beginning of the year.

After Gama storms off and orders sail out of the city, Paio Rodrigues mediates between the Kolathiri Raja and the Captain-Major and finalizes the treaty.

Correia points out this is the treaty where the Portuguese cartaz system is first introduced.

Henceforth, every merchant ship along the Malabar coast will have to present a certificate signed by a Portuguese factor (in Cannanore, Cochin, etc.), or else be subject to attack and seizure by a Portuguese patrol.

This licensing system will be subsequently adopted later on other Portuguese-controlled coasts (e.g., East Africa, Malacca, Brazil), with differing degrees of success, and will be largely maintained until the eighteenth century.

Gama’s fleet departs Cannanore on October.

Chroniclers differ a little on the subsequent sequence of events.