In search of the Indies
RADHA H.S.
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Columbus sailed west from Europe in his search for the Indies. When he landed on an island in the Bahamas, he assumed it was the Indies.
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As early as 1000 B.C. India was a centre for trade in spices. Indians, Arabs and Chinese had already been trading.
Columbus sailed west from Europe in his search for the Indies. When he landed on an island in the Bahamas, he assumed it was the Indies.
I am an Indian. Wait! Let me clarify: I am from India and therefore an Indian.
Thanks to Christopher Columbus’s goof up, we have two types of Indians: One, like me from India and the other American Indians native to North and South America.
In 1492, Columbus sailing west from Europe, under a Spanish flag set out in search of the Indies. Coming upon an island in the Bahamas, he called the people “Indians” assuming he had reached an island in the Indies. Within a few years they knew for sure that this was not the Indies. But the island went down in history as the West Indies and the local inhabitants of the continents of North and South America are now referred to as American Indians.
Trade ties
Indies in those days comprised India, China, East Indies and Japan. Columbus was searching for the Indies because he wanted spices like pepper, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, cummin and so on.
As early as 1000 B.C. India was a centre for trade in spices. Indians, Arabs and Chinese had already been trading. Europe was a part of the Old World. Europeans in the 15th century had heard about pepper, cinnamon and many other spices for a long time and they knew it came from the Indies. The European market and hunger for these spices was enormous. Most of the spices were transported to Europe over land using camel caravans, Arab boats and mules and the traders were mostly Arabs. Wealthy Italian merchants sponsored the caravans. Even if five cargoes out of six were lost, the merchant ran a profit by selling the sixth. Spices could be used to buy mortgage or a coat of arms. Having spices was like having hard cash.
The Europeans especially the Portuguese thought it made great economic sense to trade directly with the Indies for these spices. The Ottoman Empire came between the Europeans and the Indies. An alternative to land travel was finding a sea passage.
Columbus thought if he sailed west he would find the Philippines, but then he ran into the landmass of the West Indies. To travel west from Europe and reach the Philippines, one had to cross the Americas. To go east of Europe meant sailing down the coast of West Africa through the Atlantic Ocean, going around the southern tip of Africa, up the coast of East Africa and crossing the Indian Ocean to reach a port on the west coast of India. In those years the Europeans had not even crossed the equator to sail south.
Navigation news
Portuguese maritime experts had collected extensive information about the waters they travelled. Charts and maps were made. Land where food and water was available was marked. Sailors pooled in all they knew. Navigation was improved. The best navigators and other experts in Europe had been tapped for information.
In 1482, Columbus approached Portuguese King John II to fund his trip westwards to find the Indies. Portuguese experts thought it was a worthless idea and he was refused.
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