{UAH} What you didn't know about Vasco da Gama

Yeap..! That Portuguese dude whose discovery of India as first European to sail there made headlines in our history classes

Vasco da Gama was ruthless. Everywhere he stopped he wrecked havoc

The part of our History subject skipped was that Portuguese ruled Zanzibar for a whooping 200 years from1498 to 1698.

Soon after Captain Ravasco Maques bombarded Zanzibar to smithereens forcing the Sultan to pay both tribute and taxes to Portugal. He was heading to do the Zanzibar on Mombasa where its ruler had laid a serious catastrophic ambush had he attempted. Forewarned, he managed to escape and with the help of an Indian navigator he met in Malindi was able to sail to India. Without the Indian he could have gotten convinced that he reached Imdia, yet Zanzibar due to its spices 

But the above isn't what makes Vasco da Gama conquests hilarious at times

Two stand out.

First, he knowingly gifted an Indian Muslim ruler pork. 😆 🤣 😂 😹 😆

There is a historical account that suggests Vasco da Gama, the Portuguese explorer, engaged in actions that reflected cultural and religious insensitivity during his voyages. There is widely accepted record specifically stating that Vasco da Gama deliberately sent pork to a Muslim ruler in India and there are documented incidents highlighting his harsh and provocative interactions with local leaders, especially in regions like Calicut (modern-day Kozhikode, India).

Second notable event occurred during da Gama's second voyage to India in 1502. After facing resistance from local Muslim merchants and leaders, da Gama resorted to aggressive tactics, including the bombardment of Calicuta and acts of cruelty to assert Portuguese dominance in the Indian Ocean trade. His confrontational approach included capturing a ship filled with pilgrims and setting it ablaze with its passengers onboard.

If the reference to sending pork is part of this broader context, it may symbolize deliberate disrespect or hostility given the religious prohibition of pork in Islam. Vasco da Gama's voyages were driven by trade ambitions, but his methods often displayed ruthless and culturally insensitive strategies.

One source of anger for Vasco da Gama was that the Portuguese had totally underestimated the quality of goods being traded in this part of the world

He failed to secure a treaty with the ruler of Calicuta due to poor-quality trade items such as clothes, belts, scissors and rude behavior, hostility from Arab traders, and da Gama's belief that Hindus were Christians.

It was in India that Vasco da Gama first saw gold because his ships carried only copper products which were already in abundance in India 

He was equally shocked to find some of the European goods he intended to trade already in India because he knew nothing about the Great Silk Road and trades in the Mediterranean through Egypt.

In the "Final Analysis" he kept resorting to his signature trademark, violence, in all his three voyages to India.

And now you know why Vasco da Gama questions took down thousands of PLE dropouts some of whom are cleansing and purifying their kingereza here in UAH 

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