Vasco da Gama was not "honest" or "dishonest" in the modern sense; he
was a man of his time, pragmatic and ambitious, seen by some as an
energetic and just hero (by his own rules), but by others as cruel,
greedy, and violent, responsible for massacres (such as that of a ship
with women and children), showing a complex figure, focused on
Portugal's objectives, even if that implied brutal acts.
On the twenty-ninth of September 1502, Portuguese ships sighted off
the Indian coast the boat MIRI with hundreds of people returning from
Mecca to Calicut. Vasco da Gama had been trying for days to attack
Muslim pilgrims passing through the area and had a bloody plan for
those aboard this vessel:
-( "while some of our ships were searching for those coming from
Mecca, the S. Gabriel encountered one from Calicut returning with two
hundred and forty men, not to mention the women and children, who were
numerous, and all returning from that pilgrimage: he immediately gave
chase, and having fired some cannon shots, they immediately surrendered.
Vasco da Gama didn't just want the pilgrims' belongings; he tried to
set the ship on fire and ordered more cannon shots to be fired. The
women and men bravely resisted with the few weapons and stones they
had. But, after days of pursuit and attacks, the vessel was finally
captured and looted. On October 3, 1502 – and here, accounts vary –
women, children, and men were either locked in the hold; or tied to
the ship; or prevented from leaving on Vasco da Gama's orders, who
ordered that all those people be burned alive and then ordered the
ship to be sunk: "the Admiral had that ship set on fire, which burned
with all the people who were inside, with great cruelty and without
any compassion."
The scribe Thomé Lopes, who recorded the words and was an eyewitness
to what happened, left us the longest and most detailed account of
these events. Deeply affected by the massacre, he wrote the following:
"I will remember it all my life.
Thomé Lopes, Navegação às Índias Orientais, capítulo. )
Pedro Varela wrote this: From another perspective, in Portugal, Vasco
da Gama is remembered as one of the greatest "heroes" in national
history. The navigator lends his name to bridges, streets, avenues,
squares, plazas, schools, clubs, shopping centers, and restaurants,
and has statues erected throughout the country. He is glorified in the
press and on television, in museums, in classrooms, at business
meetings, and in official state speeches. People talk about a supposed
discoverer, ignoring the devastation he left behind on his voyages to
India and his terrorist actions. Above all, they forget the hundreds
of people who had the misfortune of crossing his path, being
atrociously murdered out of religious fanaticism, thirst for power,
ethnocentrism, cruelty, and, above all, greed. In truth, it is time to
confront the true story of Vasco da Gama, "The Butcher."
Pedro Varela is an anthropologist and doctoral candidate at the Centre
for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra. He holds a master's
degree in Anthropology from ISCTE-IUL and a bachelor's degree in
Landscape Architecture from the Higher Institute of Agronomy of the
University of Lisbon.
----- Mensagem de John de Figueiredo <[email protected]> ---------
Data: Tue, 23 Dec 2025 03:04:54 -0500
De: John de Figueiredo <[email protected]>
Assunto: Re: [GRN] Re: To understand the Konkan strip of yesterday
and Goa of today
Para: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]
A discovery does not necessarily refer to a thing. It also refers to
the structure of a thing. For example, Kekule did not discover
benzene. He discovered the structure of benzene. Watson and Crick
did not discover nucleic acids. They discovered the structure of DNA.
Vasco da Gama’s discovery refers to the structure of traveling by
sea from Portugal to India. He connected the dots and this important
achievement open the door for the first globalization of knowledge.
He deserves our respect and admiration for this achievement. But
this was not his only achievement. He was in Goa as Viceroy for only
3 months. His tenure was cut short because he became ill and died.
During those 3 months he fired and punished fellow Europeans who
were stealing from the public treasury. This shows that he was a man
with integrity.
John M. de Figueiredo
Sent from my iPhone
On Dec 22, 2025, at 7:00 AM, 'Pedro Mascarenhas' via
Goa-Research-Net <[email protected]> wrote:
Frederico
Thank you for your reply and for spending your precious time.
The focus of my text is on the fame of India's wealth that reached
the West and provoked curiosity and covetousness. It is important
to emphasize this.
As for the griffin and giant ant, these legends were accepted as
truths by the ancient Greeks because their religion was
polytheistic, which included the Minotaur, a creature with the head
of a bull on the body of a man. That was the mentality!
India lifted between 248 and 302 million people out of poverty in
the last decade (approximately 2013-2023/2024), with drastic drops
in multidimensional poverty (around 270 million) and extreme
poverty, according to recent reports from the World Bank and the
Indian government, which cite the impact of social policies, health
programs and basic sanitation, significantly transforming living
conditions, especially in states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
Poverty in the EU affects more than 90 million people (in 2024),
with high rates in Romania, Bulgaria and Greece, while the Czech
Republic and Slovenia have the lowest. Portugal is below the EU
average in the risk of poverty/social exclusion (20.1% in 2022),
but has a growing rate of working poor, affecting more women, young
people and people with lower levels of education, with the cost of
living exacerbating the situation, especially in housing.
In 2025, Portugal continues to struggle with poverty, with the risk
of poverty or social exclusion hovering around 19.7% (2.1 million
people).
Legend or truth, the case of St. Thomas is not closed. But one
thing is certain: The first Westerners who arrived in southern
India were surprised when they heard about "Christians of St.
Thomas". Marco Polo, while traveling through India in the 13th
century, mentioned and acknowledged the existence of the Saint
Thomas Christians in southern India, a Christian community that
existed long before the arrival of Europeans.
I am referring to certain books (not all) about Asia, Africa, and
America published in Portugal before 1974 that either distorted the
truth or simply omitted it. Salazar's dictatorship did not allow
for any other option! It was in primary school that I heard "The
Portuguese discovered India" (1), then in high school I read in
textbooks that "Vasco da Gama discovered the sea route to India"
(2), and as an adult I learned that in Malindi, Kenya, Gama
established relations with the local leader, who then provided the
Portuguese with a pilot who knew the way to Calicut, India.
Therefore, he did not discover the route to India, but the route to
East Africa.
(1) No one discovered India, which was already there!
(2) Gama did not discover the sea route to India, but to East
Africa, and arrived at Kappakadavu near Calicut.
Some read books by Winston Spencer Churchill that distort the truth
to cover up his Empire. But there are also good old books by
authors such as Jean Chesneaux, Richard Lewinsohn, Robert Mortimer
Wheeler, etc.
I wish everyone Merry Christmas. At this time of year I remember
Teotónio de Souza, founder of GRN, who had been hospitalized
shortly after Christmas.
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