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.
Data: Tue, 23 Dec 2025 03:04:54 -0500
Assunto: Re: [GRN] Re: To understand the Konkan strip of yesterday and Goa of today
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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