Thank you John for your detailed expl
Dr Marianne de Nazareth Former Asst. Editor, The Deccan Herald, Freelance Environmental Journalist Fellow UNFCCC, UNEP, UNWater Editor Romantic Getaways https://www.bellaonline.com/ http://mariannedenazareth.blogspot.com/ On Sun, 4 Jan, 2026, 12:12 JOHN DE FIGUEIREDO, <[email protected]> wrote: > Let us not be elitist when judging Vasco da Gama. If he came from a > lower social class (meaning, I trust, that he came from a poor family with > a low educational level), then my admiration for him is even greater. > Clearly, he had to overcome a significant social disadvantage to master and > excel in the science and art of navigation and to convince his King that a > “commoner” like him was up to the extraordinary mission of commanding a > fleet from Portugal to India and back. And he did this, not once or twice, > but 5 times. He connected the dots and demonstrated how this could be > achieved. Was he helped by others? Sure. He was helped by the discovery of > Bartolomeu Dias that Africa had an end and by the Arab pilot who guided him > from East Africa to India. But so were Watson and Crick in their discovery > of the structure of DNA. They were helped by the previous discoveries of > Erwin Chargaff and Rosalind Franklin. This is how human knowledge advances, > step by step, one discovery leading to the next one. His important > achievement set the stage for an unprecedented globalization of knowledge. > Was he perfect? Far from it. Understanding something is not the same as > excusing it. What he did to the Muslim pilgrims is abominable by today’s > standards, but it was (as Frederick said) fair game in his time. In 1469, > Virupaksha I, Emperor of Vijayanagara, ordered the massacre of thousands of > Muslims in Bhatkal. The few who survived fled to (guess where) Goa, where > they found a home and thrived. Let us not be harsher in our judgment of > Vasco da Gama just because he was a European or he was from a “lower > class.” It really does not matter what Christians, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, > or Parsis think of Vasco da Gama. History is a science based on data, not > on public opinion. My point is that as Viceroy of India, his message to > fellow Europeans was: “If you are corrupt and steal from the public > treasury, I will punish you.” And that is exactly what he did, and this is > why we, Goans, should respect and admire Vasco da Gama as a person with > integrity. It was a risky decision. With the benefit of hindsight, we can > say that several of his successors as Governors or Viceroys (including our > own Barnardo Peres da Silva) were deposed by military coups when they > attempted to do what he did. A Secretary of State (European), who was, like > Gama, a person with integrity, was assassinated in plain daylight in front > of the Government Palace in Panjim by some fellow Europeans who saw him as > an obstacle to their schemes and scams. Imagine a scenario in which Vasco > da Gama looked the other way and may have even pocketed some money himself. > Today, we would correctly say that he was a thief and a party to a > cover-up. But that is not what he did. > > Why did the Portuguese occupy and settle in Goa? Good question. The > last time I heard this question was from my friend Luiz de Camoes. He had > Vasco da Gama being asked: “Quem te trouxe a estoutro mundo, tão longe da > tua Pátria Lusitana?” (“Who brought you to this other world, so far away > from your Lusitanian Motherland? "). This question raises all sorts of > other questions. What made the Kadambas infiltrate Goa after they were > defeated by the Chalukyas and conquer Goa, defeating its legitimate Goan > Kings? What made the Yadavas conquer Goa, terrorize the Goans, and impose > their language (Marathi) on the Goans? What made the Bahmanis and the Delhi > Muslims invade Goa and terrorize the Goans? What made Vijayanagara conquer > Goa? What forced Goa into the Sultanate of Bijapur? The only answer that > comes to my mind is what my teacher of History at the Liceu, Rev. Dr. > Antonio Garcia, S.J., used to say: “Just like in the big ocean the big fish > eat the small fish, so the stronger peoples invade and conquer the weaker > ones.” Happens even to this day, right under our noses. It seems to me that > the fundamental misconception in this conversation is to view the > Portuguese in Vasco da Gama’s time as foreigners. In fact, they were not > “more foreigners” or “less foreigners” in Gama’s time than the Kadambas, > the Yadavas, and all those other guys. The Portuguese only became > foreigners in India on August 15, 1947, the day when the “tryst with > Destiny” occurred (to use the famous expression of Jawaharlal Nehru). This > is why an agent of Vijayanagara approached Afonso de Albuquerque with the > assent of some Goans and asked him to free Goa from Bijapur. > Sorry for this long note. > > John M. de Figueiredo > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Goa-Research-Net" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion, visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/goa-research-net/1112659100.3469483.1767508948056%40mail.yahoo.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/goa-research-net/1112659100.3469483.1767508948056%40mail.yahoo.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Goa-Research-Net" group. 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