Re: [GRN] Vasco da Gama

JOHN DE FIGUEIREDO Wed, 07 Jan 2026 08:33:55 -0800

 Without wanting to prolong this conversation, I will summarize what I said:(1) 
I believe we, Goans, should continue to respect and admire Vasco da Gama for 
two reasons: (a) because he connected the dots and demonstrated that it is 
possible to travel by sea from Portugal to India and back, thus opening the 
door to an unprecedented globalization of knowledge; and (b) because as Viceroy 
of India he was a person with integrity and punished the thieves (all of whom 
happened to be European like him) who were stealing from the public treasury. 
The data show this beyond a shadow of doubt.(2) The Portuguese did not become 
foreigners until August 15, 1947. Goa was an integral part of the Portuguese 
Nation and the Goans were Portuguese citizens, and this fact was recognized by 
the Government of India for many years by having a Consulate of India in Goa 
after August 15, 1947.(3) Whether Goa was a colony or not is highly debatable. 
Those who believe that Goa was a colony should applaud Salazar's "Acto 
Colonial" and not condemn it. They cannot have it both ways.With this I will 
rest my case.Thank you for your attention and best regards,John M. de 
Figueiredo     On Wednesday, January 7, 2026 at 10:12:33 AM EST, Marianne de 
Nazareth <[email protected]> wrote:  
 
 Thank you John for your detailed expl

Dr Marianne de NazarethFormer Asst. Editor, The Deccan Herald,Freelance
Environmental JournalistFellow UNFCCC, UNEP, UNWaterEditor 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

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Re: [GRN] Vasco da Gama

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