Finally the book V. Gama by S. Subramanyam in Portugal

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Pedro Mascarenhas

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May 16, 2024, 5:21:45 AMMay 16
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Historian Sanjay Subrahmanyam was in Portugal in 1997, at the Geography Society, invited as main speaker at the session commemorating Vasco de Gama's departure to India in 1497. (500 years )

Sanjay, after long years of research in archives in Portugal and several European countries, including Italy (Florence), revealed for the first time some Gama' facets that the general public is unaware of. He published in English the book “The Career and Legend of Vasco da Gama ( Cambridge University Press, 1997) and translated into French and Spanish.

The Portuguese translation promised for 1998 was never available to Portuguese readers.

However, the book in Portuguese had a very limited edition and was only available to academics, according to a teacher.

For anyone who wanted to read it, Portuguese public libraries had the book in a Spanish edition.

Sanjay, as reported by the weekly Expresso (04/10/1997, see attached photo), was heavily criticized by Portuguese nationalists for having highlighted Gama's negative side, shaking the romantic vision that made him an untouchable myth that did not coincide with his true life.

According to journalist Rui Rocha, the book presents total scientific rigor, impeccable theoretical care and elegant writing. 
Many barriers were built that prevented its publication since 1998.

Finally, the Portuguese publisher Desassossego in January of this year, the year of 50 years of democracy, made available to the general public the book Vasco da Gama - A Carreira e a Lenda”  that so many readers had been waiting for. It took 27 years.

In the meantime, we await the publication of the book by Spanish author Isabel Soler Quintana « The defeat of Vasco da Gama, the first sea voyage to India».
Inline image

 



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Nuno Cardoso da Silva

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May 16, 2024, 6:36:19 AMMay 16
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Historical figures are never wholly good nor wholly bad. Therefore, in order to have a more realistic view of such figures, it is good that some writers focus exclusively on the better or worse aspects of their lives. In that way, we may be able to see such historical figures as human beings and not as angels or devils. I have no way to know how good or how bad Vasco da Gama was, and neither has Sanjay Subrahmanyam. But even if he is unfair in respect of Vasco da Gama it is good he has given us the opportunity to bring him down to earth. In that way we may focus on his positive achievements without forgetting his more dubious ones. Whatever Sanjay Subrahmanyam may say, Vasco da Gama will remain an important figure for Portugal, for India and for the World at large. But he will also become a bit more human, and that's good.
 
Nuno Cardoso da Silva
 
 
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albe...@sapo.pt

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May 18, 2024, 4:25:04 PMMay 18
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Did it take 27 years? Demonstration of the “lie” lobby that does not want to know real facts. I was in Goa once and Mr. Sinari, owner of a record store, expressed his anger against, in his own words, the pirate Vasco da Gama. He remembered the Hindu temples that were destroyed by the Portuguese and the arrest of a family member by the PIDE.  
Regards


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De: 'Nuno Cardoso da Silva' via Goa-Research-Net <goa-rese...@googlegroups.com>
Assunto: Re: [GRN] Finally the book V. Gama by S. Subramanyam in Portugal

John de Figueiredo

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May 19, 2024, 4:10:21 AMMay 19
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I believe I stated this before. Vasco da Gama was not a pirate. Also, during his brief tenure as Viceroy of India (brief due to his untimely death), he proved himself to be a great and just leader because he punished fellow Europeans who were stealing from the crown and restored law, order, and decency in the government of Goa. Like his predecessor Afonso de Albuquerque, he applied the norms of justice equally and fairly, irrespective of race or national origin. (In the case of Albuquerque he went overboard to punish a fellow European for a relatively minor violation of one of his orders.)
Let us not allow current political views to cloud the interpretation of well documented events that took place in the 16th century.
John M. de Figueiredo 
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On May 18, 2024, at 4:25 PM, albe...@sapo.pt wrote:


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Rafael Moreira

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May 19, 2024, 5:41:38 AMMay 19
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Of course he wasn't! I'm sure if we asked Sanjay about this, he would totally agree...
Yours, R.M.

Pedro Mascarenhas

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May 20, 2024, 5:18:51 AMMay 20
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Vasco da Gama is remembered, in Portugal, as one of the greatest “heroes” in national history. But his statues were torn down in India (Goa and Kerala) and Mozambique. Pirate or not pirate, here is the real description of the story. What happens when a husband and wife get a divorce? Each of them tells their own story. 

On September 29, 1502, Portuguese ships spotted a boat on the Indian coast with hundreds of people returning from Mecca to Calicut. Vasco da Gama had been trying for days to attack Muslim pilgrims passing by and had a bloodthirsty plan for those on board this vessel: «while some of our ships were traveling in search of those coming from Mecca, the S. Gabriel came across one of Calicut, who was returning from there with two hundred and forty men, not to mention the women and children, of whom there were quite a few, and who were all returning from that pilgrimage: he immediately hunted them down, and fired a few bomb shots, before surrendering».[1] ]

 

 [1] Thomé Lopes, Navegação às Índias Orientais, capítulo VIII.

 The passengers were defenseless and soon asked for mercy, offering all the riches they had on board and even more, to survive: «The Admiral saw what was happening through a hatch, and some women took their little children in their arms and lifted them into the air, persuading so that he would have mercy on those innocent people; the men also nodded that they wanted to rescue themselves at all costs; and it is certain that with the wealth that was on that ship, as many Christians as prisoners in the Kingdom of Fez could be taken out of captivity, and there would still be a lot left for El Rei N.S.».[2]

[2] Thomé Lopes, Navegação às Índias Orientais, capítulo VIII. 

 Vasco da Gama didn't just want the pilgrims' goods, he tried to set the boat on fire and ordered more cannon shots. The women and men resisted bravely 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 cellar; or tied to the ship; or they were prevented from leaving at the behest of Vasco da Gama, who ordered all those people to be burned alive and then ordered the boat to be sunk: «he made the Admiral set fire to that ship, which burned with as many people as were inside, with a lot of cruelty and without any pity”.[3]

[3] Thomé Lopes, Navegação às Índias Orientais, capítulo IX.

The scribe Thomé Lopes, who recorded the words 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”. | 4|


[4] Thomé Lopes, Navegação às Índias Orientais, capítulos IX.

 Chronicler Gaspar Correa, who was not part of this trip, narrates a different, but also violent, ending. After Vasco da Gama refused the desperate proposal of the pilgrims to fill the Portuguese boats with spices in Calicut, he said “you must be burned alive”, “he ordered the ship to be set on fire” and “the Moors were left swimming, the boats were launched. ». He also mentions that the other Portuguese captains tried to persuade Vasco da Gama not to massacre people, advising him to accept the offers that the pilgrims made to them.

Fernão Lopes de Castanheda, another chronicler from the 16th century who lived in India, says that the pilgrims numbered three hundred “apart from women and children” and “the fire caught in such a way that half the ship burned and part of the Moors drowned in it, and part were dead in the sea where they will lie down, and so they were all killed».[5]. In this narrative, probably to alleviate the brutality of the Portuguese, Castanheda states that the children were removed from the boat to be converted to Christianity.  

[5] Fernão Lopes de Castanheda, História do descobrimento e conquista da India pelos portugueses, livro I, Tomo II, capítulo XLV.


Joao Paulo Cota

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May 20, 2024, 5:19:29 AMMay 20
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The BJP Hindu fundamentalist narrative will always downplay anyone of white skin who has ever been involved with colonialism, just different flavours of hatred.
I would dismiss even hearing these barks of nationalism, this is now how you try to emulate the utopian idea of cancelling history in this day and age of civilization.
You just cannot erase history - either accept it or just look away.
The definition of a pirate is an individual who attacks and robs ships at sea. VDG did not do any of that and he was working for a bonafide government. The colonial achievements due to his success are a different story, but labelling him as a pirate, it show ignorance of some.
Vasco da Gama was one of the bravest men who has ever walked amongst us on this earth.
The BJP has done more damage to Goa in a decade than the Portuguese ever did in 500 years.
Modi and Shah are the real land pirates, they had hijacked the Goan ship on land and robbed it of land, resources, etc. and sold it to the oligarchs supporting their corrupt government.
Sinari alongwith many others are just the brainwashed pawns of the electorate that the BJP depends to stay in power.



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Pedro Mascarenhas

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May 26, 2024, 1:38:27 AMMay 26
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