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The '''Casa da Índia''' ({{IPA-pt|ˈkazɐ
The House of India was founded by King [[Manuel I of Portugal]] in 1500 to direct Portugal's monopoly of the [[spice trade]] and to manage royal policy for [[Portuguese India]]. Following 1503, it absorbed the ''[[Company of Guinea|Casa da Guiné e Mina]]'', an organization founded by [[Prince Henry the Navigator]] in 1443, which operated under a similar mandate for Portuguese Africa, thus making the Casa da Índia responsible for the regulation of all Portuguese imperial trade, the administration of Portuguese trading posts and military bases in Asia and Africa, and protection of the [[List of Portuguese monarchs|Portuguese Crown]]'s commercial interests.
Founded with the intent of protecting Portugal's [[monopoly]] on the spice trade, the Casa da Índia began financing and organizing the [[Portuguese India Armadas]] in 1497, annual armadas of [[galleon]]s, [[carrack]]s, and [[caravel]]s transporting commodities, like gold, ivory, and spices, between [[Lisbon]] and the Portuguese trade posts and colonies across Africa and Asia. The Casa da Índia sponsored numerous famous Portuguese navigators, including [[Vasco da Gama]] (who [[Portuguese discovery of the sea route to India|discovered the sea route to India]]), [[Pedro Álvares Cabral]] (who discovered [[Brazil]]), and [[Afonso de Albuquerque]] (who established Portuguese hegemony in the [[Indian Ocean]]). Throughout the 15th and 16th centuries, the Casa da Índia rapidly grew into an economically powerful institution, playing a crucial role in the financing of the [[Portuguese discoveries]] and expeditions throughout [[West Africa]], [[East Africa]], the [[Middle East]], [[India]], and the [[East Indies]]. The Casa da Índia similarly played an important role in the development of modern [[cartography]], patronizing the ''[[Padrão Real]]'', one of the first [[early world maps]].▼
▲Founded with the intent of protecting Portugal's [[monopoly]]
From its origins in the 1400s until its dissolution in 1833, the Casa da Índia's principal objectives changed with time, as did its relationships with the [[Kingdom of Portugal|Crown of Portugal]] and the imperial administration. Following 1642, it lost all of its trade monopolies on gold, silver, ivory, spices, and other precious commodities, transforming the organization's purview to solely a trade regulator and [[customs]] agency. Following the destruction of its [[Ribeira Palace]] headquarters and facilities in the [[1755 Lisbon earthquake|Great Lisbon Earthquake of 1755]], the Casa da Índia grew increasingly obsolete in relation to Portugal's transforming trade and colonial policies, leading to most of its functions being slowly absorbed into ministries and agencies of the [[Portuguese government]] until its final dissolution in 1833.▼
Throughout the 15th and 16th centuries, the Casa da Índia rapidly grew into an economically powerful institution that played a crucial role in the financing of [[Portuguese discoveries]] and expeditions throughout [[West Africa]], [[East Africa]], the [[Middle East]], [[India]], and the [[East Indies]]. The Casa da Índia also played an important role in the development of modern [[cartography]], patronizing the ''[[Padrão Real]]'', one of the first [[early world maps]].
▲
==History==
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The [[Portuguese India Armadas]] (''Armadas da Índia'') were the fleets of ships, organized by the Casa da Índia in name of the [[List of Portuguese monarchs|Portuguese Crown]], and dispatched on an annual basis from Portugal to India, principally [[Goa]]. These armadas undertook the ''Carreira da Índia'' ("India Run"), following the sea route around the [[Cape of Good Hope]] first opened up by Vasco da Gama in 1497–1499.
For about thirty years, from 1503 to 1535, the Portuguese cut into the Venetian spice trade in the Mediterranean. By 1510, the Portuguese throne was pocketing a million [[Portuguese real|cruzados]] yearly from the spice trade alone, and it was this which led [[Francis I of France]] to dub King [[Manuel I of Portugal]] "le roi épicier",{{cite quote|date=November 2022}} that is, "the grocer king."
Income started to decline mid-century because of costs of maintaining a presence in Morocco and domestic waste. Also, Portugal did not develop a substantial domestic infrastructure to support this activity, but relied on foreigners for many services supporting their trading enterprises, and therefore a lot of the income was consumed in this way.
In 1549 the Portuguese trade center in Antwerp went bankrupt and was closed. As the crown became more overextended in the 1550s, it relied more and more on external financing. By about 1560 the income of the Casa da Índia was not able to cover its expenses. The Portuguese monarchy had become, in [[Garrett Mattingly]]'s phrase, the owner of "a [[National bankruptcy|bankrupt]] wholesale grocery business."{{cite quote|date=November 2022}}
===Decline===
[[File:Projeto da recontrucao do edificio da Casa da India (cropped).jpg|thumb|450px|center|
In 1709 at the Casa da Índia, the [[Jesuit]] priest Father [[Bartolomeu de Gusmão]] demonstrated the principles of hot air ballooning. He managed to levitate a ball indoors at the Casa da Índia in Lisbon. He later fled from Portugal to Spain, for fear of being accused of performing magic by the [[Inquisition]]
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Separately from the ''Casa'' was the ''Armazém da Guiné e Índias'', the new name for the naval arsenal. It was assigned all nautical responsibilities, such as the running of the Lisbon dockyards, the construction of ships, the hiring and training of crews and supplying the fleets with equipment - sails, ropes, guns, nautical instruments and maps.
The ''Piloto-Mor'' of the ''Armazém'', a position held between 1503 and 1526 by Pero Anes, Gonçalo Álvares and João de Lisboa, was probably responsible for the training of [[Maritime pilot|pilot]]-[[navigator]]s and the drafting of navigational charts.<ref>e.g. Teixeira da Mota (1969) "Os Regimentos do cosmógrafo-mor de 1559 e 1592 e as origens do ensino náutico em Portugal",''Memórias da Academia das Ciências de Lisboa'', vol. 13, pp.227-91. J.I. Brito-Rebello (1903) ''Livro de Marinharia'' (Lisbon: Libânio da Silva) replicates the documents for the nominations of Pero Annes ([https://books.google.com/books?id=8vwnAAAAYAAJ&pg=PR74
In 1547, the position of ''Cosmógrafo-mor'' (High-Cosmographer) was created for the famed mathematician [[Pedro Nunes]] and the cartographic duties passed over to him.
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==See also==
*[[Casa de Contratación]], the Spanish counterpart of the Casa da Índia
*[[Company of Guinea]]
*[[Age of Discovery]]
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[[Category:Economic history of Portugal]]
[[Category:Maritime history of Portugal]]
[[Category:Trading companies of Portugal]]
[[Category:Portuguese India]]
[[Category:Portuguese India Armadas]]
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