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{{Short description|1500–1833 Portuguese colonial commercial organization}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}}
{{Infobox company
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| image_size = 200px
| image_caption = <small>Flag originally used by the Casa da Guiné and subsequently the Casa da Índia.</small>
| predecessor = ''[[Company of Guinea|Casa da Guiné e Mina]]''<br/>
| foundation = 1500
| defunct = {{End date|df=yes|1833|9|17}}
| location = [[Ribeira Palace]], [[Lisbon]]
| area_served = [[Portuguese Empire]]
| key_people = <small>'''Founder of the Casa da Índia:'''</small><br/>[[Manuel I of Portugal|King Manuel I of Portugal]] <br/> <small>'''Founder of the Casa da Guiné:'''</small><br/>[[Prince Henry the Navigator]]
| industry = [[International trade]]
}}
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 a 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 1400's 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 a 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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After the death of [[Henry the Navigator]] in 1460, both houses were moved by King [[Afonso V of Portugal]] from [[Lagos, Portugal|Lagos]] to [[Lisbon]].
The ascension of King [[John II of Portugal]] in 1481 revived the royal interest in African trade. In 1482, upon erecting the fortress of [[Elmina|São Jorge da Mina]] to access the [[Akan people|Akan]] goldfields and markets,<ref name="Bakewell">{{cite book|author=Wilks, Ivor. Wangara, Akan, and Portuguese in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries|editor1-last=Bakewell|editor1-first=Peter|title=Mines of Silver and Gold in the Americas|date=1997|publisher=Variorum, Ashgate Publishing Limited|location=Aldershot|pages=1–39}}</ref> John II overhauled the old houses and organized the system into two new institutions in Lisbon - the royal trading house, the ''Casa da Mina e Tratos de Guiné'', focused on commercial aspects of African trade (goods, licenses, dues), and the separate royal naval arsenal, the ''Armazém da Guiné'', to handle nautical matters (ship construction, nautical supplies, hiring of crews, etc.)
In 1486, after the opening of contact with [[Benin Empire|Benin]], John II established the ''Casa de Escravos'', as a distinct [[slave]]-trading department of the ''Casa da Mina''.
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[[File:Cabral armada of 1500 (Livro das Armadas) (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|The [[2nd Portuguese India Armada (Cabral, 1500)|2nd Portuguese India Armada]], commanded by [[Pedro Álvares Cabral]], discovered [[Colonial Brazil|Brazil]] on its way to [[Portuguese India|India]].]]
{{see also|Portuguese discovery of the sea route to India|Portuguese India Armadas}}
With the discovery of a sea route to [[India]] by [[Vasco da Gama]] in 1497-99, the [[spice trade]] became a new and important activity of the royal trading house, and the old ''Casa'' was reorganized into the ''Casa da Índia e da Guiné'' (the first written reference to a ''Casa da Índia'' was in a royal letter dated 1501).
[[File:Fernandes Holy Trinity (detail).jpg|thumb|right|upright|King [[Manuel I of Portugal]] created the Casa da Índia and oversaw a successful expansionist period of the [[Portuguese Empire]] in Asia, Africa, and the Americas.]]
From 1511, offices of the ''Casa da Índia'' were located on the ground floor of the royal [[Ribeira Palace]] on [[Terreiro do Paço]] in [[Lisbon]], with the Armazém just next to it.<ref name="ṬāliqānīCouto2006">{{cite book|author1=Maḥmūd Ṭāliqānī|author2=Dejanirah Couto|author3=Jean-Louis Bacqué-Grammont|title=كارتوگرافى تاريخى خليج فارس: actes du colloque organisé les 21 et 22 avril 2004 à Téhéran par l'EPHE, l'université de Téhéran et le Centre de documentation et de recherche d'Iran|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3h37IOxTO5cC&pg=PA66|year=2006|publisher=Peeters Publishers|isbn=978-2-909961-40-8|page=66}}</ref>
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
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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===Shipyards===
[[File:Armanzens e Ribeira das Naus da Casa da India (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|The ''Armazém da Guiné e
Separately from the ''Casa'' was the ''Armazém da Guiné e
The ''Piloto-Mor'' of the
In 1547, the position of ''
The ''Provedor dos
Although theoretically separate, the ''Casa'' and the ''Armazém'' kept in contact and coordinated matters with each other, the expenses from one charged to the treasurer of the other, and officers moved seamlessly between them. As a result, it was common to use ''Casa da Índia'' to refer to the whole complex.
== Operations ==
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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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[[Category:Organizations established in the 1430s]]
[[Category:Organizations disestablished in the 19th century]]
[[Category:Monarchy and money]]
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