Da Gama's Mission

Da Gama’s mission was to find a route to Asia by sailing from Portugal, around Africa, then on to India. European countries had been buying Asian goods for years through other, more difficult routes. But now the countries of Europe had begun looking for faster, cheaper routes to Asia. Vasco da Gama did eventually reach India with the help of a navigator from Malindi named Majid. In 1499, da Gama returned to Portugal and told the king and queen, who had sponsored his voyage, everything that he’d seen, including the shiploads of gold, ivory, porcelain, silk, and cotton being bought and sold in the port cities along the eastern coast of Africa.

The Portuguese government took immediate interest in the Swahili city-states. They sent more ships to the eastern coast of Africa with three goals: to take anything of value they could find, to force the kings of the city to pay taxes to Portuguese tax collectors, and to gain control over the entire Indian Ocean trade. The city-states had never needed forts or huge armies, and they were unprepared for the Portuguese attacks. One-by-one, the Portuguese captured the port cities, then wrecked, looted, and burned them to the ground. The residents of the cities who were unable to escape were killed. Shiploads of priceless goods were sent back to Portugal. However, the Portuguese attempt to take over and run the Indian Ocean trade was a failure.

If the Swahili city-states were destroyed by the Portuguese invaders, then how can we know so much about the Indian Ocean trade? One way is through archaeological evidence. For instance, pieces of Chinese porcelain vases and dishes can still be found along east African beaches. Another source of knowledge is the many documents written by people living at the time. For instance, Ibn Battuta, an African scholar, traveled to Kilwa in 1331 and wrote of its immense buildings and its countless other splendors. Vasco da Gama, and other Europeans who visited the Swahili