WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.580 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today we are opening 00:00:03.580 --> 00:00:06.519 the charts, literally and figuratively, to talk 00:00:06.519 --> 00:00:09.179 about a man who redrew the map of the world. 00:00:09.359 --> 00:00:11.599 And that's not a metaphor, is it? Not at all. 00:00:11.699 --> 00:00:14.179 Before this guy, the map had a big Here Be Dragons 00:00:14.179 --> 00:00:16.579 sign, where the Indian Ocean meets the Atlantic. 00:00:17.179 --> 00:00:19.980 After him, it was a highway. It's one of those 00:00:19.980 --> 00:00:22.440 genuine pivot points in history. You really do 00:00:22.440 --> 00:00:25.620 have the world before 1498 and the world after. 00:00:25.780 --> 00:00:28.260 We're talking, of course, about Vasco da Gama. 00:00:28.620 --> 00:00:30.899 Now, if you've walked around Lisbon or really 00:00:30.899 --> 00:00:33.840 any major city in Portugal, you've seen the statues. 00:00:34.100 --> 00:00:36.250 Oh, they're everywhere. The guy looks heroic, 00:00:36.530 --> 00:00:40.329 beard, sword, gazing boldly at the horizon. He 00:00:40.329 --> 00:00:42.369 has bridges named after him, shopping centers, 00:00:42.490 --> 00:00:44.350 football teams. There's even a crater on the 00:00:44.350 --> 00:00:46.509 moon with his name on it. Which is fitting, I 00:00:46.509 --> 00:00:48.310 guess, because what he did was pretty much the 00:00:48.310 --> 00:00:50.929 15th century equivalent of a moonshot. It absolutely 00:00:50.929 --> 00:00:52.750 was. But, you know, the problem with statues 00:00:52.750 --> 00:00:55.090 is that they're made of stone. They're cold. 00:00:55.250 --> 00:00:57.689 They're hard. And they don't tell you the messy, 00:00:57.829 --> 00:01:01.170 human, and often incredibly violent story behind 00:01:01.170 --> 00:01:04.310 the legend. Exactly. And that's our mission today. 00:01:04.700 --> 00:01:06.920 We want to chip away at the marble and see the 00:01:06.920 --> 00:01:09.459 man underneath. Because when we dug into the 00:01:09.459 --> 00:01:11.959 source material, the ship logs, the chronicles, 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:15.159 the letters, we didn't find a simple hero. Not 00:01:15.159 --> 00:01:18.019 at all. We found a walking paradox. A figure 00:01:18.019 --> 00:01:20.379 of extreme contradictions. That's a perfect way 00:01:20.379 --> 00:01:23.140 to put it. On one side of the ledger, you have 00:01:23.140 --> 00:01:28.260 this navigational genius. A man with nerves of 00:01:28.260 --> 00:01:31.760 steel who connects Europe to Asia by sea, something 00:01:31.760 --> 00:01:34.420 nobody had ever done. He fundamentally changes 00:01:34.420 --> 00:01:36.359 the global economy. But on the other side of 00:01:36.359 --> 00:01:39.840 that ledger, yikes. Yikes is putting mildly. 00:01:39.859 --> 00:01:42.420 You have a commander capable of a level of brutality 00:01:42.420 --> 00:01:45.079 that was shocking even by the standards of the 00:01:45.079 --> 00:01:47.980 1500s. We're talking about a man who used terror 00:01:47.980 --> 00:01:51.040 as a strategic tool. As a primary tool. So we're 00:01:51.040 --> 00:01:53.099 going to unpack all of it, the immense feats 00:01:53.099 --> 00:01:54.939 of seamanship that opened up the world and the 00:01:54.939 --> 00:01:57.079 ruthless methods he used to dominate it. But 00:01:57.079 --> 00:01:59.599 to really get why da Gama even matters, we have 00:01:59.599 --> 00:02:01.560 to set the stage. We do. We have to go back to 00:02:01.560 --> 00:02:03.859 the late 15th century. What was the vibe in Europe? 00:02:04.540 --> 00:02:06.739 Desperate. In a word, Europe was desperate. And 00:02:06.739 --> 00:02:09.740 it was all about dinner. Specifically, what you 00:02:09.740 --> 00:02:13.120 put on your dinner. Spices. Pepper, cinnamon, 00:02:13.379 --> 00:02:16.710 cloves. Nutmeg. Things we just have in a rack 00:02:16.710 --> 00:02:18.810 in the kitchen. Exactly. Things you buy for a 00:02:18.810 --> 00:02:20.370 few dollars and forget about for five years. 00:02:20.490 --> 00:02:23.729 Yeah. But back in the 1400s, spices were the 00:02:23.729 --> 00:02:26.990 oil and microchips of the global economy all 00:02:26.990 --> 00:02:29.509 rolled into one. So why were they so valuable? 00:02:29.590 --> 00:02:33.849 Was European food just that bland? Well... Yes, 00:02:33.849 --> 00:02:36.389 partly. But it was so much more than flavor. 00:02:36.750 --> 00:02:39.509 Spices were preservatives. They were status symbols. 00:02:39.710 --> 00:02:41.689 They were used in medicine. If you had pepper 00:02:41.689 --> 00:02:43.289 on your table, you were letting everyone know 00:02:43.289 --> 00:02:46.629 you were rich. Okay, so massive demand. But Europe 00:02:46.629 --> 00:02:49.490 had a huge supply chain problem. The bottleneck. 00:02:49.530 --> 00:02:51.349 The mother of all bottlenecks. That's right. 00:02:51.819 --> 00:02:55.060 The spices grew in India, in the Far East. To 00:02:55.060 --> 00:02:57.900 get to a table in Lisbon or London, that pepper 00:02:57.900 --> 00:03:00.159 had to travel on Arab dhows across the Indian 00:03:00.159 --> 00:03:02.139 Ocean, up the Red Sea or the Persian Gulf. Get 00:03:02.139 --> 00:03:04.900 offloaded in Egypt or the Levant, travel overland. 00:03:05.060 --> 00:03:07.259 And then, and this is the absolute kicker, it 00:03:07.259 --> 00:03:09.020 was all bought up by the Venetians. The Republic 00:03:09.020 --> 00:03:11.979 of Venice, the ultimate middleman. The ultimate 00:03:11.979 --> 00:03:14.740 middleman. Venice controlled the entire Mediterranean 00:03:14.740 --> 00:03:17.219 trade. They bought the spices from the Islamic 00:03:17.219 --> 00:03:19.580 world and sold them on to the rest of Europe. 00:03:19.919 --> 00:03:22.360 And every time that spice act changed hands, 00:03:22.560 --> 00:03:26.199 the price just went up and up. Skyrocketed. Venice 00:03:26.199 --> 00:03:29.599 was getting filthy rich and countries like Portugal 00:03:29.599 --> 00:03:32.500 were bleeding gold just to buy what were essentially 00:03:32.500 --> 00:03:35.340 basic commodities. So the economic incentive 00:03:35.340 --> 00:03:37.879 is crystal clear. If you can cut out the middleman, 00:03:37.979 --> 00:03:40.520 cut out Venice, cut out the overland routes. 00:03:41.129 --> 00:03:43.550 and go straight to the source. The profit margin 00:03:43.550 --> 00:03:46.110 isn't just double. It's astronomical. It's the 00:03:46.110 --> 00:03:48.250 difference between buying a marked -up iPhone 00:03:48.250 --> 00:03:51.250 from a scalper and owning the entire Apple factory. 00:03:51.650 --> 00:03:54.449 That's a great analogy. So King John II of Portugal, 00:03:54.569 --> 00:03:57.189 he has this vision. He wants to break the monopoly. 00:03:57.430 --> 00:04:00.830 He wants to find a sea route around Africa all 00:04:00.830 --> 00:04:02.810 the way to India. And this wasn't a sudden idea, 00:04:02.889 --> 00:04:05.430 right? This was a long -term project. A generational 00:04:05.430 --> 00:04:07.800 project. You have to give a nod to Prince Henry 00:04:07.800 --> 00:04:10.419 the Navigator. For decades, Portuguese ships 00:04:10.419 --> 00:04:12.460 had just been inching their way down the coast 00:04:12.460 --> 00:04:15.669 of West Africa. Mile by painful mile. Mapping 00:04:15.669 --> 00:04:17.949 the coast, setting up little trade posts. But 00:04:17.949 --> 00:04:20.949 there was this huge psychological barrier. They 00:04:20.949 --> 00:04:23.250 didn't actually know if Africa ended. Right. 00:04:23.410 --> 00:04:26.509 There was a genuine fear, based on old Ptolemaic 00:04:26.509 --> 00:04:29.649 maps, that the Indian Ocean was landlocked. That 00:04:29.649 --> 00:04:31.610 Africa just connected to some giant southern 00:04:31.610 --> 00:04:34.029 continent. The idea that there was just no way 00:04:34.029 --> 00:04:37.310 through. Until 1488. The big one. The breakthrough. 00:04:38.189 --> 00:04:40.910 Bartolome Dias, he sails south, gets absolutely 00:04:40.910 --> 00:04:43.829 battered by storms, and inadvertently gets pushed 00:04:43.829 --> 00:04:46.029 all the way around the tip of Africa. He sees 00:04:46.029 --> 00:04:48.230 the coast turning north. He sees the coast turning 00:04:48.230 --> 00:04:51.269 north, and he proves it. The Atlantic and the 00:04:51.269 --> 00:04:53.629 Indian Oceans connect. That must have been a 00:04:53.629 --> 00:04:57.290 massive eureka moment for the king. Huge. But 00:04:57.290 --> 00:05:00.029 Dias had to turn back. His crew was on the verge 00:05:00.029 --> 00:05:02.009 of mutiny. They were exhausted. They were terrified. 00:05:02.350 --> 00:05:04.709 But the key thing was, now the king knew the 00:05:04.709 --> 00:05:07.029 door was there. He just needed someone to walk 00:05:07.029 --> 00:05:08.569 through it and see what was on the other side. 00:05:08.750 --> 00:05:10.430 And this is where it gets a bit like a spy thriller. 00:05:10.970 --> 00:05:13.730 Before sending to Gama, the king sends secret 00:05:13.730 --> 00:05:17.250 agents. He does. Perot de Covillon and Afonso 00:05:17.250 --> 00:05:19.889 de Paiva. He sends them overland, disguised as 00:05:19.889 --> 00:05:22.009 merchants. They go through Cairo, down the Red 00:05:22.009 --> 00:05:24.250 Sea, all the way to India. What's their mission? 00:05:24.529 --> 00:05:26.410 They're scouting the markets. They're checking 00:05:26.410 --> 00:05:29.209 prices, figuring out who's in charge, mapping 00:05:29.209 --> 00:05:31.730 the ports from the inside out. Pure intelligence 00:05:31.730 --> 00:05:34.550 gathering. So da Gama's mission isn't just a 00:05:34.550 --> 00:05:37.509 shot in the dark. It's the final piece of a very 00:05:37.509 --> 00:05:40.509 calculated puzzle. Exactly. The king has the 00:05:40.509 --> 00:05:42.970 route to the cape from Dias. He has the market 00:05:42.970 --> 00:05:45.930 intel from the spies. He just needs a man to 00:05:45.930 --> 00:05:48.350 connect the two dots. He needs a closer. He needs 00:05:48.350 --> 00:05:51.069 a closer. And that brings us to Vasco da Gama. 00:05:51.430 --> 00:05:54.490 So who was this guy? He wasn't royalty, but he 00:05:54.490 --> 00:05:57.370 wasn't a nobody either. No, not at all. He was 00:05:57.370 --> 00:06:00.860 born in signs. a small rocky seaport on the Alentejo 00:06:00.860 --> 00:06:05.060 Coast, probably in the 1460s. His father, Esteban 00:06:05.060 --> 00:06:07.540 de Gama, was the governor of the town and a knight 00:06:07.540 --> 00:06:09.939 of the Order of Santiago. So he comes from a 00:06:09.939 --> 00:06:12.579 noble military family. A minor noble family, 00:06:12.759 --> 00:06:15.980 but very well connected. And his mother, Isabel 00:06:15.980 --> 00:06:19.040 Sodré, she was of English descent, and her family 00:06:19.040 --> 00:06:20.899 was deeply connected to the Order of Christ. 00:06:21.120 --> 00:06:23.459 That context seems really important. It's crucial. 00:06:23.860 --> 00:06:26.699 Vasco isn't just raised as a sailor. He's raised 00:06:26.699 --> 00:06:28.920 in this atmosphere of the Portuguese military 00:06:28.920 --> 00:06:31.759 religious orders. He sees himself as a knight, 00:06:31.899 --> 00:06:35.160 first and foremost. A crusader mentality. 100%. 00:06:35.160 --> 00:06:37.860 He isn't just looking for pepper. He sees himself 00:06:37.860 --> 00:06:41.000 as a soldier of Christ fighting against the infidel. 00:06:41.500 --> 00:06:43.920 And that really colors everything he does later 00:06:43.920 --> 00:06:46.199 on. We actually get a glimpse of his personality 00:06:46.199 --> 00:06:48.819 before the big India trick. There's an incident 00:06:48.819 --> 00:06:52.120 in 1492. This is a great story. It really establishes 00:06:52.120 --> 00:06:54.759 his character. French pirates had attacked some 00:06:54.759 --> 00:06:58.439 Portuguese ships. King John II was furious. He 00:06:58.439 --> 00:07:00.379 needed someone to send a message. And he didn't 00:07:00.379 --> 00:07:02.779 pick a diplomat. He picked a gama. He sent him 00:07:02.779 --> 00:07:04.839 down to the ports of Setúbal and the Algarve 00:07:04.839 --> 00:07:07.819 with one order. seize every single French ship 00:07:07.819 --> 00:07:10.100 you can find. Just impound them. Impound them, 00:07:10.120 --> 00:07:12.480 take the crews, everything. Full -on retaliation. 00:07:12.620 --> 00:07:15.439 And how did he do? He was ruthless and incredibly 00:07:15.439 --> 00:07:17.720 efficient. He just locked down the ports, seized 00:07:17.720 --> 00:07:20.360 all the ships, and basically held the French 00:07:20.360 --> 00:07:22.579 merchant fleet hostage until the King of France 00:07:22.579 --> 00:07:25.279 caved and apologized. So he's competent, he's 00:07:25.279 --> 00:07:27.879 loyal, and he is not afraid to crack some skulls. 00:07:27.920 --> 00:07:29.699 He's the perfect candidate for the India run. 00:07:30.110 --> 00:07:32.889 When the time came, the king needed someone who 00:07:32.889 --> 00:07:35.610 had the navigational skill, but also the sheer 00:07:35.610 --> 00:07:38.649 force of will to keep a crew in line for what 00:07:38.649 --> 00:07:40.889 they knew would be a terrifyingly long journey. 00:07:41.069 --> 00:07:43.410 Okay, let's look at that journey. Section 2. 00:07:44.009 --> 00:07:48.689 Into the Unknown. July 8th, 1497. The fleet leaves 00:07:48.689 --> 00:07:52.850 Lisbon. What are we looking at here? Huge armada. 00:07:53.449 --> 00:07:55.740 Surprisingly, no. It was more like a surgical 00:07:55.740 --> 00:07:58.680 strike force. Just four ships, the flagship, 00:07:59.040 --> 00:08:01.120 the San Gabriel, which Vasco commanded himself, 00:08:01.439 --> 00:08:03.579 then the San Rafael, commanded by his brother, 00:08:03.680 --> 00:08:05.459 Paulo da Gama. Which is interesting, keeping 00:08:05.459 --> 00:08:08.139 it in the family. It makes a lot of sense. In 00:08:08.139 --> 00:08:10.399 a situation where mutiny is a constant real risk, 00:08:10.660 --> 00:08:12.360 you want your second -in -command to be someone 00:08:12.360 --> 00:08:14.399 you can trust implicitly. Who better than your 00:08:14.399 --> 00:08:16.720 own brother? True. And the other two? There's 00:08:16.720 --> 00:08:19.620 the Burio, a faster Caravelle, and then a larger 00:08:19.620 --> 00:08:21.160 storage ship that was just full of supplies. 00:08:21.459 --> 00:08:24.550 How many men? It's about 170. But these were 00:08:24.550 --> 00:08:28.209 the absolute best of the best. The king stripped 00:08:28.209 --> 00:08:31.250 other fleets to give da Gama the most experienced 00:08:31.250 --> 00:08:34.190 pilots and navigators in all of Portugal. They 00:08:34.190 --> 00:08:36.450 knew this was the big one. Not the route. This 00:08:36.450 --> 00:08:38.470 is where we see the real navigational genius. 00:08:38.549 --> 00:08:40.330 I think most people would assume that to get 00:08:40.330 --> 00:08:43.809 around Africa, you just hug the coast. And if 00:08:43.809 --> 00:08:46.789 you do that... You will fail. The winds and the 00:08:46.789 --> 00:08:49.029 currents along the coast of West Africa, especially 00:08:49.029 --> 00:08:51.809 in the Gulf of Guinea, they're brutal. They just 00:08:51.809 --> 00:08:54.009 push you back towards Portugal. So you're fighting 00:08:54.009 --> 00:08:56.409 the ocean every inch of the way. Every inch. 00:08:56.509 --> 00:08:59.990 It's slow, it's hot, and it just destroys ships 00:08:59.990 --> 00:09:03.289 and crews. So da Gama does the unthinkable. He 00:09:03.289 --> 00:09:05.490 reaches Sierra Leone and then he turns the wheel. 00:09:05.710 --> 00:09:09.009 He turns away from Africa. He sails west. Out 00:09:09.009 --> 00:09:11.409 into the vast open Atlantic. Towards what would 00:09:11.409 --> 00:09:14.090 eventually be Brazil. Basically, yeah. He's hunting 00:09:14.090 --> 00:09:16.690 for the westerlies, the big circular wind patterns 00:09:16.690 --> 00:09:18.789 of the South Atlantic. He's gambling that if 00:09:18.789 --> 00:09:20.769 he swings wide enough, he'll catch a massive 00:09:20.769 --> 00:09:23.009 tailwind that will just slingshot him around 00:09:23.009 --> 00:09:25.889 the Cape of Good Hope. Just think about the psychological 00:09:25.889 --> 00:09:29.110 toll of that decision for the crew. It's terrifying. 00:09:29.509 --> 00:09:33.090 They sailed for over three months. More than 00:09:33.090 --> 00:09:36.149 90 days without a single glimpse of land. Wow. 00:09:36.210 --> 00:09:39.149 Just endless ocean. Day after day after day. 00:09:39.230 --> 00:09:41.590 For context, Columbus was only out of sight of 00:09:41.590 --> 00:09:44.169 land for, what, 30 -something days on his first 00:09:44.169 --> 00:09:46.789 voyage? Right. This is triple that. It was the 00:09:46.789 --> 00:09:49.230 longest voyage out of sight of land in human 00:09:49.230 --> 00:09:52.730 history up to that point. Over 10 ,000 kilometers 00:09:52.730 --> 00:09:55.970 of open water. Imagine being a sailor on that 00:09:55.970 --> 00:09:59.100 ship. You have no idea if the admiral is a genius 00:09:59.100 --> 00:10:01.720 or if he's completely insane. You're just trusting 00:10:01.720 --> 00:10:03.919 his math. You're just trusting his math and praying. 00:10:04.220 --> 00:10:06.220 And the conditions on board. They must have been 00:10:06.220 --> 00:10:09.009 horrific. Unbelievably bad. The water goes foul. 00:10:09.090 --> 00:10:11.549 It turns green and slimy. The heart attack abisc 00:10:11.549 --> 00:10:13.690 is getting infested with weevils. And then, of 00:10:13.690 --> 00:10:15.789 course, a scurvy starts to set in. We hear about 00:10:15.789 --> 00:10:17.889 scurvy a lot, but I don't think we really appreciate 00:10:17.889 --> 00:10:20.169 just how awful it is. It's a total breakdown 00:10:20.169 --> 00:10:22.769 of the body. Your gums swell up until they completely 00:10:22.769 --> 00:10:25.190 cover your teeth so you can't even chew. Your 00:10:25.190 --> 00:10:28.409 joints swell to the size of melons. And, weirdly, 00:10:28.629 --> 00:10:31.500 old wounds just open up. Yeah. If you had a cut 00:10:31.500 --> 00:10:33.980 from 20 years ago that had healed, the scar tissue 00:10:33.980 --> 00:10:36.200 literally dissolves and it starts bleeding again. 00:10:36.399 --> 00:10:39.740 It is a slow, agonizing way to die. But somehow, 00:10:39.919 --> 00:10:42.460 Dagama holds the crew together, and the gamble 00:10:42.460 --> 00:10:45.200 pays off. It pays off spectacularly. In November 00:10:45.200 --> 00:10:48.460 1497, they swing back east, and boom, there it 00:10:48.460 --> 00:10:51.120 is. The African coast. They had bypassed the 00:10:51.120 --> 00:10:53.360 doldrums perfectly. They rounded the Cape. By 00:10:53.360 --> 00:10:55.539 Christmas, they were sailing up the East Coast. 00:10:55.740 --> 00:10:58.340 A coast they named Natal, to honor the birth 00:10:58.340 --> 00:11:00.919 of Christ. Exactly. But now they are leaving 00:11:00.919 --> 00:11:03.100 the known world. They are entering the Indian 00:11:03.100 --> 00:11:05.960 Ocean. And this is not an empty sea. No, this 00:11:05.960 --> 00:11:08.220 is a busy highway. It's the trade hub of the 00:11:08.220 --> 00:11:11.240 medieval world. Arab, Persian, Indian, Chinese 00:11:11.240 --> 00:11:14.059 ships crisscrossing constantly. It's a sophisticated 00:11:14.059 --> 00:11:16.779 ancient network. And the Portuguese are, well, 00:11:16.940 --> 00:11:18.639 they're the barbarians at the gate. They make 00:11:18.639 --> 00:11:21.120 their first major stop at Mozambique Island in 00:11:21.120 --> 00:11:24.299 March 1498. And da Gama immediately realizes 00:11:24.299 --> 00:11:26.340 that being a Christian crusader might not be 00:11:26.340 --> 00:11:28.500 the best opening line in a Muslim -controlled 00:11:28.500 --> 00:11:30.379 port. Right, so he decides to go undercover. 00:11:31.000 --> 00:11:33.620 He dresses himself in Muslim robes, tries to 00:11:33.620 --> 00:11:35.940 pass himself off as a visiting dignitary from 00:11:35.940 --> 00:11:38.559 North Africa. He wants an audience with the sultan. 00:11:38.759 --> 00:11:42.460 But the ruse fails. Why? The gifts. This is a 00:11:42.460 --> 00:11:44.759 recurring comedy of errors in this whole story. 00:11:45.120 --> 00:11:47.399 The Portuguese brought trade goods that were 00:11:47.399 --> 00:11:50.620 valuable to tribes in West Africa. You know, 00:11:50.620 --> 00:11:53.620 copper bracelets, little bells, simple cloth. 00:11:53.860 --> 00:11:56.279 But the sultan of Mozambique is wearing silk 00:11:56.279 --> 00:11:59.019 and gold. He's a sophisticated ruler in a wealthy 00:11:59.019 --> 00:12:01.860 port. He looks at Dagama's cheap trinkets and 00:12:01.860 --> 00:12:04.759 he's just insulted. It's like bringing a bag 00:12:04.759 --> 00:12:07.460 of marbles to a diamond exchange. Perfect analogy. 00:12:07.960 --> 00:12:09.899 The locals realized these guys weren't who they 00:12:09.899 --> 00:12:11.980 said they were. Rumors spread that they were 00:12:11.980 --> 00:12:15.000 Christians. The mood turned very ugly very fast. 00:12:15.240 --> 00:12:17.759 So Dagama has to flee. And this is where we see 00:12:17.759 --> 00:12:20.120 the first real flash of the ruthless commander 00:12:20.120 --> 00:12:22.539 side of him. He doesn't just sail away quietly. 00:12:22.659 --> 00:12:25.200 As he leaves, he orders his ships to fire their 00:12:25.200 --> 00:12:27.980 cannons into the city. He just bombards the town 00:12:27.980 --> 00:12:30.049 out of spite. It's a pattern. It's a pattern. 00:12:30.389 --> 00:12:34.269 Respect me or I will burn your house down. He 00:12:34.269 --> 00:12:35.809 does the same thing up the coast in Mombasa. 00:12:36.029 --> 00:12:38.429 They try to loot some unarmed ships, basically 00:12:38.429 --> 00:12:40.570 resorting to piracy, and they get chased out 00:12:40.570 --> 00:12:42.470 of there too. Oh, it's not going well. They're 00:12:42.470 --> 00:12:44.450 running lawn supplies, the crew is sick, and 00:12:44.450 --> 00:12:47.029 every port they visit becomes hostile. Until 00:12:47.029 --> 00:12:50.429 they reach Malindi. Now Malindi was a major rival 00:12:50.429 --> 00:12:53.690 of Mombasa, so the Sultan of Malindi sees these 00:12:53.690 --> 00:12:56.789 heavily armed Portuguese ships and thinks, the 00:12:56.789 --> 00:13:00.250 enemy of my enemy is my friend. Local politics 00:13:00.250 --> 00:13:02.809 saves the day. It does. The sultan welcomes them. 00:13:02.850 --> 00:13:05.269 He gives them fresh food and water. And most 00:13:05.269 --> 00:13:07.710 importantly, he gives them the one thing they 00:13:07.710 --> 00:13:10.710 need more than anything else. A pilot. A pilot. 00:13:11.129 --> 00:13:14.009 Someone who knows the road. More than that, someone 00:13:14.009 --> 00:13:16.289 who knows the monsoons. Right. The Indian Ocean 00:13:16.289 --> 00:13:18.629 works on a schedule. A very precise schedule. 00:13:19.070 --> 00:13:21.169 In the summer, the winds blow towards India. 00:13:21.330 --> 00:13:23.570 In the winter, they blow back to Africa. If you 00:13:23.570 --> 00:13:26.129 catch the wind, you fly across the ocean. If 00:13:26.129 --> 00:13:28.509 you try to fight it, you die. So they get this 00:13:28.509 --> 00:13:30.690 pilot and there's some debate over who it actually 00:13:30.690 --> 00:13:32.610 was, right? Yeah, legend says it was the famous 00:13:32.610 --> 00:13:36.309 navigator Ibn Majid. But modern historians think 00:13:36.309 --> 00:13:38.190 that's unlikely. But whoever he was, he was a 00:13:38.190 --> 00:13:41.470 pro. He showed Dagama the way. They left Malindi. 00:13:41.919 --> 00:13:44.120 Caught the monsoon. And crossed the entire Indian 00:13:44.120 --> 00:13:47.779 Ocean in just 23 days. Unbelievably fast. It's 00:13:47.779 --> 00:13:51.100 a straight shot. And on May 20th, 1498, they 00:13:51.100 --> 00:13:53.399 see the mountains of the Malabar Coast. They 00:13:53.399 --> 00:13:56.480 drop anchor off Koji Kodi, or Calicut as the 00:13:56.480 --> 00:13:58.700 Europeans called it. The finish line. They made 00:13:58.700 --> 00:14:00.919 it. This is the heart of the global spice trade. 00:14:01.179 --> 00:14:04.600 It's a massive, wealthy, cosmopolitan city. And 00:14:04.600 --> 00:14:07.539 when Degama steps ashore, he's greeted by a procession 00:14:07.539 --> 00:14:11.279 of 3 ,000 armed nares, the warrior caste of Karakoram. 00:14:11.279 --> 00:14:13.940 A show of strength from the local ruler, the 00:14:13.940 --> 00:14:16.740 Zemarin. Exactly. But then we have this incredible 00:14:16.740 --> 00:14:19.279 misunderstanding. The Gama decides to visit a 00:14:19.279 --> 00:14:22.100 temple. Oh, this is one of those truth is stranger 00:14:22.100 --> 00:14:24.720 than fiction moments. The Portuguese were obsessed 00:14:24.720 --> 00:14:26.639 with this idea that there was a lost Christian 00:14:26.639 --> 00:14:28.820 kingdom in the east, the kingdom of Trester John. 00:14:28.960 --> 00:14:30.879 They were desperate to find Christian allies. 00:14:31.100 --> 00:14:33.460 So they walk into a Hindu temple. They see statues 00:14:33.460 --> 00:14:35.980 of the goddess Parvati. And they think it's the 00:14:35.980 --> 00:14:38.480 Virgin Mary. They are so blinded by their own 00:14:38.480 --> 00:14:41.440 confirmation bias that they literally kneel down 00:14:41.440 --> 00:14:44.179 and start praying. They report back to the king 00:14:44.179 --> 00:14:47.440 that the people of Calicut are Christians, just, 00:14:47.500 --> 00:14:49.940 you know, heretical ones, who for some reason 00:14:49.940 --> 00:14:52.519 paint their saints with extra arms and elephant's 00:14:52.519 --> 00:14:54.820 heads. It's hilarious, but it just shows how 00:14:54.820 --> 00:14:57.259 completely out of their depth they were. Totally. 00:14:57.539 --> 00:15:00.299 But the comedy stops when they get to the palace. 00:15:00.519 --> 00:15:03.080 Jagama finally gets his audience with the zamorin. 00:15:03.610 --> 00:15:05.970 This is the moment to seal the deal. And we are 00:15:05.970 --> 00:15:08.110 right back to the gift problem. The gift problem, 00:15:08.250 --> 00:15:11.149 part two. Okay. Dagama presents his offering 00:15:11.149 --> 00:15:13.149 to one of the richest monarchs in the world. 00:15:13.289 --> 00:15:17.250 And he offers scarlet cloth, hats, corals, wash 00:15:17.250 --> 00:15:20.049 basins, sugar, oil, and honey. Hats and honey. 00:15:20.269 --> 00:15:22.509 Hats and honey. The Zamorin's courtiers laughed 00:15:22.509 --> 00:15:24.929 in his face. The powerful Muslim merchants who 00:15:24.929 --> 00:15:27.009 controlled the trade in Calicut. had a field 00:15:27.009 --> 00:15:29.289 day. They must have loved it. They pointed out 00:15:29.289 --> 00:15:31.350 that an ambassador from a truly powerful king 00:15:31.350 --> 00:15:34.570 would send gold, silver, jewels. This. This is 00:15:34.570 --> 00:15:36.929 the cargo of a common pirate, not a royal envoy. 00:15:37.210 --> 00:15:39.649 They called him a nobody. They humiliated him. 00:15:40.190 --> 00:15:43.110 The Zamorin refused to sign a trade treaty. He 00:15:43.110 --> 00:15:46.809 refused to let the Gamama leave a factor or trading 00:15:46.809 --> 00:15:49.850 agent behind. He even told the Gamma he had to 00:15:49.850 --> 00:15:52.870 pay customs duties like any other merchant. The 00:15:52.870 --> 00:15:55.409 Gamma must have been absolutely seething. Furious. 00:15:55.870 --> 00:15:59.870 He felt disrespected on every level. So he decides 00:15:59.870 --> 00:16:02.429 to leave. But he doesn't just leave quietly. 00:16:02.730 --> 00:16:05.389 He kidnaps a few nares and 16 fishermen who are 00:16:05.389 --> 00:16:08.200 just working on the beach. Just grabs them. Gregs 00:16:08.200 --> 00:16:10.299 him onto his ships. He says he's taking them 00:16:10.299 --> 00:16:12.559 to Portugal to show them the power of his king, 00:16:12.720 --> 00:16:15.600 but it's just kidnapping. It's a final, hostile 00:16:15.600 --> 00:16:18.480 act. And then the return journey. He makes a 00:16:18.480 --> 00:16:20.639 critical mistake here, doesn't he? He ignores 00:16:20.639 --> 00:16:22.799 the local knowledge. He's angry, he's impatient, 00:16:23.080 --> 00:16:25.259 and he decides to sail back to Africa against 00:16:25.259 --> 00:16:27.600 the monsoon. The trip there with the monsoon 00:16:27.600 --> 00:16:30.539 took 23 days. How long did the trip back take? 00:16:30.740 --> 00:16:33.399 Over 90 days. Oh my God. Three months, fighting 00:16:33.399 --> 00:16:35.470 the wind and the sweltering heat. The scurvy 00:16:35.470 --> 00:16:37.629 came back, but worse than before, people were 00:16:37.629 --> 00:16:40.210 dying every single day. They lost so many men 00:16:40.210 --> 00:16:42.269 they couldn't even crew all the ships. Exactly. 00:16:42.370 --> 00:16:44.929 They had to take the San Rafael, his own brother's 00:16:44.929 --> 00:16:47.470 ship, and burn it at sea. They just scuttled 00:16:47.470 --> 00:16:49.389 it because they didn't have enough healthy sailors 00:16:49.389 --> 00:16:51.850 to sail it home. And his brother Paulo. Paulo 00:16:51.850 --> 00:16:54.169 de Gama didn't make it. He died of illness in 00:16:54.169 --> 00:16:59.080 the Azores, just weeks away from Portugal. Vasco 00:16:59.080 --> 00:17:01.440 had to bury his brother on the island. He finally 00:17:01.440 --> 00:17:05.140 arrived back in Lisbon in September 1499, a broken 00:17:05.140 --> 00:17:08.019 man. To the king. To the king and to the people 00:17:08.019 --> 00:17:11.359 of Portugal. He was a god. He had done it. He 00:17:11.359 --> 00:17:14.200 had proved the route existed. And the small cargo 00:17:14.200 --> 00:17:16.880 of spices he did manage to bring back paid for 00:17:16.880 --> 00:17:20.380 the entire expedition 60 times over. A 60 -fold 00:17:20.380 --> 00:17:22.900 return on investment. That's insane. It justified 00:17:22.900 --> 00:17:25.180 everything. Right. King Manuel I gave him the 00:17:25.180 --> 00:17:27.559 grandiose title, Admiral of the Seas of Arabia, 00:17:27.779 --> 00:17:30.420 Persia, India, and all the Orient. Okay. Section 00:17:30.420 --> 00:17:33.440 3. The second voyage. Degama stays in Portugal 00:17:33.440 --> 00:17:36.220 for a bit, but in 1502 he goes back. And the 00:17:36.220 --> 00:17:38.720 vibe is very, very different. Completely. In 00:17:38.720 --> 00:17:40.740 the meantime, another fleet under Pedro Alvarez 00:17:40.740 --> 00:17:43.220 Cabral had gone to India. That trip ended in 00:17:43.220 --> 00:17:46.140 a disaster. A riot in Calicut left over 50 Portuguese 00:17:46.140 --> 00:17:49.819 dead. So when Degama returns in 1502, he's not 00:17:49.819 --> 00:17:52.779 an explorer. He's an avenger. The mask is off. 00:17:53.200 --> 00:17:57.319 He's in command of the 4th India Armada. 15 ships. 00:17:57.740 --> 00:18:01.650 800 men. Heavy artillery. His orders are explicit. 00:18:02.069 --> 00:18:05.190 Break the Zamorin. Force him to submit. Destroy 00:18:05.190 --> 00:18:07.630 the Arab trade monopoly by any means necessary. 00:18:07.970 --> 00:18:10.109 And this brings us to the single most infamous 00:18:10.109 --> 00:18:13.450 incident of his entire life, the pilgrim ship, 00:18:13.650 --> 00:18:16.410 the Mirim. The Mirim. This was a ship he encountered 00:18:16.410 --> 00:18:18.930 off the Indian coast. It was carrying Muslim 00:18:18.930 --> 00:18:21.789 pilgrims returning from Mecca to Calicut. It 00:18:21.789 --> 00:18:24.690 was not a warship. It was full of families, wealthy 00:18:24.690 --> 00:18:27.390 merchants, women, children. Dagama intercepts 00:18:27.390 --> 00:18:29.700 it. He captures it. The passengers realize they're 00:18:29.700 --> 00:18:31.759 in a hopeless situation. They offer a ransom. 00:18:31.880 --> 00:18:34.200 We aren't talking small change. The sources say 00:18:34.200 --> 00:18:36.400 they offered enough gold and jewels to ransom 00:18:36.400 --> 00:18:38.680 every Christian slave in North Africa. They offered 00:18:38.680 --> 00:18:40.960 a fortune. Everything they had. A normal pirate 00:18:40.960 --> 00:18:43.140 or privateer would take that deal in a heartbeat. 00:18:43.619 --> 00:18:45.980 That's the business. But de Gama wasn't in business. 00:18:46.299 --> 00:18:48.720 He was in the business of terror. He ordered 00:18:48.720 --> 00:18:51.359 his men to take all the loot, but he refused 00:18:51.359 --> 00:18:54.460 to release the ship. He ordered all the passengers, 00:18:54.619 --> 00:18:57.700 men, women, and children, locked inside the hold. 00:18:57.859 --> 00:19:00.839 He set the ship on fire. With everyone still 00:19:00.839 --> 00:19:04.240 inside. With over 400 people inside. And it wasn't 00:19:04.240 --> 00:19:07.940 quick. The ship burned for days. There's a detail 00:19:07.940 --> 00:19:10.299 from the Chronicles that is just, it's hard to 00:19:10.299 --> 00:19:18.579 even process. It says, Watching them die. Women 00:19:18.579 --> 00:19:20.339 were holding up their babies to the portholes, 00:19:20.440 --> 00:19:22.839 begging him for mercy for their children. And 00:19:22.839 --> 00:19:26.119 he just watched. He let them all burn. He spared 00:19:26.119 --> 00:19:28.779 only about 20 children. And that was so he could 00:19:28.779 --> 00:19:31.619 forcibly baptize them. Raise them as monks. To 00:19:31.619 --> 00:19:34.319 save their souls after he murdered their parents. 00:19:34.500 --> 00:19:37.460 Yes. That is, it's pure sadism. It's monstrous. 00:19:37.640 --> 00:19:39.640 It's the definition of a war crime. Though, of 00:19:39.640 --> 00:19:42.339 course, that concept didn't exist then. But even 00:19:42.339 --> 00:19:44.279 for the time, it was seen as exceptionally cruel. 00:19:44.559 --> 00:19:47.160 He wanted to send a message to the entire Indian 00:19:47.160 --> 00:19:49.839 Ocean. The Portuguese are here and we have no 00:19:49.839 --> 00:19:52.460 mercy. We follow no rules. And he carries that 00:19:52.460 --> 00:19:55.019 same energy to Calicut itself. He arrives at 00:19:55.019 --> 00:19:57.559 the city and issues an ultimatum to the Zamorin. 00:19:58.109 --> 00:20:00.829 Expel every single Muslim from your city. Kick 00:20:00.829 --> 00:20:03.130 out your entire merchant class, the foundation 00:20:03.130 --> 00:20:06.109 of your economy. Which the Zamorin can't possibly 00:20:06.109 --> 00:20:10.089 do. He refuses, and Dagama escalates. He captures 00:20:10.089 --> 00:20:12.829 a high priest, a Brahmin, who had come out to 00:20:12.829 --> 00:20:15.710 negotiate. This was actually the same man who 00:20:15.710 --> 00:20:18.150 had helped him on his first voyage. And Dagama 00:20:18.150 --> 00:20:21.130 has him mutilated. Excuses him of being a spy. 00:20:21.849 --> 00:20:24.450 He orders his men to cut off the priest's lips 00:20:24.450 --> 00:20:27.349 and ears. Then he had dog's ears sewn onto the 00:20:27.349 --> 00:20:29.509 man's head and sent him back to the Zamorin. 00:20:29.589 --> 00:20:31.849 It's psychological warfare. He's saying, I don't 00:20:31.849 --> 00:20:34.750 even see you as human. Precisely. Then he lines 00:20:34.750 --> 00:20:36.970 up his fleet and bombards the unfortified city 00:20:36.970 --> 00:20:39.049 for two days straight, turning the waterfront 00:20:39.049 --> 00:20:41.349 to rubble. He captures a fleet of rice boats 00:20:41.349 --> 00:20:43.769 in the harbor. He cuts off the hands, noses, 00:20:43.769 --> 00:20:46.700 and ears of the crews. The fishermen again. Just 00:20:46.700 --> 00:20:49.200 ordinary people. Hundreds of them. He loaded 00:20:49.200 --> 00:20:51.779 the severed body parts into a boat and sent it 00:20:51.779 --> 00:20:53.700 to the shore with a note telling the Zamorin 00:20:53.700 --> 00:20:55.539 to make a curry out of them. It's horrifying. 00:20:56.339 --> 00:20:59.700 But here's the cold strategic question. Did it 00:20:59.700 --> 00:21:02.960 work? Did this campaign of terror make the Zamorin 00:21:02.960 --> 00:21:05.960 surrender? And that's the great irony. No. The 00:21:05.960 --> 00:21:08.720 Zamorin was battered. His city was on fire. But 00:21:08.720 --> 00:21:12.440 he refused to submit. Degana inflicted unimaginable 00:21:12.440 --> 00:21:14.519 suffering, but he couldn't break the political 00:21:14.519 --> 00:21:17.720 will of the ruler. He just left a legacy of absolute 00:21:17.720 --> 00:21:20.859 burning hatred. So he goes back to Portugal in 00:21:20.859 --> 00:21:24.000 1503. He brings back a fortune and spices, but 00:21:24.000 --> 00:21:27.160 he hasn't actually won India politically. And 00:21:27.160 --> 00:21:29.910 because of that, he gets sidelined. The king 00:21:29.910 --> 00:21:32.190 seems to realize that maybe a mass murdering 00:21:32.190 --> 00:21:34.470 psychopath isn't the best person to build a stable 00:21:34.470 --> 00:21:36.569 long -term administration. You need a governor, 00:21:36.630 --> 00:21:38.589 not just a butcher. Right. So he sends other 00:21:38.589 --> 00:21:41.230 men like Francisco de Alameda and the great Alfonso 00:21:41.230 --> 00:21:43.329 de Albuquerque. These guys are tough for sure, 00:21:43.390 --> 00:21:45.289 but they are empire builders, not just raiders. 00:21:45.589 --> 00:21:47.630 da Gama spends the next 20 years in Portugal, 00:21:47.769 --> 00:21:50.309 basically in the wilderness. Section four, the 00:21:50.309 --> 00:21:54.269 final act. It's now 1524. da Gama is an old man. 00:21:54.410 --> 00:21:56.089 He's been sitting on his estates complaining 00:21:56.089 --> 00:21:59.180 for two decades. He's been feuding with the Order 00:21:59.180 --> 00:22:01.579 of Santiago over getting ownership of his hometown, 00:22:01.920 --> 00:22:05.220 Sainz. He eventually gets made the Count of Vitiguera 00:22:05.220 --> 00:22:08.740 in 1519, which is a huge deal. He's the first 00:22:08.740 --> 00:22:11.359 count in Portugal who isn't of royal blood. He 00:22:11.359 --> 00:22:13.579 clawed his way into the high aristocracy. But 00:22:13.579 --> 00:22:16.140 then the king calls him one last time. A new 00:22:16.140 --> 00:22:19.420 king, John III, is on the throne. And the situation 00:22:19.420 --> 00:22:22.539 in Portuguese India has deteriorated. The officials 00:22:22.539 --> 00:22:24.140 are corrupt. They're stealing from the crown. 00:22:24.839 --> 00:22:27.220 Discipline has completely collapsed. The king 00:22:27.220 --> 00:22:30.059 thinks, I need a hardliner. I need someone who 00:22:30.059 --> 00:22:32.539 terrifies these people in the line. Send in the 00:22:32.539 --> 00:22:35.960 wolf. Exactly. He appoints the aging Dagama as 00:22:35.960 --> 00:22:38.720 Viceroy of India. Sends him back one last time 00:22:38.720 --> 00:22:41.279 to clean house. And on the voyage out, we get 00:22:41.279 --> 00:22:44.579 this one final incredible moment that just perfectly 00:22:44.579 --> 00:22:47.420 captures his ego. The earthquake incident. This 00:22:47.420 --> 00:22:49.990 is cinematic. The fleet is near Dabul on the 00:22:49.990 --> 00:22:52.730 Indian coast. And suddenly the water starts boiling. 00:22:52.950 --> 00:22:55.210 The ships are pitching violently. It's a submarine 00:22:55.210 --> 00:22:57.569 earthquake. A tsunami is forming. The crew must 00:22:57.569 --> 00:23:00.109 have been absolutely losing their minds. They 00:23:00.109 --> 00:23:01.750 think it's the apocalypse. They're screaming, 00:23:01.849 --> 00:23:04.089 praying. And Vasco da Gama, he's sitting on the 00:23:04.089 --> 00:23:06.190 quarterdeck. He stands up, looks at his terrified 00:23:06.190 --> 00:23:09.150 crew and shouts, Friends, rejoice and be happy, 00:23:09.250 --> 00:23:12.109 for even the sea trembles before us. Even the 00:23:12.109 --> 00:23:14.950 sea trembles before us. Even the sea trembles 00:23:14.950 --> 00:23:17.789 before us. Wow. That's the level of self -belief. 00:23:18.220 --> 00:23:21.200 It's the ultimate flex. He genuinely believed 00:23:21.200 --> 00:23:23.859 that he was so powerful, so ordained by God, 00:23:23.960 --> 00:23:26.380 that nature itself was afraid of him. But nature 00:23:26.380 --> 00:23:28.980 always wins in the end. It always does. He arrives 00:23:28.980 --> 00:23:30.960 in India. He starts firing corrupt officials. 00:23:31.000 --> 00:23:34.200 He starts cracking the whip. And then... A mosquito 00:23:34.200 --> 00:23:37.059 bites him. Malaria. Malaria. He falls ill in 00:23:37.059 --> 00:23:40.500 Cochin. And on Christmas Eve, 1524, the great 00:23:40.500 --> 00:23:43.180 admiral, the man the sea trembled before, dies. 00:23:43.539 --> 00:23:46.480 Even his death has a bizarre plot twist. The 00:23:46.480 --> 00:23:48.559 case of the bones. Oh, this is just classic. 00:23:48.740 --> 00:23:50.680 So he was buried in a church in India at first. 00:23:50.940 --> 00:23:53.660 Years later, his son moves his bones back to 00:23:53.660 --> 00:23:55.480 Portugal, to the family estate in Vitaguira. 00:23:55.599 --> 00:23:57.319 He lays there for centuries. Let me get to the 00:23:57.319 --> 00:24:00.460 19th century. 1880. Portugal's in a very patriotic 00:24:00.460 --> 00:24:02.539 mood. They want to honor their greatest national 00:24:02.539 --> 00:24:05.579 hero. So they decide to move his remains to the 00:24:05.579 --> 00:24:08.299 Geronimo's Monastery in Lisbon. It's like their 00:24:08.299 --> 00:24:10.339 national pantheon. A huge date ceremony. Oh, 00:24:10.339 --> 00:24:12.880 yeah. Kings, queens, soldiers. Yeah. They march 00:24:12.880 --> 00:24:15.619 this grand coffin into the monastery. A fitting 00:24:15.619 --> 00:24:19.299 tribute. Except. Except four years later, a historian 00:24:19.299 --> 00:24:22.160 is checking the records. And they realize they 00:24:22.160 --> 00:24:24.519 dug up the wrong grave in the family crypt. Yes. 00:24:25.180 --> 00:24:27.799 They had moved the bones of his great -grandson. 00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:30.980 The actual Vasco da Gama was still back in the 00:24:30.980 --> 00:24:34.220 dirt in Vitigera. That is unbelievably embarrassing. 00:24:34.640 --> 00:24:36.539 It was a national scandal. They had to go back 00:24:36.539 --> 00:24:39.539 very quietly, find the right guy, and do it all 00:24:39.539 --> 00:24:42.099 over again in 1898. The man who could navigate 00:24:42.099 --> 00:24:44.359 the trackless ocean couldn't even get a direct 00:24:44.359 --> 00:24:46.980 route to his own final tomb. Okay, section five, 00:24:47.279 --> 00:24:49.680 the legacy. We've covered the man, the good, 00:24:49.740 --> 00:24:52.160 the bad, and the very, very ugly. Now we have 00:24:52.160 --> 00:24:55.180 to weigh the impact. I mean, it is impossible 00:24:55.180 --> 00:24:58.440 to oversee the economic shift. Degama broke the 00:24:58.440 --> 00:25:00.829 Mediterranean monopoly. He made spices, once 00:25:00.829 --> 00:25:03.630 a luxury for kings, affordable in Europe. He 00:25:03.630 --> 00:25:06.089 made Portugal the first true global superpower. 00:25:06.430 --> 00:25:08.910 He connected the economies of East and West in 00:25:08.910 --> 00:25:11.170 a way that has never been broken since. He started 00:25:11.170 --> 00:25:14.130 the age of sea -based global trade. And global 00:25:14.130 --> 00:25:16.470 imperialism. That's the other side of the coin, 00:25:16.549 --> 00:25:18.769 isn't it? It is. He didn't just open a trade 00:25:18.769 --> 00:25:22.130 route. He militarized it. Before the Portuguese 00:25:22.130 --> 00:25:24.809 showed up, the Indian Ocean trade was largely 00:25:24.809 --> 00:25:27.990 peaceful. Merchants didn't sail around with heavy 00:25:27.990 --> 00:25:30.670 cannons on their ships. Da Gama changed the rules 00:25:30.670 --> 00:25:33.130 of the game. He brought the gunboat to the marketplace. 00:25:33.490 --> 00:25:35.950 He proved that you could extract wealth through 00:25:35.950 --> 00:25:38.650 overwhelming violence. And that set the template 00:25:38.650 --> 00:25:40.650 for the Dutch, the British, the French who followed. 00:25:41.230 --> 00:25:44.369 The colonial history of Asia really begins with 00:25:44.369 --> 00:25:47.900 Da Gama's cannons bombarding Calicut. It's fascinating 00:25:47.900 --> 00:25:50.480 how his image shifts so dramatically depending 00:25:50.480 --> 00:25:53.079 on where you are in the world. Totally. In Portugal, 00:25:53.160 --> 00:25:55.980 he's the hero of Os Luciados, the great national 00:25:55.980 --> 00:25:59.500 epic poem by Camões. He's practically a demigod. 00:25:59.660 --> 00:26:02.000 But in India, he's often seen as a pirate and 00:26:02.000 --> 00:26:04.319 a villain. You watch modern Indian films like 00:26:04.319 --> 00:26:07.079 Rumi and Degama as the primary antagonist. He's 00:26:07.079 --> 00:26:09.259 the bad guy. And looking at the Mirim massacre, 00:26:09.480 --> 00:26:11.920 the mutilations, it's very hard to argue with 00:26:11.920 --> 00:26:15.460 the bad guy label. It is. You can stand in awe 00:26:15.460 --> 00:26:18.700 of the seamanship. That massive swing into the 00:26:18.700 --> 00:26:21.980 Atlantic, the Volta do Mar, is a stroke of pure 00:26:21.980 --> 00:26:25.819 genius. But you cannot and should not ignore 00:26:25.819 --> 00:26:28.779 the human cost. The connection to the hemispheres 00:26:28.779 --> 00:26:31.140 came with a collision of cultures, and Agama 00:26:31.140 --> 00:26:33.559 made sure that collision was violent from day 00:26:33.559 --> 00:26:36.339 one. So that brings us to our final thought, 00:26:36.539 --> 00:26:39.220 the big takeaway for you, our listener. We live 00:26:39.220 --> 00:26:41.880 in a world that Vasco de Gama helped build. Every 00:26:41.880 --> 00:26:43.759 time you buy a product that was made in Asia, 00:26:43.880 --> 00:26:45.740 every time you look at a global supply chain 00:26:45.740 --> 00:26:48.640 map, you are looking at his direct legacy. The 00:26:48.640 --> 00:26:51.619 world is smaller, more interconnected because 00:26:51.619 --> 00:26:54.420 of him. But we have to ask ourselves, what was 00:26:54.420 --> 00:26:57.140 the price of that connection? When we sprinkle 00:26:57.140 --> 00:26:59.500 pepper on our dinner, we are, in a very small 00:26:59.500 --> 00:27:02.180 way, participating in a global trade that was 00:27:02.180 --> 00:27:04.680 forged in fire and blood. So can we separate 00:27:04.680 --> 00:27:07.000 the discovery from the destruction, or are they 00:27:07.000 --> 00:27:09.809 two sides of the same blood -soaked coin? That's 00:27:09.809 --> 00:27:11.589 the question, isn't it? And I don't think there's 00:27:11.589 --> 00:27:13.950 an easy answer, but it's certainly something 00:27:13.950 --> 00:27:16.430 to chew on. Indeed. Thanks for taking this deep 00:27:16.430 --> 00:27:18.349 dive with us. We'll see you next time. Safe sailing.