Wednesday October 5 2005
THRISSUR: Did you know that the Cochin King was paid 640 cruzados (gold coins) a year by the Portuguese in the 16th century so that the latter got all the pepper they wanted?
Four hundred years after it was written, a Portuguese account of the pepper trade between the Malabar Coast and Lisbon in the latter half of the 16th century has been translated into English for the first time.
A slim volume, the ‘Trato da Pimenta’ or ‘Treatise on Pepper’ tells the story of the pepper trade when Portuguese power was at its zenith in the region. The English translation is by Fr (Dr) Pius Malekandathil, lecturer in History at the Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady.
The ‘Trato da Pimenta’ was written by Francisco da Costa, the Escrivao or secretary of the Portuguese pepper trading post in Cochin from 1570 to 1606.
“It was meant for the Portuguese King and contains
interesting information about the pepper trade. It is a rare document,” Fr Malekandathil, a specialist on Portuguese trade in the Indian Ocean, told this website’s newspaper.
Da Costa gives a clear picture about the production of pepper, its transportation and trade aspects and the metric system in use at the time.
The Portuguese paid the Cochin King 640 cruzados a year to ensure uninterrupted movement of pepper to the coast from the interior regions.
Likewise, the rulers of Vadakkumkur, Thekkumkur, Udayamperoor and Alangad were paid 75,000 reales each annually. The Kartha of Alwaye was paid 35,000 reales.
“Da Costa narrates how Pepper was routed to the Coromandel coast via Madurai from Erumeli, Kanjirappally, Earattupetta and Thodupuzha. From Madurai, it was shipped to China and the orient and to the Mughal territories in the North.”
The manuscript of the account was preserved in the Simancas Archives, Spain.
In
1972, it was transcribed and published in Portuguese.
Malekandathil, who hails from Muvattupuzha, was ordained in 1984. He left for Portugal on winning a scholarship instituted by the Portugal Government in 1991.
His doctoral thesis at Germany’s Heidelberg University was on ‘The Portuguese Cochin and Maritime Trade of India (1500-1663).’
His post-doctoral research was on ‘The German Collaboration in Indo-Portuguese Trade.’ Both were published in Germany.
Malekandathil was the first to translate into English the ‘Jornado do Arcebispo,’ a Portuguese account of 16th century Malabar, based on the visit of the Archbishop of Goa Dom Alexis de Menezes.
He has also co-edited two books on Portuguese maritime trade in the Indian Ocean.
(New Ind Press)
- Forwarded by www.goa-world.com
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