 Flag originally used by the Casa da Guiné and subsequently the Casa da Índia. | |
| Industry | International trade |
|---|---|
| Predecessor | Casa da Guiné e Mina (Founded 1443) Casa de Ceuta (Founded 1434) |
| Founded | 1500 |
| Defunct | 17 September 1833 (1833-09-17) |
| Headquarters | Ribeira Palace,Lisbon,Kingdom of Portugal |
Area served | Portuguese Empire |
Key people | Founder of the Casa da Índia: King Manuel I of Portugal Founder of the Casa da Guiné: Prince Henry the Navigator |
TheCasa da Índia (Portuguese pronunciation:[ˈkazɐðɐˈĩdiɐ];English:India House orHouse of India) was a Portuguesestate-run commercial organization during theAge of Discovery. It regulatedinternational trade and thePortuguese Empire's territories, colonies, andfactories (trading posts) across Asia and Africa. Central to the Casa da Índia's objectives was the establishment and protection of a Portuguesemare clausum ("closed sea" – total control of the seas) in theAtlantic Ocean,Indian Ocean,Arabian Sea, and theIndies.
The House of India was founded by KingManuel I of Portugal in 1500 to direct Portugal's monopoly of thespice trade and to manage royal policy forPortuguese India. Following 1503, it absorbed theCasa da Guiné e Mina, an organization founded byPrince 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 thePortuguese Crown's commercial interests.
Founded with the intent of protecting Portugal'smonopoly of the spice trade, the Casa da Índia in 1497 began financing and organizing thePortuguese India Armadas, annual armadas ofgalleons,carracks, andcaravels transporting commodities such as gold, ivory, and spices toLisbon from Portuguese trading posts and colonies across Africa and Asia. The Casa da Índia sponsored numerous famous Portuguese navigators, includingVasco da Gama (whodiscovered the sea route to India),Pedro Álvares Cabral (who discoveredBrazil), andAfonso de Albuquerque (who established Portuguese hegemony in theIndian Ocean).
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 ofPortuguese discoveries and expeditions throughoutWest Africa,East Africa, theMiddle East,India, and theEast Indies. The Casa da Índia also played an important role in the development of moderncartography, patronizing thePadrão Real, one of the firstearly world maps.
Between the origins of the Casa da Índia in the 1400s and its dissolution in 1833, its principal aims evolved, as did its relations with theCrown of Portugal and the imperial administration. After 1642 it lost all its trade monopolies on gold, silver, ivory, and spices and became solely a trade regulator andcustoms agency. Following the destruction of itsRibeira Palace headquarters and facilities in theGreat Lisbon Earthquake of 1755, the Casa da Índia grew increasingly obsolete in relation to Portugal's evolving trade and colonial policies, and most of its functions were slowly absorbed into ministries and agencies of thePortuguese government, until the final dissolution of the Casa da Índia in 1833.
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The forerunners ofCasa da Índia arose with thePortuguese exploration of the African coast, to manage new trade opportunities.
As early as 1434 theCasa de Ceuta was founded in Lisbon, but it was not very successful because the Muslim merchants diverted the trade routes fromCeuta to other places.
Around 1443 inLagos, Algarve, theCasa de Arguim andCasa da Guiné, were established to administer PrinceHenry the Navigator's monopoly on African trade - essentially a set of sheds, warehouses and customs offices, dedicated to outfitting ships, hiring captains and crews, handing out trading licenses, receiving and selling goods and collecting dues.
After the death ofHenry the Navigator in 1460, both houses were moved by KingAfonso V of Portugal fromLagos toLisbon.
The ascension of KingJohn II of Portugal in 1481 revived the royal interest in African trade. In 1482, upon erecting the fortress ofSão Jorge da Mina to access theAkan goldfields and markets,[1] John II overhauled the old houses and organized the system into two new institutions in Lisbon - the royal trading house, theCasa da Mina e Tratos de Guiné, focused on commercial aspects of African trade (goods, licenses, dues), and the separate royal naval arsenal, theArmazém da Guiné, to handle nautical matters (ship construction, nautical supplies, hiring of crews, etc.)
In 1486, after the opening of contact withBenin, John II established theCasa de Escravos, as a distinctslave-trading department of theCasa da Mina.
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With the discovery of a sea route toIndia byVasco da Gama in 1497-99, thespice trade became a new and important activity of the royal trading house, and the oldCasa was reorganized into theCasa da Índia e da Guiné (the first written reference to aCasa da Índia was in a royal letter dated 1501).
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From 1511, offices of theCasa da Índia were located on the ground floor of the royalRibeira Palace onTerreiro do Paço inLisbon, with the Armazém just next to it.[2]
ThePortuguese India Armadas (Armadas da Índia) were the fleets of ships, organized by the Casa da Índia in name of thePortuguese Crown, and dispatched on an annual basis from Portugal to India, principallyGoa. These armadas undertook theCarreira da Índia ("India Run"), following the sea route around theCape 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 millioncruzados yearly from the spice trade alone, and it was this which ledFrancis I of France to dub KingManuel I of Portugal "le roi épicier",[This quote needs a citation] 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, inGarrett Mattingly's phrase, the owner of "abankrupt wholesale grocery business."[This quote needs a citation]
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In 1709 at the Casa da Índia, theJesuit priest FatherBartolomeu 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 theInquisition
TheGreat Earthquake of 1755 destroyed much ofLisbon, includingRibeira Palace, where the headquarters and naval yards of the Casa da Índia were located.
The final era of the Casa da Índia began in 1822, during the reign of KingJohn VI of Portugal, when a large number of its responsibilities were transferred to different ministries of thePortuguese Government. In 1833, the Casa da Índia was finally dissolved, by KingMiguel I of Portugal, and its functions were absorbed by theAlfândega de Lisboa (Customs Agency of Lisbon).
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Although initially (c.1500) consolidated in one unit, theCasa da Índia e da Guiné, it was separated again (c. 1506) into two distinct units,Casa da Índia and theCasa da Mina e da Guiné again. However, both houses were overseen by the same officers at the higher levels, so it was common to use the joint term, or simply justCasa da Índia, to refer to both.
The Casas were overseen by the same director and the same three treasurers (tesoreiros) - one for receiving goods, one for the sale of goods, and a third to handle everything else. There were five secretaries in charge of the administration - three for India, two for Mina and Guinea - and one chief factor (feitor) in charge of schedules and correspondence with all the Portuguesefeitorias around the world. One of the most famous people to hold this position was the chroniclerJoão de Barros, who was appointedfeitor in 1532.
The Casa was in charge of monitoring the royal monopoly on the Asian and African trade, i.e. receiving goods, collectingduties on incoming goods, organizing the fleets (notably the yearlyPortuguese India Armadas) and shipping schedules, ratifying contracts with private merchants, etc.
TheCasa had variousmesas (departments) focused on specific areas - the spice trade, finances, ship scheduling, maintenance, training, documentation and legal matters.
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Separately from theCasa was theArmazém 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.
ThePiloto-Mor of theArmazém, a position held between 1503 and 1526 by Pero Anes, Gonçalo Álvares and João de Lisboa, was probably responsible for the training ofpilot-navigators and the drafting of navigational charts.[3]
In 1547, the position ofCosmógrafo-mor (High-Cosmographer) was created for the famed mathematicianPedro Nunes and the cartographic duties passed over to him.
TheProvedor dos Armazéns was in charge of screening and hiring of crews. TheAlmoxarife orRecebedor dos Armazéns, was the customs-collector, a highly-profitable job that was once held byBartolomeu Dias in the mid-1490s.
Although theoretically separate, theCasa and theArmazém 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 useCasa da Índia to refer to the whole complex.
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 Map of colonialIndia, distributed by theBritish Information Services (1942) | ||||||||||||||
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In 1504 all trading activities in Africa and, especially, in Asia were merged in the Casa da Índia, becoming subject to state control under the Portuguese kings. Under the supervision of theVedor da Fazenda (chief royal treasurer) all products had to be handed over to the Casa, taxed and sold at an agreed price with the proceeds paid to the owners.
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The Casa da Índia produced a secret map called thePadrão Real, one of the firstearly world maps. TheCantino planisphere is the only existing copy of thePadrão Real.
TheTeixeira planisphere was made by Domingos Teixeira in 1573.
TheCasa da Índia worked ascustoms, central accounting office for funds and products in various overseas offices,archive,warehouse management, personnel authority of sailors, soldiers and traders, as well as one of the world's firstpostal services.
It fixed the prices and checked purchases, sales and payments. And also fitted the fleets, gathered the necessary military convoys, managed incoming and outgoing vessels and set out the various certificates and licenses. Through the Casa da Índia the royal officials were appointed overseas, and royal decrees and regulations were spread.
Between 1506 and 1570, Casa da Índia enforced the royal monopoly on all imports and sales ofspices - pepper, cloves, and cinnamon - silk andshellac, as well as on the export of gold, silver, copper andcoral, and levied a 30 percent tax on the profits of other articles.
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The royal monopoly oncopper exports especially made great gains, as copper was in high demand in India and West Africa, to where it was exported in the form of armlets calledmanillas, which served as a form ofmoney.[4] From 1495 to 1521 the Portuguese Crown bought inAntwerp, then the center of international trade, approximately 5,200 tonnes copper mainly from theFugger of Hungary (Thurzo-Fugger company), which was shipped mostly to India.
In 1506, about 65% of the state income was produced on overseas activity. The monopoly of trade remained profitable until 1570, and strengthened the equity and credit capacity of Portugal. The share of the Crown's total trade with Asia in 1506 amounted to about 25% and increased steadily to 50% or more, but never entirely displaced the private traders: the trade monopoly was accompanied always by free trade in other products such as textiles, weapons, paper and salted fish, such as Bacalhau.
Royal monopolies were also leased out sometimes by Casa da Índia to private traders for a certain period. After 1570, the monopolies were abolished, except for the purchase of spices and the trade in copper and silver.
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