Vasco da Gama through Portuguese eyes

HERALD,Goa 

Five centuries ago, at this time of the year, Vasco da Gama was somewhere between Portugal and the Kerala coast, en route on his voyages which had historic -- if controversial -- fallouts. Exactly 500 years later, we are still caught up with examining the impact of this voyage on our lives. Both in India and in Europe.

Da Gama's expeditions have consequences for all of us. But evaluations about their impact widely differ. After a controversy raged on in cyberspace (and the Internet) and in tiny Goa too, FREDERICK NORONHA interviewed A.M.Hespanha, the Lisbon-based head of the National Commission for the Commemoration of Portuguese Discoveries. Mr. Hespanha, who agreed to an interview over the Internet, was forthright and open in his answers to a wide range of issues. He puts across the Portuguese side of the story, even as the controversy over Vasco da Gama continues to churn up stormy waters in Goa and elsewhere. Extracts of the interview:

Q: Why, do you feel, the Portuguese still evoke strong suspicions and mistrust in places like Goa?

Surely there are opposing recollections about the colonial era. But, in current times, suspicions or mistrust about the Portuguese in Goa can only arise from a lack of information. Portugal became a peaceful, modern and forward-looking country. Even the former Portuguese colonies in Africa -- where colonial wars have raged for more than 20 years -- have, without exception, very good relations with their ex-colonial power.

Q: Would you agree that the Portuguese are defensive about their past, unlike say the British who are far more critical of the impacts of their forms of colonialism?

The Portuguese are not free from nationalistic biases. But the new generation of Portuguese historians and scholars have basically the same intellectual attitude of their colleagues all over Europe. In universities and high schools, students use balanced texts, where the darker sides of Portuguese expansion are openly analysed. Old, apologetic historiography -- that also ran its course in the U.K., France or Germany -- is not any more in fashion. Possibly, though, by a lack of contact with the newest Portuguese academic work, Goan intellectuals have what I would call an "old fashioned view" of our attitude about the past. Our Commission is ready to support the organisation of exchanges with academic institutions in Goa in order to build awareness about this new wave of Portuguese scholarship.

Q: Your Commission itself contains the word "discovery" in its name. "Its aim is to commemorate the Portuguese Discoveries," as you have said elsewhere. What discoveries does this refer to?

The Portuguese discovered -- in the most precise sense of the word -- very important sea routes. For the first time, they sailed from Europe to Madeira and Azores, in the early 15th century. These proved to be key points to the exploration of central and northern Atlantic. Dias crossed for the first time the Cape of Good Hope (1486), opening a seaway that lasted for years in world communication history. Magalhaes realised the first circum- navigation of the world. From European point of view, Gama opened the way to India (1498), Cabral to Brazil (1500) and less known Portuguese were the first European to arrive in China and Japan by sea (i.e., by what became the more efficient link between west and east). All this effort meant systematic nautical drill, scientific and technical innovations, cartographical skills and also spirit of adventure and endurance. We feel that whatever was the final results of the enterprise, these achievements must be remembered as a Portuguese contribution to world history.

Q: You say the "Portuguese discovered -- in the most precise sense of the word - very important sea routes." Were these routes not navigated upon by other people prior to the Portuguese, even if this fact was not known in Europe? Is this not a "discovery" merely as far as Europe is concerned? In what way is this claim of "discovery" different from, say, the Eurocentric claim that Christopher Columbus "discovered" America?

When I spoke of discovery I'm referring to sea routes that were never used before (as far as we know) neither by Europeans nor others. This is surely the case of da Gama's route. But it's also the case of most of the Portuguese navigations in the southern Atlantic. In contrast, the Northern Atlantic had been crossed by the Vikings along the 7th to 10th centuries. Sea links to China and Japan were already know by Asians. But the sea link between Europe and Southern China and Japan was inaugurated, as a standard path, by the Portuguese. Goa was then a core-zone in world history, where products and cultural messages of the whole world converged. In this sense, we use to say that Portuguese "opened the world", putting peoples and cultures in contact, preparing the global village where we live today, for the good and also for the bad. On the other hand, to speak of a "discovery" concerning peoples or lands -- except for desert islands like the Azores or Cabo Verde -- is an ethnocentric bias, although quite common in European historiography. We try to avoid it. However, the expression "discovery of Brazil" is the official Brazilian designation for Cabral's voyage.

Q: What are the plans for the Commission till its term expires at the turn of this century, particularly in the coming year?

Like 1986 or 2000, 1998 is a core date for Portuguese navigations. Because of Gama's voyage, considered by Arnold Toynbee or Ferdinand Braudel as a turning event in world history. 1998 is also the year of the mega-exhibition EXPO '98 in Lisbon, which will be participated by around 150 countries and whose theme is "The Ocean and oceanic voyages". So, along with our other permanent activities -- like publications, academic reviews and study programs, research grants, art or history exhibitions, cultural events, support to youth or sport activities -- we are organising large thematic programs. These will concerning the historical links between Portugal and the East, and will include a large exhibition in the most famous Museum of Lisbon on "The Cultures of the Indian Ocean", evoking the cultural world where Gama arrived in 1498. There will also be a (10,000 sq. m.) exhibition in Oporto on Indo-Portuguese Art, centered on the cultural splendours that made the 16th century Goa, the "Golden Goa" or the "Rome of the East" and introduced an "oriental mood" that lasted in European culture and taste for centuries.

Q: Have you'll approached the Goa government, at any stage, to celebrate or commemorate the event in this former colony? What has been the government's response?

No. As we have no intention of any formal commemoration in Goa or in India, we didn't follow this official approach, which, in any case, would have been beyond our brief, as the formal foreign policy is carried exclusively by our Foreign Affairs Ministry. On the contrary, we have proposed support to academic, research and cultural activities -- actually not linked with the specific topic of Gama's voyage -- to Goan institutions, namely Goa University. Some of them have been accepted and we are waiting for further proposals. Our Commission has answered positively to a proposal of the Department of History of the University of Goa of organising an international seminar on Gama's era.

Q: You argument is that since 1974, Portugal has been a democratic country. But as far as a healthy critical evaluation of the past is concerned, it seems to us that all Portuguese are still nostalgic about the past. Your comment please?

Basically, I've already given an answer on the topic. But, I'd like to stress a distinction between a nostalgic attitude about the past and a natural emotion about the historical vision of a tiny people and a tiny country spread all over the world. From Macau to California, from Newfoundland to Mozambique. Sometime as a ruler, sometimes as adventures or poor emigrants. Personally, I grew up in liberal political environments, I opposed Salazar's regime and colonial policy, but I feel a deep emotion contemplating the transcontinental diffusion of my language or the richness of Portuguese rooted cultures.

Q: But still, won't colonialism leave its scars?

We have daily contacts -- academic, political and cultural -- with Africans who spent twenty years up in arms against Portugal. Before this, for centuries they were far more oppressed and exploited than Indians. Many Indians were a part -- even if modest -- of the Portuguese "intelligentsia" as lawyers, priests, doctors, writers, poets, but they (the Africans) were slaves. If there are hard things to listen, it is surely from them. Nevertheless, we work closely with them without problems or taboos. May I ask: has the dialogue been between our generations or those of our children, or to recall incessantly the old and sterile theme of old grievances ? Cannot we speak about the present and the future? Believe me, the Portuguese are not obsessed by the past. I firmly believe that our children -- those of Portugal and those of India -- shall not be able to understand why because this kind of obsession, ruins could not be recovered, seminars could not be held, cultural events could not be exchanged, common history could not be studied and better known, values could not be shared.

Q: You recently said that the "Portuguese people are adult enough to accept that our ancestors were limited people -- not angels -- that they made mistakes..." What would you list as their mistakes as far as say Goa is concerned?

Mostly, religious intolerance, namely after the mid-16th century. In a way, "Indian" Muslims and Hindus were the victims of historical events verified in Europe, sometimes centuries ago. For the Portuguese, Indian Muslims were (seen as) the heirs of Muslim Arabian invaders arrived in Iberia in the 8th to 12th centuries. In fighting them, the Crusade, the Holy War, was always fair. And -- after some time -- Hindus became the victims of (Portuguese) religious zeal, developed in Southern Europe as a reaction against the Reformation. As a historian, I believe that only this kind of large contextualisation can give a rich, unbiased and, finally, fair judgement of historical events.

Q: To lessen the possibility of misunderstanding, what sort of initiatives in dialogue do you plan?

First of all, academic dialogue. It is, perhaps, the most simple, because scholars are acquainted to it and trained on the methods and criteria of a fair discussion. Secondly, we intend to invite a couple of journalists to come to Portugal, speak with ordinary people, with intellectuals, with politicians, with their colleagues. Furthermore, we would like to encourage links via Internet between Goan and Portuguese schools, as we have done with China and Brazil. So that young people can get in touch and realise how they share concerns, ideals, emotions or frustrations.

Q: What went wrong with the proposed joint Indo-Portuguese commission? Are you satisfied with its functioning? Why, in your view, did the Government of India change its mind or decide to go slow? Was it because of local sentiment within the country, particular Goa and Kerala?

Basically, the fact that it never met ... If we have ever had the opportunity of discussing with our Indian counterparts our intentions and processes, I'm sure that lot's of speculation could have been avoided. But I am not an expert on India's internal politics to evaluate the reasons why this has never happened. Personally, I regret it. Not so much because of its practical consequences -- as I suppose that positive activities can go on -- but because I believe deeply in dialogue and I feel very uncomfortable when dialogue has to be sacrificed to obstinacy.

Q: We got the impression here that the July 8 launch of the solemn session was itself underplayed even in Lisbon, and not held in the Parliament. Do you see as a setback the fact that neither did some top Portuguese leaders (like the President) nor did the Indian envoy himself participate?

The July 8 session was not held in the Parliament because of the tight agenda of the Constitutional Revision that is being taken up. The President was in Italy and the Indian ambassador was in Azores, on an invite from our Foreign Affairs Minister. Anyway, I must remember that the most crucial date is May 22, 1498 -- the date of Gama's arrival (in India on the Kerala coast).