The Renaissance first began in Italy. Later it appeared in France, England and elsewhere. It was not just a re-discovery of Greek thought and literature. It was something far bigger and greater. It was the outward manifestation of the process that had been going on under the surface in Europe for a long time. This ferment was to break out in many ways. The Renaissance was one of them.
73
The Discovery of the Sea Routes
July 3, 1932
We have now reached the stage in Europe when the medieval world begins to break up and give place to a new order. There is discontent and dissatisfaction against existing conditions, and this feeling is the parent of change and progress. All the classes that were exploited by the feudal system and the religious system were discontented. We have seen that peasant revolts, or jacqueries, as they are called in French (from Jacques, a peasant name), were taking place. But the peasants were still very backward and weak and, in spite of their revolts, could gain little. Their day was yet to come. The real conflict was between the old feudal class and the new wide-awake middle class, which was growing in power. The feudal system meant that wealth was based on land—was, in fact, land. But now a new kind of wealth was being accumulated, which was not from land. This was from manufactures and trade, and the new middle class or bourgeoisie profited by this, and this gave them power. This conflict was already an old one. What we now see is a change in the relative positions of the two parties. The feudal system, though still continuing, is on the defensive. The bourgeoisie, confident of its new strength, takes up the offensive. The struggle goes on through hundreds of years, ever more and more in favour of the bourgeoisie. It varies in different countries of Europe. In eastern Europe there is little of the struggle. It is in the west that the bourgeoisie first comes into prominence.
The breaking down of the old barriers meant an advance in many directions—in science, in art, in literature, in architecture, in new discoveries. That is always so when the human spirit breaks its bonds; it expands and spreads out. Even so, when freedom comes to our country, will our people and our genius expand and spread out in all directions.
As the hold of the Church relaxes and grows weaker, people spend less money on cathedrals and churches. Beautiful buildings grow up in many places, but they are town-halls and the like. The Gothic style also retires, and a new one develops.
Just about this time, when western Europe was full of a new energy, came the lure of gold from the East. Stories of Marco Polo and other travellers who had been to India and China excited the imagination of Europe, and this stimulus of untold wealth in the East drew many to the sea. Just then came the fall of Constantinople. The Turks controlled the land and the sea routes to the East, and they did not encourage trade much. The big merchants and traders chafed at this; the new class of adventurers, who wanted to get at the gold of the East, were also annoyed. So they tried to find out new ways of reaching the golden East.
Every schoolgirl knows now that our earth is round and that it goes round the sun. This is such an obvious thing to all of us. But it was not very obvious in the old days, and those people who ventured to think so and say so got into trouble with the Church. But in spite of the fear of the Church, more and more persons began to think that the earth was round. If it was round, then it should be possible to reach China and India by going west. So some thought. Others thought of reaching India by going round Africa. You must remember that there was no Suez Canal then and ships could not go from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea. Goods and merchandise used to be sent overland, probably on the backs of camels, between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, and were transferred to fresh ships on the other side. This was not convenient at any time. With Egypt and Syria under the Turks, this route became even more difficult.
But the lure of India’s wealth continued to excite and draw people. Spain and Portugal took the lead in the voyages of exploration. Spain was just then driving out the last of the Moors or Saracens from Granada. The marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile had united Christian Spain, and in 1492, nearly fifty years after the Turks took Constantinople on the other side of Europe, Granada, of the Arabs, fell. Spain immediately became a great Christian Power in Europe.
The Portuguese tried to go east, the Spaniards west. The first great advance was the discovery by the Portuguese in 1446 of Cape Verde. This cape is the westernmost point of Africa. Look at the map of Africa. You will see that as one sails down from Europe towards this cape, one has to go south-west. At Cape Verde one goes round the corner and begins going south-east. The discovery of this cape was a very hopeful sign, for it made people believe that they would be able to go round Africa towards India.
The Discoveries
It took another forty years, however, before Africa was rounded. In 1486 Bartholomew Diaz, also a Portuguese, went round the southern tip of Africa—that is, what is called the Cape of Good Hope. Within a few years yet another Portuguese, Vasco da Gama, took advantage of this discovery and came to India, via the Cape of Good Hope. Vasco da Gama reached Calicut on the Malabar Coast in 1498.
So the Portuguese won in the race to reach India. But meanwhile great things were happening on the other side of the world and Spain was to profit by them. Christopher Columbus had reached the American world in 1492. Columbus was a poor Genoese and believing that the world was round, he wanted to go to Japan and India by sailing west. He did not think that the journey would be nearly as long as it turned out to be. He went about from Court to Court trying to induce some prince to help him in his voyage of exploration. At last Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain agreed to do so, and Columbus started with three little ships and eighty-eight men. It was a brave and adventurous voyage into the unknown, for no one knew what lay ahead. But Columbus had faith, and his faith was justified. After sixty-nine days of sailing they reached land. Columbus thought this was India. It was, as a matter of fact, one of the West Indies. Columbus never reached the American continent, and to the end of his days he believed that he had reached Asia. This strange mistake of his has persisted to this day. These islands are still called the West Indies, and the original inhabitants of America are called Indians or Red Indians even now.
Columbus came back to Europe and went again next year with many more ships. The discovery of the new route to India, as it was thought, excited Europe very much. It was soon after this that Vasco da Gama hastened his eastern voyage and reached Calicut. As the news of fresh discoveries came from east and west, the excitement in Europe grew. The two rivals for dominion over these new lands were Portugal and Spain. The Pope then appeared on the scene, and to prevent any conflict between Spaniards and Portuguese, he decided to be generous at other people’s expense. In 1493 he issued a Bull—the Papal announcements or edicts are for some reason called Bulls—called the Bull of Demarcation. He drew an imaginary line from north to south 100 leagues west of the Azores, and declared that Portugal was to have all the non-Christian lands to the east of this line and Spain the lands to the west of the line. A magnificent gift it was of nearly the whole world, minus Europe, and it cost the Pope nothing to make it! The Azores are islands in the Atlantic Ocean, and a line drawn 100 leagues—that is, about 300 miles—to the west of them would leave the whole of North America and most of South America to the West. Thus, practically, the Pope made a present of the Americas to Spain, and of India, China, Japan and other Eastern countries, as well as the whole of Africa, to Portugal!
The Portuguese set about taking possession of this vast dominion. This was not so easy. But they made some progress and continued to go east. They reached Goa in 1510; Malacca in the Malay Peninsula in 1511; Java soon after; and China in 1576. This does not mean that they took possession of these places. They just got some footings in a few places. Their future career in the East we shall have to discuss in a subsequent letter.
Among the Portuguese in the East was a man called Ferdinand Magellan. But he fell out with his Portuguese masters and, returning to Eu
rope, became a Spanish subject. Having been to India and the Eastern islands by the eastern route, via the Cape of Good Hope, he now wanted to go there by the western route, via America. Probably he knew that the land discovered by Columbus was far from being Asia. Indeed, in 1613 a Spaniard named Balboa had crossed the mountains of Panama in Central America and had reached the Pacific Ocean. For some reason or other he called this the South Sea, and standing on the shore of it, he claimed the new sea and all lands washed by it as possessions of his master, the King of Spain.
In 1519 Magellan started on his western voyage, which was going to be the greatest voyage of them all. He had five ships and 270 men. He crossed the Atlantic to South America and continued going south till he reached the end of the continent. He had lost one ship by shipwreck and another had deserted; three ships remained. With these he crossed the narrow strait between the South American continent and an island, and came out into the open sea on the other side. This was the Pacific Ocean, so called by Magellan because it was very peaceful compared to the Atlantic. It had taken him just fourteen months to reach the Pacific. The strait he passed through is still known after him—the Strait of Magellan.
Magellan then bravely continued north and then north-west across the unknown sea. This was the most terrible part of the voyage. No one knew that it would take so long. For nearly four months, 108 days to be exact, they were in mid-ocean with little to eat or drink. At last, after great privation, they reached the Philippine Islands. The people they met there were friendly to them and gave them food and exchanged gifts. But the Spaniards were offensive and overbearing. Magellan took part in some petty war between two chieftains and was killed. Many other Spaniards were killed by the people of the island because of their overbearing attitude.
The Spaniards were looking for the Spice Islands, where the precious spices came from. They went on in search for them. Another ship had to be given up and burnt; only two remained. It was decided that one of these should go back to Spain via the Pacific, and the other via the Cape of Good Hope. The former ship did not go far, as it was captured by the Portuguese. But the other one, named the Vittoria, crept round Africa and reached Seville in Spain with eighteen men in 1522, just three years after it had sailed. It had gone round the world, and it was the first ship to do so.
I have written at some length about the voyage of the Vittoria because it was a wonderful voyage. We cross the seas now in every comfort and take long journeys in big ships. But think of these early voyagers, who faced all manner of danger and peril, and plunging into the unknown, discovered the sea routes for those who came after them. The Spaniards and Portuguese of those days were proud and overbearing and cruel people; but they were wonderfully brave and full of the spirit of adventure.
While Magellan was going round the world, Cortés was entering the city of Mexico and conquering the Aztec Empire for the Spanish King. I have already told you something of this and of the Maya civilization of America. Cortés reached Mexico in 1519. Pizarro reached the Inca Empire (where Peru is now) in South America in 1530. By courage and audacity, and treachery and cruelty, and taking advantage of internal dissensions of the people, Cortés and Pizarro succeeded in putting an end to two old empires. But both of these empires were out of date and, in some ways, very primitive. So they fell down, like a house of cards, at the first push.
Where the great explorers and discoverers had gone, hordes of adventurers followed, eager for loot and plunder. Spanish America especially suffered from this crowd, and even Columbus was treated very badly by them. At the same time gold and silver flowed unceasingly to Spain from Peru and Mexico. Enormous quantities of these precious metals came, dazzling Europe, and making Spain the dominating Power of Europe. This gold and silver spread to other countries of Europe, and thus there was an abundant supply of money with which to buy the products of the East.
The success of Portugal and Spain naturally fired the imaginations of the people of other countries, especially of France and England and Holland and the north German towns. They tried hard at first to find a passage to Asia and America by a northern route, north of Norway to the east, and via Greenland to the west. But they failed in this, and then took to the well-known routes.
What a wonderful time this must have been, when the world seemed to be opening out and showing her treasures and marvels! New discoveries came one after another, oceans and new continents, and wealth beyond measure, just waiting for the magic call—“open sesame”. The very air must have breathed of the magic of these adventures.
The world is a narrower place now, and there is little to discover in it. So it seems. But that is not so, for science has opened up tremendous new vistas which wait to be explored, and of adventure there is no lack. Especially in India today!
74
The Break-up of the Mongol Empires
July 9, 1932
I have written to you of the passing of the Middle Ages and of the awakening of the new spirit in Europe, and a new energy which found outlets in many ways. Europe seems to be bustling with activity and creative effort. Her people, after being cooped up in their little countries for centuries, burst out and cross the wide oceans and go to the uttermost corners of the world. They go forth as conquerors, confident in their own strength; and this very confidence gives them courage and makes them perform wonderful deeds.
But you must have wondered how this sudden change took place. In the middle of the thirteenth century the Mongols dominated Asia and Europe. Eastern Europe was in their possession, western Europe trembled before these great and seemingly invincible warriors. What were the kings and emperors of Europe compared to even a general of the Great Khan?
Two hundred years later, the Ottoman Turks were in possession of the imperial city of Constantinople and a good bit of south-eastern Europe. After 800 years of fighting between Muslim and Christian, the great prize, which had lured the Arabs and the Seljuqs, had fallen into the hands of the Ottomans. Not content with this, the Ottoman Sultans looked with hungry eyes to the west, even at Rome itself. They threatened the German (Holy Roman) Empire and Italy. They conquered Hungary and reached the walls of Vienna and the frontiers of Italy. In the east they added Baghdad to their dominions; in the south, Egypt. In the middle of the sixteenth century Sultan Suleiman, called the Magnificent, ruled over this great Turkish Empire. Even on the seas his fleets were supreme.
How, then, did this change occur? How did Europe get rid of the Mongol menace? How did it survive the Turkish danger? and not only survive it, but become aggressive itself and a menace to others?
The Mongols did not threaten Europe for long. They went away of their own accord to elect a new Khan and they did not come back. Western Europe was too far away from their homelands in Mongolia. Perhaps also it did not attract them because it was woody country and they were used to the wide open plains and steppes. In any event western Europe saved itself from the Mongols not by any valour of its own, but by the indifference and the preoccupations of the Mongols. In eastern Europe they remained for some time longer, till the Mongol power gradually broke up.
I have already told you that the capture of Constantinople by the Turks in 1452 is supposed to be a turning-point in European history. It marks, for the sake of convenience, the passing of the Middle Ages and the coming of the new spirit, the Renaissance, which flowered out in a variety of ways. Thus, curiously, just when Europe was threatened by the Turks, and the Turks seemed to have a good chance of success, Europe found her feet and developed strength. The Turks went on advancing in western Europe for a while; and while they advanced, European explorers were discovering new countries and seas and rounding the globe. Under Suleiman the Magnificent, who reigned from 1520 to 1566, the Turkish Empire spread from Vienna to Baghdad and Cairo. But there was no advance after that. The Turks were succumbing to the old weakening and corrupting traditions of the Constantinople of the Greeks. As Europe increased in power, the Turks lost their old energy and became weaker.
In
the course of our wanderings through past ages we have seen many invasions of Europe by Asia. There were some invasions of Asia by Europe, but they were of little moment. Alexander went across Asia to India without any great result. The Romans never went beyond Mesopotamia. Europe, on the other hand, was repeatedly overrun by Asiatic tribes from the earliest times. Of these Asiatic invasions the Ottoman invasion of Europe was the last. Gradually we find the roles are reversed, and Europe takes up the aggressive. This change might be said to occur about the middle of the sixteenth century. America, newly discovered, goes down quickly before Europe. Asia is a more difficult problem. For 200 years Europeans try to find footholds in various parts of the Asiatic continent, and by the middle of the eighteenth century they begin to dominate parts of Asia. It is well to remember this, as some people, ignorant of history, imagine that Europe has always bossed it over Asia. This new role of Europe is quite a recent one, as we shall see, and already the scene is changing and the role appears out of date. New ideas are astir in all the countries of the East, and powerful movements aiming at freedom are challenging and shaking the domination of Europe. Wider and deeper even than these nationalistic ideas are the new social ideas of equality which want to put an end to all imperialism and exploitation. There should be no question in future of Europe dominating Asia or Asia dominating Europe, or any country exploiting another.
Glimpses of World History Page 36