Portuguese and Turks Throughout History
From a Turk's point of view
5th October 2007
I wonder, how many people on earth is curious about such an unusual subject. For example, who cares about the historical relations between Norwegians and Greeks, or Brazilians and Japanese. This seems odd but these unusual subjects have great influence in history and also have echoes in our present life.
Vikings tried to invade Constantinople various times. There are lots of Byzantine myths on this issue. Even there's a "Goth Pillar" in "Topkapi Palace" in today's Istanbul.
On the other side, there are millions of ethnic Japanese people living in Brazil. They immigrated there in 18th century. Some of them returned to Japan and constituted a large Portuguese speaking ethnic minority in Japan.
Like these unusual stories, Portuguese and Turks have lots of common affairs in history.
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A Portuguese caravel
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Henry the Navigator, the quest for Africa
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Henry the Navigator
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In the 15th century, Turkish sailors and Ottoman Empire had absolute power and influence over Mediterranean Sea. The trade between Europe and far east had been carried through the famous "Silk Route". The Italian states (especially Venice) had the monopoly on this trade by paying regular and very high taxes to the Ottoman Empire.
Because of the taxes and the monopoly, the goods from far east had enormous prices. Black pepper, silk and other goods are the commodities only available for only the very rich ones.
But the needs of the growing middle-class contradicted this status quo. The European explorers were seeking short-cuts to India.
One of them was the famous Portuguese prince Henry the Navigator.
He initiated consequent expeditions to Africa that finally lead to the exploration of an alternative route to India. |
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After "Vasco da Gama" reached Calicut, Portugal established the alternative route to India, without paying any taxes to Ottoman Empire. This was simply unacceptable for the Ottomans. This exploration turned out to be the very first step of the decline of the empire.
Sultan of the Ottomans (Sultan Beyazid II) gathered a large armada in the Red Sea harbors of Egypt and sent them to the Indian Ocean.
The Ottomans and the Portuguese navies battled a couple of times in the Indian Ocean. The first one was "Battle of Diu" in 1509.
When I was a high school student, these intercourses were taught in a section of the history lessons. It was being told that the Ottoman navy fought bravely and swept the Portuguese out of the Indian Ocean.
This information was quite wrong. Maybe they succeeded the Portuguese stay away from Red Sea and Ottoman occupied land, but we all know that Portuguese forces thrived all over Indian Ocean.
The battles of Indian Ocean at the end turned out to be a real failure for the Ottoman Empire . They could only watch the Portuguese and the other European forces enjoy this alternative route to India. The Ottoman navy was strong, but compared to new technology Portuguese caravels, they stood no chance.
In the Second Battle of Diu in 1538, the Ottoman Empire was severely defeated and it was the last confrontation of Turks and Portuguese in Indian Ocean.
Deprived of huge tax income from the "silk route", the Ottoman Empire started to tumble and lose power.
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Brazilian Players in Turkey
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There are quite many Brazilian players in Turkey's "Super League". Especially, in Fenerbahce, there are 6 Brazilians and also the coach (Zico).
The official web page of Fenerbahce is also available in Portuguese.
site oficial de clube de Fenerbahce.
The most famous among them are : Roberto Carlos (Fenerbahce), Alex de Souza (Fenerbahce), Lincoln (Galatasaray).
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