Mehmet Özay 16.07.2025
The early accounts of the colonial processes of the West European seafaring nations provide us with considerable data on the foundations, rather than emphasizing a 'crude colonialism'.
On the contrary, what we find is, on the one hand, a deliberate and intentional structuring in the field of economics and knowledge, and, on the other hand, the characteristics of the inquisitive spirit that exists in the circles that bring these elements together.
Formation of foundations
There is a very important preparatory phase to bring these material and spiritual contexts together.
The role of the fact that the 'Dark' period in Europe has passed and the confrontational attitudes among the nations in Europe have partially come to an end cannot be underestimated.
Or, in addition to this, if we think in terms of the Iberian Peninsula, we can argue that a process is developing that can separate itself - at least in the south of the European Continent - from intra-European conflict.[1]
What we mean by this is to observe what kind of method the relevant nations follow in the process of sailing from the closed seas to the open seas, that is, to the oceans, what and who they encounter, and what kind of a reflexive approach they take to these encounters and continue the process again and again by 'repairing' it.
In this article, I will briefly discuss some views on the early phases of these colonial processes in the context of the first experiences of the Portuguese on the African coast.
These early maritime endeavors between 1414 and 1448 will allow us to re-evaluate the Portuguese landing on the Indian coast at the end of the 15th century.
Before Henry the Sailor
The first name that comes to mind when it comes to the Portuguese and seafaring is 'Henry the Sailor (Henry the Navy) (1394-1463). King Henry's 'The Seafarer' (the Navy), clearly referring to his role in this process.
However, there is no doubt that the process is preliminary...
After all, to think that the development of seafaring as an institutional structure was invented in the first half of the 15th century in a region of southern Europe, such as the Iberian Peninsula, adjacent to the Mediterranean and the Ocean, is a largely inaccurate approach.
Perhaps, in the context of Henry the Sailor, the question to be asked is 'why did he strongly assert such a tendency and maintain a consistent process of doing so?
We will be able to answer this question, perhaps in a significant way, below.
Before Henry the Sailor, his father, King John, seems to have had a considerable investment in seafaring...
It was his father John, not Henry, who led the Portuguese expedition from the Iberian Peninsula to Ceuta in the far west of North Africa in 1415.
Henry's participation in the famous Ceuta Expedition at the age of 21, during his princely reign, suggests that we are dealing with a prince or a future king with 'warrior' qualities, and that the existence of a mighty King, John the father, who gave his son this opportunity, cannot be underestimated.[2]
As I mentioned above, the phenomenon of seafaring was not discovered at the beginning of the 15th century, nor is it possible to say that there was a European seafaring that consisted only of the Portuguese.
In my opinion, this is a topic for another article and therefore it is better to be content with this statement.
Investigative spirit
When he ascended to the throne, Henry seems to have had an exploratory spirit structured by his experience at the age of 21.
It would not be wrong to say that this is not limited to the maritime context, but also includes geography, commodities, religion and, perhaps, early nationalism.
At this point, when we consider seafaring as a material development phase, we come across as a prerequisite that it must be preceded by a knowledge, awareness and thought of geography.
The importance of information - oral on the one hand and written sources on the other - being accessible to the royal family is obvious.
Of course, when we think of the Iberian Peninsula, we need to mention Andalusia, that is, the accumulation of knowledge developed by Muslim Arabs over a long period of time.
Apart from the confrontational approaches in the Iberian Peninsula, it seems that one of the most important effects of the interaction between Christian and Muslim elements is reflected in the Portuguese royal family's focus on seafaring.
It is important to say that Henry the Sailor incorporated data on geography, maritime, etc. knowledge areas that existed in the region during his education and development process in order to reveal a natural development process.
What should be noted here is that Henry the Navigator benefited from the geographical and maritime knowledge accumulated in the geography surrounding the Mediterranean without discriminating between nationalities and religions.[3]
This situation reminds us once again that, in general, there is a continuous exchange, transfer and transmission of elements of civilization and culture between different nations.
The question inevitably comes to mind here.
The question is why, in contrast to the Portuguese courtly circles' interest in the relevant fields of science, a similar interest was not sustainably demonstrated by the circles that were the source of this knowledge, namely the Muslims.
Instead of giving a ready-made answer to this question, so to speak, I think it is necessary to consider all the processes that will allow us to evaluate what is happening...
I will put this aside for now...
Self-construction
It is evident that the Portuguese did not develop their post-Ceuta maritime processes in such a hasty manner, but handled them in a very cautious and sustainable manner.
At this point, it is possible to say that the Portuguese followed and developed a network of interaction and communication that gradually developed southward from the North West African coasts that hosted Muslims.
However, there is no doubt that the Portuguese have put forward some structural aspects that can manage this process and perhaps move it forward, starting with 'imitation' in the beginning, but not just 'imitation' in the process.
The first noteworthy examples of this, within the limitations of the shipping technology of the time and the knowledge of the climate, appear in a progression that does not move away from the coastline and follows the islands adjacent to the coastlines.
One can be cautious about the view that the Portuguese, in their southward march, 'followed a route that had not been traveled before'.
The phenomenon of the 'other'
However, the most remarkable novelty of this process for the Portuguese was their encounter with the "other"...
Just like the concept of 'barbarian', which was used at different stages of history when different nations in different geographies first met each other, we encounter it here as well.
We can think of the 'other'/'foreigner' as barbaric, perhaps outside and beyond the negative, let's say, 'savage' meaning attributed to the word today, in the sense of an unknown society and immanent in a neutral meaning.
The fact that the Portuguese reached the 'shores of the barbarians' reveals that they were undoubtedly experiencing the first phase of their encounter with the plural 'other', that is, with Asian societies as a result of their wanderings south of Africa.[4]
In this framework, we can say that there is a problem of definition arising from 'knowing/in/not knowing'.
This may have been a psychologically based fear of the unknown, or it may have been based on the experiences, some mythological and some real, that had been formed up to that time for Africa on the other side of the Mediterranean Sea in Europe.
Assessing the initial stages of the Portuguese maritime processes starting from the Iberian Peninsula will provide an important approach to understanding both the colonialism of the Portuguese and the approaches of other Western European maritime nations that joined the process much later.
[1] Manuel de Faria y Sousa. (1695). The Portugues Asia or The History of the Discovery and Conquest of India by the Portugues, (Tr.: John Stevens), London: C. Brome, p. 1.
[2] Manuel de Faria y Sousa (1695). Ibid, p. 2.
[3] Manuel de Faria y Sousa (1695). Ibid, p. 2.
[4]The Portuguese Asia, p. 3.
English and Indonesian versions translated with DeepL AI
