Courting India - Nandini Das

How Debt and Religion Drove the Age of European Colonisation

In the typical context of history, we often learn about the Age of Discovery as a tale of brave explorers venturing into the unknown. While courage certainly played a part, the real drivers behind colonisation were far more pragmatic: crushing debt and religious fervour. These twin forces shaped how Europeans approached the New World and the East, creating colonial models whose impacts we still feel today.[^1]. While “Courting India”, the exceptionally detailed & narratively rich book by Nandini Das, focuses on the context leading up to the first British embassy in Mughal India of 1616, two other European countries were ahead of Britain by a long stretch in colonising the world - Spain & Portugal.

Crown Debt: Colonisation as Financial Rescue

By the late 15th century, the Spanish monarchy was drowning in debt. Charles V and Philip II operated their vast empire largely on credit, borrowing heavily from German banking houses like the Fuggers and Welsers.[^2] These loans funded Spain's constant European military campaigns, creating a cycle of borrowing that seemed impossible to escape. By 1557, approximately 65% of Spanish Crown revenue was devoted to debt service, forcing Philip II into the first of several bankruptcies[^3]. Portugal faced similar challenges, though on a smaller scale. With limited natural resources and a small population, the Portuguese Crown dedicated an astonishing 5% of state revenues to exploration between 1415-1460 in a desperate gamble to find new revenue streams.[^4]

For both nations, colonization wasn't just about glory—it was financial survival. The Spanish Crown saw American silver as salvation from bankruptcy. When silver from Potosí began flowing to Spain, it temporarily relieved the debt crisis, though much of this wealth quickly exited Spain to pay foreign creditors. Between 1503 and 1660, approximately 16,000 tons of silver arrived in Seville from Spanish America[^5]. Portugal's approach differed slightly. Rather than seeking precious metals (at least initially), they established strategic trading posts that redirected existing commercial flows, particularly the lucrative spice trade, through Portuguese-controlled channels. This model required less upfront investment but created tremendous profit through control of maritime chokepoints.[^6]

Mediterranean Disruption: Finding New Routes to Old Markets

The rise of the Ottoman Empire effectively closed traditional eastern trade routes, devastating Iberian economies. Mediterranean commerce had been their economic lifeblood for centuries, and its disruption created an urgent need to find alternative pathways[^7]. For Portugal, this disruption was particularly severe. Customs revenues fell by an estimated 40% between 1450-1500, and access to Asian luxury goods—which European elites still demanded—became increasingly difficult and expensive[^8]. The Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453 marked a turning point, significantly increasing both the cost and risk of traditional overland routes to Asia. The famous voyages of explorers like Vasco da Gama weren't just about discovery for discovery's sake. They were expensive, calculated attempts to bypass Ottoman-controlled territories and reestablish direct trade with spice-producing regions.

When Portugal successfully established its sea route to India in 1498, it completely transformed the economic calculation, cutting costs by eliminating multiple middlemen and creating enormous competitive advantage[^9]. The value of spices could increase up to 1,000% as they traveled from their source to European markets, making control of this trade immensely profitable[^10]. Spain, though initially focused westward, was similarly motivated by the need to reestablish eastern connections. Columbus's voyage was, after all, an attempt to reach Asia by sailing west. When Spain instead found the Americas, they pivoted their strategy toward resource extraction, but the initial motivation remained economic reorientation away from the blocked Mediterranean[^11]

Conversion as Commercial Strategy: Trading Christianity for Market Access

Perhaps the most fascinating intersection of economics and religion in Iberian colonisation was the explicit linking of trade privileges to religious conversion. This practice was particularly evident in Portuguese operations in Asia, where commercial incentives often drove religious change[^6]. In ports from Goa to Nagasaki, Portuguese authorities granted preferential trading terms to local merchants who converted to Christianity. These benefits included reduced customs duties, exclusive access to certain goods, and protection under Portuguese law. In Goa, Christian converts received a 20% reduction in customs duties compared to Hindu merchants[^12]. This created powerful economic incentives for conversion, particularly among merchant communities. The Spanish employed similar strategies in the Philippines, where Chinese traders who converted to Christianity received substantial commercial advantages. By the early 17th century, approximately 20,000 Chinese merchants in Manila had nominally converted to Christianity, primarily for commercial benefits.[^13] This approach effectively weaponised economic opportunity, using market access as leverage for religious conversion.

In both empires, this practice created complex hierarchies based on religious status. In Spanish America, the sistema de castas formally categorised people partly based on religious background, with direct economic consequences for each group[^14]. Portuguese colonies developed similar, if sometimes less formalised, hierarchies. In Portuguese Goa, the Código Asiático of 1595 explicitly linked legal and economic rights to religious status.[^15]. However, this strategy had unintended consequences. When trade with Europeans became available through other powers without religious requirements—as occurred when the Protestant Dutch and English established competing networks—many converted merchants reverted to their original faiths. In Japan, the Christian community that had grown to approximately 300,000 by 1600 largely abandoned the faith when Portuguese commercial privileges ended[^16]. The superficial nature of some economically-motivated conversions ultimately undermined the spiritual goals of colonisation while revealing its fundamentally economic character.

Conclusion: The Complex Legacy of Colonisation

The colonial empires of Spain and Portugal weren't created by simplistic religious zealotry or pure economic calculation, but by the complex interplay between these forces. Crown debt created urgent need, disrupted trade routes provided direction, religious frameworks supplied justification, inquisitorial practices shaped implementation, and trade-for-conversion policies revealed the pragmatic reality beneath spiritual rhetoric[^17]. As we reflect on this history, we're reminded that behind the grand narratives of exploration and discovery lay very human motivations: the need to pay debts, secure resources, and maintain power in a changing world. These same forces continue to shape global relations in our own time, making this history not just interesting, but instructive.[^18]

References

[^1]: Elliott, J.H. (2002). *Imperial Spain 1469-1716*. Penguin Books.

[^2]: Carande, R. (1987). *Carlos V y sus banqueros*. Barcelona: Crítica.

[^3]: Parker, G. (1998). *The Grand Strategy of Philip II*. Yale University Press.

[^4]: Diffie, B.W., & Winius, G.D. (1977). *Foundations of the Portuguese Empire, 1415-1580*. University of Minnesota Press.

[^5]: Flynn, D.O., & Giráldez, A. (2002). "Cycles of Silver: Global Economic Unity through the Mid-Eighteenth Century," *Journal of World History*, 13(2), 391-427.

[^6]: Subrahmanyam, S. (1993). *The Portuguese Empire in Asia, 1500-1700: A Political and Economic History*. Wiley-Blackwell.

[^7]: Braudel, F. (1995). *The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II*. University of California Press.

[^8]: Disney, A.R. (2009). *A History of Portugal and the Portuguese Empire*. Cambridge University Press.

[^9]: Pearson, M.N. (1976). *Merchants and Rulers in Gujarat: The Response to the Portuguese in the Sixteenth Century*. University of California Press.

[^10]: Wake, C.H.H. (1979). "The Changing Pattern of Europe's Pepper and Spice Imports, ca. 1400-1700," *Journal of European Economic History*, 8(2), 361-403.

[^11]: Phillips, W.D., & Phillips, C.R. (1992). *The Worlds of Christopher Columbus*. Cambridge University Press.

[^12]: Pearson, M.N. (1987). *The Portuguese in India*. Cambridge University Press.

[^13]: Phelan, J.L. (1959). *The Hispanization of the Philippines: Spanish Aims and Filipino Responses, 1565-1700*. University of Wisconsin Press.

[^14]: Mörner, M. (1967). *Race Mixture in the History of Latin America*. Little, Brown and Company.

[^15]: Xavier, Â.B., & Županov, I.G. (2015). *Catholic Orientalism: Portuguese Empire, Indian Knowledge (16th-18th Centuries)*. Oxford University Press.

[^16]: Boxer, C.R. (1951). *The Christian Century in Japan, 1549-1650*. University of California Press.

[^17]: Parry, J.H. (1990). *The Spanish Seaborne Empire*. University of California Press.

[^18]: Restall, M. (2003). *Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest*. Oxford University Press.