The Europeans & The start of a new Era in India (part-2)
So why the Portuguese the first one to come to India?? The other Europeans like the British, were busy with their own problems in the 15th century. Venice and Genoa through trade in oriental goods, had prospered earlier but were too small to go against the strong Ottoman empire and also to go on a major exploration alone. The northern Europeans aided spain and portugal with men and money 💰. The genoese even provided their ships and technical knowledge. The Portuguese were driven by not only their spirit of exploration but they also hoped to spread Christian faith to fight Islamic influence as they had assumed the leadership in Christiandom's resistance to Islam. Also Prince Henry of Portugal, nicknamed "navigator"(1454),was obsessed with finding India or tobe specific, "the ocean route to india", along with finding a way to circumvent the Muslim domination of eastern Mediterranean and all the routes that connected india to Europe. But he died before his obses...