Historic Alleys

Many years ago, in the cool winters of the latter part of the year (November 1488), a Moorish ship set anchor at Calicut. Amongst the various merchants from Arabia who alighted, there was one who looked and spoke like an Arab. He was a spy in their midst, on a commission from the King of Portugal. His name: Pero De Covilha. Pero who was trained at Morocco and Moorish Spain, spent many months, probably close to a year touring Calicut and Goa, recording the spice trade in and around Calicut. Pero a fluent Arabic speaker was astounded by the many sights of the splendid port and its people. It was a full eight years before the Vasco De Gama and his ships reached Calicut to change history. Perhaps, it was Covilha who laid the very keel for the ships journey; however like most spies he received no public credit for his work though his story proves a very interesting read.

It was a part overland trip that started in May 1487. Pero Da Covilha and Alfonso de Paiva, great friends themselves, were dispatched by King John II, to record the routes and happenings at various places in the Malabar area and primarily to find the mythical land of Prestor John. Barthalomeow Diaz on the other hand was sent to find the routes by sea. Traveling through Naples, Rhodes, Alexandria and Cairo overland, they blended with Arab caravans before reaching Aden at the mouth of the Red sea. Pavia left for Ethopia and Covilha left for India. Alas, the great friends were never to meet again. Pavia fell ill and died during his travails in Ethiopia.

Pero da Covilhã eventually reached Calicut (modern Kozhikode) and Goa on the Malabar Coast of southwestern India, where he witnessed a prosperous trade in Arabian horses, spices, fine cottons, and precious stones. After completing his assessment of the European trade with India, Covilhã sailed for home in February 1489. He passed through Ormuz at the entrance to the Persian Gulf and the port of Sofala opposite Madagascar before traveling north to Cairo in 1490. While in Cairo, two Jewish emissaries(Rabbi Abraham and Shoemaker Joseph – or was it Jose Lamego?) from King John II gave Covilhã a letter instructing him, if he had not already done so, to travel to the kingdom of Prester John to gather intelligence and promote an alliance. Before he left, Covilhã induced a messenger José de Lamego to carry a letter to King John II that described all he had learned of Arab seafaring and the Indian markets. Six years after leaving his home in Portugal, Pero da Covilhã reached Ethiopia in 1493, where he discovered a land ruled by Alexander, "Lion of the Tribe of Judah, and King of Kings." Covilhã so impressed the Ethiopian monarch that Alexander considered him a "Portuguese Marco Polo" and refused to let him leave. Covilhã married and settled down to live the rest of his life in the once mythical land of Prestor John.

Peter Koch notes - Calicut at that time was one of the richest ports of the world. It was the commercial hub for Arab Muslim and Asian traders. Fleets of junks from China and the Indies sailed to its crowded ports, and once docked, unloaded their abundant cargoes of precious gems, silks and spices that were to be sold at destined local markets. Anxiously awaiting their arrival were numerous Arab traders willing to pay a handsome price for just about any goods shipped from the orient. Once purchased, these were shipped through the Persian Gulf or Gulf of Aden, and from there, they were distributed to markets in Africa, Middle East and Europe.

Pêro da Covilhã, while in Africa, noted and informed Paul II that if the extreme south tip were rounded by Portuguese mariners they could easily reach Calicut from Sofala or Malindi and take possession of the spice trade. In ten years’ time, this observation by Pêro da Covilhã would convince Vasco da Gama to sail from the east coast of Africa directly to Calicut. In 1487, financed by a letter of credit from the Florentine banker Bartolommeo Marchioni, he was sent by João II of Portugal to investigate a northerly route to India . Covilhã continued to Socotra and Cannanore (in India) in an Arab dhow, then to Calicut (1488), Goa and back to Hormuz (winter 1489)