The Spanish connections to India – Manila & Mangalore
History is full of surprises. It is stories like these that make the subject fascinating, especially since some are hidden deep in dusty books, prompting people like me to seek them out. This story features a remarkable Jewish merchant named Goldsmith and how he managed to broker a deal between the Spanish crown and the Mysore Sultan, Hyder Ali. It was an elaborate scheme involving a baby elephant, one that could have caused chaos in the already tense relationship between the British and the Mysore Kingdom, with the potential to alter the course of history. Let's go to the region and find out what happened.