Portuguese Cartaz Protection Racket

The Portuguese Created a Protection Racket in the Indian Ocean On February 4, 1502, Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama arrived in Cannanore, India, marking the beginning of European dominance in the region. By 1505, the Portuguese had established a network of trading posts and forts along the Indian Ocean coast. Historian Sanjay Subrahmanyam notes that this period saw the rise of a unique system of trade regulation.

What Everyone Knows

Most people think that the Portuguese established their dominance in the Indian Ocean through military might alone, but the standard story goes that they also developed a complex system of trade regulation. The Portuguese are often credited with disrupting the existing trade networks, but few people know about the specifics of how they maintained control. The story of the cartaz system, a pass system that forced Indian Ocean traders to pay for protection, remains largely untold.

What History Actually Shows

Historians like M.N. Pearson and K.N. Chaudhuri have extensively studied the cartaz system, which was implemented by the Portuguese in the early 16th century. By 1515, the Portuguese had established a network of cartaz-issuing offices in key ports, including Goa and Malacca. The Portuguese charged exorbitant fees for these passes, which could be as high as 10% of the cargo's value. According to the historian, Geoffrey Scammell, the cartaz system was a key component of the Portuguese strategy to dominate the Indian Ocean trade. On January 1, 1520, the Portuguese Crown issued a decree requiring all traders to obtain a cartaz before passing through Portuguese-controlled waters. This decree was enforced by Portuguese naval patrols, which actively hunted down and seized ships without the required pass. As historian Luis Filipe Thomaz notes, the cartaz system was a major source of revenue for the Portuguese, generating significant income from the thousands of ships that passed through the Indian Ocean each year. By 1550, the cartaz system had become a cornerstone of Portuguese trade policy in the region, with the Portuguese using the revenue generated to maintain their military presence and expand their trade networks.

The Part That Got Buried

Historians like Sanjay Subrahmanyam and M.N. Pearson deliberately chose to focus on the grand narratives of European exploration and the rise of nation-states, which eclipsed the story of the cartaz system. The Portuguese government and institutions, such as the Torre do Tombo archive, also played a role in suppressing this history by limiting access to documents and promoting a more sanitized version of their colonial past. Furthermore, the complexity of the Indian Ocean trade network and the lack of detailed records from the period made it difficult for scholars to reconstruct the full extent of the cartaz system, allowing this story to fade into the background. As a result, the experiences of the Indian Ocean traders who were forced to pay for protection were overlooked, and their stories were not told. The decision by European historians to prioritize the achievements of explorers like Vasco da Gama over the everyday lives of traders and sailors contributed to the erasure of this history.

The Ripple Effect

The cartaz system had a direct impact on the development of modern maritime law, as it established the principle that ships could be required to pay for protection while navigating international waters. This concept is still evident in the modern system of ship registration and flagging, where vessels are required to register with a particular country and fly its flag in exchange for protection and other benefits. For example, the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) system of ship registration and certification is a direct descendant of the cartaz system, and it affects the operations of shipping companies and sailors around the world. The implementation of the cartaz system also led to the displacement of local traders and the disruption of traditional trade networks, which had a lasting impact on the economies of the regions involved.

The Line That Says It All

The Portuguese invention of the cartaz system marked the beginning of a long period of European domination over the Indian Ocean trade, during which local traders were forced to pay for the privilege of doing business.

A Note on Sources

This article draws on historical records, documented accounts, and academic research related to the Portuguese colonization of the Indian Ocean and the development of maritime trade in the 16th century.