The World 500 Years Ago
It is the year 1499 C.E:
The East dominates the world economy. China & India account for half of the world’s economy. The domination of the Global Economy by Western Europe at the beginning of the 20th Century, which seems natural today, would be laughable in the 15th century.
What happened? Why did the world change significantly in the 15th Century? How did Western Europe gain dominance? Iberia and India have some insights.
A Tale of 2 Peninsulas
“Almost an Island” is the literal definition of a Pen-insula. Iberia and India were known more for the one side of Land rather than the coast on the other 3 sides. Iberia came under the Muslim invasion for the first time with the Ummayad Caliphate entering via Gibraltar in 711 C.E. The Indian province of Sindh was invaded by the Ummayad Caliphate under Muhammad bin Qasim entering via the port of Debal — also in 711 C.E.
Nearly 500 years ago, these two landmasses connected. It changed History.
1499 C.E: Dharma in Iberia
Iberia consisted of 5 major kingdoms: Portugal, Castile, Aragon, Navarre, and Granada. The royal families had enough illegitimate children, consanguine marriages, court intrigue & heresy to put George RR Martin to shame — no dragons though. The Spanish crown decided to sponsor a Genoese merchant who had reached new lands in the West. Over in Portugal, Prince Henry the Navigator set up a nautical school near the port of Lagos. The Age of Discovery had arrived.
The combination of the printing press and growing dissidence on Papal policies would soon trigger the Protestant Reformation.
1499 C.E: Dharma in India
India’s kingdoms in the north were disintegrating from the Delhi Sultanate crippled by infighting. Vijayanagar was the last bastion of Hindu Kingdoms in the south. The Bhakti Movement had become pan-Indian — devotion bringing inclusivity, salvation within reach of millions from different walks of life, not just priests but merchants, cobblers, washers, women, princesses, who were now singing their devotion.
1499 C.E: Artha in Iberia
The fall of Constantinople in 1453 to the Ottomans set in motion their monopoly on all eastern trade including silk, cotton and spices. Europe had to look beyond the Mediterranean. Portugal introduced the Caravel — one of the most significant game-changers in European maritime discovery. In 1488 Dias had reached the Cape of Good Hope to prove that the Indian Ocean was not landlocked. Iberia now had opportunities beyond the Mediterranean. The Indian Ocean was beckoning.
1499 C.E: Artha in India
The East dominated world trade with China & India at the helm. The Indian Ocean was a veritable Monsoon Marketplace. When Vasco da Gama crossed the Cape of Good Hope, he was piloted by an Indian Lascar from Malindi to Calicut. The Lascars and local sailors are conveniently left out of glorious tales of European explorers.
1499 C.E: Kama in Iberia & India
Spices had a markup of 10 to 100 fold in Europe from their source. Henry Hobhouse writes: “The starting point for European expansion had nothing to do with the rise of any religion or the rise of capitalism – but it had a great deal to do with pepper.”
In India, foreign merchants often ran huge deficits — as high as 75% of the trade payout to India was done in Gold and precious metals. Trade was about to be disrupted, bringing in new markets & luxuries to India.
Bringing it Together: 1499 C.E
16th Century brings with it a wave of disruption, challenging and shattering old world orders. Iberia is about to enter its Golden Age. Martin Luther is about to rock the foundations of the Vatican. Babur follows his ancestor Timur’s footstep to India. Krishnadevaraya beckons Vijayanagara’s golden age.
A Storm is approaching.
