State the reasons for the coming of Portuguese to East Africa

      

Give reasons for the coming of Portuguese to East Africa

  

Answers


John
What were reasons for the coming of the Portuguese at the East African coast ?

a) The need to establish a commercial empire in order to get the products of East Africa e.g.
ivory, gold, silks and spices that were mainly controlled by the Arabs merchants.

b) They wanted to obtain control of the main trading towns, e.g. Kilwa, Mombasa etc.

c) They wanted to defeat the Muslim traders and rulers who had monopolized the Indian Ocean
trade.

d) They wanted to prevent other European rivals from gaining access to the Indian Ocean Trade
e.g. the French, Dutch, British

e) Desire to get revenue for the development of their country.

f) The Portuguese wished to share in the profits of the Indian Ocean Trade by imposing taxes and
forcing wealthy coastal towns to pay tribute to the king of Portugal.

g) The coast had natural harbors where ships could anchor on their way to and from the East for
fresh food and water. The Portuguese therefore wanted to establish a calling station for resting,
refresh, treating the sick, repairing wrecked ships e.t.c

h) The coast was strategically located and this made it easy to control sea pirates and other rival
powers.

i) They wanted to revenge on the Muslim Arabs who had conquered Portugal in 711 AD by
converting them to Christianity and stop the spread of Islam i.e. the Arabs had ever run the
Iberian Peninsula and forced the Christians to accept Islam.

j) They hoped to get assistance of King Prester John thought to be in the interior of north –east
Africa. They hoped the king would help them in their crusade against the Muslims.

k) They had hope of stopping Egyptians and Turks from sending military aid to their fellow
Moslems on the coast.

l) They were interested in exploration and adventure; this was a period of Renaissance (means to
be born again/change) in Europe. Hence hoped to search for the unknown, new knowledge and
sailing across unmapped seas.

m) Desire to acquire revenue for the development of their country.
johnmulu answered the question on March 11, 2017 at 07:46


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