Abstract



Colonialism in the modern world is a particularly politically explosive term. In India in particular colonialism evokes memory of British rule, oppression, exploitation, and Partition. I personally have heard some people argue about the benefits of colonialism resulting in violent debates which more often then not degenerated into mere insults.

There are two drastically different viewpoints on colonialism and its effects, one of them which suggests that the colonized benefited to an extent and another which says that colonization was pure exploitation. Thus the thesis of my essay was formed. I wanted to look objectively at a lesser known instance of colonialism in Indian history, that of the Portuguese Empire in India and its impact. However that was too broad, thus I narrowed it down from the impact on India to the impact on one specific nation, the Vijaynagar Empire.

The goal of this paper is to examine from an objective viewpoint all the impacts of the Portuguese on the Vijaynagar Empire. I examined the impact in four different categories, geopolitical, economic, socio-political, and technological since I considered theses aspects to be most important. Another important problem I had to consider was my sources. The vast majority of my sources were colonial sources written by British authors, during the late 19th and early 20th century and consisted of a certain amount of bias. My Indian sources were quite limited and I had to be careful of this when writing the paper.

In the end of my analysis I found that the impact was largely balanced in its positives and negatives with the positive impact of the Portuguese being shown in the short term, while the harmful impact manifested itself in the long term.

-silver 2039

Introduction:

The history of Portuguese involvement in India began with the arrival of Vasco de Gama in Calicut in the year 1498 when favorable trading concessions were extracted from the local ruler the Zamorin of Calicut by force and a trading post established on his first voyage. Upon his second voyage he returned to India with twenty warships and found that the Portuguese who had been left behind to start the trading post had been murdered. He bombarded Calicut and destroyed their fleet of twenty nine ships and went to Cochin where he was given gold and silver as tribute. He engaged in acts of privacy against the Arab traders of the region, attacking and destroying their ships. Upon his third voyage to India he caught malaria and died.

The beginning of Portuguese involvement in India appears to have been distinctly bloody and ruthless for some; however for others such as the Vijaynagar Empire it appears to have been quite prosperous and beneficial. There are two strongly conflicted viewpoints regarding the Portuguese presence in India. European historians tend to acknowledge that while the Portuguese carried out forcible conversions and conquests they also had the positive effect of stimulating trade and technological exchange on the subcontinent as well as development. Indian historians on the other hand tend to view the Portuguese in the same vein as the British, as foreigners who came to loot India’s wealth. By close examination of geo-political, technological, economic, and socio-political impact we can verify which of these opinions, if any are true.

Geopolitical Impact:

The Vijaynagar Empire was founded as the last bastion of Hindu civilization against the Muslims. At the point up to its foundations the former Hindu kingdoms of Warangal and Devagiri had been destroyed by Sultanate of Delhi whose forces had advanced south desiring loot and plunder. Thus the Vijaynagar kingdom coalesced in the south to defend against the Islamic advance. The rulers of Vijaynagar styled themselves as the protectors of the Hindu faith. The entrance of the Portuguese into the Indian geo-political arena gave the kingdom a new ally in an area in which there were only enemies. The Sultanates of Bijapur, Golkonda, Bidar, Berar, Ahmednagar, the rebellious vassals and Nayaks of the south and even the Hindu Gangapati dynasty of Orissa were no friends of Vijaynagar. One of the first actions of the Portuguese was to decimate Calicut and seize Goa, an important port city from the Bijapur Sultanate. The power balance in the Indian subcontinent shifted at this point. Vijaynagar now had an ally, who could aid it in war against the Muslim Sultanates, and a nation who could provide it with muskets, and cannons on par with if not superior to what the Islamic Sultanates possessed. Portuguese mercenary gunners played an important part in maintaining Vijaynagar’s power . The Portuguese were also enemies of the Islamic sultanates in the region and waged a number of wars against Bijapur over the control of Goa. The weakening of Bijapur and other enemies greatly benefited Vijaynagar. The Muslim Sultanates tried for decades to remove Portuguese influence from their coastlines, yet were beaten back. Portugal served as a strong counterweight against the enemies of Vijaynagar and alliances were frequently made between Portugal and the Vijaynagar kings against Bijapur and other mutual enemies. Furthermore, due to the Portuguese arrival improvements were made to the Vijaynagar army which was generally sub-par in quality compared to its enemies and relied largely on its weight of numbers. The Islamic armies by contrasts had superior gunners, artillery, and archers.

“The lesson of improved war capability was dearly learned until the fifteenth century when Vijaynagara rulers began incorporating Muslim and later European fighters into their forces.”

Indeed, these mercenaries played a key role in the Vijaynagar military servings as gunners and artillerymen and bringing the Vijaynagar army on par with that of its enemies. It is noted in the writing of Krishnadevaraya that the Portuguese gunners played a key role when he besieged the forts of Bijapur by picking the Bijapuri forces off the walls of the fort. This served to benefit Vijaynagar by strengthening its army and weakening its enemies.

However in the long run Portugal also began to trade with the Islamic sultanates as the Portuguese were traders first and foremost and therefore willing to work with anyone who offered them a profit. The Islamic Sultanates too began benefiting from the Portuguese presence. Golkonda adopted Portuguese mercenary gunners into their army negating the brief advantage that Vijaynagar possessed over them. Bijapur too did this, offering trade concession to the Portuguese in return for war-horses and weapons. Furthermore clashes began between Vijaynagar and the Portuguese over the growing Portuguese influence over the coastline. Indeed Vijaynagar even launched a number of military campaigns aimed at subduing its Nayaks who were entering into agreements with the Portuguese

”Rama Raja’s aim was not to abort the latter development, but to check growing Portuguese influence along both rich trade coasts along the southern tip of the peninsula.”

As a result his nephew Vithala was sent to seize the port of Tuticorn and defeated the local rulers in the area who sided with the Portuguese and stayed in the south for a decade in order to prevent future Portuguese incursions. Vijayangar at this point was highly suspicious of Portuguese intentions. During this downturn in Portuguese-Vijaynagar relations Bijapur decided to reverse its former anti-Portuguese policy

“During the middle of the sixteenth centaury , Bijapur followed the lead of Vijaynagara in concluding treaties with the Portuguese by offering trade concessions in return for an uninterrupted supply of war-horse and other trade goods; this reversed several decades of attempts by the Muslims to drive the Portuguese from the western coast”

During the Second Vijaynagar civil war the Portuguese intervened supporting one Vjaynagar ruler, Devaraya against others. Now this was of course purely for Portuguese benefit. They wanted Devaraya’s support to evict the Dutch from their holdings on eastern coastline and planned with Devaraya for him to attack the Dutch settlements by land while the Portuguese attacked by sea. These attacks failed leaving the remnants of the Vijaynagar Empire weakened even further. However perhaps Devaraya realized that the growing Portuguese power was a threat to Vijaynagar and thus did not wish to see a rival who could balance Portuguese power pushed out. In this regard the Portuguese presence can be viewed as being detrimental.

Technological Impact:

In terms of technology there has been noted to be a degree of technological exchange and diffusion between Vijaynagar and the Portuguese traders. An account is given by a Portuguese traveler Fernao Nuniz about how the Portuguese contributed to the technological development of Vijaynagar.

“The chronicle of Fernao Nuniz, a Portuguese traveler who visited Vijaynagar during the reign of Krishna Deva Raya, records that the king requested the Governor of Goa to depute some Portuguese stone masons to come to Vijaynagar to superintend the building of a large water reservoir that he desired to construct near Hospet, and that the Governor sent him Joao della Ponte ‘a great worker in stone.’ Nuniz relates that when this engineer requested the king have a large quantity of lime prepared for the work, ‘the king laughed much, for in his country when they build a house they do not understand how to use lime.”

Vijaynagar is particularly known for the vast quantities of such reservoirs and tanks that it constructed within a small area of territory. According to the British the land had already been so developed that there was no room for improvement with as many as a hundred tanks per sq km. . All this allowed for good infrastructural development and improved the farm production and the local economy of the Vijaynagar Empire. Perhaps the most important aspect of Portuguese technological contribution to Vijaynagar may have been in terms of military technology mainly gunpowder and firearms. However according to Mr. Vasudevan Conjeevaram, he states that “We do not get direct reference with regard to the exchange of firearms, gunpowder and cannons. The native sources are mute on this aspect.” Burton Stein’s work on the other hand indicates differently,

“The importation of war-horses, known from the time of Marcoo Polo in the late thirteenth centaury increased in volume and value during the Vijaynagara period, and so did imported cannon and hand guns. These war commodities were paid for by Indian exports and bullion according to the accounts of trade at the time.”

The disparity between viewpoints is due to the fact that Mr. Vasudevan Conjeevaram studies primarily native sources and the native sources do not contain any information of this subject. He is also correct in saying that we do not get direct reference. However with Burton Stein an indirect reference is made and thus it is safe to assume that handguns and cannons were indeed passed on to Vijaynagar. This technological contribution would have benefited them greatly in the frequent wars that were waged against the Islamic Sultanates to the north who were already in possession of firearms and cannons.

Economic Impact:

The economic impact of the Portuguese on the Vijaynagar state was tremendous. Before the entrance of the Portuguese the sea trade in the region had been dominated by Muslim traders. However the Portuguese carried out acts of piracy and broke the Muslim monopoly over sea trade and took it over. Vijaynagar later became entirely dependent on Portuguese trade, and the Portuguese considered trade with Vijaynagar so important that the destruction of the city was seen as a massive catastrophe for Portuguese interests. Portuguese trade in the region suffered serious trade and stagnation as did Goa. Horses, pearls, precious, semi-precious stones, vermecil, copper, coral were all supplied by the Portuguese. Velvet and satin cloth from Damas, armesinc from Portugal, Silk clothes from China all were traded as well. Condimentary items were the main export items of the Vijaynagar Empire which included black pepper, jeera (cumin), and other spices were obtained from the native people.

The Vijaynagar Empire imported war horses from Arabia to be used as cavalry since the southern part of the sub continent did not have them natively. Prior to the Portuguese entry in India the trade in war horses was dominated by Arab traders who sold the horses in the port of Goa which was formerly a Bijapur port. “One of the records narrates that from Goa, Arabian Horses were brought to India via Goa” This left the trade of an important war material under the control of an enemy. However after the entry the Portuguese seized Goa from the Bijapur Sultanate and according to Burton Stein, Krishnadevaraya wrote in the Amuktamalyada a passage on the importance of trade to the Vijaynagar Empire and the importance of horses in particular.

“A King should improve he harbours of his country and so encourage its commerce that horses, elephants, precious gems, sandalwood, pearls, and other articles are freely imported….He should arrange that the foreign sailors who land in his country on account of storms, illness, and exhaustion are looked after in a manner suitable to their nationalities….Make the merchants of distant foreign countries who import elephants and good horses attached to yourself by providing them with daily audience, presents and allowing decent profits. Then those articles will never go to your enemies.”

Indeed the trades of war horses were incredibly vital to the Vijaynagar Empire and it was wiling to go to great lengths to procure horses, even to the point of overpaying as well as buying dead horses since the Empire wanted to ensure that all traders would be solely attracted to Vijaynagar ports rather than the ports of their enemies.

“Accounts of foreigners- Europeans and Muslims- confirm that Vijaynagara rulers like Saluva Narasimha and the Tuluva kings offered importers high prices for horses, even dead one’s, so as to monopolise the traffic in horses.”

All this trade resulted in a large increase of “money media” that is the gold coins, copper, and bullions which were used to pay for various goods which expanded internal trade within the subcontinent itself due to the vast increases in hard currency.

“Apart from the gold and silver hoarded or recast as personal or religious uses, most of the imported money media, including copper, and even cowries, added to the stock of money and made possible the expansion of money revenue demands everywhere in India and stimulated internal trade”

“One major consequence was the substantial increase in money media which attend foreign trade of the time. All evidence points to the favorable trade balances of international trade for India and the settlement of these balances by bullion payments by foreign merchants.”

The stimulation of internal trade would have led to a great deal of economic activity on the subcontinent and theoretically filled the coffers of the Raya through taxes, tribute, tariffs, and tolls.
However Vijaynagar had difficulty exploiting this trade due to the feudal and decentralized nature of the Empire. Taxes were collected by the various vassals, the Nayaks and only a portion of the taxes was sent to the Raya while the rest remained in the pockets of the Nayaks.

“It has been shown that expanding, robust international trade was no more easy for the kings of Vijayanagara to tap for their uses than it was for the Mughals, in fact probably a good deal less easy”

In addition to this frequently enemies of the state became rich rather than the state itself. For instance Jamal-ud-Din son of a Goan ship builder, managed to get rich off trade and hired an army and managed to establish himself as ruler of Honavur with 6,000 troops over 50 ships midway between Goa and Mangaluru. The Vijaynagar ruler Devaraya II invaded it to restore Hindu rule, and forced the chief to pay tribute to him. Frequently it was such individuals that benefited rather than the Vijaynagar Empire.

“The review of trade and politics on the Kanara coast in the previous chapter lead to the conclusion that the major political beneficiaries of the rich trade were local Hindu and Jaina chiefs during the sixteenth centaury.”

“Rajas on the Malabar coast south of Kaar also gained new resources from the increased trade of the sixteenth centaury and readily tuned these resources into political assets. Others who found ways to convert trade wealth into political dominance were Muslims, among the most active traders.”

These local rulers were able to take the financial capital gained from the trade and turn it into political power. This resulted in a strengthening of the vassals of the Vijaynagar Empire since the vassals were more willing to assert themselves against the King. The Raya was often forced to launch campaigns against unruly vassals to subdue them. All this quite possibly led to the eventual fragmentation of the Vijaynagar Empire.
Ultimately the Portuguese established a monopoly over all sea trade in particular along the Kanara coastline. The Portuguese monopoly made the Vijaynagar economy entirely dependent on Portugal and served to undermine the local industries of the state.

“In the initial years, no doubt the arrival of Portuguese had a positive impact on the State especially on the economy, culture and technological development and oversea trade. During the subsequent period, i.e., later half of the 15th century as well as during the post-Vijayanagara period, Portuguese took over the control of the port towns and they became masters of the western coast and trade. Certainly this had a negative impact on the economy of the State”

The Portuguese actively sought to enforce a monopoly on trade in the Indian Ocean, and used piracy to break the former Arab monopoly on trade, as well as extracting trade privileges from ports in the region through force, as can be seen in Calicut. However it is possible that the Portuguese actions did not directly cause monopolization. While the Portuguese contributed toward the monopoly through their actions the monopoly was inevitable. Indeed the monopoly structure in the Indian Ocean trade already existed previously. The Arabs were notably the ones who controlled it. Later the monopoly was shifted to the Portuguese, then to be taken by the Dutch, French, and ultimately the British. Thus it is argued that the conditions for the monopoly were already present and that the Portuguese merely continued operating under the existent structure. Indeed the monopoly can even be viewed as self inflicted by the Vijaynagar Empire through their practice of offering exorbitant prices for horses even dead ones. Vijaynagar allowed them to fall under this monopoly and even encouraged it. However both parties are equally responsible for the economic situation.

“The Vijaynagara Empire solely depended on the Portuguese traders and during the helm and later part of the Vijayanagara Empire, as well as during post-Vijayangara period the rulers entered into agreements and business deeds with Portuguese traders for the oversea trading activities. There is also a view that due to this act of over dependency, the economy of the native State crumbled and economy of the state was at stake. This helped the Portuguese to become the overlords of ports of the port towns and western sea.”

This attributes the Portuguese monopoly and the domination of the Portuguese traders on the Western coastline to have eventually led to the economic collapse of the Vijaynagar Empire due to overdependence on the Portuguese trade. This can be seen by applying simple economic concepts such as the balance of trade. The Vijaynagar Empire was importing more than it was exporting to the Portuguese and as a result it had a negative balance of trade. Furthermore a monopoly results in higher prices for the consumer. Thus it is quite likely that the Vijaynagar Empire was paying higher prices for its imports while selling its exports relatively cheap. The reason for this is clear. The Vijaynagar Empire considered the imports such as war horses, guns, and cannons to be of immense value, vital to the survival of the state even and went to great lengths and was willing to pay heftily for these goods. The exports of Vijaynagar such as various condiments and spices were plentiful in the region and it is likely that Vijaynagar did not know the true value of these goods to the Portuguese and Europeans. Thus they are liable to have sold these condiments and spices at a cheap price while the Portuguese could make a large profit by selling them much higher on the European market where they were very much valued. With such a situation in the balance of trade it is true that the result would have been eventual economic collapse.

Socio-Political Impact:

The social-political impact of the Portuguese upon Vijaynagar at first appears to be limited. The Portuguese introduced Catholic Christianity to South India and it managed to establish a foothold on the western coast mainly in Portuguese held territories such as Goa, and Calicut. Despite the new religion there was little impact initially

“Catholic Christianity did not make any impact on the traditions and beliefs of Vijayanagara and societal structures and other religious disturbances in the core areas of the kingdom. At the peripheral zones, particularly port towns on the western coast, the alien religion had some foothold.”

The religious impact on Vijaynagar society from Portugal may have been limited but the impact upon Vijaynagar’s bureaucratic structure, and societal set up was drastic.

Krishnadevaraya, considered to be one of the greatest rulers of Vijaynagar, launched a centralization effort during his reign. Previously the empire had been ruled by one Raya who delegated responsibility to his vassals located mainly in the south. The vassals such as Tanjore, Travancore, Chola, and others recognized the Raya as their vassal lord, paid tribute to him, collected taxes for him and provided him with troops in his name. The set up of Vijaynagar society was extremely feudal and decentralized. This was one of the serious disadvantages of Vijaynagar when compared with their enemies the Islamic Sultanates who had a centralized base of power with the Sultan holding absolute power and various governors and ministers carrying out administrative duties, all of them ultimately answerable to him. Portuguese trade may have ultimately contributed to the break up of Vijaynagar as it resulted in decentralization. Thus after the fall of the capital in 1565, rather than remaining intact the vassals of Vijaynagar all broke away declaring their independence. Notably the successor states of Vijaynagar were Mysore, the Nayaks of Tanjore, Travancore, Polygars Madurai and other states. The Portuguese influence resulted in generals gaining a great deal of power since the Vijaynagar Empire bought large amounts of weaponry and mercenaries from the Portuguese and the generals gained power and glory during their campaigns, and were able to set themselves up as rulers of their own personal kingdoms. Thus when the capital fell to the Sultanate’s armies, the Empire dissolved since there was nothing left holding them together and reverted to its feudal form. In this regard we can see that the Portuguese impact was terribly damaging on the socio-political structure of Vijaynagar.

However one must be careful to moderate the viewpoint of the colonial period. In the modern era Indian historians tend to write the histories of their nations rather than relying on foreign, often colonial sources such as Robert Sewell, as was done previously. Both sources contain inherent biases. The Indian historians tend to glorify the native kingdoms and demonize the colonizers and are often accused of being revisionist. On the other hand the colonial sources often tend to downplay the achievements of the local kingdom while praising the contributions of the colonizers.

For instance A.H. Longhurst states “The Hindus of Southern India are indebted to the Portuguese for the introduction of the use of a very valuable building material.” Now this is certainly true that the Portuguese introduced lime and mortar cement to Vijaynagar and aided in the construction of a dam. However the manner in which it is stated indicated heavy bias against the natives. Indeed the idea of the natives being indebted toward their colonizers indicates a very colonial mindset known as “The White Man’s Burden”. We must be careful to see this bias in the writings of A.H. Longhurst and Sewell as it is likely that they tends to exaggerate the scale of the Portuguese contribution to the Vijaynagar Empire. Some Indian sources such as Mr. Vasudevan Conjeevaram however may tend to attribute too many of the Empire’s ills to the Portuguese or other colonizers. Another problem is the shortfall of Indian sources on this topic which forces us to rely heavily upon colonial sources.

Conclusion:

So to our original question of “To what extent did the arrival of the Portuguese impact the Vijaynagar Empire?” The extent of the Portuguese impact was tremendous and far reaching affecting everything from the economy, technology, geo-political situation, and socio-political aspect. By and large the Portuguese impact seems to be largely balanced in its positives and negatives. We can always speculate that perhaps if the Portuguese hadn’t arrived then the Vijaynagar Empire would have lasted longer, or perhaps the opposite would have occurred. The “what if” question is merely in the realm of pure speculation. However it is clear that the impact of the Portuguese was immense upon Vijaynagar and largely balanced. The Portuguese did much good for the state often in the short run while causing it great harm in the long run. In the short run they provided a new ally to Vijaynagar, as well as mercenaries and improved military capabilities and the benefits of trade through the increase of money media. In the long run however they ended up leading to the eventual political and economic collapse of the state through the forces of monopolization and decentralization which were exacerbated by their presence and practices. It is clear that no one opinion is absolutely true. But one thing is clear that without the Portuguese the history of the Vijaynagar Empire would be drastically different for better or for worse.

We have here maps of the the Vijaynagar Empire and India at the time:

The first map is of the early Vijaynagar Empire in 1398.

The next map shows the Vijaynagar Empire later in its reign in 1561.

The last map shows the situation after the collapse of the Vijaynagar Empire

Bibliography:

Conjeevaram, Vasudevan. E-Mail interview. 12 Apr. 2007.

Danvers, Fredrick C. The PortugueseIn India. Vol. 1,2. Delhi: B.R. Corporation, 1894.

Gribble, J.D. B. History of the Deccan. Vol. 1. New Delhi: Rupa & Co., 1896.

Longhurst, A. H. Hampi Ruins. 13th ed. Madras: Swan Sonnenschein & Co., 1917.

Pinto, Celsa. Trade and Finance in Portuguese India. New Delhi: Concept Company, 1992.

Sewell, Robert. A Forgotten Empire. 13th ed. London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co., Ltd.,
1900.

Stein, Burton. The New Cambridge History of India, Vijaynagar. Cambridge: Foundation Books, 1993.

Very impressive Silver, I can say I definetely learned something to day about the culture of High Medieval India. So, since the were Vjaryangia the only remaining Hindu kingdom, did that mean other Hindu's were able to peacefully co-exist under Muslim regimes?

So, since the were Vjaryangia the only remaining Hindu kingdom, did that mean other Hindu's were able to peacefully co-exist under Muslim regimes?

The Hindu kingdoms that existed prior to Vijaynagar were conquered or vassalized such as Warangal, Devagiri, and Teligana. Various incidents of massacre of Hindu's and destruction and vandalisim of temples have been recorded at this time period. Vijaynagar often retaliated similarly. Even as late as the 1800's, the conflict between Hindu-Muslim kingdoms continued as seen with the Maratha's against the Mughals, and the Sikhs against the Afghans.

Vijaynagar itself had its capital burned to the ground and population massacred by the armies of the Sultanates of Bijapur, Golkonda, Ahmadnagar, Bidar, and Berar.

Of course that not to say of course that Hindu's didn't live peacefully in these kingdoms. Bijapur for instance employed Bhramins to serve in its bureaucracy as tax collectors and such things. The Mughal Empire too displayed high levels of tolerance to its Hindu subjects.

But just because Vijaynagar was the only Hindu kingdom left didn't mean that there was peaceful coexistence by any means.

For the most part, it is a very well thought out paper. I think your introduction could use some work though. There are quite a few facts, while interesting, that have little to do with the subject at all. On top of that, the introduction should pull the reader in. As it stands, it just starts talking about the subject without any real transition, which could put the common reader off. Aside form that though, great paper!

Are you looking to get a diploma from CfC? :lol:

Are you looking to get a diploma from CfC?

It was for my IB.

You should say which sources provide which quotes, and you use quite a lot of casual idiom. Interesting presentation of the facts, though I would dispute short term gain/long term problems as 'balanced' which implies a concurrency of effects.

Congratulations for writing it but i can't offer an opinion until i read it all.

You should say which sources provide which quotes, and you use quite a lot of casual idiom.

For some reason footnotes don't copy and paste. I don't know why. Nor do paragraph indentations for some reason.


I would dispute short term gain/long term problems as 'balanced' which implies a concurrency of effects.

I would have elaborated on that if not for the word limit. But the short term gains can be considered equally balanced in that it is quite likely these short term gains allowed for the survival of the Vijaynagar state.

The Vijaynagar armies were notorious for being huge but largely unwieldy and with weak morale. They lacked gunners, artillery, and archers. And they relied heavily on Islamic mercenaries to provide those forces. One can of course see the problem here. They often had less cavalry than the Islamic Sultanates as well.

The Portuguese quite possibly saved the Vijaynagar Empire in that they provided guns, cannons, as well as more reliable mercenaries. This pretty much saved Vijaynagar from being overrun by the forces of the Islamic Sultanates for quite some time. Tey also were no friend of the Sultanates for ideological reasons and the fact that they seized places like Daman.

Indeed if you look at the record of battles fought between the Vijaynagar Empire and the Bahmani Sultanate, and its successors the Deccan Sultanates you will see that the Islamic armies tended to win most of the battles. The Hindu armies had an unhealthy habit of breaking and running once the going got tough. Really the only thing that was really saving Vijaynagar before was its sheer weight of numbers. Vijaynagar armies often numbered up to a 100,000 men.

So if not for the Portuguese, Vijayanagar might not even have survived long enough for the long term problems of the monopoly and the impact on its societal structure to become apparent.

Very nice. :clap: I will link to it in the list.

Aren't your quotes supposed to be embedded within the paragraphs for IB? <_<

Aren't your quotes supposed to be embedded within the paragraphs for IB? <_<

Not if their above 2 lines. Then its supposed to be separate.