A Note on Portuguese Reactions to the Revival of the Red Sea Spice Trade and the Rise of Atjeh, 1540–1600

TLDR

The Portuguese 16th‑century maritime dominance in the Indian Ocean was not uniformly effective, and the revival of the Red Sea spice trade after the 1538 Turkish occupation of Aden—particularly its link to the rise of Atjeh—has been under‑examined, especially regarding economic impacts. The paper aims to expand on the data presented by Meilink‑Roelofsz and Magalhaes Godinho to encourage further research in Indonesian, Arabian, or Turkish sources.

Abstract

No reputable historian nowadays maintains that the Portuguese 16th- century thalassocracy in the Indian Ocean was always and everywhere completely effective. In particular, it is widely accepted that there was a marked if erratic revival in the Red Sea spice-trade shortly after the first Turkish occupation of Aden in 1538, though much work remains to be done on the causes and effects of this development. The Portuguese reactions to the rise of Atjeh have been studied chiefly in connection with the frequent fighting in the Straits of Malacca; and the economic side of the struggle has been less considered. The connection of Atjeh with the revival of the Red Sea spice-trade has been insufficiently stressed; though Mrs. Meilink-Roelofsz and Dr. V. Magalhaes Godinho have some relevant observations on this point in their recent and well documented works ( Asian Trade and European Influence in the Indonesian Archipelago, 1500–1630 , The Hague, 1962, pp. 142–46; Os Descobrimentos e a Economia Mundial , Vol. II, Lisboa, 1967, pp. 111–171). The purpose of this paper is to amplify the facts and figures which they give there, in the hope that someone with the necessary linguistic qualifications will be incited to make complementary researches in the relevant Indonesian, Arabian, or Turkish sources.