Red City on the Ocean

Chapter 6. The King and His Navigators

In the castle of St. George, at the bottom of a regal staircase, there were two guards in armor and with halberds in their hands. These stairs ascended to the upper landing that opened on the left to a great square hall. The hall was illuminated by the sun's rays, freely penetrating through the huge windows that were as spacious as the entrance. Swallows sometimes flew through one window, only to immediately disappear through the opening of the other.

This was the king's study. In the middle of this spacious hall, there was a long table covered with dishes of food and jugs of drinks. The stone walls were decorated with carpets, tapestries, antique armor, and weapons. Along the walls, there were chests, caskets, and open cabinets, in which were stored large and small scrolls of papers and stacks of documents.

Between the two grand windows, there was an exit to a spacious balcony. Walking along it, one could walk around the tower and explore Lisbon; from this height, the entire city could be appreciated at a mere glance.

There were three people sitting at the table dressed in the usual attire for the time. At the end of the table, on a large, comfortable chair, sat the king, a young man in a simple white shirt, ordinary pants, and boots. If the king's bearing had not been truly royal, a foreigner, seeing Joao II in this costume, could have mistaken him for one of the guests. The king was meeting with the most famous navigators of Portugal. "Today I will have to make an important choice," the king said. "I will need your help, Senhors. You will tell me again what the goals of your voyages are."

The king raised a silver goblet to his lips and took a sip. His guests stood up and also drank from their cups. "Bartolomeu, where do you want to sail your ships?"

Bartolomeu Dias, a 33-year-old sailor, stood up and spoke respectfully, "My goal, Your Majesty, has not changed in recent years. I, like you, believe that we should build forts on the African coast. They will guard our merchants and missionaries and protect them from both savages and our European rivals. We have recently built the fort of Castelo da Mina. It is the first of many. To raise that fort, it took ten caravels and two cargo ships to be sent to the predetermined place on the coast of Africa. The land in the vicinity of the fort has no name yet. During the journey to this land, we did not meet any other ships, and therefore Your Majesty has every reason to consider this land as belonging to the Portuguese crown. I propose to call it the Gold Coast because it is very rich in gold. As for the rest, I want to continue moving toward the south of Africa."

The king nodded and took another sip from his goblet. It was clear he liked what the navigator said.

"We will move south along the African coast," Dias continued, "and make maps of rivers as we traverse along them into the utmost depths of Africa. We will find out who lives there, what riches they have, and what benefits we can bring to each other. Most of all, we need free hands now. They will allow us to extract the gold scattered along the gold-bearing rivers and deliver it to our forts and trading posts to be shipped to Portugal."

"But this single fort is too weak for such defense," the king said. "Even if you start bringing gold into it, it will be very easy to lose control of it. Soon, after us, the Castilians, Moors, and only God knows who else, will sail there. We are not the only ones who have suitable ships. You must know this. By "free hands" you probably mean black slaves?"

Bartolomeu Dias nodded respectfully.

"Well, these slaves will have to be fed," the king grinned. "We'll have to pay their guards. Won't your "free hands" cost the treasury too much?" The king got up from his chair and went to the window under the stone arch, covered with amazingly fine carvings. The navigators were silent. Standing at the window, Joao II admired the view of his beautiful capital. Vessels of all sizes, merchants' longboats, and fishermen's skiffs scurried along the Tagus River below.