NUMISMATICS

Portuguese imperialism sought to present itself as the embodiment of a divine Caesar and thereby to absolve itself from the obligation of render¬ing the spoils either unto God or unto Caesar. Rapine became thus an essential part of the crusade. The Portuguese could thus evolve a curious blend of lust for gold and souls. Its numismatic expres¬sion was the Cruzado. The early navigational expeditions took the Portuguese to the coast of West Africa, and the gold of Guinea that started flowing into Lisbon and was minted into Cruzados placed Portugal on the currency map of Europe.

K.M. Panikkar has described the pioneer voyage of Vasco da Gama to India in terms of inauguration of the ‘Vasco da Gama epoch of Asian history’. Following this discovery of India by sea, the King of Por¬tugal had also entitled himself ‘Lord of Guinea and of the Conquest of the Navigation and Commerce of Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia and India’.