Page:History of India Vol 6.djvu/109

 MEDIAEVAL EUROPEAN ATTITUDE TOWARD ASIA 67 I have dwelt on that settlement, because it explains much that has hitherto been obscure, and not a little that has hitherto seemed unreasonable, in the action of European nations in Asia. It enables us to under- stand how the Portuguese came habitually to speak of all India as their own, although they never possessed more than a few petty settlements on its coast. It throws light on the long hesitation of Protestant Eng- land before she struck boldly into the Indian seas on her own account. It legally justified the stigma of piracy affixed by Spain and Portugal to our intrusion within their demarcated line. While the Dutch East India Company were " rebeldes," as representing the Protestant revolt against Spain, the English East India Company were " piratas," as representing the Protes- tant intrusion on the Papal settlement of the unknown world. This term still clings to the English in the Portuguese memory, and was revived against us during the strained relations of 1891. Even the British sov- ereigns, which long formed the chief gold currency of Portugal, were popularly known as " piratas." It may seem as if the rounding of the Cape by Dias in 1487, and Covilham's instructions in 1490 for com- pleting the route to India, should at once have opened up Asia to Portugal. But in 1490 King John II was seized by the lingering malady, supposed to have been caused by drinking poisoned water, which overshad- owed the rest of his life. On his partial recovery in 1491 he had to lament the death of his only son; his queen was attacked by a sickness, almost mortal, in