FACTORS BEHIND ADVENT OF PORTUGUESE.(Part 1):
1. Trading reason
• In 1453, Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks.
• Merchandise from India went to the European markets through Arab Muslim intermediaries.
• The Red Sea trade route was a state monopoly from which Islamic rulers earned tremendous revenues.
•The land routes to India were also controlled by the Arabs. In the circumstances, the Europeans were keen to find a direct sea route to India.
2. Religious reason
• The opening of a sea-route to India would give a big blow to the Muslims—the Arabs and Turks, who were the traditional enemies of Christianity, and posing new threat to Europe by virtue of the growing military and naval power of the Turks.
3. Pope interest
• Pope Nicholas V gave Prince Henry a bull in 1454, conferring on him the right to navigate the “sea to the distant shores of the Orient”, more specifically “as far as India” in an attempt to fight Islamic influence and spread the Christian faith.
