Southwest Peninsular India, Calicut. It has been more than a month since Columbus's fleet arrived in Calicut. It stands to reason that Columbus should end the voyage and return.
But Columbus waited a while longer for the clove ship from the Indonesian Spice Islands. Moreover, even though he waited for more than a month, he did not wait for Da Gama's fleet.
In fact, after leaving Malindi, Da Gama went all the way north, and after arriving in Mogadishu in Somalia, he spent money to find out the location of India.
Then, Vasco da Gama ordered the fleet to sail northeast...
More than a month after Columbus arrived in Calicut, Vasco da Gama's fleet arrived in Surat on the west coast of India...
Surat is also an important commercial port in western India. This side is closer to the Arab region, and the business is prosperous. However, the price of spices is slightly different.
Of course, the price of pepper, Surat and Calicut are about the same. Because India is the origin of pepper. Cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg, however, cost more than Calicut.
Because, cinnamon is produced in Sri Lanka, while cloves and nutmeg are produced in the Spice Islands of Indonesia. Shipping from overseas still costs a lot of freight, so the price cannot be lowered.
In both Surat and Calicut, the price of pepper is 1.5 pfennigs a pound. However, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg are priced differently.
In Calicut, because it is close to the south and closer to Sri Lanka, the price of cinnamon is also 1.5 pfennig per pound. As for cloves and nutmeg, when Arabian sailing merchants went to the Spice Islands to ask the local aborigines to buy them, the purchase price was very cheap. Therefore, even if it is shipped to Calicut, India, it is 1.5 pfennig per pound. But in Surat, prices are a bit higher. Cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg, for example, cost around 1.7 pfennig a pound.
Of course, even with such a huge price difference, Da Gama was ecstatic. Because, in Europe, the price per pound of spices, whether it is pepper, cinnamon, cloves, or nutmeg, is more than 10 shillings per pound. Even at the purchase price of 2 pfennigs and 1 pound, and shipping it back to Europe, it is still profitable.
Columbus' fleet was in Calicut, not just for spices. Under Marin's instructions, Draka also went around looking for soybeans...
However, this thing is not difficult to find. At the roadside stall, Draka quickly found the legendary soybean... Taking out the picture given by Marin and comparing it, Draka was sure that this was what he needed. So he immediately bought 10 large bags of soybeans, and the cost was only 5 gold coins. In Europe, even the cheapest rye costs 1.6 gold coins a sack. Needless to say, wheat costs 8 gold coins per sack. In India, a sack of soybeans costs only 0.5 gold coins, which is much cheaper than the price of European rye.
After purchasing the soybeans, Draka began to sell the stained glass products worth 10,000 gold coins that were a specialty of Venice on the ship. However, this thing can't be said to be a best seller, nor can it be said that it can't be sold. The sales are a bit tepid. In fact, stained glass products are not particularly rare on the Indian side. Because Venetian merchants also sold a lot of stained glass products to India through Arab merchants. Therefore, it is not that Indians have never seen stained glass products. Therefore, they have no desire to snap up these stained glass objects.
Therefore, Draka has only sold glass products in Calicut for more than a month. Except for the er, spice boats waiting for the Spice Islands, because the stained glass items are slow to sell.
However, when the spice ships from the Spice Islands arrived in Calicut, they were more interested in the stained glass products of Draka. Because these stained glass products may not be too rare for Indians, but the natives on the Spice Islands like it...
So, the Arabian owner of the spice ship ate the general stained glass products left by Draka, and exchanged them for spices...
Stained glass worth 10,000 gold coins were soon replaced with spices. These spices weighed 400,000 pounds, equivalent to 181 tons. Columbus vacated the warehouses of two and a half ships to load the spices.
Then, Draka took out the 17,000 gold coins that Marin had prepared for him...
Originally, Marin gave Draka 20,000 gold coins. However, according to Marin's instructions, Draka bribed the local chiefs and princes with gold coins in Malindi and Calicut, and spent 3,000 gold coins. Of course, this is not white flowers. No, Chief Malindi became a good friend and even sent the navigator to help guide the party. The Prince of Calicut also showed great kindness, and sent people to help, preventing them, a group of foreigners, from being tricked by the locals.
For example, Da Gama came to India for the first time in history, but he was cheated a lot of money by businessmen from Calicut. Because the gift they gave to the prince of Calicut was too shabby, and the local prince didn't pay much attention to him. When I went to buy spices, I sold 1.5 pfennig a pound of spices to others, but I sold 2 pfennigs a pound to da Gama. Of course, even so, the profits of the Da Gama fleet are still very profitable. Because the price difference between European and Indian spices is too big.
Draka calculated, and now he has loaded 181 tons of spices. However, the total cargo capacity of the four ships is only 260 tons. In other words, the fleet now has a cargo capacity of less than 80 tons.
Draka thought about it and decided to buy something else. For example, gemstones that sell well locally or something. In addition, he also procured a large amount of copper...
In Europe, the ratio of silver to copper at this time is about 1:15. In India, the ratio of silver to copper is 1:100.
Draka remembered that Marin once said that more artillery should be built. So, he began to purchase copper ingots so that Marin could use them to make cannons. To this end, Draka spent 10,000 gold coins and bought 35 tons of copper. Then, gems and other rare items were also bought a few tons.
Then, Draka remembered that Marin seemed to be coming to India to purchase saltpeter. So, he went to look for saltpeter again...
Indian saltpeter is really cheap, only 2.72 pfennig per pound. A ton of saltpeter only costs 150 gold coins. At this time, the price of saltpeter in Europe was as low as 10 pfennig per pound. A little higher can cost as much as 15 pfennig a pound. The most important thing is that the production of saltpeter in Europe is small. If you want to buy large quantities, you can't buy them at all.
Because the saltpeter in Europe is basically found from latrines, and the output is very small. On the Indian side, saltpeter is abundant and cheap. No wonder the British East India Company made a fortune after getting involved in the saltpeter trade in India.
Draka bought 30 tons of saltpeter in one go, packed them tightly in waterproof leather bags, and placed them in the bilge of the last ship to prevent water and fire... Then, the ship was filled with goods...
After purchasing another batch of grain and storing a batch of fresh water with the heating mud sealing method, Columbus officially returned with the fleet...
As for the return route, of course it is the original route. Now, even without Majid, Columbus is confident that he can return smoothly along the original route with the help of the logbook in between. Because, he is an excellent old driver in the nautical industry...