Syrian Christian Encounters with Colonial Missionaries and Indian Nationalism

On May 20, 1498 the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama, leading an expedition of four small ships, landed in Calicut, a port city in Kerala. Although the aim of the Portuguese expedition was to discover a new sea route to spice centers in India, da Gama was also in search of Kerala Christians, whom the Portuguese had heard about (Subrahmanyam 1998). Dom Manuel, the Portuguese king who had sponsored da Gama, apparently had big plans for Christians to regain their position in the Middle East and wrest control over spice routes from Muslims, and wanted Christian allies to achieve these