page_title: Casa da Índia
section_title: Shipyards
hierarchical_section_title: Casa da Índia / Organization / Shipyards
caption_attribution_description: English: Panoramic view of Lisbon circa 1730 by an unkoun artist.Português: Vista de Lisboa por volta de 1730 por mestre desconhecido. O quadro intitula-se "D. João III e o núncio apostólico da Índia" ou "A partida de São Francisco Xavier". A vista panorâmica é feita a partir do rio Tejo e mostra o aspecto que a cidade teria por volta de 1730.
context_page_description: The Casa da Índia was a Portuguese state-run commercial organization founded during the Age of Discovery, charged with the regulation of international trade and the administration of the Portuguese Empire's territories, colonies, and factories across India, Africa, and the rest of Asia. Central to the Casa da Índia's objectives was the establishment and protection of a Portuguese mare clausum in the Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, Arabian sea, and the Indies. It was founded by King Manuel I of Portugal in 1500 to direct Portugal's monopoly of the spice trade and to manage royal policy for Portuguese India. Following 1503, it absorbed the Casa da Guiné e Mina, an organization founded by Prince Henry the Navigator in 1443, which operated under a similar mandate for Portuguese Africa, thus making the Casa da Índia responsible for the regulation of all Portuguese imperial trade, the administration of Portuguese trade posts and military bases in Asia and Africa, and protection of the Portuguese Crown's commercial interests.
context_section_description: Separately from the Casa was the Armazém da Guiné e Indias, the new name for the naval arsenal.  It was assigned all nautical responsibilities, i.e. the running of the Lisbon dockyards, the construction of ships, the hiring and training of crews and supplying the fleets with equipment - sails, ropes, guns, nautical instruments and maps.
  The Piloto-Mor of the Armazem, a position held between 1503 and 1526 by Pero Anes, Gonçalo Álvares and João de Lisboa, was probably responsible for the training of pilot-navigators and the drafting of navigational charts. 
  In 1547, the position of Cosmografo-mor (High-Cosmographer) was created for the famed mathematician Pedro Nunes and the cartographic duties passed over to him.
  The Provedor dos Armazéms was in charge of screening and hiring of crews.  The Almoxarife or Recebedor dos Armazéms, was the customs-collector, a highly-profitable job that was once held by Bartolomeu Dias in the mid-1490s.
  Although theoretically separate, the Casa and the Armazém kept in contact and coordinated matters with each other, the expenses from one charged to the treasurer of the other, and officers moved seamlessly between them.  As a result, it was common to use Casa da Índia to refer to the whole complex.
caption: The Armazém da Guiné e Indias, the shipyards of the Casa da Índia.
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