sentences:  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.Founded with the intent of protecting Portugal's monopoly on the spice trade, the Casa da Índia began financing and organizing the Portuguese India Armadas in 1497, annual armadas of galleons, carracks, and caravels transporting commodities, like gold, ivory, and spices, between Lisbon and the Portuguese trade posts and colonies across Africa and Asia.