The State of India ( pt, Estado da Índia), also referred as the Portuguese State of India (''Estado Português da Índia'', EPI) or simply Portuguese India (), was a
state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
of the
Portuguese Empire
The Portuguese Empire ( pt, Império Português), also known as the Portuguese Overseas (''Ultramar Português'') or the Portuguese Colonial Empire (''Império Colonial Português''), was composed of the overseas colonies, factories, and the ...
founded six years after
the discovery of a sea route to the
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...
by
Vasco da Gama, a
subject of the
Kingdom of Portugal. The capital of Portuguese India served as the governing centre of a string of
military forts and
trade post
A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded.
Typically the location of the trading post would allow people from one geographic area to tr ...
s scattered all over the
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...
.
The first viceroy,
Francisco de Almeida
Dom Francisco de Almeida (), also known as the Great Dom Francisco (c. 1450 – 1 March 1510), was a Portuguese nobleman, soldier and explorer. He distinguished himself as a counsellor to King John II of Portugal and later in the wars against ...
established his base of operations at
Fort Manuel, after the
Kingdom of Cochin
The Kingdom of Cochin, named after its capital in the city of Kochi (Cochin), was a kingdom in the central part of present-day Kerala state. It commenced at the early part of the 12th century and continued to rule until 1949, when monarchy wa ...
negotiated to become a
protectorate
A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a state that is under protection by another state for defence against aggression and other violations of law. It is a dependent territory that enjoys autonomy over most of its int ...
of Portugal in 1505. With the
Portuguese conquest of Goa
The Portuguese conquest of Goa occurred when the governor Afonso de Albuquerque captured the city in 1510 from the Adil Shahis. Goa became the capital of the Portuguese State of India which included possessions such as Fort Manuel, the territ ...
from the
Bijapur Sultanate
The Adil Shahi or Adilshahi, was a Shia,Salma Ahmed Farooqui, ''A Comprehensive History of Medieval India: From Twelfth to the Mid-Eighteenth Century'', (Dorling Kindersley Pvt Ltd., 2011), 174. and later Sunni Muslim,Muhammad Qasim Firishta's T ...
in 1510, Goa became the major
anchorage for the
Portuguese Armadas
The Portuguese Indian Armadas ( pt, Armadas da Índia) were the fleets of ships funded by the Crown of Portugal, and dispatched on an annual basis from Portugal to India. The principal destination was Goa, and previously Cochin. These armadas ...
arriving in India. The capital of the viceroyalty was transferred from Cochin in the
Malabar region
The Malabar Coast is the southwestern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Geographically, it comprises the wettest regions of southern India, as the Western Ghats intercept the moisture-laden monsoon rains, especially on their westward-facing m ...
to Goa in 1530. From 1535,
Mumbai (Bombay) was a
harbour of Portuguese India as ''
Bom Bahia'', until it was handed over via the
dowry of Catherine Braganza
Catherine of Braganza ( pt, Catarina de Bragança; 25 November 1638 – 31 December 1705) was Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland during her marriage to King Charles II, which lasted from 21 May 1662 until his death on 6 February 1685. She ...
, to
Charles II of England in 1661. The expression "State of India" began regularly appearing in documents in the mid-16th century.
Until the 18th century, the viceroy at Goa had authority over all Portuguese possessions in and around the Indian Ocean, from
southern Africa
Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number o ...
to
southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...
. In 1752,
Mozambique
Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...
got its own separate government, from 1844 onwards
Portuguese Goa
Old Goa ( Konkani: ; pt, Velha Goa, translation='Old Goa') is a historical site and city situated on the southern banks of the River Mandovi, within the Tiswadi ''taluka'' (''Ilhas'') of North Goa district, in the Indian state of Goa.
The ...
stopped administering
Macao
Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a po ...
,
Solor and
Timor
Timor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The island is divided between the sovereign states of East Timor on the eastern part and Indonesia on the western part. The Indonesian part, also ...
.
In later years,
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
's authority was confined to holdings in the
Canara
Kanara, also known as Karavali is the historically significant stretch of land situated by the southwestern coast of India, alongside the Arabian Sea in the present-day Indian state of Karnataka.
The region comprises three civil districts, ...
,
Cambay
Cambay, Kambay or Khambhat was a princely state in India during the British Raj. The City of Khambat (Cambay) in present-day Gujarat was its capital. The state was bounded in the north by the Kaira district and in the south by the Gulf of C ...
and
Konkan regions, along the west
coast of India. At the time of the dissolution of the
British Raj
The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Quote: "Mill, who was him ...
in 1947, Portuguese India comprised three
administrative subdivision
Administrative division, administrative unit,Article 3(1). country subdivision, administrative region, subnational entity, constituent state, as well as many similar terms, are generic names for geographical areas into which a particular, ind ...
s, sometimes referred to collectively as ''Goa'': namely
Goa
Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...
which included
Anjediva
Anjediva Island (also Anjadip Island) ( Konkani: Anjadiv; Portuguese: ''Ilha de Angediva'') is an Indian island in the Arabian Sea. It sits off the coast of Canacona. It is politically part of Goa state, geographically the nearest mainland is th ...
; and
Daman, which included the
exclaves of
Dadra and Nagar Haveli
Dadra and Nagar Haveli is a district of the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu in western India. It is composed of two separate geographical entities: Nagar Haveli, wedged in between Maharashtra and Gujarat states t ...
and
Dio district
Diu district (Indo-Portuguese; ''Distrito de Dio'') is one of the three districts of the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu of India. The district is made up of Diu Island and two small enclaves on the Indian mainlan ...
s. The
Salazar regime
The ''Estado Novo'' (, lit. "New State") was the Corporate statism, corporatist Portugal, Portuguese state installed in 1933. It evolved from the ''Ditadura Nacional'' ("National Dictatorship") formed after the 28 May 1926 coup d'état, ''cou ...
of Portugal
lost de-facto control of Dadra and Nagar Haveli in 1954. Finally, the rest of the overseas territory was lost in December 1961 with the Indian
annexation of Goa
The Annexation of Goa was the process in which the Republic of India annexed ', the then Portuguese Indian territories of Goa, Daman and Diu, starting with the armed action carried out by the Indian Armed Forces in December 1961. In India, ...
under
PM Nehru. Portugal only recognised Indian control after the
Carnation Revolution and the fall of the
Estado Novo regime by a treaty signed on 31 December 1974.
Context
Vasco da Gama lands in India
The first Portuguese encounter with the subcontinent was on 20 May 1498 when
Vasco da Gama reached
Calicut
Kozhikode (), also known in English as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. It has a corporation limit population of 609,224 and a metropolitan population of more than 2 million, making it the second l ...
on the
Malabar Coast
The Malabar Coast is the southwestern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Geographically, it comprises the wettest regions of southern India, as the Western Ghats intercept the moisture-laden monsoon rains, especially on their westward-facing m ...
. Anchored off the coast of Calicut, the Portuguese invited native fishermen on board and immediately bought some Indian items. One Portuguese accompanied the fishermen to the port and met with a
Tunisia
)
, image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa
, image_map2 =
, capital = Tunis
, largest_city = capital
, ...
n Muslim. On the advice of this man, Gama sent a couple of his men to
Ponnani to meet with ruler of Calicut, the
Zamorin
The Samoothiri (Anglicised as Zamorin; Malayalam: , Arabic: ''Sāmuri'', Portuguese: ''Samorim'', Dutch: ''Samorijn'', Chinese: ''Shamitihsi''Ma Huan's Ying-yai Sheng-lan: 'The Overall Survey of the Ocean's Shores' 433 Translated and Edited b ...
. Over the objections of Arab merchants, Gama managed to secure a
letter of concession for trading rights from the Zamorin, Calicut's ruler. But, the Portuguese were unable to pay the prescribed customs duties and price of his goods in gold.
Later Calicut officials temporarily detained Gama's Portuguese agents as security for payment. This, however, annoyed Gama, who carried a few natives and sixteen fishermen with him by force.
Nevertheless, Gama's expedition was successful beyond all reasonable expectation, bringing in cargo that was worth sixty times the cost of the expedition.
Pedro Álvares Cabral
Pedro Álvares Cabral
Pedro Álvares Cabral ( or ; born Pedro Álvares de Gouveia; c. 1467 or 1468 – c. 1520) was a Portuguese nobleman, military commander, navigator and explorer regarded as the European discoverer of Brazil. He was the first human in ...
sailed to
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, marking the arrival of Europeans to
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
on the way, to trade for
pepper
Pepper or peppers may refer to:
Food and spice
* Piperaceae or the pepper family, a large family of flowering plant
** Black pepper
* ''Capsicum'' or pepper, a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family Solanaceae
** Bell pepper
** Chili ...
and other spices, negotiating and establishing a
factory
A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. ...
at
Calicut
Kozhikode (), also known in English as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. It has a corporation limit population of 609,224 and a metropolitan population of more than 2 million, making it the second l ...
, where he arrived on 13 September 1500. Matters worsened when the Portuguese factory at Kozhikode was attacked by surprise by the locals, resulting in the death of more than fifty Portuguese. Cabral was outraged by the attack on the factory and seized ten Arab merchant ships anchored in the harbour, killing about six hundred of their crew and confiscating their cargo before burning the ships. Cabral also ordered his ships to bombard Calicut for an entire day in retaliation for the violation of the agreement. In
Cochin
Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...
and
Cannanore
Kannur (), formerly known in English as Cannanore, is a Cities in India, city and a municipal corporation in the state of Kerala, India. It is the administrative headquarters of the Kannur district and situated north of the major port city a ...
Cabral succeeded in making advantageous treaties with the local rulers. Cabral started the return voyage on 16 January 1501 and arrived in Portugal with only 4 of 13 ships on 23 June 1501.
In 1502, the Portuguese built a trade post in
Pulicat
Pulicat or Pazhaverkadu is a historic seashore town in Chennai Metropolitan Area at Thiruvallur District, of Tamil Nadu state, India. It is about north of Chennai and from Elavur, on the southern periphery of the Pulicat Lake. Pulicat lake i ...
because its location at the mouth of a lagoon made it a great natural harbor.
João da Nova
The third Portuguese expedition to reach India sailed under the command of João da Nova and was composed of four ships, tasked mainly with acquiring spices and returning to Europe. While en route the fleet discovered the islands of Ascension and Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, and despite having been planned as a purely commercial expedition, the fleet clashed with vessels of the Zamorin of Calicut off the Malabar Coast in what was the first significant naval battle of the Portuguese India.
The fleet may also have called at Ceylon.
Vasco da Gama
Vasco da Gama sailed to India for a
second time with 15 ships and 800 men, arriving at Calicut on 30 October 1502. Gama this time made a call to expel all Muslims from
Calicut
Kozhikode (), also known in English as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. It has a corporation limit population of 609,224 and a metropolitan population of more than 2 million, making it the second l ...
which was turned down. The ruler showed willingness to sign a treaty but Gama bombarded the city and captured several rice vessels after he was informed that the Zamorin was messaging neighboring rulers to join him in resisting the Portuguese at the same time.
While in India Gama also attacked Onor, reduced Baticala to tributary status, established a trade treaty and trading post at Cananore, and clashed with a fleet belonging to the Zamorin. He returned to
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
in September 1503.
Afonso de Albuquerque
The expedition of 1503 was the first time Afonso de Albuquerque sailed to India, as its commander. Its activities were limited to erecting a fort on the territory of the allied kingdom of Cochin, signing a peace with Zamorin that would prove brief, and opening a new trading post on
Kollam.
Lopo Soares de Albergaria
The sixth Portuguese expedition to sail to India was commanded by
Lopo Soares de Albergaria
Lopo Soares de Albergaria (c. 1460 in Lisbon – c. 1520 in Torres Vedras) was the fifth captain-major of the Portuguese Gold Coast and third governor of Portuguese India, having reached India in 1515 to succeed Afonso de Albuquerque as governor.
...
, who bombarded Calicut, relieved
Duarte Pacheco Pereira
Duarte Pacheco Pereira (; c. 1460 – 1533), called the Portuguese Achilles (''Aquiles Lusitano'') by the poet Camões, was a Portuguese sea captain, soldier, explorer and cartographer. He travelled particularly in the central Atlantic Ocean we ...
and the Portuguese garrison at Cochin defending the territory from a large attack by the Zamorin, sacked
Cranganore
Kodungallur (; also Cranganore, Portuguese: Cranganor; formerly known as Mahodayapuram, Shingly, Vanchi, Muchiri, Muyirikkode, and Muziris) is a historically significant town situated on the banks of river Periyar on the Malabar Coast in Thr ...
, struck an allegiance with the
king of Tanur which removed him from the suzerainty of the Zamorin, and finally captured a large Egyptian trade fleet at
Pandarane
A Survey of Kerala History, A. Shreedhara Menon ar, Fundriya pt, Pandarani
, settlement_type = MunicipalityTaluk
, image_skyline = KadaloorPointLight 01.jpg
, image_alt =
, image_caption ...
.
Foundation (1505–1515)
Francisco de Almeida
On 25 March 1505,
Francisco de Almeida
Dom Francisco de Almeida (), also known as the Great Dom Francisco (c. 1450 – 1 March 1510), was a Portuguese nobleman, soldier and explorer. He distinguished himself as a counsellor to King John II of Portugal and later in the wars against ...
was appointed ''Viceroy of India'', on the condition that he would set up four forts on the southwestern Indian coast: at
Anjediva
Anjediva Island (also Anjadip Island) ( Konkani: Anjadiv; Portuguese: ''Ilha de Angediva'') is an Indian island in the Arabian Sea. It sits off the coast of Canacona. It is politically part of Goa state, geographically the nearest mainland is th ...
,
Cannanore
Kannur (), formerly known in English as Cannanore, is a Cities in India, city and a municipal corporation in the state of Kerala, India. It is the administrative headquarters of the Kannur district and situated north of the major port city a ...
,
Cochin
Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...
and
Quilon
Kollam (), also known by its former name Quilon , is an ancient seaport and city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is north of the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. The city ...
.
Francisco de Almeida left Portugal with a fleet of 22 vessels with 1,500 men.
![Map of Portuguese Cochin](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/Map_of_Portuguese_Cochin.jpg)
On 13 September, Francisco de Almeida reached Anjadip island, where he immediately started the construction of
Fort Anjediva.
On 23 October, with the permission of the friendly ruler of
Kōlattir, he started building
Fort St Angelo of Cannanore, leaving Lourenço de Brito in charge with 150 men and two ships.
On 31 October 1505 Francisco de Almeida then reached
Cochin
Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...
, with only 8 vessels left.
There he learned that the Portuguese traders at Quilon had been killed. He decided to send his son
Lourenço de Almeida
Lourenço de Almeida (c.1480 - March 1508) was a Portuguese explorer and military commander.
He was born in Martim, Kingdom of Portugal, the son of Francisco de Almeida, first viceroy of Portuguese India. Acting under his father, Lourenço dist ...
with 6 ships, who destroyed 27
Calicut
Kozhikode (), also known in English as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. It has a corporation limit population of 609,224 and a metropolitan population of more than 2 million, making it the second l ...
vessels in the harbour of Quilon.
Almeida took up residence in Cochin and strengthened
Fort Manuel.
The Zamorin prepared a large fleet of 200 ships to oppose the Portuguese, but in March 1506
Lourenço de Almeida
Lourenço de Almeida (c.1480 - March 1508) was a Portuguese explorer and military commander.
He was born in Martim, Kingdom of Portugal, the son of Francisco de Almeida, first viceroy of Portuguese India. Acting under his father, Lourenço dist ...
(son of Francisco) was victorious in a sea battle at the entrance to the harbour, in the
Battle of Cannanore (1506), an important setback for the fleet of the Zamorin. Thereupon Lourenço de Almeida explored the coastal waters southwards to
Colombo
Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo m ...
, in what is now
Sri Lanka. In Cannanore, however, a new ruler, hostile to the Portuguese and friendly with the Zamorin, attacked the Portuguese garrison, leading to the
Siege of Cannanore.
In 1507 Almeida's mission was strengthened by the arrival of
Tristão da Cunha
Tristão da Cunha (sometimes misspelled Tristão d'Acunha; ; c. 1460 – c. 1507) was a Portuguese explorer and naval commander. In 1499, he served as ambassador from King Manuel I of Portugal to Pope Leo X, leading a luxurious embassy presentin ...
's squadron.
Afonso de Albuquerque
Afonso de Albuquerque, 1st Duke of Goa (; – 16 December 1515) was a Portuguese general, admiral, and statesman. He served as viceroy of Portuguese India from 1509 to 1515, during which he expanded Portuguese influence across the Indian Ocean ...
's squadron had, however, split from that of Cunha off East Africa and was independently conquering territories in the
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bod ...
to the west.
In March 1508 a Portuguese squadron under command of Lourenço de Almeida was attacked by a combined
Mameluk Egyptian and
Gujarat Sultanate
The Gujarat Sultanate (or the Sultanate of Guzerat), was a Medieval Indian kingdom established in the early 15th century in Western India, primarily in the present-day state of Gujarat, India. The dynasty was founded by Sultan Zafar Khan Mu ...
fleet at
Chaul
Chaul is a historic town located in the Raigad district of Maharashtra, India. The Korlai Fort is located nearby.
History
The town was famous for cotton manufactured goods in the 15th and 16th century, According to Varthema, Chaul was p ...
and Dabul respectively, led by admirals
Mirocem and
Meliqueaz in the
Battle of Chaul
The Battle of Chaul was a naval battle between the Portuguese and an Egyptian Mamluk fleet in 1508 in the harbour of Chaul in India. The battle ended in a Mamluk victory. It followed the Siege of Cannanore in which a Portuguese garrison succes ...
. Lourenço de Almeida died after a fierce fight in this battle. Mamluk-Indian resistance was, however, to be decisively defeated at the
Battle of Diu
The Battle of Diu was a naval battle fought on 3 February 1509 in the Arabian Sea, in the port of Diu, India, between the Portuguese Empire and a joint fleet of the Sultan of Gujarat, the Mamlûk Burji Sultanate of Egypt, and the Zamorin ...
.
Afonso de Albuquerque
![Retrato de Afonso de Albuquerque (após 1545) - Autor desconhecido](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/Retrato_de_Afonso_de_Albuquerque_%28ap%C3%B3s_1545%29_-_Autor_desconhecido.png)
In the year 1509,
Afonso de Albuquerque
Afonso de Albuquerque, 1st Duke of Goa (; – 16 December 1515) was a Portuguese general, admiral, and statesman. He served as viceroy of Portuguese India from 1509 to 1515, during which he expanded Portuguese influence across the Indian Ocean ...
was appointed the second
governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
of Portuguese possessions in the East. After acquiring their first
protectorate
A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a state that is under protection by another state for defence against aggression and other violations of law. It is a dependent territory that enjoys autonomy over most of its int ...
in
Portuguese Cochin
The Kingdom of Cochin, named after its capital in the city of Kochi (Cochin), was a kingdom in the central part of present-day Kerala state. It commenced at the early part of the 12th century and continued to rule until 1949, when monarchy wa ...
, a new fleet under
Marshal Fernão Coutinho arrived with specific instructions to destroy the power of
Zamorin of Calicut
The Samoothiri (Anglicised as Zamorin; Malayalam: , Arabic: ''Sāmuri'', Portuguese: ''Samorim'', Dutch: ''Samorijn'', Chinese: ''Shamitihsi''Ma Huan's Ying-yai Sheng-lan: 'The Overall Survey of the Ocean's Shores' 433 Translated and Edited ...
. The Zamorin's palace was captured and destroyed and the city was set on fire. The Zamorin's forces rallied, killing Coutinho and wounding Albuquerque. Albuquerque withdrew with his forces and after the Zamorin was assassinated in 1513 he entered into agreement with his successor to protect Portuguese interests in Malabar, and a fort was built on Calicut.
In 1510, Afonso de Albuquerque
captured Goa from the
Bijapur Sultanate
The Adil Shahi or Adilshahi, was a Shia,Salma Ahmed Farooqui, ''A Comprehensive History of Medieval India: From Twelfth to the Mid-Eighteenth Century'', (Dorling Kindersley Pvt Ltd., 2011), 174. and later Sunni Muslim,Muhammad Qasim Firishta's T ...
sultan with the aid of the Hindu privateer
Timoja, leading to the establishment of a permanent settlement in the city of ''
Velha Goa
Old Goa ( Konkani: ; pt, Velha Goa, translation='Old Goa') is a historical site and city situated on the southern banks of the River Mandovi, within the Tiswadi ''taluka'' (''Ilhas'') of North Goa district, in the Indian state of Goa.
The ...
'' (Old Goa in English).
Goa (island) bore the seat of the
viceroy
A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning " ...
, who governed all the possessions in Asia.
Albuquerque added to the State of India the city of Malacca in 1511 and
Ormus
The Kingdom of Ormus (also known as Hormoz; fa, هرمز; pt, Ormuz) was located in the eastern side of the Persian Gulf and extended as far as Bahrain in the west at its zenith. The Kingdom was established in 11th century initially as a dep ...
in 1515. He encouraged the settlement of his soldiers and their marriage to native women. In the mid sixteenth century there were about 2000 ''casados'' ("married men") in Goa. Goa included a large body of native non-Portuguese inhabitants for the Portuguese crown to rule. To better achieve this, Albuquerque resorted to medieval Iberian procedures: people of different religious communities were allowed to live by their laws under representatives of their respective communities. Exception was made to the practice of sati (practice), sati however, which was promptly abolished. Certain taxes due to the Adil Shah of Bijapur were also abolished. Native women were legally allowed property rights for the first time. At Goa, Albuquerque instituted an orphan's fund and opened a hospital, the ''Hospital Real de Goa'', modelled after the grand Hospital Real de Todos os Santos in Lisbon. Also at Goa were built smaller hospitals run by the city's charity, the Santa Casa da Misericórdia, ''Misericórdia'', dedicated to serving the poor and the natives.
Albuquerque's policies proved immensely popular amongst his soldiers as well as the local population, especially his characteristically strict observance of justice. When Albuquerque died in sight of Goa in 1515, even the Hindu natives of Goa mourned his passing alongside the Portuguese. His tomb at the ''Nossa Senhora da Serra'' hermitage was converted to a shrine by the local Hindus, who would leave flowers there in his dedication and direct prayers to him, seeking aid in matters of justice, until his remains were returned to Portugal in 1566.
The Portuguese had also shipped ''Órfãs do Rei'' to their colonies in the Indian peninsula, the most important of which were the eastern metropole of Goa and the largest province in Bombay-Bassein. ''Órfãs do Rei'' (literally "Orphans of the King"), were orphaned Portuguese girls patronised by the King, and sent to overseas colonies to form marital alliances with either Portuguese settlers or natives of high status.
Flourishing years
![AMH-6577-KB Bird's eye view of the city of Goa](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/AMH-6577-KB_Bird%27s_eye_view_of_the_city_of_Goa.jpg)
In 1520, the Portuguese extended their dominion over the town of Rachol, as in that year, Krishnadevaraya captured the Rachol Fort and delivered it to the Portuguese, in exchange for mutual defence pact against the Deccan Sultanates.
In 1526, John III of Portugal granted the city of Goa and its town hall the same legal status as Lisbon, in a foral in which the general laws and privileges of the city, its town hall, and the local Hindu community were detailed – especially important since at the time the native laws of Goa were still not written, instead being handled by councils of elders or religious judges and passed down orally (thus prone to abuses).
There were Portuguese settlements in and around the Coromandel region. The Luz Church in the Mylapore neighbourhood of Madras (Chennai) was the first church that the Portuguese built in the area in 1516, the ''São Tomé'' or ''San Thome'' shrine was rebuilt by them 1522. They also built the first structures at the Basilica of Our Lady of the Mount, Bandra, the Our Lady of Velankanni shrine and the Cathedral of Our Lady of Miracles; which are among the important Christian pilgrimage sites of South Asia.
Several colonies were also acquired from the Sultan of Guzerat in the north
Konkan region:
Daman was sacked in 1531 and ceded in 1539; Salsette, the seven islands of Bombay,
Chaul
Chaul is a historic town located in the Raigad district of Maharashtra, India. The Korlai Fort is located nearby.
History
The town was famous for cotton manufactured goods in the 15th and 16th century, According to Varthema, Chaul was p ...
and Bassein (Vasai) in 1534; Diu, India, Diu ceded in 1535. These would jointly come to be known as the Northern Province of Portuguese India, it ewxtended almost along the west-coast from Daman to Chaul, and in places inland. The territory (province) of Portuguese Bombay had its city centre in and around the Bassein Fort; but was subject to the viceroy in the capital (metropole) of ''
Velha Goa
Old Goa ( Konkani: ; pt, Velha Goa, translation='Old Goa') is a historical site and city situated on the southern banks of the River Mandovi, within the Tiswadi ''taluka'' (''Ilhas'') of North Goa district, in the Indian state of Goa.
The ...
'' in south Konkan, along with other colonies in the
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...
, such as Portuguese Ceylon and Portuguese Chittagong.
![Asia oceania anonymous c1550](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Asia_oceania_anonymous_c1550.jpg)
The Ottoman Empire carried out the Siege of Diu in 1538, with a strong fleet under the command of the Ottoman governor of Egypt Sulaiman Pasha for four months, with the aid of a large army provided by the Sultan of Guzerat; however they were ultimately forced to retreat with considerable losses. The successful defense of Diu by captain António da Silveira against overwhelming odds was a battle of annihilation, and is one of the most celebrated exploits in Portuguese history, and frequently compared to the 1565 Great Siege of Malta. On the occasion, the Portuguese captured the Tiro de Diu, a massive Guzerati bombard.
According to Portuguese records there was a Cholera epidemic in 1543, "It is said that deaths from the disposal of the disease were so numerous that the disposal of bodies was a formidable task"
On 16 May 1546, the Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier requested the institution of the Goa Inquisition for the "Old Christians" and "New Christians", in a letter to John III of Portugal. Non-Christians were officially oppressed, even before the Inquisition was set up. Francis Xavier was instrumental for a mass conversion of 30,000 Paravar fishermen at Cape Comorin.
In 1556, the printing press in Goa was the first installed in India at Saint Paul's College, Goa. Through publications made on the printing press, opened a window on the knowledge and customs of Europe. The Jesuits brought this European-style, metal movable type technology to Macao in China in 1588 and to Japan in 1590.
By the start of the 17th century, the population of Goa and the surrounding areas was about 250,000. Holding this strategic land against repeated attacks by the Indian states required constant infusions of men and material. Portugal's important victories, such as the Battle of Cochin (1504), battle of Cochin in 1504, Battle of Diu, the defense of Diu in 1509, the conquest of Goa in 1510, the defenses of Diu in 1538 and 1546, and the War of the League of the Indies#The Siege of Goa, defense of Goa in 1571 were accomplished with limited manpower. In their largest deployments, the Portuguese could field perhaps 2,000 to 3,000 European and mestiço troops supported by a similar amount of local auxiliaries, while the larger Indian states could field tens of thousands each. Portuguese superiority in military technology (especially in regards to ships and artillery), training (especially in the skill of their gunners), and tactics, combined with the disunity of the Indian states opposing them, allowed them to keep their position and consistently win their wars.
Later years
17th century
In 1640, Shivappa Nayaka captured all the Portuguese forts in the Canara subregion.
The seven islands of Bombay (Mumbai) were presented to the English Crown in 1661, as part of the
dowry of Catherine Braganza
Catherine of Braganza ( pt, Catarina de Bragança; 25 November 1638 – 31 December 1705) was Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland during her marriage to King Charles II, which lasted from 21 May 1662 until his death on 6 February 1685. She ...
to
Charles II of England, who in turn leased the area to the English East India Company. In 1683, Maratha invasion of Goa (1683), Mahrattas attempted a siege against Portuguese settlements in the Konkan region with no success.
Kollam (
Quilon
Kollam (), also known by its former name Quilon , is an ancient seaport and city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is north of the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. The city ...
) was a prominent seaport and became a Portuguese settlement from 1519, they built a cemetery at Tangasseri in Quilon city. After the Dutch East India Company invasion, the Dutch also buried their dead there. The pirates of Tangasseri inhabited the cemetery before Europeans arrived. Remnants of this cemetery still exist today, very close to Tangasseri Lighthouse and St Thomas Fort, which are listed among the of protected monuments of the Archaeological Survey of India.
18th and 19th century
Most of the Northern Province composed of Thana district, Taana, Bassein (Vasai) and Chaul near British Bombay was lost following another Mahratta Invasion of Bassein in 1739. Goa, Daman and Diu as well as
Anjediva
Anjediva Island (also Anjadip Island) ( Konkani: Anjadiv; Portuguese: ''Ilha de Angediva'') is an Indian island in the Arabian Sea. It sits off the coast of Canacona. It is politically part of Goa state, geographically the nearest mainland is th ...
, were retained because a fleet of
Portuguese Armadas
The Portuguese Indian Armadas ( pt, Armadas da Índia) were the fleets of ships funded by the Crown of Portugal, and dispatched on an annual basis from Portugal to India. The principal destination was Goa, and previously Cochin. These armadas ...
arrived from Lisbon, bearing a newly appointed viceroy.
In the aftermath of the battles and the losses, the Portuguese expanded the territory of Goa between 1763 and 1788, at the expense of the Dessais of Kudal, the Sondas and the Bhonsle, Bhonslas/ Maratha Empire, Mahrattas of Silvassa, which became known as ''Novas Conquistas''. By order of the Marquis de Pombal, the Jesuits were expelled from Portugal's territories in 1759.
[A. R. Disney: ''A History of Portugal and the Portuguese Empire'', volume II, p. 325.] They were replaced by the Oratorians, a native Goan Catholic religious order founded by Christian Brahmin and Christian Cxatria converts, and a college dedicated to the secular education of the native elites was opened, and the Goan Inquisition was abolished.
By influence of Pombal, King José declared that native Christians were equal in standing with Europeans, while the Viceroy Count of Ega declared religious freedom and prohibited racial slander. For these reasons "Pombal and his collaborators remain to this day much respected figures in Goa"
In 1752, Mozambique was detached from the State of India and henceforth ruled by its own governor.
Military intelligence about the France's plan to occupy Goa caused the British Governor-general at Calcutta, Marquis of Wellesley to send troops, British rule in Portuguese India, Goa was briefly a protectorate from 1799 to 1813. The Portuguese governor Francisco António da Veiga Cabral managed to retain control of civil institutions by formally appointing the British officer in charge of the occupation, Sir William Clarke, as commander of Portuguese troops in Goa under his authority.
In 1843, the capital was shifted to Panjim (''Nova Goa'' or New Goa), when it officially became the administrative seat of the ''Estado'', replacing the city of Velha Goa (Old Goa), although the viceroys taken residence there already since 1 Dec, 1759. In 1844, the Portuguese governor of India stopped administering the territories of Macao, Solor, and Timor. Only then was the territory of the State of India confined to the Indian subcontinent itself.
Second World War
Portugal was neutral during the Second World War. As a result, at the outbreak of hostilities a number of Axis ships sought refuge in Goa rather than be sunk or captured by the British Royal Navy. Three German merchant ships, the ''Ehrenfels'', the ''Drachenfels'' and the ''Braunfels'', as well as an Italian ship, took refuge in the port of Mormugao. The ''Ehrenfels'' began transmitting Allied ship movements to the U-boats operating in the Indian Ocean, an action that was extremely damaging to Allied shipping.
But the British Royal Navy was unable to take any official action against these ships because of Goa's stated neutrality. Instead the Indian mission of Special Operations Executive, SOE backed a covert raid using members from the Calcutta Light Horse, a part-time unit made up of civilians who were not eligible for normal war service. The Light Horse embarked on an ancient Calcutta riverboat, the ''Phoebe'', and sailed round India to Goa, where they sank the ''Ehrenfels''. The British then sent an unencrypted radio message announcing it was going to seize the territory. This bluff made the other Axis crews scuttle their ships fearing they could be seized by British forces.
The raid was covered in the book ''Boarding Party'' by James Leasor. Due to the potential political ramifications of the fact that Britain had violated Portuguese neutrality, the raid remained secret until the book was published in 1978. In 1980 the story was made into the film, ''The Sea Wolves'', starring Gregory Peck, David Niven and Roger Moore.
1945 to 1961
![Flag of Portuguese India (proposal)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Flag_of_Portuguese_India_%281965_proposal%29.svg)
On 24 July 1954 an organisation called "The United Front of Goans" took control of the enclave of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Dadra, Nagar Haveli was seized by ''Azad Gomantak Dal'' on 2 August 1954.
The International Court of Justice at The Hague delivered an ''impasse'' verdict, regarding access to Dadra and Nagar Haveli by Portugal.
From 1954, the ''Satyagraha, satyagrahis'' (peaceful protesters) against Portuguese rule, outside
Goa
Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...
were violently suppressed through brute force. Many internal revolts were quelled and leaders extrajudicially murdered or jailed. As a result, India broke off diplomatic relations with Portugal, closed its consulate-general in Panjim and demanded that Portugal must close its delegation in New Delhi. India also imposed an economic embargo against the territories of Portuguese Goa. The Indian Government adopted a diplomatic "wait and watch" approach from 1955 to 1961 with numerous representations to the Portuguese Salazar dictatorship, and made attempts to highlight the issue of decolonisation before the international community.
![European settlements in India 1501-1739](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/European_settlements_in_India_1501-1739.png)
To facilitate the transport of people and goods to and from the Indian enclaves, the Salazar dictatorship established an airline, Transportes Aéreos da Índia Portuguesa, and airports at Goa, Daman and Diu.
Finally, in December 1961, Annexation of Goa, India militarily invaded the remaining Portuguese possessions. Portuguese forces had been given orders to either defeat the invaders or die. Eventually, the Governor of Portuguese India signed the Instrument of Surrender on 19 December 1961, thus ending 450 years of Portuguese rule in India.
Post-annexation
Status of the new territories
Free Dadra and Nagar Haveli existed as a ''de facto'' independent entity from its independence in 1954 until its merger with the Republic of India in 1961.
Following the annexation of
Dadra and Nagar Haveli
Dadra and Nagar Haveli is a district of the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu in western India. It is composed of two separate geographical entities: Nagar Haveli, wedged in between Maharashtra and Gujarat states t ...
, Goa, Damaon and Diu became new territories of the Indian Union. Maj Gen K P Candeth was declared as military governor of Goa, Daman and Diu. Goa's first general elections were held in 1963.
In 1967 a Goa Opinion Poll, referendum was conducted after activists led by Jack Sequeira proposed it, where voters would decide whether to merge Goa into the Marathi-majority state of Maharashtra, the pro-Konkani faction eventually won after Konkani language agitation, protests against the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, led by Dayanand Bandodkar. However full statehood was not conferred immediately, and it was only on 30 May 1987 that Goa became the 25th state of the Indian Union, with Dadra and Nagar Haveli,
Daman and Diu districts were partitioned, and continue to be administered as the Damaon, Diu and Silvassa territory.
The most drastic changes in Portuguese India after 1961 were the introduction of democratic elections, as well as the replacement of Portuguese with English as the general language of government and education. Following many years of Konkani language agitation, Konkani in the Devanagari script finally became the official language of the union territory of Goa, Damaon and Diu in 1987. The Indians allowed certain Portuguese institutions to continue unchanged. Amongst these were the land ownership system of the ''Comunidades of Goa, comunidades'', where land was held by the community of neighbourhoods was then leased out to individuals. Goans under the Indian Government left the Portuguese Civil Code of Goa and Damaon unchanged, hence they remain as the only territories in India with a common civil code that does not depend on religion.
Citizenship
The Citizenship Act of 1955 granted the government of India the authority to define citizenship in the Indian union. In exercise of its powers, the government passed the ''Goa, Daman and Diu (Citizenship) Order, 1962'' on 28 March 1962 conferring Indian citizenship on all persons born on or before 20 December 1961 in Goa, Daman, and Diu.
Indo-Portuguese relations
Portugal's Salazar dictatorship did not recognise India's sovereignty over the annexed territories, and established a government-in-exile for the territories, which continued to be represented in the Portuguese National Assembly. After 1974's
Carnation Revolution, the new Portuguese government recognised Indian sovereignty over Goa, Daman and Diu, and the two states restored diplomatic relations. Portugal automatically gives citizens of the former Portuguese-India its citizenship and opened a consulate in Goa in 1994.
Administration
![GoaConquistas](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/GoaConquistas.png)
From the moment the State was founded in 1505 till it was disestablished in 1961, an official with the title of governor or viceroy served as its highest authority, usually for a three-year term, initially with authority over all Crown territories east of the Cape of Good Hope. The latter title was attributed as a high honour while the monarchy lasted, however their duties were the same as governors. They were the highest military commanders as well as administrators, hence their authority fell on matters pertaining to the armed forces, diplomacy, trade, finance and personnel management.
[Disney, II, 2009, p. 161.] Before they left Portugal, they were handed a written set of orders and objectives, called ''regimento''.
The viceroys often attempted to influence the nomination of political allies to key positions. However, the final say fell on the metropolis. Many were accompanied by their personal retinues, and these often included their sons to serve in important military positions, such was the case of the captain-major of the seas of India Dom Lourenço de Almeida, son the viceroy Dom Francisco de Almeida. After Goa was conquered, governors and viceroys lived in the ''Palácio do Hidalcão'', the native Indian palace built by the city's former sovereign, the Adil Khan.
The most important administrative structure of the State was put in place in the 16th century; it included the high court (''relação''), the superintendency of finances (''vedoria da fazenda'') run by a Crown appointed ''vedor'', financial accounts office (''casa dos contos'') and the military registry and supply office (''casa da matrícula'').
The extremely scattered nature of Portuguese holdings however, meant that the State was highly decentralized, with great power being held by individual fortress captains, their captain-generals or town halls, far away from Goa.
[Disney, volume II, 2009, p. 160.] Like the governors and viceroys, fortress captains served for three years, however their terms could be renovated.
Sancho de Vasconcelos, captain-major of Ambon served for 19 years.
In the most important captaincies, financial authority rested with the ''vedor'' (superintendent), while judicial authority was vested in an ''ouvidor'' ("ombundsman").
![1596 Coat of Arms of GOA](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/1596_Coat_of_Arms_of_GOA.jpg)
The Church played an important role in the State. The Pope had granted the Kings of Portugal exclusive ecclesiastical rights to religious patronage (''Padroado'') in their overseas possessions. After 1513 Portuguese eastern holdings were part of the bishopric of Funchal seated in Madeira island. After 1557 Goa became the seat of an archbishop with subordinate bishops in Cochin and Malacca.
[Disney, II, 2009, p. 163.] Further sees were later opened in Macau in 1576 and in Funai in 1588. Religious Orders of the Augustinians, Franciscans, Dominican Order, Dominicans and Jesuits established mission headquarters in Goa, giving the Catholic Church a very visible presence and influence in the capital of the State of India, for which it earned the nickname of "Rome of the East", a fact commented by many foreign travellers.
In the most important settlements featured a ''câmara'' ("town hall"), with charters similar to equivalent cities in Portugal, and they played an important role in administration, as they were the only institution through which settlers could voice their opinions and make themselves heard.
[Disney, II, 2009, p. 164.] They were responsible for local governance, could collect some municipal taxes and acted as a court of first instance.
They sometimes provided loans to Viceroys, though cooperation was often difficult.
Portuguese merchants often established by their own initiative a ''câmara'' in their non-Crown settlements, the most important case of which was the Leal Senado in Macau.
Aside from the Portuguese themselves, the State often also ruled over non-Portuguese, non-Christian peoples, and in these cases often the traditional native structures were left in place. When Afonso de Albuquerque captured Goa, the Hindu inhabitants were left in possession of their lands; the pre-Portuguese system of land-ownership and administration of village communes codified and the rights of Brahmin or Khsatria ganvkars (shareholders) recognized, and tax collection was left to the Hindu
Timoja and after him the long-standing Krishna Rao.
In Hormuz, Albuquerque left its native Muslim king as chief administrator under a protectorate.
As the Counter-Reformation gained momentum in Europe, Brahmins were excluded from the Portuguese administration during the tenure of Dom Constantino de Bragança, which resulted in a wave of conversions.
Trade and economy
![AMH-6598-KB View of the market in Goa](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/AMH-6598-KB_View_of_the_market_in_Goa.jpg)
Trade had been one of the primary motivations behind the Portuguese expansion overseas, and one of the main objectives behind the foundation of the State of India was to take over the Europe-Asia trade, up to that point conducted mainly through the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, redirecting it around Africa via the Cape Route. Trade was processed either by the Crown through royal agents (''feitores'') working from royal trade posts (''feitorias'') and maintained by the royal finances, or by independent merchants, either Portuguese or otherwise.
One of the main tasks of royal factors was to acquire spices to be shipped back to Europe. In 1503, the Portuguese unloaded at Lisbon 30,000 quintals of spices, more than what the Venetians introduced in the European marked through Alexandria in Egypt. The overwhelming bulk of commodities imported to Europe by the Portuguese consisted of black pepper, which after 1520 was declared an official Crown monopoly. The Portuguese acquired most of their pepper in Kerala or Kanara in India. For most of the century, the Portuguese secured an overwhelming share of the pepper imports into Europe, supplying 75 per cent or more of Europes pepper. The Crown declared a monopoly on their commodities, such as cloves, nutmeg, mace, cinnamon, ginger, silk, pearls and the export of gold and silver bullion from Portugal to Asia.
![Attributed to Kano Sanraku - Important Cultural Property Namban Screens - Google Art Project2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/Attributed_to_Kano_Sanraku_-_Important_Cultural_Property_Namban_Screens_-_Google_Art_Project2.jpg)
The Portuguese Crown instituted a number of official ''carreiras'', literally meaning "runs", connecting Goa to major Portuguese and non-Portuguese harbours around the Indian and Pacific oceans once a year. Initially conducted through Crown vessels, after 1560, the Crown began leasing them to private contractors, and by the late 16th century they were the norm. By 1580, the value of inter-Asian trade rights leases reached as high as two million cruzados - twice the value the Portuguese Crown earned from the Goa-Lisbon trade.
![1505-21 medio Manuel Goa](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/1505-21_medio_Manuel_Goa.jpg)
Portugal regulated and rerouted the Indian Ocean trade by imposing a system of safe-passes called ''cartaz''. It was imposed most effectively on the west coast of India. The Portuguese Crown also collected high customs dues, most importantly at Goa, Hormuz, Malacca, Bassein and Diu, and in the 1580s it accounted for over 85% of the viceroys revenue.
Independent Portuguese merchants got involved in the inter-Asian trade, and the backbone of informal Portuguese presence and trade in Asia was formed of Eurasian merchants, descending from Portuguese soldiers or merchants married to local wives. Their main hub of activities was the capital of Goa, where the largest community of ''casados'' ("married men") was located at, about 2,000 families. The core element of their trade was Gujarati cotton textiles, but they also dealt in Kerala pepper, cinnammon from Sri Lanka, Kanara rice, diamonds from southern India and larins from Persia. By 1520 they had penetrated almost every commercially relevant region in Asia aside from Japan (which was reached in the 1540s). Macau was founded by independent Portuguese traders. The Crown regulated their trade into a number of convoys for safety against pirates, the most important of which were those which transported textiles from Gujarat to Goa and rice from Kanara to Goa. The second most important settlement of Portuguese merchants in India was Cochin, where 500 ''casados'' with their families resided. Diu had a ''casado'' population of about 200.
Portuguese India Company was established in 1628, however with the Crown being its only major shareholder, it was liquidated five years later. By that point, Portugal's share of pepper trade had fallen behind those of the Dutch East India Company, Dutch VOC and the East India Company, English EIC.
Portuguese trade was greatly reduced by Dutch-Portuguese War, the war with the Dutch VOC, with whom a peace treaty was signed in 1663. Inter-Indian Portuguese convoys continued, mainly with Gujarat, Parangipettai, Porto Novo and Madras. Indian cottons became the bedrock of exports from Portuguese India, while tobacco grown in Portuguese Brazil became the most important commodity exported across Asia via Portuguese India till the 19th century. New Portuguese East India Companies established in 1669 and 1685 failed, largely due to disagreements between the Crown and the merchants over the nature of the enterprise and lack of confidence from investors. By the 18th century, tobacco, bullion, firearms, consumer goods such as Madeira wine and books represented the most important items traded in Portuguese India, while exports back to Europe included silks, spices, porcelain, precious stones, Indian cottons and high quality lacquered furniture, a good proportion being unloaded at Bahia in Brazil. Indian cottons were especially valuable in Mozambique, where an important community of Indians from Diu or Daman came to reside. Nevertheless, Goa effectively became a commercial satellite of British Bombay. Many Indo-Portuguese merchants became deeply involved and prominent in French India, French Pondicherry, Fort Dansborg, Danish Tranquebar and especially British Madras, Calcutta and Bombay, Portuguese Jews being linked to the diamond trade in Madras.
Society and culture
![Portugees in een draagstoel, RP-P-1878-A-859](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Portugees_in_een_draagstoel%2C_RP-P-1878-A-859.jpg)
The State was largely urban, since its reason of being was to provide well-protected havens from which trade and communication could be conducted, controlled and dominated, hence only Goa, Damaon, Bassein, Chaul and Colombo had any meaningful hinterland and rural populations. After the massacre of the Portuguese in their ''feitoria'' in Calicut in 1500, practically every possession of the State was fortified, sometimes massively, and for this reason it resembled as much a network of maritime communications as an enormous perimeter of fortresses.
Portuguese India harboured a society that was officially Christian and European but influenced by the non-European setting into which it was inserted. At the top of the social pyramid were the European-born viceroys, officers, and clergymen, followed by the Portuguese ''casados'' and their Eurasian descendants, who could be wealthy merchants or hold important positions in the local ''câmara'', and finally the native society. Portuguese living in Asia or east-Africa were generally more accepting of non-Christian beliefs and practices than their countrymen from Europe or Catholic clergy generally approved. At their peak in 1600, the total number of Portuguese ''casados'' across the State probably numbered about 5,500. Many ''casados'' followed a lifestyle that seemed to foreign visitors as remarkably relaxed and luxurious by European standards, some living in fine houses furnished in the Indian fashion with many servants, abundant and varied food that included a wide variety of fruits and poultry, consumed off Ming porcelain. Goan ''casados'' often dressed in shirts and white trousers while their wives usually wore saris.
Alongside fortresses, ecclesiastical buildings dominated the skyline of most Portuguese settlements, particularly in Goa, giving the city a distinctly European and Catholic flavour and a high profile to the Church. About 600 clergymen were concentrated in Goa out of perhaps 1800 east of the Cape of Good Hope in 1630. Nevertheless, the European and Christian Eurasian community in any Portuguese settlement of the State always constituted a minority, perhaps no more than 7% in the case of Goa, the rest being Hindus, Indian Christians, other Asians and Africans, free or slaves.
For these reasons, the State was culturally hybrid, distant as it was from Europe, with the façades and interiors of churches blending Portuguese and Asian iconographic traditions, while the domestic culture was likewise a compromise between East and West, with furniture, dress and food often more Asian than Portuguese.
[Disney, 2009, p.149]
Postal history
![Portuguese India 1898 Mi 172 stamp (Flagship Sao Gabriel)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/Portuguese_India_1898_Mi_172_stamp_%28Flagship_Sao_Gabriel%29.jpg)
Early postal history of the colony is obscure, but regular mail is known to have been exchanged with Lisbon from 1825 onwards. Portugal had a postal convention with Great Britain, so much mail was probably routed through Bombay and carried on British Packet (sea transport), packets. Portuguese postmarks are known from 1854 when a post office was opened in Goa.
The last regular issue for Portuguese India was on 25 June 1960, for the 500th anniversary of the death of Prince Henry the Navigator. Stamps of India were first used on 29 December 1961, although the old stamps were accepted until 5 January 1962. Portugal continued to issue stamps for the lost colony but none were offered for sale in the colony's post offices, so they are not considered valid stamps.
Dual franking was tolerated from 22 December 1961 until 4 January 1962. Colonial (Portuguese) postmarks were tolerated until May 1962.
File:Portuguese India 1898 Mi 173 stamp (Archangel Raphael -Patron of the fleet).jpg
File:Portuguese India 1898 Mi 171 stamp (Archangel Gabriel and Ship).jpg
File:Portuguese India 1898 Mi 170 stamp (Departure at Belem 07.07.1497).jpg
File:Portugal 1898 Mi 145 stamp (Vasco da Gama - Discoverer of the seaway to India).jpg
File:Portuguese India 1898 Mi 168 stamp (Fleet of Vasco da Gama on the run).jpg
File:Portuguese India 1898 Mi 169 stamp (Arrival at Calicut, India).jpg
File:Portuguese India 1898 Mi 174 stamp (Arrival of the Fleet).jpg
Gallery
File:Codice Casanatense Portuguese Nobleman and Christian Indian.jpg, Indo-Portuguese illustration of a Portuguese nobleman and Christian Indian women, from the Códice Casanatense.
File:Codice Casanatense Shiva Vishnu Brahma.jpg, 16th century Indo-Portuguese illustration of the main deities of Hinduism at the Códice Casanatense.
File:Codice Casanatense Hindu Marriage Center.jpg, 16th century Indo-Portuguese illustration of a Hindu marriage at the Códice Casanatense.
File:Codice Casanatense Saint Thomas Christians.jpg, 16th century Indo-Portuguese illustration of Saint Thomas Christians at the Códice Casanatense.
File:Codice Casanatense Farmers from the Kanara Coast.jpg, 16th century Indo-Portuguese illustration of Kanarese peasants at the Códice Casanatense.
File:Arca-contador Indo-Português sec XVII IMG 1225.JPG, 18th century Indo-Portuguese cabinet
File:Lisbon, Museum Nacional de Arte Antiga, cabinet.JPG, Indo-Portuguese cabinet
File:India portoghese, scatola da scrittura, gujarate o sinde, 1600-15 ca.jpg, Indo-Portuguese writing cabinet
File:Lisbon, museum Nacional de Arte Antiga, Indo-Portuguese art.JPG, Indo-Portuguese furniture
File:Pistola Indo-Portuguesa (2).JPG, Indo-Portuguese pistol
File:Arte indo-portoghese, bambin gesù e il buon pastore, avorio policromato, goa xvii secolo.jpg, 17th century Indo-Portuguese Christian ivory.
Currency
File:Portuguese India 20 Bazaucos reverse.JPG, 20 Portuguese bazarucos from 1799, reverse.
File:Portuguese India 20 Bazarucos obverse.JPG, 20 Portuguese bazarucos from 1799, obverse.
File:1866 portugal INDIA.jpg, 1866 1/8 tanga.
File:IPT001.JPG, 1 Portuguese India rupia, 1882.
File:Estado da india.jpg, 1947 escudo coin.
File:1959 100 escudos India portuguesa.JPG, 1959 100 escudos.
File:Indo Portuguese Cover Picture.jpg, Late 19th century and early 20th century Portuguese rupias
File:Sesenta cetavosIPT005.JPG, 60 Portuguese India centavos, 1959.
File:Banknote1938b.jpg, 1938 5 rupias banknote reverse.
File:Banknote1938a.jpg, 1938 5 rupias banknote obverse.
Architecture
File:An old Portuguese style palatial house.jpg, Indo-Portuguese house
File:India Goa Portuguese Villa.jpg, Portuguese villa
File:Se’ Cathedral, Goa.jpg, Goa Cathedral
File:Kostel Naší Paní Neposkvrněného početí, Panadží.jpg, he church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception in Panaji (Goa, India).
File:Old Goa,Church of Lady of Rosary.jpg, Old Goa,Church of Lady of Rosary
File:Old Goa Church 01.jpg, Bom Jesus Basilica, Goa.
File:Panjim Peoples', Fontainhas - 19th-20th century (4275536827).jpg, House in Goa.
File:Opp. Mary Immaculate School, Fontainhas - 19th-20th century (4275484927).jpg, House in Goa.
See also
*
Portuguese Empire
The Portuguese Empire ( pt, Império Português), also known as the Portuguese Overseas (''Ultramar Português'') or the Portuguese Colonial Empire (''Império Colonial Português''), was composed of the overseas colonies, factories, and the ...
* Códice Casanatense
* Japan Voyage
* Estado Novo (Portugal)
* Indo-Portuguese creoles
* List of governors of Portuguese India
* Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino (archives in Lisbon documenting Portuguese Empire, including India)
* Portuguese Indian rupia
* Portuguese Indian escudo
* Goa liberation movement
* Civil code of Goa and Damaon
* Cuncolim Revolt
* Portuguese Bombay and Bassein
* Portuguese Ceylon
* Portuguese Oman
* Colonial India
References
Further reading
* Andrada (undated). ''The Life of Dom John de Castro: The Fourth Vice Roy of India''. Jacinto Freire de Andrada. Translated into English by Peter Wyche. (1664). Henry Herrington, New Exchange, London. Facsimile edition (1994) AES Reprint, New Delhi. .
*K. M. Panikkar, Panikkar, K. M. (1953). Asia and Western dominance, 1498–1945, by K.M. Panikkar. London: G. Allen and Unwin.
*K. M. Panikkar, Panikkar, K. M. 1929: Malabar and the Portuguese: being a history of the relations of the Portuguese with Malabar from 1500 to 1663
* Priolkar, A. K
The Goa Inquisition(Bombay, 1961).
*
External links
ColonialVoyage.com– History of the Portuguese and the Dutch in Ceylon, India, Malacca, Bengal, Formosa, Africa, Brazil.
* Biographical entries on Portuguese viceroys and governors of India (1550–1640) in Portuguese
Encyclopedia of the Portuguese Expansion(PDF)
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Portuguese India,
Empires and kingdoms of India
Former Portuguese colonies, India, Portuguese
States and territories established in 1505
Colonial states of the Portuguese Empire, India
States and territories disestablished in 1961
History of Kerala
Former countries in South Asia
History of Goa
History of Mumbai
Former colonies in Asia
1505 establishments in Portuguese India
1961 disestablishments in Portuguese India
Portuguese colonisation in Asia