Portuguese in Pakistan are citizens or residents of
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
who are of
Portuguese background. As of 2021 there are only 64 Portuguese citizens registered as living in Pakistan.
Background
The presence of a small Portuguese community in what is modern-day Pakistan is historically known.
Most people of Portuguese extract can be found among the country's
Goan
Goans ( kok, गोंयकार, Romi Konkani: , pt, Goeses) is the demonym used to describe the people native to Goa, India, who form an ethno-linguistic group resulting from the assimilation of Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, Indo-Portuguese, and ...
community, concentrated in
Karachi
Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...
much before the independence of Pakistan. These settlers hailed from
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 ...
in
Western India
Western India is a loosely defined region of India consisting of its western part. The Ministry of Home Affairs in its Western Zonal Council Administrative division includes the states of Goa, Gujarat, and Maharashtra along with the Union te ...
and in order to avail economic opportunities, migrated to major commercial centres during 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,
*
*
*
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or Direct rule in India,
* Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...
, Karachi being among them.
In 1510, Goa was
annexed by the Portuguese as one of its overseas colonies in India, and remained under Portuguese rule until 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 Indi ...
in 1961. During that period, the Goans remained Portuguese subjects and many who had settled in Karachi carried
Portuguese passports, which they later relinquished for
Pakistani citizenship.
Portuguese rule in Goa established the presence of a
Goan Catholic
Goan Catholics ( gom, Goenchem Katholik) are an ethno-religious community of Indian Christians following the Roman Rite of worship from the Goa state, in the southern part of the Konkan region along the west coast of India. They are Konkani peo ...
community, and exhibited Portuguese influences in Goan culture, language and cuisine, which the migrants brought along with them to Karachi.
At the time of the
partition
Partition may refer to:
Computing Hardware
* Disk partitioning, the division of a hard disk drive
* Memory partition, a subdivision of a computer's memory, usually for use by a single job
Software
* Partition (database), the division of a ...
in 1947, it is estimated that the Goan community in Karachi numbered up to 15,000.
Culture
The Portuguese community assumed an active role in the founding of missionary schools throughout Pakistan.
Portuguese musicians and bands were also active in the country's music scene and high social circles during the late twentieth century, performing in some of Karachi's most prominent hotels and nightclubs for several decades. Most of this generation of musicians later died or emigrated.
Portuguese Pakistani
See also
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Luso-Indian
Luso-Indians or Portuguese-Indian, is a subgroup of the larger multiracial ethnic creole people of Luso-Asians. Luso-Indians are people who have mixed varied Indian subcontinent and European Portuguese ancestry or people of Portuguese descent b ...
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Indo-Portuguese
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Portuguese India
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 of the Portuguese Empire founded six years after the discovery of a se ...
References
{{Immigration to Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
Immigration to Pakistan