History of Goa - Portuguese Conquest and Colonisation

Portuguese Conquest and Colonisation

In 1498, Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope and landed at Calicut. In 1510, Portuguese admiral Afonso de Albuquerque attacked Goa at the behest of the local cheftian Thimayya. After losing the city briefly to its former ruler, Ismail Adil Shah, the Muslim King of Bijapur, Albuquerque returned in force on November 25, with a fully renovated fleet. In less than a day, the Portuguese fleet took possession of Goa from Ismail Adil Shah and his Ottoman allies, who surrendered on December 10. It is estimated that 6,000 of the 9,000 Muslim defenders of the city died, either in the battle in the streets or while trying to escape. He gained the support of the Hindu population, although this frustrated the initial expectations Thimayya who aspired to gain the city. Afonso de Albuquerque rewarded him by appointing him chief "Aguazil" of the city, an administrator and representative of the Hindu and Muslim people and as a learned interpreter of the local customs. de Albuquerque then made an agreement to lower yearly dues and taxes. In spite of constant attacks, Goa became the center of Portuguese India, with the conquest triggering the compliance of neighboring kingdoms, the Sultan of Gujarat and the Zamorin of Calicut dispatched embassies, offering alliances and local concessions to be fortified.

In Goa Albuquerque started the first Portuguese mint in the East, after complaints from merchants and Timoja about the scarcity of currency, taking it as an opportunity to announce the territorial conquest. The new coin, based on the existing local coins, bore a cross on one side and the design of an armillary sphere (or "esfera"), King Manuel's badge, on the reverse. Gold, silver and bronze coins were issued, respectively gold cruzados or manueis, esperas and alf-esperas, and "leais". More mints would follow in Malacca in 1511.

Albuquerque and his successors left the customs and constitutions of the thirty village communities on the island almost untouched, only abolishing the rite of sati, or widow-burning. A register of these customs (Foral de usos e costumes) was published in 1526; it is among the most valuable historical documents pertaining to Goan customs.

Goa was the base for Albuquerque's conquest of Malacca in 1511 and Hormuz in 1515. Albuquerque intended it to be a colony and a naval base, distinct from the fortified factories established in certain Indian seaports. Goa was made capital of the Portuguese Vice-Kingdom in Asia, and the other Portuguese possessions in India, Malacca and other bases in Indonesia, East Timor, the Persian Gulf, Macau in China and trade bases in Japan were under the suzerainty of its Viceroy. By mid–16th century, the area under occupation had expanded to most of present-day limits.

Goa was granted the same civic privileges as Lisbon. Its senate or municipal chamber maintained direct communications with the king and paid a special representative to attend to its interests at court. In 1563 the governor even proposed to make Goa the seat of a parliament representing all parts of the Portuguese east, but this was rejected by the King.

The Portuguese set up a base in Goa to further consolidate their control the spice trade. Goods from all parts of the East were displayed in its bazaar, and separate streets were designated for the sale of different classes of goods — Bahrain pearls and coral, Chinese porcelain and silk, Portuguese velvet and piece-goods, and drugs and spices from the Malay Archipelago.

In 1542, St. Francis Xavier mentions the architectural splendour of the city; but it reached the climax of its prosperity between 1575 and 1625. Travellers marvelled at Goa Dourada, or Golden Goa, and there was a Portuguese proverb, "He who has seen Goa need not see Lisbon."

In the main street, slaves were sold by auction. The houses of the rich were surrounded by gardens and palm groves; they were built of stone and painted red or white. Instead of glass, their balconied windows had thin polished oyster-shells set in lattice-work. The social life of Goa's rulers befitted the capitol of the viceregal court, the army and navy, and the church; luxury and ostentation became a byword before the end of the 16th century.

Almost all manual labor was performed by slaves; common soldiers assumed high-sounding titles, and it was even customary for the poor noblemen who congregated in boarding-houses to subscribe for a few silken cloaks, a silken umbrella and a common man-servant, so that each could take his turn to promenade the streets, fashionably attired and with a proper escort.

Around 1583, missionary activity in Cuncolim first led to small skirmishes and finally to the murder of all the missionaries. The Portuguese authorities called the sixteen chieftains of each ward or vado of the Cuncolim village to the Assolna Fort, ostensibly to form a peace pact with the villagers. At the fort the chieftains were slain, except for two who jumped from the fort into the Arabian Sea and presumably swam to Karwar. The villagers were left without their traditional leaders while the Portuguese began confiscating the land of the locals and initiated the Goa Inquisition.

The Goa Inquisition was the office of the Inquisition acting within the Indian state of Goa and the rest of the Portuguese empire in Asia. It was established in 1560, briefly suppressed from 1774–1778, and finally abolished in 1812. The Goan Inquisition is considered a blot on the history of Roman Catholic Christianity in India both by Christians and non-Christians alike. Based on the records that survive, H. P. Salomon and I. S. D. Sassoon state that between the Inquisition's beginning in 1561 and its temporary abolition in 1774, some 16,202 persons were brought to trial by the Inquisition. Of this number, it is known that 57 were sentenced to death and executed in person; another 64 were burned in effigy. Others were subjected to lesser punishments or penanced, but the fate of many of the Inquisition's victims is unknown. The Inquisition was established to punish relapsed New Christians – Jews and Muslims who converted to Catholicism, as well as their descendants – who were now suspected of practicing their ancestral religion in secret. In Goa the Inquisition also turned its attention to Indian converts from Hinduism or Islam who were thought to have returned to their original ways. In addition, the Inquisition prosecuted non-converts who broke prohibitions against the observance of Hindu or Muslim rites or interfered with Portuguese attempts to convert non-Christians to Catholicism. While its ostensible aim was to preserve the Catholic faith, the Inquisition was used against Indian Catholics and Hindus as an instrument of social control, as well as a method of confiscating victims' property and enriching the Inquisitors. Most of the Goa Inquisition's records were destroyed after its abolition in 1812, and it is thus impossible to know the exact number of the Inquisition's victims.