Portuguese in Goa

Consolidation of Portuguese rule

In 1498 the Portuguese landed in Vasco da Gama for the first time on the Indian coast at Calicut. It was quickly exploited. Afonso de Albuquerque entered into an alliance with Vijayanagar against Bijapur. In 1510 he conquered with the support of the fleet Vijayanagar, the area around the modern cities Panaji and Goa Velha.

In the same year the Sultan of Bijapur died. His successor tried to reconquer the lost territory, but that ultimately failed. From then on, Goa’s fate was determined for approximately 450 uninterrupted years by the Portuguese.

The administration was for a governor-general, some of whom had the title of Viceroy, which consists of all Portuguese possessions in India and East Africa being centrally managed, but whose authority was subordinated to the governors and governors of other Portuguese possessions in Asia.

From 1757 Goa was the center of the colony of Portuguese India (Estado da India). For the early period, the Portuguese’s first Governor was Viceroy Francisco de Almeida (1505-1509), and the second governor (1509-1515) was Afonso de Albuquerque. Above all, Afonso de Albuquerque had realized that the small, poor population of Portugal would not have been able to establish its domination on land ownership. Under his leadership, the Portuguese, therefore, relied on their navy.

Albuquerque captured and secured the most important bases on the African and Asian coasts of the Indian Ocean, so that they could be moved quickly in case of danger. In
1543 Portugal wrestled the Adil Shahi of Bijapur areas in the northern Bardez and Salcette from further south along the coast. Also on the Malabar coast, in Malacca, Sri Lanka and Macao gained points. At the height of Portuguese power in the 16th Century, the city of Velha Goa, known as Goa Dourada (Golden Goa) flourished.

With the marriage of the Portuguese colonial empire, Catholicism was increasingly moving into Goa. Above all, such as Francisco Xavier, the Jesuit missionary drove forward. Xavier founded in 1542, the St. Paul’s School for the training of missionaries, and made it to the base of the mission. Pope Clement VII, built on 31st January 1533 in Goa, a diocese.

On 4th February 1557 Pope Paul IV was elevated to archdiocese. Their jurisdiction extended to the area at that time by the Cape of Good Hope to Japan. In 1560 the Inquisition was introduced.

The demise of the colonial power in Portugal began in 1580 with the extinction of the royal house of Avis and the resulting personal union with Spain. During this time the Dutch were the main adversaries in Asia. While possessions were lost to the Malabar, Goa withstood the attacks of the Dutch in 1603 and 1639. Nevertheless, the decline of the former “Golden Goa” with the decline of Portugal was unstoppable.

From the north, in the second half of the 17th Century came a new threat. The Marathas under Shivaji reigned 1674-1680 and his son and successor, Sambhaji reigned 1680-1689 extended their power over large parts of the former Bijapur.

After the northern areas of Goa had been besieged and conquered, it seemed to seal the end of Portuguese rule. Only the war against the Mughal Empire, brought the integration of Goa. In 1737 they went to war against the Marathas, which within two years, almost overran Goa.

Only the arrival of a fleet of the new Viceroy prevented the loss of Goa.
Diseases were, in the late 17th and early 18th Century, greatly reduced. In 1759 the viceroy moved to the nearby city Panaji, called Pangim by the Portuguese. Velha Goa was indeed the capital, but degenerated more and more into a ghost town, until the capital was officially moved to Panaji in 1843.

Toward the end of the 18th Century they expanded at the expense of the kingdom of Portugal, Sunda and his holdings to the size of today’s Goa. Bicholim (1781), Satari (1782), Pernem (1788), Ponda, Quepem, Sangue and Canacona (all 1791) were the last territorial gains of the Portuguese in the Indian subcontinent. Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign (1798-1801) was aimed at the conquest of the British and Portuguese possessions in India. The British occupied Goa from 1799 to 1813.