Canberra, 13 January 2023 Even with the extreme religious oppression, Goa remained populated by Indians, both Hindus and Christians. Some reports suggest that about 2000 Portuguese came to India annually and a majority stayed on in the sub-continent on a semi-permanent basis. However, the authenticity of these reports is questionable. Definitely, every year a certain […]
Continue readingEuropeans in India The Portuguese Part 5 Of Cruelty and Religion – The Indelible Connection
January 9, 2023 
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Canberra, 9 January 2023 The Arrogance of Ignorance Vasco da Gama was the first European to reach the western coast of India by sea direct from Europe. He had expected to find a ‘backward’ country that had to be ‘civilised’, since the Europeans of the 15th and 16th centuries illogically and erroneously assumed that their […]
Continue readingEuropeans in India The Portuguese Part 4 Governance, Policies and Operations
January 5, 2023 0 Comments
Canberra, 5 January 2023 There are two viewpoints regarding the Portuguese attempt to establish a ‘State’ in the Indian sub-continent, headquartered at Goa. One, a sort of sweeping assessment, states that the defeat of the Arab coalition at Diu in 1509 by Almeida ended all threats to Portugal’s hegemony in the Indian Ocean region. The […]
Continue readingEuropeans in India – The Portuguese Part 3 A Viceroy and Three Governors Section III: Lopo Soares & Diego Lopes
December 3, 2022 0 Comments
Canberra, 3 December 2022 [Detailed accounts of the tenures of the first Viceroy and three Governors who succeeded him have been given for the reader to get a flavour of the activities that these individuals undertook to perpetuate Portuguese presence in the Indian sub-continent and to create a monopoly on the lucrative spice trade, which […]
Continue readingEuropeans in India – The Portuguese Part 3 A Viceroy and Three Governors Section II: Afonso D’Albuquerque
December 3, 2022 0 Comments
Canberra, 03 December 2022 When he assumed the office of Governor of Estado da India on 5th November 1509, Afonso D’Albuquerque, was 56 years of age, an old man for that period. His first action was to assist Marshal Coutinho to attack Calicut, which he was reluctant to do, but had to agree considering the […]
Continue readingEuropeans in India The Portuguese Part 3 A Viceroy and Three Governors Section I Francisco D’Almeida (1505-1509)
December 3, 2022 0 Comments
Canberra, 03 December 2022 ‘The Portuguese of the 16th and 17th centuries had nothing to teach the people of India except improved methods of killing people in war and the narrow feeling of bigotry in religion. Surely these were not matters of such importance as to make it necessary for Indians to feel grateful towards […]
Continue readingEuropeans in India – The Portuguese Part 2 The Portuguese Vanguard
November 19, 2022 0 Comments
Canberra 19 November 2022 The Zamorin of Calicut welcomed the Portuguese in a friendly manner, as he was his custom with all merchants who came to trade at his port. He sent a local pilot to take the foreign ships to shelter from the fury of the on-coming South-West Monsoon rains. However, Vasco da Gama […]
Continue readingEuropeans in India – The Portuguese Part 1 Background: Ancient and Medieval
November 9, 2022 0 Comments
Canberra, 09 November 2022 The Indian sub-continent was known to the people of Europe in antiquity, with the ancient Greeks recording their knowledge of India in some of the texts of the time. Cyrus the Great (r. 558–530 BC) of the famous Achaemenid Dynasty of Persia, built the first universal empire, stretching from Greece to […]
Continue readingThe Marathas Part 23 Evolution of the Civil Administration
October 11, 2022 0 Comments
Canberra, 11 October 2022 The Maratha Empire originated as a small jagir handed over to a young Shivaji by his father to learn the rudiments of land management under the watchful eyes of Dadaji Kondadev. As Shivaji gradually grew it into a kingdom, of necessity the administrative system of the budding State also changed, expanded […]
Continue readingThe Marathas Part 22 Ruling the Waves Section IV: A Requiem for the Maratha Navy
October 4, 2022 0 Comments
Canberra, 04 October 2022 There is no mention of the Peshwa possessing a naval fleet up to the mid-1700s, even in any of the treaties concluded with the Europeans. The first mention of a Peshwa fleet is in the treaty that he signed with the English in 1739 and then again in 1740–41 in the […]
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Sanu Kainikara 
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