The Portuguese in India
The idea of finding an ocean route to India had become an obsession for Prince Henry of Portugal, who was nicknamed the 'Navigator' Pope Nicholas V gave Prince henry a bull in 1454, conferring on him the right to navigate the "sea to the distant shores of the Orient"
In 1497, under the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494), the rulers of Portugal and Spain divided the non-Christian world between them by an imaginary line in the Atlantic, some 1,300 miles west of the Cape Verde Islands. Under the treaty, Portugal could claim and occupy everything to the east of the line while Spain could claim everything to the west.
In 1487 that the Portuguese navigator, Bartholomew Dias, rounded the Cape of Good Hope in Africa and sailed up the eastern coast; he was well convinced that the long sought after sea route to India had been found. But it was only ten years later that an expedition of Portuguese ships set out for India (in 1947) and arrived in Indian in slightly less than eleven months' time, in May 1498.

From Trading to Ruling
Vasco Da Gama, The arrival of three ships under Vasco Da Gama, led by a Gujarati pilot named Abdul Majid, at Calicut in May 1498 profoundly affected the course of Indian history.
The Hindu ruler of Calicut, the Zamorin (Samuthiri), however, had no apprehensions as to the European's intentions.
Vasco da Gama stayed in India for three months. When he returned to Portugal, he carried back with back with him a rich cargo and sold the merchandise in the European market at a huge profit.
The importance of direct access to the pepper trade was made clear by the fact that elsewhere the Europeans, who had to buy through Muslim middlemen, would have had to spend ten time as much for the same amount of pepper.
A Voyage was undertaken by Pedro Alvarez Cabral to trade for spices; he negotiated and established a factory at Calicut, where he arrived in September 1500.
Vasco da Gama once again came to India in 1501. Vasco da Gama set up a trading factory at Cannanore.


Francisco De Almeida
In 1505, the King of Portugal appointed a governor in India for a three-year term.
In 1507, the Portuguese squadron was defeated in a naval battle off Diu by the combined Egyptian and Gujarat navies, and Almeida's son was killed. Next year, Almeida avenged his defeat by totally crushing the two navies.
Almeida's vision was to make the Portuguese the master of the Indian Ocean. His policy was known as the Blue Water Policy (Cartaze system).


Alfonso de Albuquerque
Albuquerque, who succeeded Almeida as the Portuguese governor in India, was the real founder of the Portuguese power in the East, a task he completed before his death.
He secured for Portugal the strategic control of the Indian Ocean by establishing bases overlooking all the entrances to the sea.
Introducing a permit system for other ships and exercising control over the major ship-building centres in the region.
Albuquerque acquired Goa from the Sultan of Bijapur in 1510 with ease; the principal port of the Sultan of Bijapur became "the first bit of Indian territory to be under the Europeans since the time of Alexander the Great".
An interesting feature of his was the abolition of sati.
Alfonso de Albuquerque was the second Portuguese Governor in India who introduced the ‘Policy of Imperialism’


Nino da Cunha
Nino da Cunha assumed office of the governor of Portuguese interests in India in November 1529 and almost one year later shifted the headquarters of the Portuguese government in India from Cochin to Goa.


Portuguese State
The Estado Portugues da India (State of the Portuguese India) was in fact a larger element in Indian history than it is given credit for.

Many of the coastal parts of India had come under Portuguese power within fifty years of Vasco da Gama's arrival.

The Portuguese had occupied some sixty miles of coast around Goa.
The Portuguese, the first Europeans to come to India, were also the last to leave this land. It was 1961 before the Government of India recaptured Goa, Daman and Diu from them.

Portuguese Administration in India

The head of the administration was the viceroy who served for three years, with his secretary and, in later years, a council.

Religious Policy of the Portuguese

The Portuguese brought with them the same zeal to promote Christianity and the wish to persecute all Muslims.

Portuguese Lose Favour with the Mughals

In 1608, Captain William Hawkins with his Ship Hector reached Surat.
Father Pinheiro and the Portuguese authorities did their best to prevent Hawkins from reaching the Mughal court, but did not succeed.
Jahangir accepted the gifts Hawkins brought for him and gave Hawkins a very favourable reception in 1609. As Hawkins knew the Turki language well, he conversed with the emperor in that language without the aid of an interpreter. Jahangir appointed him as a mansabdar of 400 at a salary of Rs 30,000 (apparently, he never received it).
Hawkins was also married to the daughter of an Armenian Christian named Mubarak Shah (Mubarikesha).
In November 1612, the English ship Dragon under Captain Best along with a little ship, the Osiander, successfully fought a Portuguese fleet. Jahangir, who had no navy worth its name, learnt of the English success and was greatly impressed.

Capture of Hooghly

On the basis of an imperial farman circa 1579, the Portuguese had settled down on a river bank which was a short distance from Satgaon in Bengal to carry on their trading activities.
Over the years, they strengthened their position by constructing big buildings which led to the migration of the trade from Satgaon to the new port known as Hooghly.
They monopolised the manufacture of salt, built a custom house of their own and started enforcing strictly the levy of duty on tobacco, which had become an important article of trade since its introduction at the beginning of the 17th century.
The Portuguese not only made money as traders but also started a cruel slave trade by Purchasing or seizing Hindu and Muslim children, whom they brought up as  Christians.

Decline of the Portuguese

By the 18th century, the Portuguese in India lost their commercial influence.In fact, Hooghly was used by some Portuguese as a base for piracy in the Bay of Bengal.The decline of the Portuguese was brought about by several factors:

  1. The emergence of powerful dynasties in Egypt, Persia and North India and the rise of the turbulent Marathas as the immediate neighbours.
  2. The religious policies of the Portuguese
  3. The dishonest trade practices
  4. The discovery of Brazil diverted colonising activities of Portugal to the West.
  5. The earlier monopoly of knowledge of the sea route to India held by the Portuguese could not remain a secret forever; soon enough the Dutch and the English, who were learning the skills of ocean navigation, also learnt of it.
  6. The spice trade came under the control of the Dutch, and Goa was superseded by Brazil as the economic Centre of the overseas empire of Portugal.
In 1683, after two naval assaults, the Maratha invaded Goa.

Significance of the Portuguese

The coming of the Portuguese not only initiated what might be called the European era, it marked the emergence of naval power.
The Portuguese ships carried cannon, and this was the first step in gaining monopoly over trade - with the threat or actual use of force.
In the Malabar of the Sixteenth century, the Portuguese showed military innovation in their use of body armour matchlock men, and guns landed from the ships. The Portuguese may have contributed by example to the Mughal use of field guns, and the 'artillery of the stirrup'.
The Portuguese were masters of improved techniques at sea. Their multi-decked ships were heavily constructed designed as they were to ride out Atlantic gales rather than run before the regular monsoons; this permitted them to carry a heavier armament.
Their use of Castled prow and Stern was a noteworthy method by which to repel or launch boarding parties. Indian builders adapted both to their own use.