Portuguese India

Portuguese India ( in Portuguese: Estado da Índia ) was a Portuguese colony in India. Portuguese India existed at the end of Portuguese rule of three unconnected territories that were as enclaves in the British colonial territory and later independent India: Goa, the capital of Portuguese India, and the two areas DaMao and Diu. Until the 18th century were from Goa, however, both of the possessions in East Africa as well as the bases in East and Southeast Asia with managed.

History

In the late Middle Ages, India was, even if you did not know much about Europe in the subcontinent, estimated as the country of origin of the highly coveted and very precious spices. Since the fall of Constantinople on May 29, 1453 to the Ottomans of the spice trade for Christian European traders was no longer accessible, the monopoly had now the Muslims. Therefore, the search for one of these non-dominated trade route became an important part of the policy of European trading nations, particularly Portugal. Since the Muslims controlled the land route, this approach could be found only by sea, for which the southern tip of Africa had to be circumnavigated. An important first step in this direction was done as Bartolomeu Diaz in 1488 reached the Cape of Good Hope. 1498 Vasco da Gama finally reached by sea to India.

The Portuguese began in 1505 in India to conquer territories and set up trading posts there. Since the way to Portugal too far was the lack of modern communication links in order to effectively manage the Indian territories from Portugal to the Portuguese taught the " Estado da Índia ", the Indian State, under the regency of members appointed by the Portuguese monarch viceroy the far- reaching powers possessed. Among the first two governors of Francisco de Almeida and Afonso de Albuquerque ( " Afonso the Great" ) has been the Portuguese position of power as planned. 1509 Portugal gained by destroying an Arab fleet off Diu complete naval supremacy in the Indian Ocean. 1510 occupied Afonso de Albuquerque Goa. Diu was 1535, 1588 DaMao Portuguese.

Especially Afonso de Albuquerque had realized that the small, sparsely populated Portugal would not have been able to establish its dominion on land ownership. Under his leadership, the Portuguese, therefore, based on their naval power. Albuquerque conquered and secured the most important bases of the African and Asian shores of the Indian Ocean, so that in case of danger, the Portuguese India squadron was quickly transferred to the trouble spots. Sofala and the city of Mozambique in East Africa, Muscat and Hormuz at the entrance to the Persian Gulf, Goa and Cochin in India and Malacca on the Malay Peninsula formed the cornerstone of the Portuguese Estado da Índia and laid the foundations for the maritime and commercial supremacy of the Portuguese in the 16. century in the Indian Ocean. Since the conquest of Aden failed, remained the old trade route through the Red Sea for the Muslims largely open, especially as the Ottomans occupied Aden in 1538.

Capital of the Estado da Índia was Goa, where the governor or viceroy had his seat. The governor or viceroy was only responsible to the king undisputed leader of the military and the civilian government. He was an advisory council of a Fidalgos aside. Among them were the judicial and financial authorities.

At the beginning of the 17th century, the advance of the Dutch and the English began to South and Southeast Asia. The Dutch gave way here from the Portuguese route to India and controlled, thanks to improved geographical and astronomical knowledge, from the Cape of Good Hope from directly today to Indonesia.

From 1756 the British began to conquer most of India. At this time, Portugal had already passed the zenith of its power and was able to oppose the British expansion nothing more. 1802 to 1813, during the Portuguese motherland the battle raged between the British and Napoleon and Portugal then de facto by the British military commander William Carr Beresford was ruled, Portuguese India was occupied British.

Towards the end of the 19th century, the present-day India was divided into four political units:

  • Areas under direct British rule ( British India Capital: Bombay, then Calcutta );
  • The so-called " native states " (native states ): areas where the British had granted a limited autonomy under a local prince ( Maharaja);
  • The French possessions in India ( French India Capital: Pondicherry );
  • And finally the Portuguese colonial possessions, the " Estado da Índia ".

The first two areas were in 1947 their fight for independence from Britain (see also: Mohandas Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru ) and closed - but without the predominantly inhabited by Muslims areas (see Pakistan ( Ali Jinnah ) and Bangladesh) - to the Indian Union together. Since its inception, the Indian Union tried to incorporate the still existing in the subcontinent European colonies the new state. 1954 first French India was integrated into the Union.

1946, Portuguese India named as the first colony status as an overseas province, but this did not lead to major changes in the administration. 1954 took over local Indian nationalists in the Portuguese possessions Dadra and Nagar Haveli control and created a proindische administration. India refused access to the enclaves across its territory for the Portuguese troops. In 1961 Portugal lost its last Indian colonies Goa, Diu and DaMao. These were occupied by the Indian Army coup- like. In Goa 3000 Portuguese soldiers were ill-equipped compared to an Indian supremacy of 30,000 men. The Portuguese government under António de Oliveira Salazar was not willing to give up their Indian colonies, and ordered the soldiers stationed there, in complete disregard of the military balance of power to defend themselves against the Indians. The local commander, however, saw that resistance was futile, and therefore contributed to the Indian invasion as resistance. The NRP Afonso de Albuquerque was destroyed in battle with Indian warships. Portuguese India heard so after over 450 years of Portuguese presence to exist and was incorporated into the Indian Union.

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