Luso-Indian

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Luso-Indians
Konkani · English

Minority:
Bombay East Indian Catholics

Luso-Indians or Portuguese-Indian, is a subgroup of the larger Eurasian

Macao
etc.

Pockets of Luso-Asians of the Indian subcontinent existed in

Fort Cochin etc.[1][2]

There are also a number of

Hindu caste based discrimination among the converts.[3]

History

Early history

Main article: Portuguese India
Civitates orbis terrarum
)

In the 16th century, a thousand years after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, the Portuguese became the first European power to begin trading in the Indian Ocean.[4] They were in South India a few years before the Moghuls appeared in the North. In the early 16th century, they set up their trading posts (factories) throughout the coastal areas of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, with their capital in Goa in South West India on the Malabar Coast.

In 1498, the number of Europeans residents in the area was merely a few tens of thousands. By 1580, Goa was a sophisticated city with its own brand of Indo-Portuguese society. Early in the development of Portuguese society in India, the Portuguese Admiral Afonso de Albuquerque encouraged Portuguese soldiers to marry native women and this was termed as Politicos dos casamentos.

nobleman
Colored dice with checkered background
A Portuguese nobleman, a Portuguese noblewoman (likely his wife), and their retinue, India, c. 1540
Portuguese gentleman drinking wine, Mughal Empire, c. 1600

The Portuguese also shipped over many Órfãs do Rei to Portuguese India, Goa in particular. Órfãs do Rei literally translates to "Orphans of the King", and they were Portuguese girls sent to overseas territories to marry Portuguese settlers and later natives with high status.[5]

Some Portuguese explorers expressed a disdain for their existence, Parson Terry, writing in 1616 stated that "The truth is that the Portuguese, especially those who are born in the Indian colonies, most of them a mix'd seed begotten upon the natives, are a very low, poor-spirited people, called therefore the Gallinas Del Mar, the hens of the sea!"[6]

Arrival of other Europeans

Portuguese and other European settlements in 1726

The English, French and Dutch East India Companies became active in Far East trading in a meaningful way about a hundred and fifty years after the Portuguese. They too set up their posts throughout the Indian Ocean. By the middle of the 17th century there were several thousand Portuguese and Luso-Indians in India and a relatively small population of other Indian-Europeans.

By the end of the 17th century, the East India Companies had established three major trading posts in India – Fort St. George (

Bombay Island
. In 1670, the Portuguese population in Madras numbered around 3000.

Portuguese speaking communities in Republic of India

Korlai

Korlai Portuguese creole
, a variant mix of the 16th century Portuguese & local Indian languages. The Portuguese left Korlai & Chaul around 1740 & the language also survived due to Portuguese speaking priests, as the priestly diocese was under Goa till early 1960s. It has vigorous use and it is also known as Kristi ("Christian"), Korlai Creole Portuguese, Korlai Portuguese, or Nou Ling ("our language" in the language itself). The small surviving community of a 1,600 strong population is an excellent example of the cultural diversity, integrity and the extensive trade links of historical India. The place also boasts to be an area where Christian, Hindus, Muslims & Jews have been living together in harmony since centuries within the same region & yet proudly relate themselves as Indians today.

Goa

Portuguese nobleman proposing to a Goan Catholic woman, c. 1540
Portuguese women in Goa, early 18th century

Konkani and Portuguese with the present generation also speaking English, and write Konkani in the Roman script. Portuguese was the language of overseas province governance, however Portuguese now spoken as a first language only by a minority of Goans, mainly upper-class Catholic families and the older generation. However, the annual number of Goans learning Portuguese as a second language has been continuously increasing in the 21st century.[8]

The last newspaper in Portuguese ended publication in 1980s (i.e.

Indian annexation of Goa
, the Indian government has changed the Portuguese names of many places and institutes.

There is a department of Portuguese language at the Goa University and the majority of Luso-Goan students choose Portuguese as their third language in schools. Luso-Goans have a choice to either be fully Portuguese citizens or fully Indian citizens or fully Portuguese citizens with an OCI (Overseas citizenship of India) granted by the Indian nationality law.

Those Luso-Goans of noble descent have a well-documented family history and heritage recorded and maintained in various archives in Portugal and Goa. During the absolute monarchy, Luso-Goan nobles enjoyed the most privileged status in Goa and held the most important offices.[citation needed] With the introduction of the Pombaline reforms in the 1750s and then the constitutional monarchy in 1834, the influence of the nobles decreased substantially.

After Portugal became a republic in 1910, some Luso-Goan descendants of the nobility at Goa continued to bear their families' titles according to standards sustained by the Portuguese Institute of Nobility (Instituto da Nobreza Portuguesa), traditionally under the authority of the head of the formerly ruling House of Braganza.[citation needed]

Kerala

In Kochi, the first European settlement of India, the Portuguese settled in areas like Mulavukad, Vypeen, Gothuruth and Fort Kochi. They intermarried with the local Malayali population and children thus born were called mestiços (Dutch: Topasses). They spoke a Creole language called Cochin Portuguese Creole. The Portuguese rule lasted for 150 years until the Dutch annexed Cochin. The Portuguese mestiços were allowed to remain under Dutch rule and even thrived during the subsequent British occupation and later independence. They have their own unique culture and dressing style and a cuisine that is heavily based on Portuguese cuisine.

St. Andrew. Delving into the annals of Travancore's history unveils the presence of Sandandare to the west of Kazhakoottam and Chempazhanthy, as documented in the records of the Travancore
regime.

Luso-Indians now number about 40,000 in Kochi and is the main center for Anglo-Indian affairs in Kerala. There are also Catholic families with Portuguese surnames in

Calicut (no longer in Mahé
). Among them, English replaced Portuguese Creole as their family language one, two, or three generations ago, so they usually claim that they are Anglo-Indian (or Eurasian) instead of Portuguese, as would have been the case up to the 19th century.

Elsewhere

moneychanger, Códice Casanatense
(c. 1540)

In the

Damão while in Diu
the language is nearly extinct.

In North India, Luso-Indians are only present in Kanpur. During 18th century Kanpur was an important Portuguese trade centre and had large Portuguese population which declined after colonization by British forces. Portuguese form the large ethnic group among Ethnic communities in Kanpur at present and about 1,200 people are buried in the city's Portuguese Cemetery.

Bondashil, located in the Badarpur district of South Assam, had a Portuguese settlement of about 40 families back in the 17th century. Other in Rangamati in Goalpara district of Assam and Mariamnagar on the outskirts of Tripura’s capital Agartala.[10]

Portuguese-speaking communities pre-independence British Raj India

Numerous Luso-Indians and Luso-Goans were based in large cities of the Raj with the majority in Mumbai, and a smaller number in Karachi[11] and other Indian cities. In the decades following the formation of Pakistan many Goan left for better economic opportunities in the West or the Persian Gulf countries.[12]

Many Anglo-Indians resided at Karachi as well and often married Luso-Asians[

1961 Indian annexation of Goa with ease.[citation needed
]

Luso-Indians, Luso-Goans outside the Republic of India

During Portuguese governance in parts of today's Republic of India, many Luso-Indian, Luso-Goan mestiços left the Indian subcontinent for other Portuguese territories and colonies for purposes of trade. Some also became Roman Catholic missionaries in

was martyred in Japan in 1597.[13] Other Luso-Indians went to Macau, then a Portuguese colony, where they intermarried into the local Macanese population. Goan mestiços are among the ancestors of many Macanese today. Before heading to Macau, Luso-Indians migrated to Malacca, Singapore, and Indonesia, where they intermarried with Malay and other native settlers, and descendants of Chinese settlers. Still other Luso-Indians went to Portuguese Mozambique. Known members of the Luso-Indian Mozambican community are Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho, a leader of the Carnation Revolution against the Estado Novo in Portugal, and Orlando da Costa, a writer who was born in Mozambique and lived until the age of 18 in Goa.He is the father of António Costa
.

During the days of the British empire, many Goans migrated to the British ruled regions in East Africa such as Kenya, and Uganda.[14]

In Portugal

The mestiço children of wealthy Portuguese men were often sent to Portugal to study. Sometimes they remained there and established families. Many Portuguese-born mestiços became prominent politicians, lawyers, writers or celebrities. Alfredo Nobre da Costa, who was briefly Prime Minister of Portugal in 1978, was of partial Goan descent on his father's side. Similarly, António Costa, the Prime Minister of Portugal since 26 November 2015, is one-quarter Goan through his father, Orlando da Costa. Television presenter Catarina Furtado is also part Indian.

Following the

1961 Indian annexation of Goa, many ethnic Portuguese living in Goa, as well as Goan assimilados and mestiços or Luso-Indians fled Goa for Portugal, Brazil or Portuguese Africa
, others continued to live in Goa which is under the statehood of the Republic of India.

Notable Luso-Indians and Luso-Goans

Significant Overlap with: List of people from Goa

See also

References

  1. ^ : Countries and Their Cultures – Europeans in South Asia
  2. ^ Charles, H. (2011). A history of the inquisition of Spain: And the inquisition in the Spanish dependencies. I. B. Tauris.
  3. hdl:10603/13205
    .
  4. ^ "Indo Europeans – Europeans in India". Archived from the original on 4 March 2015. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
  5. ISBN 978-81-7022-591-1
    .
  6. ISBN 9780598571793
    .
  7. ^ Roger Crowley (2015). Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire. London: Faber and Faber.
  8. ^ "1.500 pessoas estudam português em Goa". Revista MACAU. 2 June 2014.
  9. ^ Fernandes, Paul (6 September 2019). "The striking signs of Goa's Portuguese Heritage". The Times of India.
  10. ^ "More Bengalis than Portuguese". October 2016.
  11. ISBN 978-2845861466
    . Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  12. ISBN 978-0754660361
    .
  13. ^ "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. Gonsalo Garcia".
  14. ISBN 81-7022-867-0. {{cite book}}: |first3= has generic name (help
    )
  15. ^ "Updated: Google's Ben Gomes expands role to head all of search as John Giannandrea moves to Apple to head AI". 3 April 2018.
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