Portuguese Empire in the East in the 16th and 17th centuries.[1] The Portuguese first arrived in Chittagong around 1528[2] and left in 1666[3] after the Mughal conquest.[4] It was the first European colonial enclave in the historic region of Bengal.[5]
Etymology
Sultanate of Bengal, which was termed as the "Shahi Bangalah" (Imperial Bengal) in Persian and Bengali. The Portuguese referred to the port city as Porto Grande de Bengala, which meant "the Grand Harbor of Bengal". The term was often simplified as Porto Grande.[6]
Some sources indicate that Joao Coelho had arrived in Chittagong before João da Silveira. Many Malaccan Portuguese had come to the Bengal before Silveira in
Orissa
) in 1514 and had visited Western Bengal.
Established trading base
In 1528, the
customs houses in the Port of Chittagong.[7] A fort and naval base was established in Firingi Bandar. The settlement grew into the most prominent Eurasian port on the Bay of Bengal during the Age of Discovery.[10] The cartaz system was introduced and required all ships in the area to purchase naval trading licenses from the Portuguese.[11][12] In 1590, the Portuguese conquered the nearby islands of Sandwip under the leadership of António de Sousa Godinho.[13] In 1602, the Sandwip island of Chittagong was conquered by the Portuguese from Kedar Rai of Sripur.[14]
Portuguese pirates, named Gonçalves and Carvalho, ruled the island of Sandwip for several years. Each year about 300 salt loaded ships sailed for Liverpool from Sandwip. Sandwip was very famous for its
ship-building and salt industries at that time. In 1616, after the arrival of Delwar Khan, a high-ranking Mughal naval officer, the Portuguese pirates were driven away from Sandwip and Delwar Khan ruled the island independently for about 50 years.[15]
The harbour of Chittagong became the most important port to the Portuguese because of its location, navigational facilities and safe anchorage. The port is very close to the mouth of the Meghna which was the principal route to the Royal capital of Gouda.[16]
Evidently the Portuguese found Chittagong a congenial place to live. By the end of the sixteenth century, the
Chittagong port had emerged as a thriving port, which attracted both unofficial Portuguese trade and settlement. According to a 1567 note of Caesar Federeci, every year thirty or thirty five ships, great and small, anchored in Chittagong port.[17] In 1598 there lived about 2,500 Portuguese and Eurasians in Chittagong and Arakan.[18][10]
The increased commercial presence included
pirates. The enclave had a highly laissez-faire administration led by traders. Slave trade and piracy flourished.[7] Major traded products included fine silk, cotton muslin textiles, bullion, spices, rice, timber, salt and gunpowder