Written by Marco Ramerini. Photos by Krzysztof Kudlek. English text revision by Dietrich Köster.
The city of Malacca was conquered by the Portuguese in 1511. Soon after the conquest of the city, which was the most important commercial port in Asia, Afonso de Albuquerque built a fortress to defend the new Portuguese possession.
The first fort, “A Famosa”, was built by Thomas Fernandes and consisted originally of a tower of four floors, serving as home to the captain of the city and surrounded by a wall. The first Captain of Malacca, Rui de Brito Patalim, enlarged this structure by adding another floor to the tower. During the first years of Portuguese rule it also served as a watchtower.
This fortification from the 1560s proved ineffective against the artillery. For this reason from 1564 a new stone wall surrounding the city began to be erected. Four years later, in 1568, the wall was not yet complete and for most of its length was still in wood. The works were completed at the end of the sixteenth century. The perimeter of the walled city then totalled 1310 fathoms.
Four main bastions were built: São Pedro, São Domingos, Santiago and Onze Mil Virgens. Four gates provided access to the fortified enclosure, one on each side. At this time “A Famosa” became known as “Fortaleza Velha”, forming a citadel within the walls of the city.
Porta de Santiago, Malacca, Malaysia. Author and Copyright Krzysztof Kudlek
In the early seventeenth century the fortifications were improved with the addition of some ramparts. These new works of fortification, however, did not prevent the Dutch to conquer the city in 1641 after a siege lasting five months. After the conquest the Dutch proceeded to strengthen the defense of Malacca by building new ramparts and reinforcing the old ones. Ceded in August 1795 by the Dutch to the British, the fort of Malacca was deemed by the new masters as too expensive to maintain and was subsequently demolished.
Today the remains of the fortifications of Malacca are quite scarce, but in recent years excavations have unearthed some parts of the ancient walls of the fortress. The main remain of the fortress is the Porta de Santiago. This was one of the old gates of the city walls during the Portuguese period, which was severely damaged in 1641 during the Dutch siege and later it was demolished and rebuilt. Above the entrance arch are the symbols of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and the inscription “ANNO 1670”.
REMAINS OF SOME WALLS (MIDDELBURG BASTION) OF THE PORTUGUESE-DUTCH FORT IN MALACCA
Information and photos by Martin Carvalho and Damian Gerard Sta. Maria from Malacca. English text revision by Dietrich Köster.
The photos were taken about a month after the initial discovery. The excavations are —– located next to the former Kancil Restaurant, which still houses a part of the Tourist Information Office. These excavations succeeded in revealing a part of the Portuguese Fort built between 1512 and the 1550s. The Dutch added a square rectangle to the Portuguese structure between the late 1650s and 1670, naming it “Middelburg”. This can be seen from the top view photo and from the other ones. You can also note circular concrete beams protruding at the site. They are the remnants of a Shell petrol depot built by the British in 1905. It was also discovered a huge sewage and water pipe dating back to approximately 1895.
According to the last news about 350 m of the buried walls of the fortress will be reconstructed stone by stone subject to its original dimensions of 8 m by 5 m. The completed structure will encompass the city’s 11.3 ha heritage site in Bandar Hilir. The Heritage Department under the Culture, Arts and Heritage Ministry will implement the project in stages beginning from the ancient wall site in Bandar Hilir, which has been confirmed as the Middelburg Bastion. With the project existing buildings and other structures will not be touched.
The Heritage Department will excavate and expose the southern side of the foundation of the fort’s walls and its six bastions before using laterite stones from Malacca’s Pulau Upeh to reconstruct the fort. The department will also conserve and restore the 23 historical structures within the fort’s precinct.
Written by Marco Ramerini. Photos by Krzysztof Kudlek. English text revision by Dietrich Köster.
The “Flor do Mar” or “Flor de la Mar” was a Portuguese galleon of 400 tons, which was part of the fleet sent to conquer the city of Malacca in 1511. The vessel was built in Lisbon in 1502 and at the time of its construction it was one of the largest and most beautiful galleons of the time. The ship made its first trip to India in 1502 under the command of Estevão da Gama. In 1503 the ship was returning, laden with spices, to Portugal.
In 1505 the ship departed newly to Asia under the command of João da Nova. In 1506, during the return trip, the ship was forced to stop for almost a year in Mozambique for repairs. Because of its enormous size, when it was fully loaded, it was difficult to maneuver. In February 1507 the ship set sail from Mozambique and returned without load in India along with the fleet of Tristão da Cunha.
In the following years the Flor do Mar participated in major battles and events: in 1507 it participated in the conquest of Socotra, Curiate (Kuryat), Muscat, Khor Fakkan, and Ormuz. In 1509 it participated in the naval battle of Diu. The new governor of Portuguese India, Afonso de Albuquerque, used it for the conquest of Goa in 1510, and then for the conquest of Malacca in 1511.
At the end of 1511 after the Portuguese conquest of Malacca and the building of a fortress the Viceroy of India Afonso de Albuquerque prepared his fleet for the return to India.
Against the advice of his captains Albuquerque decided to sail from Malacca in December 1511. He filled his ship – the “Flor do Mar” – with the most beautiful treasures captured in Malacca: gold, silver, precious stones, jewels etc. At the time Malacca was in effect the largest commercial port in the East and Afonso de Albuquerque wished to present the treasures to the court of Manuel I of Portugal.
The ships of the fleet were full of booty taken after the capture of the city, but probably in December 1511 during the return voyage to Goa his ship “Flor do Mar” sank during a storm and all the treasures fetched in Malacca were lost. The ship was in fact sinking along the coast of Sumatra island at the northern end of the Strait of Malacca.
Today a replica of the “Flor de la Mar” is housed in the Maritime Museum in Malacca.
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster.
The Portuguese language has been in relation to the trade and colonial expansion of Portugal the trade language of the Indian Ocean shores in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. Portuguese was used, at that time, not only in the eastern cities conquered by the Portuguese but was also used by many local rulers in their relations with the other European powers (Dutch, English, Danes etc. ).
In Ceylon, for example, Portuguese was used for all contacts between the Europeans and the local peoples. Several Kings of Ceylon spoke it fluently. Portuguese names were common among the nobility. When the Dutch occupied coastal Ceylon they, particularly under van Goens, took measures to stop the use of Portuguese. However, it had become so well established among the Ceylonese that even the families of the Dutch Burghers started to speak it. In 1704, the Governor Cornelius Jan Simonsz said that “if one spoke Portuguese in Ceylon, one could be understood everywhere”.
Also in the Dutch eastern capital city of Batavia (today’s Jakarta) Portuguese was the spoken language in the 17th and 18th centuries. The religious missions contributed to the great spreading of the Portuguese language. Indeed, as many communities converted to Christianity, they adopted the Portuguese mother tongue. Also the Protestant missions (Dutch, Danish, English…) that worked in India were forced to use Portuguese as their evangelisation language.
The Portuguese language has also influenced many an oriental language. Many Portuguese words were permanently lent to various kinds of Eastern languages such as Indian languages (Bengali included), Swahili, Malay, Indonesian, Japanese, Ceylonese languages, Tetum of Timor and also Afrikaans in South Africa.
Besides, where the Portuguese presence was stronger or lasted longer, flourishing communities of “Casados” and “Mestiços” were developed that adopted a variety of the mother tongue: a kind of Creole Portuguese.
What remains today is very little. However it is interesting to notice that, to this day, there are small communities of peoples spread throughout Asia that continue to use Creole Portuguese, although for many years (for centuries, in some cases) they had no contact with Portugal. Another interesting aspect to contemplate is that, during the best period of Portuguese presence in Asia, the number of Portuguese there was never more than 12.000 to 14.000 souls, including the clergy.
Portuguese-speaking communities in Asia (Blue Present-day places, where Portuguese is spoken. Red Places, where communities used to speak Portuguese). Author Marco Ramerini
TODAY, THERE ARE PORTUGUESE SPEAKING COMMUNITIES IN:
Malacca: (Portuguese Settlement, Praya Lane, Bandara Hilir). About 1000 people speak this Creole Portuguese (Papia Kristang). About 80 % of the older residents of the Portuguese settlement in Malacca regularly speak Kristang. There are also some speakers in today’s Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. Kristang is very close to local Malay in its grammatical structure, but its vocabulary is for 95% derived from Portuguese. Not many years ago, Portuguese was also spoken in Pulau Tikus (Penang) but now it is considered extinct. The Eurasian community has 12.000 members on the Malay Peninsula. Active are MPEA (Malacca Portuguese Eurasian Association) and SPEMA (Secretariat of the Portuguese/Eurasian Malaysian Associations) with seven separate member associations in Alor Star, Penang, Perak, Malacca (MPEA), Kuala Lumpur, Seremban and Johor Baru. There is also a Eurasian Association in Singapore. Portugal lost Malacca in 1641.
Korlai: (near Chaul, India). About 900 monolingual people speak this Creole Portuguese, this community has his Portuguese church called: “Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Monte Carmelo”. Originated around 1520 on the west coast of India. Initially isolated from its Hindu and Muslim neighbors by social and religious barriers, the small Korlai community lost virtually all Portuguese contact as well after 1740. Portugal lost Chaul in 1740.
Damão: (Damão Grande or Praça, Campo dos Remédios, Jumprim, Damão da Cima). About 2000 people speak this Creole Portuguese. Portugal lost Damão in December 1961.
Ceylon: [Portuguese Burghers in Batticaloa (Koolavaddy, Mamangam, Uppodai, Dutch Bar, Akkaraipattu); Trincomalee (Palayuttu); Kaffir communities of Mannar and Puttalam ]. It’s now used at home only. It was spoken by 250 families in Batticaloa as late as 1984. There are still 100 families in Batticaloa and Trincomalee and about 80 Afro-Sinhalese (Kaffir) families in Puttalam. Of about 5.000 Creole people (Batticaloa, Trincomalee), only 500 still speak Creole, the younger generations cannot speak the Creole. < Silva Jayasuriya, 2000 > Nearly extinct. In Batticaloa there is the Burgher Recreio Clube “Shamrock” or “Batticaloa Catholic Burgher Union”. There is a little community of Portuguese descendants in the village of WahaKotte (circa 7°42’N. – 80°36’E) (Central Sri Lanka, six kilometers from Galewala on the road between Galewala and Matale), they are Roman Catholic, but since about two generations Portuguese Creole is no longer spoken. Portugal lost Ceylon in 1658.
Macau: About 2.000 people speak Portuguese as their first language, and about 11.500 as their second language. Only a few elderly women speak Macanese a Macao Creole Portuguese. The “Instituto Cultural de Macau” and the “Fundação do Oriente” are still active. There is also a TV channel and several newspapers entirely in Portuguese. Macau was a Portuguese province. On 20 December 1999 it was reverted to China.
Hong Kong: Several hundred people speak Macanese. Essentially, these are people that emigrated from Macao. There is the “Club Lusitano”. Never under Portuguese rule.
Goa: Portuguese is rapidly disappearing from Goa. It is now spoken only by a small segment of the upper class families and about 3 to 5 % of the people still speak it (estimated at 30.000 to 50.000 people). Today 35% of Goa’s population are immigrants from other Indian states. In the Indian school it is taught as third language (not obligatory). There is a department of Portuguese at the Goa University. However, the “Fundação do Oriente” and the Indo – Portuguese Friendship Society (Sociedade de Amizade Indo-Portuguesa) are still active. The last Newspaper in Portuguese shifted over to the English language in 1983. At Panaji many signs in Portuguese are still visible over shops, administrative buildings etc. Portugal lost Goa in December 1961.
Diu: Here the Creole Portuguese is nearly extinct. According to the testimony of Maria Luiza de Carvalho Armando, its seems that the Creole Portuguese language is still used in Diu and according to her Diu it’s the place in India where the Portuguese legacy is the most durable. (Information obtained from Maria Luíza de Carvalho Armando with thanks.) Portugal lost Diu in December 1961.
Timor: Portuguese was spoken in 1950 by less than 10,000 people and in 1974 by only about 10%-20% of the population. In 1975: East Timor had 700,000 inhabitants from which: 35-70,000 knew how to read and write Portuguese and 100-140,000 could speak and understand it. Until 1981 Portuguese was the church language of Timor, when it was supplanted by Tetum. However, it is commonly used as the business language in the town of Dili. Portuguese remains the language of the anti-Indonesian resistance and that of external communications for the Catholic Church. The Creole Portuguese of Timor (Português de Bidau) is now extinct. It was spoken around Dili, Lifau and Bidau. Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975. Now Timor is an independent nation. It has adopted Portuguese as an official language alongside Tetum.
Indonesia: Flores island: (Larantuka, Sikka) Here Portuguese survives in the religious traditions and the Topasses community (the descendants of Portuguese men and local women) uses it in the prayers. On Saturdays the women of Larantuka say the rosary in a corrupt form of Portuguese. In the Sikka area of eastern Flores, many of the people of Sikka are descendants from the Portuguese and still??? use that language. There is the Confraternity of “Reinja Rosari”. Larantuka was abandoned by Portugal in 1859.
UNTIL A FEW YEARS AGO, PORTUGUESE SPEAKING COMMUNITIES EXISTED IN:
Ceylon: (Creole Portuguese was used amongst the Dutch Burgher community). Till the beginning of the 20th. century Creole Portuguese was spoken by the members of this community. Untill after the Second World War Sri Lankan Catholics in Colombo met for regular church services conducted in Portuguese (at the parish church of St. Anthony’s, Dematagoda). Up to the middle part of this century prayers were being conducted for diminishing groups in Portuguese at a number of Catholic churches in the city (Dematagoda, Hulftsdorp, Kotahena, Kotte, Nugegoda and Wellawatte). Although a verbal language, Portuguese was fast loosing its original purpose at religious devotions in Catholic churches (to be replaced by English and taken over more fashionably and pursued with greater vigour).
Jakarta-Batavia-Tugu: (a suburb of Jakarta). Here, till the beginning of the 20th. century, a kind of corrupted Portuguese was still spoken by the Christian population in Tugu. The last creol speaking died in 1978. Never under Portuguese rule.
Cochin: (Vypeen). It has disappeared in the last twenty years of the 20th century. The community of Portuguese/Indians (about 2,000 people) has its parish church in the old church of Nossa Senhora da Esperança. Portugal lost Cochin in 1663.
Bombaim or Província do Norte: (Baçaim, Salcete, Thana, Chevai, Mahim, Tecelaria, Dadar, Parel, Cavel, Bandora-Badra, Govai, Morol, Andheri, Versova, Malvan, Manori, Mazagão) In 1906, this Creole was, after that of Ceylon, the most important of Indo-Portuguese Creole. In 1906 there were still 5,000 people who spoke Creole Portuguese as mother tongue, of these 2,000 were in Bombaim and Mahim, 1,000 were in Bandora, 500 in Thana, 100 in Curla, 50 in Baçaim and 1,000 in other villages. There were at that time no Creole Portuguese schools and the well-to-do classes tended towards neglecting its use and preferred English. (Costa, 1892 & Dalgado, 1906)
Coromandel: Coromandel: (Meliapore, Madras, Tuticorin, Cuddalore, Karikal, Pondicherry, Tranquebar, Manapar, Negapatam) On the Coromandel coast the Portuguese descendants were generally known by the name of “Topasses”. They were Catholics and spoke Portuguese Creole. With the coming of the English rule in India, they began to speak English instead of Portuguese and also anglicized their names. They are now part of the Eurasian community. In Negapatam, in 1883, there were still 20 families that spoke Indo-Portuguese. (Schuchardt, 1883 & Dalgado, 1917)
HAVE DISAPPEARED FOR MANY YEARS THOSE OF:
Solor & Adonara: Solor, Adonara (Vure) islands on Lesser Sunda islands, Indonesia.
Batavia, Java island: (Dutch community of Batavia, Mardijkers) The Mardijkers are the descendants of the old slaves from Malacca, Bengal, Coromandel, Malabar, that were converted to Protestantism, for which they were set free. They spoke a Creole form of Portuguese and were the main group of the Portuguese community of Batavia. After the Dutch conquest of Malacca and Ceylon their number increased considerably. In 1673 a Protestant church was built in Batavia for the Portuguese community and later, at the end of the XVII century, a second church was built. In 1713 this community had about 4,000 members. (Lopes) Until 1750 Portuguese was the first language in Batavia, but after that date Malay started to dominate. In 1808 Reverend Engelbrecht celebrated the last mass in Portuguese. In 1816 the Portuguese community was incorporated into the Malay community. Also in the Dutch families of Batavia the Portuguese language was vividly used until 1750, in spite of the efforts of the Dutch Government against its use.
Mangalore: A port-city on Karnataka coast.
Cannanore: A port-city on Kerala coast.
Bengal: Bengal: (Balasore, Pipli, Chandernagore, Chittagong, Midnapore, Hugli……) The Portuguese language was in the 17th and 18th centuries the “lingua franca” in Bengal. Up to 1811 Portuguese was used in all Christian churches in Calcutta (Catholics and Protestants). At the beginning of the 20th century only in a few families a corrupted form of Portuguese was spoken, largely mixed with English words. (Campos, 1919)
Moluccas: (Ternate, Ambon, Banda, Makasar) TERNATENO, a Creole Portuguese was spoken on the islands of Ternate and West Halmahera, which is now extinct. AMBON, the Creole Portuguese is extinct, but some traces of Portuguese are in the language now spoken on Ambon, the Malay-Ambon, which has about 350 words of Portuguese origin.
Along the Indian Ocean shores there were about 44 communities where Portuguese was spoken.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
– Abdurachman, Paramita Rahayu “Some Portuguese loanwords in the vocabulary of speakers of Ambonese Malay in Christian villages of the Central Moluccas”
17 pp. LIPI, 1972, Jakarta, Indonesia.
– Clancy, Clements “The genesis of a language: the formation and development of Korlai Portuguese”
XII, 281 pp. maps, Creole language library vol.16, Benjamins, 1996, Amsterdam and Philadelphia.
– Dalgado, S. R. “Estudos sobre os Crioulos Indo-Portugueses” 187 pp. Comissão Nacional para as Comemorações dos Descobrimentos Portugueses 1998 Lisboa, Portugal.
Dialecto Indo-Português de Goa; Dialecto Indo-Português de Damão; Dialecto Indo-Português do Norte; Dialecto Indo-Português de Negapatão; Berço duma cantiga em Indo-Português. The latest edition of the interesting study of Sebastião Rodolfo Dalgado on the Creole languages of Goa, Damão, Negapatam and the Northern Province of India.
– Daus, Ronald “Portuguese Eurasian communities in Southeast Asia”
83 pp. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1989, Singapore.
The Portuguese Eurasian communities in Malacca, Tugu, Larantuka and Singapore.
– Goonatilleka, M.H. “A Portuguese Creole on Sri Lanka: A Brief Socio-Linguistic Survey”
In: SOUZA, Teotónio R. de (ed.) “Indo-Portuguese History. Old Issues, New Questions (3 th ISIPH )”
pp. 147-180 Concept, 1985, New Delhi, India.
– Hettiarachchi, A. S. “Influence of Portuguese on the Singhalese Language”
JCBRAS Vol. IX, 1965, pp. 229-238
– Jackson, Kenneth David “Sing without a shame:oral traditions in Indo-Portuguese creole verse: with transcription and analysis of a nineteenth-century manuscript of Ceylon Portuguese Creole”
XXVII, 257 pp. Creole Language Library, Benjamins, 1990, Amsterdam and Philadelphia.
– Lopes, David “A Expansão da Língua Portuguesa no Oriente durante os Séculos XVI, XVII e XVIII”
265 pp. Portucalense Editora, 1969, Porto, Portugal.
– Matos, Luís de “O português, língua franca no Oriente”
In: “Colóquios sobre as províncias do Oriente” Vol. 2 Junta de Investigações do Ultramar, 1968, Lisboa. – pp. 11-23
(Estudos de Ciências Políticas e Sociais ; 81)
– Silva Jayasuriya, Shihan de “Indo-Portuguese of Ceylon: a contact language”
188 pp. Athena Publications, 2001, London, UK.
– Silva Rego, Padre António do “Dialecto português de Malaca e outros escritos”
304 pp. (Cadernos Ásia) CNCDP, 1998, Lisboa, Portugal.
Dialecto Português de Malaca; A Comunidade Luso-Malaia de Malaca e Singapura; A cultura Portuguesa na Malaia e em Singapura.
– Teixeira, Pe. Manuel “The Influence of Portuguese on the Malay Language”
In: “Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society”, 1962, vol. XXXV (Pt. 1).
– Theban, Laurentiu “Situação e perspectivas do português e dos crioulos de origem portuguesa na Índia e no Sri-Lanka” In: “Actas do Congresso sobre a situação da língua portuguesa no Mundo” vol. 1 pp. 269-285 Imprensa Nacional, 1985, Lisboa, Portugal.
Written by Mark Schellekens. English text revision by Dietrich Köster.
On January 7th I paid a visit to the island of Solor off Flores’ north east coast. My main goal was to have a birdwatching trip on an virtually unknown island combined with a visit to the ruins of the fort.
Solor is easily reached from both Flores and nearby Adonara. Direct small boats go early mornings from both Larantuka on Flores and Wairwerang on Adonara to Menanga and Lemakera on Solor.
The fort is located in the village of Lohayong (about 3km west of Menanga) on the eastern part of the island. The site of the fort is sadly overgrown with vegetation and villagers have built houses on the foundations of the fort.
Several walls are still standing up and the entrance can still be found as well as 2 abandoned cannons. Foundations can easily be traced and some of the walls facing the sea are still standing up.
The soil at the site is littered with debris from the fort and pieces of glass with VOC-logo and pieces of Dutch pottery were also found.
Before visiting the fort, visitors are asked to sign the guestbook of the mayor of Lohayong and donate a small fee.
In the village of Lemakera on the eastern tip of Solor there is a collection of 13 Portuguese guns, which were left behind. Some women guard the guns and a small fee will be asked, if one wants to take pictures of the guns.
If you know or you have photos of colonial remains around the world, send it to me, I’ll be happy to publish it in the web site. Thank you. Marco. My e-mail is on the Home page.
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster.
SOLOR AND THE LESSER SUNDA ISLANDS
The early Portuguese contact with these islands was in the years about the 1520s. They frequented these islands mainly to purchase sandalwood. The early traders established only temporary warehouses. They did not build permanent trading posts, farms or fortresses, because this task was left to the Dominican missionaries. In 1561 four Dominican friars under the orders of Brother António da Cruz left Malacca to preach the Gospel on those islands. They settled on Solor. The friars had a noticeable success in the conversions. In order to protect their spiritual work from the enemies, they built a stone fortress at Solor in 1566.
Within the fort were built the friars’ dormitory, a seminary (in 1600 it contained 50 pupils) and the church of Nossa Senhora da Piedade reserved to the Portuguese. The Portuguese captain resided in a tower. On the left side of the fort a native village was built adjacent to the church of São João Baptista. A few years later the church of Misericórdia was built outside the fort near the sea. New conversions were also realized on the nearby islands of Adonara and Flores.
In the island of Ende Minor the friars built a fort (1595) and within its walls the church of São Domingos was built. The converted indigenous population settled in the vicinity of the fort, where three native villages were founded. Numbas, close to the fortress; Currolalas on the left side with the church of Santa Catarina de Siena; and Charaboro on the right side with the church of Santa Maria Madalena. The first commander of the fortress of Ende was capitão (captain) Pero Carvalhais.
By 1599 the Dominicans had built as many as 18 churches on the Solor islands:
SOLOR: – Nossa Senhora da Piedade, inside the fortress. – São João Baptista, on the left of the fort, was the native’s church. – Misericordia, in the village of Laboiana. – São João Evangelista, in the village of Lamaqueira; it was destroyed in 1598. – Madre de Deus, in the village of Guno.
ENDE: – São Domingos, inside the fort. – Santa Catarina de Siena, in the village of Currolalas. – Santa Maria Madalena, in the village of Charaboro.
FLORES: – São Lourenço, in the village of Lavunama. – Nossa Senhora de Esperança, in the village of Boibalo. – Nossa Senhora, in the village of Larantuca. – Santa Luzia, in the village of Sicà. – name unknown, in the village of Pagà. – Nossa Senhora de Assunção, in the village of Quevà. – São Pedro Martir, in the village of Lena. – Nossa Senhora da Boa Viagem, on the beach of Dondo, but it was neglected a short time after being built.
ADONARA: – Espírito Santo in the village of Cramà. – name unknown in the village of Lamala, destroyed a short time after a rebellion.
On 27 January 1613 a Dutch fleet appeared off Solor. The Portuguese captain Manuel Alvares had 30 Portuguese and 1000 natives at his disposal to defend the place. After nearly 3 months of siege the Dutch conquered the Solor fortress on 18 April 1613. They renamed it Fort Henricus.
In 1615 (?) the Dutch fled from the fort, but in 1618 they reoccupied it. Again in 1629-30, as the Dutch left Solor, the Portuguese wasted no time and occupied Solor again in 1630. However, in 1636 they left Solor and it remained deserted till the Dutch returned again in 1646.
The Dominicans moved their headquarters to Larantuka (Flores) in 1613. This was the center of the Portuguese in the Lesser Sunda islands up to 1662, when the headquarters were moved to Lifau (today Oecussi in Timor).
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
– Boxer,Ch.R. “Francisco Vieira de Figueiredo: a Portuguese merchant-adventurer in South East Asia, 1624-1667” 118 pp. Martinus Nijhoff 1967, ‘s-Gravenhage, The Netherlands. The adventurous history of the life of Francisco Vieira de Figueiredo in Makassar and Larantuka.
– Kartodirdjo, Sartorio “Religious and economic aspects of Portuguese-Indonesian relations”, in: STUDIA N° 29, pp. 175 – 196, 1970, Lisbon, Portugal.
– Pinto da França, A. “Influência Portuguesa na Indonésia” in: STUDIA N° 33, pp. 161-234, 1971, Lisbon, Portugal.
– Villiers, J. “As derradeiras do mundo: The Dominican Mission and the Sandalwood trade in the Lesser Sunda Islands in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries” In: Various Authors “II Seminário Internacional de História Indo – Portuguesa” pp. 572 – 600 IICT & CEHCA, 1985, Lisbon, Portugal.
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster.
TERNATE AND TIDORE
The first Portuguese expedition to the Moluccas under the command of António de Abreu arrived in Amboina and on the Banda islands in 1512. After an adventurous voyage he went back to Malacca. Francisco Serrão and other members of this expedition wrecked on a reef off Lucopino island (Nusa Penju) not far from Ambon island, but somehow managed to reach first Ambon and then Ternate.
There the Sultan of Ternate adopted Serrão as his personal councilor and made him and his companions prominent figures of his royal court. From 1513 the Portuguese sent an annual trading fleet to the Spice Islands. The first under Captain António de Miranda de Azevedo opened two small “feitorias”, one in Ternate and one in Batjan.
On Febraury 1522 the Portuguese captain António de Brito came to the Banda islands and strengthened the friendship with the King of these islands. To mark this event they erected a stone “padrão” with the arms of the King of Portugal. António de Brito arrived in Ternate in May of 1522, when he built the fortress of São João Baptista de Ternate. The foundation stone of the fortress was laid on June 1522. The Jesuits soon started a school in Ternate.
The Portuguese rule in these islands was always weak. This was due to the remoteness of the islands and to the small number of Portuguese , who arrived there; the Europeans were never more than a few thousand.
Several Spanish expeditions arrived in Tidore; the first was that of Magalhães. The Spaniards settled in Tidore and annoyed the Portuguese for many years.
On 25 October 1536 the Portuguese governor, António Galvão arrived in Ternate. He was a good governor, reconciling, organizing and evangelizing the Moluccas. He was also the builder of the Portuguese town of Ternate, he built a school and a hospital and had a stone wall built all around the town. António Galvão is worshipped as the apostle of the Moluccas.
On 15 July 1575, the Portuguese surrendered the fort to the Ternatese.
– Andaya, Leonard Y. “The world of Maluku: Eastern Indonesia in the early modern period” University of Hawaii Press, 1993, Honolulu.
– Argensola, Bartolomé Leonardo “Conquista de las islas Malucas” 372 pp. EdicionesPolifemo, 1992 (1609), Madrid, Spain.
– Des Alwi & Hanna, A. Willard “Turbolent times past in Ternate and Tidore” (also for the Dutch history) 290 pp. Rumah Budaya 1990 Banda Neira, Moluccas, Indonesia.
– Jacobs, Hubert “A treatise on the Moluccas c. 1544. Probably the preliminary version of António Galvão’s lost História das Molucas” x, 402 pp. Sources and studies for the history of the Jesuits n° 3, Institutum Historicum S. I., 1971, Roma, Italia.
– Jacobs, Hubert “Documenta Malucensia” Vol. I-II-III Vol. I 1542-1577. XLII-84*-760 pp. (vol. 109). Monumenta Historica Societatis Iesu, 1974, Roma, Italia. Vol. II 1577-1605. XXXII-65*-794 pp. (vol. 119). Monumenta Historica Societatis Iesu, 1980, Roma, Italia. Vol. III 1606-1682. XXIV-54*-778 pp. (vol. 126). Monumenta Historica Societatis Iesu, 1984, Roma, Italia.
– Perez, Lorenzo OFM “Historia de las misiones de los Franciscanos en las islas Malucas y Celebes” In: “Archivum Franciscanum Historicorum” vol. VI (1913), pp. 45-60, 681-701; vol. VII (1914) 198-226, 424-446, 621-653.
– Pinto da França, A. “Influência Portuguesa na Indonésia”, in: STUDIA N° 33, pp. 161-234, 1971, Lisbon, Portugal.
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster.
Ambon is an island located in the south of the Spice Islands in what is today the Indonesian archipelago.
In the year 1569 the Portuguese Gonçalo Pereira Marramaque erected a wooden fort on the northern coast of the Ambon island. In 1572 the fort was moved to the southern side of the bay. Subsequently Sancho de Vasconcelos built a temporary fort at Gelala and another at Batumarah, both of wood; and finally he built a stone fortress, where the town of Ambon is situated today.
The first stone was laid on 25 March 1576 and the fortress was named “Nossa Senhora da Anunciada”. In July 1576 the new fortress was inaugurated. Inside the square-sized construction crowned with four towers, one at each corner, there were the captain’s residence, a meeting room, some storehouses and dwellings for the military officials.
The town was built around the fortress and was divided into several quarters, all inhabited by Christians. The Portuguese town was not walled, only the Jesuits (in Ambon since 1578) had a stone wall around their garden to protect themselves against attacks of enemy villages. Near their residence was the church of “Sant’ Iago” (1581) covered by a thatched roof.
The Jesuits also cared for the church of São Tomé (1581). They used their residence in Ambon like a pastoral center for Ambon and the three Lease Islands: Haruku, Saparua, Nusalaut. The Ambon residence was for some years (1575-1578) the center of the Moluccas Jesuit mission.
Along the shore was situated the oldest church of Ambon called “São Paulo”, a fortress church. Near the southeastern side of the fort were the hospital and the “Igreja da Misericórdia”. This brotherhood “Confraria da Misericórdia” was founded in 1579.
The town of Ambon was besieged many times. Its history is a history of war. In 1591 and in 1593 it was besieged by the Ternatans; in 1598 by the Javanese; in 1600 by the Dutch; finally on 23 February 1605 the Portuguese fortress surrendered to the Dutch.
The Portuguese settlements on the Lesser Sunda islands and on the Moluccas (1500-1600). Author Marco Ramerini
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
– Jacobs, Hubert “The Portuguese town of Ambon, 1567-1605” In: Various Authors “II Seminário Internacional de História Indo–Portuguesa” 601-614 pp. IICT & CEHCA 1985 Lisbon, Portugal.
– Jacobs, Hubert “Documenta Malucensia” Vol. I-II-III Vol. I 1542-1577. XLII-84*-760 pp. (vol. 109). Monumenta Historica Societatis Iesu, 1974, Roma, Italia. Vol. II 1577-1605. XXXII-65*-794 pp. (vol. 119). Monumenta Historica Societatis Iesu, 1980, Roma, Italia. Vol. III 1606-1682. XXIV-54*-778 pp. (vol. 126). Monumenta Historica Societatis Iesu, 1984, Roma, Italia.
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster.
The Portuguese fort of Ternate was founded by António de Brito in 1522, the foundation stone of the fortress was laid the day of the feast of St. John the Baptist, June 24, 1522, the fort was named “São João Bautista de Ternate.” The outer wall of the fortress enclosing a space of 26 or 27 Portuguese square fathoms, the wall measured 1 arm of thickness and the tower of the fort measured 5 fathoms or 40 palms and was a two-storey building. 1 The fortress was built by the Portuguese on the spot, where the principal city of the Sultanate of Ternate (south-west of the island) used to be, a league from the island’s main port, called Talangame, where the ships anchored. 2
This is the description of the construction of the fort made by Gaspar Correia: “…mandou o capitão abrir os alicerces, e elle com toda a gente, sendo dia do bemauenturado são João Bautista, vinte e cinco (The day is June 24) dias de julho de 522, foi dita sua missa solene, festejada com muita artilharia dos navios,...” “E foi a primeira huma torre quadrada afastada do mar um jogo de bola, e de ahy correo o muro atrauessando pera a terra espaço de trinta braças, de onde tornou a voltar, fazendo quadra, outras trinta braças, em que se fez outra tal torre, e de ahy voltou à praia, onde fez outro canto, e correu o muro ao longo da praia a çarrar (=encerrar) na primeyra torre, junto da qual fiqou a porta de longo da praia, com sua gorita (=guarita). Assy (=assim) que a obra se foy fazendo com estas duas torres sómente, que depois nas quinas das quadras se fizeram outras taes torres, e no meo (=meio) se fez a torre da menagem grande, e no primeiro sobrado varandas para todas partes, e no sobrado de cyma suas guaritas, e fortemente madeirado, d’onde podiam tirar falcões;… ” 3
In 1526 three years after the work started António de Brito gave the command of the fortress of Ternate to Garcia Henriques. The work of the fortress was far from being complete, in fact Castanheda informs us that on the side that looked at the sea the wall had not yet been completed, while on the side which faced the mountain only two ramparts were built, one only 2 fathoms high and the other “não tinha feyto mais que os alicerces“. The tower “da managê” was high “xl palmos cõ dous sobrados, & do derradeyro até ho telhado sem paredes se não cõ caniçadas de canas fédidas forradas desteiras, & disto erão feytos os repartimentos das camaras“, also of the same material of the walls were made the Feitoria, where owing to the incompleteness of the work the pigs and goats could move freely. 4
In 1537 at the time of the Portuguese Governor António Galvão the city of Ternate had a population of 123 Portuguese and with their wives, their children, their slaves and servants the total number reached 1,600 people. 5 In front of the Portuguese fort was a coral reef, which made it difficult to accede the ships. It had three passes, the first was called “Lymatao“, it was located to the south at the end of the town “dos mouros”, the channel in the center was called “barra d’arvore“, because it was located in front of a high tree and the last channel called “barra da Nossa Senhora“, located at the eastern end of the Portuguese city, about 200 fathoms (about 440 m.) from the fort in front of the chapel dedicated to “Santa Maria“. During the government of António Galvão the Central and Southern channels were closed with stones, whereas the “barra da Nossa Senhora” was made more navigable, measuring two fathoms (4.40 m.) in depth. 6
In 1537 Galvão began the construction around the Portuguese city of walls, mud walls, moats and ramparts. The Feitoria was surrounded by mud walls, and inside were also built some warehouses to store the cloves. It was founded a “Casa da Misericórdia“, a water mill, which received water from three leagues away (between 12 km and 18 km) through pipes. Finally a feeble attempt was made to cultivate rice, vegetables and cereals, in the area around the town the breeding was also started and finally a small school for the children of prominent indigenous people and the Portuguese was founded. 7
Another interesting description of the Portuguese fort and the city is given by the “Livro das cidades e fortalezas que a coroa de Portugal tem nas partes da Índia …” written in 1582: the fortress was situated south of the city of the Sultan, along the sea, to a “tiro de espera” from the city “dos Mouros“, the conformation of the land between the fortress and the indigenous city prevented the view between the two. To the south of the fortress was developing a rather large city inhabited by Portuguese casados and indigenous Christians, this was surrounded by a wall “de taipa muito forte“. The harbor in front of the castle is described as a poor port, because the barrier of rock and coral that prevents the larger vessels (“que demandem mais altura que duas braças de agoa“) the passage. Between the mountains and the island fortress on a “outeiro alto“, the Portuguese had built a bastion, where they had placed some pieces of artillery. 8
In 1606 the Spaniards took the control of Ternate; they settled, where the old Portuguese fort used to be.
1 Jacobs, H. “A treatise on the Moluccas (c. 1544)” p. 211
2 Jacobs, H. “A treatise on the Moluccas (c. 1544)” p. 235
3 Gaspar Correia “Lendas da India”, vol. II pp. 714-715
4 Fernão Lopes de Castanheda “História do descobrimento e conquista da Índia pelos portugueses” Livro VI, cap. 128, pp. 358-359. See also: Gaspar Correa “Lendas da India” vol. II p. 996
5 Jacobs, H. “A treatise on the Moluccas (c. 1544)” p. 287
6 Jacobs, H. “A treatise on the Moluccas (c. 1544)” p. 289-291
7 Jacobs, H. “A treatise on the Moluccas (c. 1544)” p. 293-299)
8 “Livro das cidades e fortalezas que a coroa de Portugal tem nas partes da Índia …” foglio 64v. This “outeiro alto” could be the same place where the Spaniards built the Fuerza Nueva fortress.
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster.
The Kingdom of Makassar at the time of Portuguese expansion in the Asian seas comprised the two Kingdoms of Gowa and Tallo. Portuguese merchants frequented Makassar intermittently during the 16th century, but it was only after the Islamization of the Makassar Kingdom (1600s), that their presence grew.
During the 17th century the Portuguese used Makassar as a commercial center for silk, cloves, textiles, sandalwood and diamonds. In the 1620s regularly there were as many as 500 Portuguese merchants, who frequented the port of Makassar. They traded here in safety and the Sultans were fluent in Portuguese and gave aid and comfort to them. The friendly relations between Makassar and Portugal were strenghtened by their common attempts to stop the Dutch power in the Moluccas and Sunda islands.
The prosperity of Makassar greatly increased after the fall of Malacca into Dutch hands (1641), when many Portuguese merchants emigrated to Makassar. In the 1650s the Dominicans founded a church in Makassar. In 1660 there were about 2.000 Portuguese residents in the town. They lived in their own residential area called Portuguese quarter.
In June 1660 a strong Dutch fleet comprising 31 ships and 2.600 men attacked Makassar and stormed the fort of Panakkukang in the port. The main Dutch aim for this attack was to expel the Portuguese from Makassar. A treaty between the Dutch and the Makassars was signed and finally ratified on 2 December 1660. The terms were: The Portuguese should be expelled from Makassar within a year.
The Portuguese departure would have been the complete ruin of the Kingdom. For this reason the Sultan openly attempted to delay their departure. The terms of the treaty were not respected and the Portuguese stayed in Makassar for several years more, but slowly they went to Flores (Larantuka), Solor, Macau, Timor, Siam or Batavia. Finally in 1665 the last Portuguese merchants were forced to leave due to the Dutch pressure.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
– Borges, Maria do Carmo Mira, “Os portugueses e o sultanato de Macassar no século XVII” 269 pp., Tese Mestrado História dos Descobrimentos e da Expansão Portuguesa, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 1996, Lisbon.
– Jacobs, Hubert “Jesuit Makasar Documents, 1612-1682” XXIII-36*-284 pp. (vol. 134). Monumenta Historica Societatis Iesu, 1988, Rome, Italy.
– Jacobs, Hubert, “The first locally demonstrable Christianity in Celebes 1544”, in: STUDIA N° 17, pp. 251 – 305, 1966, Lisbon, Portugal.
In 1595, the Dominican friars led by Brother Simone Pacheco built a little Fort on the island of Ende Minor (Palau Ende) to protect local Christians from Islamic attacks. This small fort was named by the Portuguese as Fortaleza de Ende. Pero Carvalhais was its first captain. Within the walls of the fort was built the church of São Domingos. Other churches were built in the two neighboring villages of Currolalas (Church of Santa Catarina de Siena) and Charaboro (Church of Santa Maria Madalena).
Written by Mark Schellekens. Photos by Mark Schellekens and Greg Wyncoll. English text revision by Dietrich Köster.
The ruins of the Portuguese fort on Ende island (Ende Minor) are nothing more then a collection of coral rocks. Just a single wall remains standing up and for the rest there are some floor parts and foundations visible.
The site is used nowadays by local farmers to farm Tapioca and corn and little remains as most of the stones from the fort have been used to build houses in the village of Kemo (pronounced as “K’mo”).
This village is easily reached from mainland Flores, from the town of Ende from where 4-5 boats daily sail to Kemo, where the ruins are located.
[divider]
[divider]
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
– Jacobs, Hubert “Documenta Malucensia”, Vol. II 1577-1605. XXXII-65*-794 pp. (vol. 119), Monumenta Historica Societatis Iesu, 1980, Rome, Italy.
– Leitão, Humberto, “Os Portugueses em Solor e Timor de 1515 a 1702”, 302 pp., Tipografia Liga dos Combatentes da Grande Guerra, 1948, Lisbon, Portugal. An old work, but one of the few about this subject; interesting.
– Matos, A. T. de, “Timor Português 1515-1796: contribuição para a sua história”, 489 pp., map, Instituto Histórico Infante Dom Henrique, 1974, Lisbon, Portugal. The main book on early Timor history.
– Sá, Artur Basílio de, “Documentação para a história das missões do Padroado Português do Oriente: Insulíndia” Vol. VI (1595-1599) xxi+432 pp., IICT Centro de Estudos de História e Cartografia Antiga, 1988, Lisbon.
– Villiers, J., “As derradeiras do mundo: The Dominican Mission and the Sandalwood trade in the Lesser Sunda Islands in the sixteenth and seventeenth century”, in: Various Authors, “II Seminário Internacional de História Indo–Portuguesa”, pp. 572-600, IICT & CEHCA, 1985, Lisbon, Portugal.
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster.
Diu: (20°43’N – 71°00’E)
Damão Grande or Praça de Damão (Damão, Moti Daman or Daman): (20°25’N – 72°50’E)
1634: 400 “almas entre portugueses e nativos cristãos”. Source: Leão “A Província do Norte do Estado da Índia”
1662: 100 “casais portugueses”. Source: Leão “A Província do Norte do Estado da Índia”
Bassein or Baçaim (Vasai): (19°20’N – 72°49’E)
1634: 400 “casados brancos”, 200 “pretos cristãos” and 1.800 slaves in the town, “fora dos muros” there were 250/300 “casados brancos” and 2.000 “nativos”. Source: Leão “A Província do Norte do Estado da Índia”
1662: 5.000 “homens de armas”. Source: Leão “A Província do Norte do Estado da Índia”
1720: the Province of Baçaim numbered 890 “europeus”, 58.131 “cristãos”. Source: Leão “A Província do Norte do Estado da Índia”
Tana:
1634: 80 “casas de brancos” and 100 “casas de pretos”. Source: Leão “A Província do Norte do Estado da Índia”
Bombaim:
1634: 12 “casados portugueses” and 50 “pretos”. Source: Leão “A Província do Norte do Estado da Índia”
Old Map of Bassein (Vasai)
Chaul:
1634: 200 “casados portugueses” and 50 “pretos cristãos”. Source: Leão “A Província do Norte do Estado da Índia”
1666: 21 “chefes de família portugueses”. Source: Boxer “O Império colonial português 1415-1825”
Goa:
1550: 2.000 “casados”. Source: Disney “Twilight of the pepper Empire”
1630: 800 “casados”. Source: Disney “Twilight of the pepper Empire”
16th – 17th centuries between 1.000/2.000 and 4.000/5.000 “soldados”. Source: Disney “Twilight of the pepper Empire”
1666: 320 “chefes de família portugueses”. Source: Boxer “O Império colonial português 1415-1825”
1871: 2.500 “descendentes” or “mestiços”. Source: Boxer “Relaçoes raciais no Império colonial português”
1956: 1.100 “descendentes” or “mestiços”. Source: Boxer “Relações raciais no Império colonial português”
Onor (Honawar): (14°17’N – 74°26’E)
1634: 30 “casados”. Source: Disney “Twilight of the pepper Empire”
Barcelor or Braçalor (Basrur): (13°38’N – 74°44’E)
1634: 30 “casados” and 35 “soldados casados”. Source: Disney “Twilight of the pepper Empire”
Mangalore (Mangalor): (12°54’N – 74°50’E)
1634: 35 “casados”. Source: Disney “Twilight of the pepper Empire”
Cannanore: (11°51’N – 75°22’E)
1630s: 40 “casados”. Source: Disney “Twilight of the pepper Empire”
Cranganore (Kodungallor): (10°13’N – 76°13’E)
1630s: 40 “casados” and 100 “soldados”. Source: Disney “Twilight of the pepper Empire”
[divider]
[divider]
Cochim. From Livro das Plantas de Todas as Fortalezas (1635). Author Bocarro
Cochin, Cochin de Baixo or Santa Cruz: (09°57’N – 76°15’E)
1630s: 500 “casados” (of whom 300 Portuguese and 200 Indian Christians). Source: Disney “Twilight of the pepper Empire”
Coulão (Quilon): (08°53’N – 76°35’E)
1630s: 60 “casados”. Source: Disney “Twilight of the pepper Empire”
Tuticorin or Tutucorim: (08°48’N – 78°09’E)
1640: pequena povoação de “casados”. Source: Subrahmanyam “Improvising Empire – Portuguese trade and settlements in the Bay of Bengal 1500 – 1700” or “Comércio e conflito – A presença portuguesa no Golfo de Bengala 1500 – 1700”
Nagapatao or Negapatao (Negapatam or Nagapattinam): (10°47’N – 79°50’E)
1533: 30 “fogos”, 1540: 100 “fogos”, 1630: 500 “fogos”.Source: Subrahmanyam “Improvising Empire – Portuguese trade and settlements in the Bay of Bengal 1500 – 1700” or “Comércio e conflito – A presença portuguesa no Golfo de Bengala 1500 – 1700”
1577: 60 “casados”, 200 “eurasiáticos”, 3000 Indian Christians. Source: Diffie-Winius “Foundation of the Portuguese Empire 1415-1580”
Porto Novo (Parangi-Pettai): (11°29’N – 79°46’E)
São Tomé de Meliapor: (13°00’N – 80°15’E)
1530: 40 “casados”, 1545: 100 “famílias”. Source: Subrahmanyam “Improvising Empire – Portuguese trade and settlements in the Bay of Bengal 1500 – 1700” or “Comércio e conflito – A presença portuguesa no Golfo de Bengala 1500 – 1700”
1600: 600 “casados”, from 1610s. in decline. Source: Subrahmanyam “Improvising Empire – Portuguese trade and settlements in the Bay of Bengal 1500 – 1700” or “Comércio e conflito – A presença portuguesa no Golfo de Bengala 1500 – 1700”
1537: 50 “casados”. Source: Diffie-Winius “Foundation of the Portuguese Empire 1415-1580”
Sé de Santa Catarina, Goa, India. Author Ondrej Zvacek
Paliacate or Paleacate (Pulicat): (13°24’N – 80°19’E)
1520: 200 – 300 “habitantes”, 1545: 600-700 “familias”, from 1565 in decline. Source: Subrahmanyam “Improvising Empire – Portuguese trade and settlements in the Bay of Bengal 1500 – 1700” or “Comércio e conflito – A presença portuguesa no Golfo de Bengala 1500 – 1700”
Masulipatam or Masulipatao: (16°11’N – 81°08’E)
Balasore or Balasor: (21°29’N – 86°57’E)
Pipli: circa (21°37’N – 87°20’E)
Tambolim (Tamluk or Tumlook): (22°18’N – 87°55’E)
Angelim (Hidgelee or Hijili): circa (22°14’N – 88°03’E)
Porto Pequeno, Sategão, Satigão, Sateguam or Satigam (Satgaon): (22°57’N – 88°24’E)
Ugolim, Golim or Dogolim (Hugli or Hooghly): (22°54’N – 88°24’E) 1603: 5.000 “portugues”. Source: Diffie-Winius “Foundation of the Portuguese Empire 1415-1580”
Notes:
Fogos and Famílias: Families.
Casados: Portuguese soldiers retired after marriage.
Descendentes: Euro – Asiatic or Mestizo (Mestiços) also Luso – Indians.
Pretos: Blacks (in this case Indians or African slaves brought to India and liberated after serving in the military forces with valour).
At that time every family was composed of about 5-6 persons. So the number of Casados, Familias, Fogos must be multiplied by 5 or 6.
LUSO – INDIANS and EURASIANS STATISTICS in BENGAL:
1881: 19 Portuguese, 36 Goans, (261 speaking the Portuguese language), 9.410 Luso – Indians and Eurasians.
1911: 10 Portuguese, (254 speaking the Portuguese language), 644 Goans.
Cloister of the Franciscan Igreja de Santo António. Vasai, Bassein, Baçaim. Author and Copyright Sushant Raut
Hoogly Census:
1912: 94 Eurasians.
Geonkhali (Midnapore district):
1911: 129 Luso – Indians.
Chittagong:
1859: 1.025 Feringhis or Luso – Indians.
1860: 985 Feringhis or Luso – Indians.
1866: 865 Feringhis or Luso – Indians.
Noakhali:
1901: 490 Feringhis or Luso – Indians.
Bakarganj:
1876: 800 Feringhis or Luso – Indians.
1918: 841 Feringhs or Luso – Indians.
In 1919 in Eastern Bengal the number of Luso-Indians or Feringhis was about 10.000: Dacca District: 6.000, Chittagong: 1.000, Bakarganj District: 1.000, Noakhali: 800, Assam, Tippera: 1.20.
[divider]
[divider]
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
– Campos, J. J. A. “History of the Portuguese in Bengal” 283 pp. 3 maps Butterworth & Co. 1919 Calcutta, India. An old, but very interesting, book about the Portuguese history in Bengal, history unknown to many people.
– Boxer “Relações raciais no Império colonial português”
– Boxer “O Império colonial português 1415-1825”
– Disney “Twilight of the pepper Empire”
– Leao “A Província do Norte do Estado da Índia”
– Subrahmanyam, Sanjay “Comércio e conflito: a presença portuguesa no Golfo de Bengala” Orig. Tit. “Improvising empire – Portuguese trade and settlement in the Bay of Bengal 1500-1700” 293 pp Edições 70, 1994 Lisboa, A collection of very interesting Subrahmanyam’s articles.
– Subrahmanyam, Sanjay “The South Coromandel Portuguese in the late 17th century: a study of the Porto Novo: Nagapattinam complex”, in: STUDIA N° 49, pp. 341-363, 1989, Lisbon, Portugal.
– Diffie-Winius “Foundation of the Portuguese Empire 1415-1580”
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster.
Goa is situated on an island at the mouth of the Mandovi River. At the time of the arrival of the Portuguese in India, Goa was under the rule of the Sultan of Bijapur, for whom Goa was the second most important city. It was wealthy and possessed a grand natural harbour.
On 28 February 1510 Afonso de Albuquerque, the Governor of Portuguese India, arrived with a fleet of several ships and anchored off Goa harbour. The following morning some Portuguese boats were sent out as patrol. They landed and conquered the Fortress of Pangim. The next day a message from the inhabitants of Goa was received. They offered the surrender of the city and the vassalage to the King of Portugal. In the morning of 4 March 1510 Albuquerque with 1,000 Portuguese soldiers and 200 Malabarese entered Goa. Albuquerque’s first care was to repair Goa’s fortifications. He also established a mint, for the quick coinage of gold, silver and copper money.
Indo-Portuguese art (17th-18th century). Turin, private collection, photo courtesy of Walter and Mario Chiapetto
The Bijapurese organized a large army and marched towards Goa. The ruinous condition of Goa’s fortification forced Albuquerque after a fierce resistance to abandon the town to the Sultan of Bijapur. Adil Khan at the head of 50,000 soldiers entered Goa on 20 May 1510. The Portuguese fleet was now blockaded by the monsoon at the mouth of Mandovi River and the Portuguese ships were exposed to the Moors’ cannonade. Albuquerque’s tenacity let him resist till 16 August 1510, when the entire Portuguese fleet sailed away. Albuquerque waited for reinforcements from Lisbon and when these arrived, he soon prepared a fleet of 23 ships and 2,000 men to conquer Goa definitively. In the morning of 25 November 1510 Albuquerque’s men attacked the city and at midday Goa was again in Portuguese hands.
[divider]
[divider]
Soon after the conquest of Goa ambassadors from various Indian Kingdoms came to Goa in search for the conclusion of an alliance. For the next two years Goa was again and again under the attacks of the Sultan of Bijapur Adil Shah (Hidalcao), who was resolutely determined to reconquer the town. In 1512 a new attempt was made by the Adil Shah to drive away the Portuguese from Goa. In this year the Moors fortified Benasterim, which controlled the principal passage from the mainland to the island of Goa. Albuquerque, returning from Malacca, wasted no time and soon attacked the fortress, which was taken after several days of siege. Thereafter he ordered to reinforce the forts of Benasterim, Devarim and Pangim, which commanded the principal passes to the mainland. He also founded a hospital and built several churches in Goa (Igreja do Priorado do Rosário, Capela de Santa Catarina).
On 15/16 December 1515 Goa’s conqueror Afonso de Albuquerque died in the harbour of Goa. His mortal remains were temporarily buried in the chapel, he had built in Goa, and were later (1566) conveyed to Portugal. He was the builder of the Portuguese Empire in the East (Goa, Malacca, Hormuz). He was relentless with his enemies, but he also seems to have appreciated the character of the Asiatic peoples and he often left the civil administration of the places, he conquered, in the hands of the natives. He was the first to encourage the marriage of Portuguese soldiers with native women.
In 1530 the capital of Portuguese India was transferred from Cochin to Goa and in 1534 it became the centre of the Roman-Catholic Church for the entire Orient and finally in 1557 Goa became seat of an archbishopric. On this occasion a large cathedral was built (Sé Catedral de Santa Catarina 1562-1619). St. Francis Xavier arrived in Goa in 1542.
In 1543 the Goan territory was enlarged through the annexation of the provinces of Bardez and Salcete. In 1560 the inquisition (active 1560-1774 and 1779-1812) was introduced. In 1570 the Sultan of Bijapur made the last effort to dislodge the Portuguese from Goa, but after a siege of ten months he was forced to give up.
At the beginning of the 17th century Goa was the capital of an empire, which spread from Mozambique to Nagasaki controlling the Indian Ocean trade. This was the period of great brightness for Goa and the Portuguese power in the East. The city was called “Goa Dourada” and “Roma do Oriente”. It is said that Goa had 200,000 inhabitants in those days and was able to compete with the most important cities in the world. A lot of magnificent churches and buildings were built during these years. Several of them still exist today. A Portuguese proverb of the time said: “Quem viu Goa, dispensa de ver Lisboa”.
The decline of Goa began with the coming of the Dutch, who several times during the 17th century blockaded Goa from the sea and destroyed the Portuguese power in the East between 1600 and 1650. In spite of this Goa was never conquered and remained in Portuguese hands till December 1961 when it was occupied together with Damão and Diu by the Indian Army. In 1760 Velha Goa was abandoned and the seat of the government was transferred to Pangim, which in 1843 was officially declared the capital of Portuguese India. In 1763 the districts of Ponda, Quepem, Sanguem and Canacona were added to the Portuguese possessions. Finally, in 1788 the districts of Pernem, Satari and Bicholim were also added.
THE CHURCHES OF OLD GOA TODAY
Sé Catedral de Santa Catarina, the largest church of Goa. It was built between 1562 and 1619 and the altar was finished in 1652. The northern tower of this church collapsed in 1776. There is a golden bell in the southern tower.
Igreja e Convento de São Francisco de Assis: The church was built in 1661 on the site where used to be an old Franciscan chapel. This church has a beautiful portal in Manueline style. Today the Convent is a museum.
The Capela de Santa Catarina was built in 1552 on the site of the old chapel (1510), built by Afonso de Albuquerque.
The Igreja and the Convento de São Caetano were built by Italian friars of the Theatine Order in the years 1655-1661.
The Basílica do Bom Jesus, built during the years 1594-1605, is one of the richest churches in Goa and is principally known for the tomb of St. Francis Xavier. This basílica, where the mortal remains of St. Francis Xavier are kept, is the best specimen of baroque architecture in India and has a cross-shaped ground plan. This beautiful tomb of St. Francis Xavier was a gift from the Medici Cosimo III, the Grand Duke of Tuscany.
Ruins of the Igreja e Convento dos Agostinianos. They were built by Augustinian Friars in 1602. Of this church and convent today only remain the tower and the arches in a ruined state. The tower has four storeys with an arch on each of them left and is nearly 46 meters high.
Igreja do Priorado do Rosário, Capela Real de Santo António, Igreja and Convento de Santa Mônica (1606-1627), Igreja da Cruz dos Milagres (1671), Ruins of the Igreja e Colégio de São Paulo (1541-1543).
STATISTICS OF GOA: 1881
Population (1881): 445,449 (2,500 were “Mestiços” or “Descendentes”). Religion (1881): Christians: 55 % (there were 96 Catholic Churches); Hindus: 45 %. Languages (1881): Konkani: all the classes of the peoples, except Europeans and “Mestiços”, use the Konkani language with some admixture of Portuguese words. Portuguese: the official language, is principally spoken in the capital and in the chief towns.
STATISTICS OF GOA: 1981
Languages (1981): Konkani 600,004; Marathi 266,649; Gujarati 77,677; Kannada 33,512; Urdu 27,703; Hindi 21,158; Malayalam 7,634; English 6,407; Telugu 5,527; Tamil 3,884; Punjabi 1,314. Portuguese: it is now spoken only by a small segment of the upper class families and about 3 to 5% of the people still speak it (estimated at 30,000 to 50,000 people).
– Various Authors “Commerce and Culture in the Bay of Bengal, 1500-1800” 416 p. plates, edited by Om Prakash and Denys Lombard, 1999,
– Arasaratnam, S. and Aniruddha, R. “Masulipatnam and Cambay: a history of two port towns, 1500-1800” xiii, 314pp. maps Munshiram Manoharlal, 1994, New Delhi, India.
– Campos, J. J. A. “History of the Portuguese in Bengal” 283 pp. 3 maps Butterworth & Co. 1919 Calcutta, India. An old, but very interesting, book about the Portuguese history in Bengal, history unknown to many people.
– Cortesão, Armando “A cidade de Bengala do século XVI e os Portugueses” 35 pp. Tip. da Sociedade Astória, 1944, Lisboa
– Ferroli, D. “The jesuits and Mysore” 238 pp. Xavier Press, 1955, Kozhikode, India.
– Jeyaseela, Stephen S. “Portuguese on the Tamil Coast: Historical Explorations in Commerce and Culture, 1507-1749” xix + 437 pp. Illus., Maps, Navajothi Publishing House, 1998, Pondicherry, India.
– Jeyaseela Stephen S. “Coromandel Coast And Its Hinterland: Economy, Society And Political System, 1500-1600” 269 pp. Manohar Publishers & Distributors, 1997, Delhi, India.
– Mordechai, Arbell “The Portuguese Jewish community of Madras, India, in the Seventeenth century” In: “Los Muestros. The Sephardic Voice” n° 41, Dec. 2000
– Subrahmanyam, Sanjay “Comércio e conflito: a presença portuguesa no Golfo de Bengala” Orig. Tit. “Improvising empire Portuguese trade and settlement in the Bay of Bengal 1500-1700” 293 pp Edições 70 1994 Lisboa A collection of very interesting Subrahmanyam’s articles.
– Subrahmanyam, Sanjay “The South Coromandel Portuguese in the late 17th century: a study of the Porto Novo. Nagapattinam complex” In STUDIA N° 49, pp. 341-363, 1989, Lisbon, Portugal.
– Varadarajan, L. “São Tomé: early European activities and aspirations” In: Various Authors “II Seminário Internacional de História Indo – Portuguesa” 429-441 pp. IICT & CEHCA 1985 Lisbon, Portugal.
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster.
The city of Cochin (today: Ernakulam) was from the 24 December 1500, when the first Portuguese fleet called on its port, a firm ally of the Portuguese. The admiral of this fleet was Pedro Alvares Cabral (the discoverer of Brasil). The Rajah (king) of Cochin allowed, a “feitoria” (factory) to be allocated to the Portuguese and upon Cabral’s departure he allowed 30 Portuguese and four Franciscan friars to stay in Cochin.
In 1502 a new expedition under the command of Vasco da Gama arrived at Cochin and the friendship with the Rajah of Cochin was renewed. After the departure of Vasco da Gama the Zamorin of Calicut, enemy of the Portuguese, attacked Cochin and destroyed the Portuguese “feitoria”.
The Rajah of Cochin and his Portuguese allies were forced to withdraw to the island of Vypin. Here they were reinforced by the crews of three ships under the leadership of Francisco de Albuquerque and some days later by Duarte Pacheco Pereira (the author of “Esmeraldo de situ orbis”) and the Calicut troops immediately abandoned the siege.
On 27 September of 1503 the foundations of a timber fortress were laid. This was the first fortress erected by the Portuguese in India.
On departure of the Portuguese fleet bound for Portugal Duarte Pacheco Pereira was left behind with three ships in Cochin for the assistance to the Rajah. Meanwhile the Zamorin of Calicut formed a force of 50,000 men and 280 ships to drive the Portuguese out of Cochin. Duarte Pacheco Pereira was in command of only 100 Portuguese, 300 Malabar troops and about 5,000 soldiers of the King of Cochin (of whom the majority deserted).
Pereira was a formidable commander. For five months he and his men were able to sustain and drive back all the assaults of Zamorin. He saved Portugal from being driven out of India. After this victory Pereira returned to Portugal and the King paid him the highest honours. However, subsequently he was to be imprisoned on charges, which afterwards proved to be false. Later he became Governor of the castle of São Jorge da Mina (1519-1522) on the Gold Coast. He concluded his days in obscure poverty.
[divider]
[divider]
In 1505 a stone fortress replaced the wooden fortress of Cochin. The first church of Cochin was São Bartolomeu, built in 1504. In 1506 the construction of Santa Cruz church (which gave its name to the Portuguese town) was initiated. The foundation of the parish church Madre de Deus was laid in 1510. In 1550 the Jesuits added a large three-storied college to the church.
For a better defence of the town a fort called “Castelo de Cima” was built on Vypeen island at Paliport. In 1510 Afonso de Albuquerque started a school (a Portuguese “casado” Afonso Alvares was the teacher), but after his death it closed down. However, the Franciscans started a new school in 1520. They built a friary (Santo António) (1518-1520), a seminary and the beautiful church dedicated to São Francisco de Assis (1516-1522). Vasco da Gama was originally buried in it on Christmas eve 1524. The floor of this church was paved with tombstones, which in 1887 were removed and fixed on its walls, where they are still today. This church is a living historical monument of today’s Cochin.
At the beginning of XVI century Cochin was the seat of the Portuguese in India, including the time of the capture of Goa in 1510. The transfer of the capital of Portuguese India to Goa finally took place in 1530. In 1557 the palace of the King at Mattancheri was built. After the VOC (Dutch East India Company) conquest of Cochin in 1663) this palace was enlarged by the Dutch and is known today as the “Dutch Palace”. In 1558 the diocese of Cochin was erected and the Basílica de Santa Cruz became the cathedral. The old city of Cochin was called “Cochim de Cima” (today Mattancherry) and is situated on an island of a canal. The Portuguese town was called “Cochim de Baixo” or “Santa Cruz”.
Portuguese forts and settlements in South India. Author Marco Ramerini
In the 1630s its population consisted of 500 “casados” (of these 300 were Portuguese or Eurasians, the rest being Christian Indians). The town had a city council (“câmara”), a cathedral, a customs house, a “Confraria da Misericórdia” (1527), a Jewish synagogue (1568), five parish churches and several convents. The town was partly encircled by walls with several ramparts. Right after Goa the city of Cochin, situated in the center of East Indies, was the best place Portugal had in India. From there the Portuguese exported large volumes of spices, particularly pepper.
Therefore the Dutch set their eyes on Cochin and after the occupation of Ceylon in 1658 they tried to conquer Malabar. They took Quilon on 29 December 1658, but the Portuguese reconquered it on 14 April 1659. However, in 1661, the Dutch began a new expedition against the Portuguese settlements in Malabar. On 16 February they captured the fort of Pallipuram (near Cochin).
Portuguese Cochin and environs. Author Marco Ramerini
Another Dutch expedition under Ryckloff van Goens conquered Quilon on 24 December 1661 and on 15 January 1662 Cranganore was also taken. Soon after, on 5 February 1662, the Dutch began their assault on Cochin, but encountering heroic Portuguese resistance, they abandoned the siege after one month.
They came back in November 1662 and surrounded Cochin on all sides. For three months the Portuguese resisted but, finally, on 7 January 1663 they surrendered the city. By the terms of the capitulation all unmarried Portuguese residents were returned to Europe and all married Portuguese and Mestiços were transferred to Goa. On the morning of 8 January 1663 the soldiers and citizens came out of the fort and laid down their arms and the Dutch took possession thereof. The last governor of Portuguese Cochin was Inácio Sarmento. It was said that 4,000 people were expelled.
[divider]
[divider]
THE PORTUGUESE IN MALABAR
COCHIN
24 Dec. 1500 – 7 Jan. 1663
CANNANORE
1502 – 15 Feb. 1663
CRANGANORE
1536 – 15 Jan. 1662
QUILON
1502 – 29 Dec.1658
14 Apr. 1659 – 24 Dec. 1661
PONANNI
1585 ?(1535 ?) – ?
CHALYAM-CHALE’
1531 – 1571
CALICUT
1515 – 1525
[divider]
BIBLIOGRAPHY
– Correia, J. M., “Os Portugueses no Malabar (1498 – 1580)”, 450 pp. 1 map, Imprensa Nacional – Casa da Moeda 1997 Lisbon, Portugal. Wars, fortresses, mission, art, architecture of the first 80 years of the Portuguese presence in Malabar.
– Disney, A. “Twilight of the pepper Empire”, VII, 220 pp. Harvard Historica studies 95, Harvard University press, 1978, Cambridge, MA, USA.
– Goertz, R. O. W. “The Portuguese in Cochin in the mid-sixteenth century”, in: STUDIA N° 49, pp. 5-38, 1989, Lisbon, Portugal.
– Kieniewicz, Jan, “The Portuguese factory and trade in Pepper in Malabar during the 16th century”, in: “An Expanding World” Vol. n° 11; Pearson, M. N. “Spice in the Indian Ocean world” Ashgate, Variorum, vol. n° 11, 1996; pp. 185-208, also in: “The Indian Economic and Social History Review”, Vol. VI New Delhi, 1969, pp. 61-84
– Mathew, K. S. “The Portuguese and the Malabar society during the sixteenth century. A study of mutual interaction” in: STUDIA N° 49, pp. 39-68, 1989, Lisbon, Portugal.
– Mathew, K.S. and Ahmad, Afzal, “Emergence of Cochin in the Pre-Industrial Era : A Study of Portuguese Cochin” ???, xliii + 153 pp. plates, illustrations, Maps Pondicherry University, Dept. of History, 1990, Pondicherry, India. Consists of a 33 page introduction + 132pp. documents ca.1527 – 1616.
– Mulakara, Gervasis, “Portuguese missionaries in Cochin till 1558”, in: STUDIA N° 49, pp. 69-94, 1989, Lisbon, Portugal.
– Mundadan, A. M. “The town of Cochin and the Portuguese” In: Various Authors “II Seminario Internacional de Historia Indo – Portuguesa” 251-263 pp. IICT & CEHCA 1985 Lisboa, Portugal.
– Panikkar, K.M. “Malabar and the Portuguese” x, 224 pp. Voice of India, 1997 (1929), New Delhi, India. A succinct history of the violent Portuguese intervention in Malabar written by a consummate Indian historian.
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster.
The Portuguese town of Chaul lies about 350 kilometers north of Goa and 60 kilometers south of Bombay (Mumbai) at the mouth of the Kundalika river near the village of Revdanda. Chaul was located on the low northern bank, opposed to a promontory on the south bank, which is called “Morro de Chaul.
Chaul was from 1521 under the Portuguese. In the same year they built the first fort. In October 1531 the Portuguese erected a massive square stone fortress at Chaul, which contained a church and dwelling-houses for 120 men. The fortress was named “Santa Maria do Castelo”. Around this castle the Portuguese town developed, but by a treaty of the year 1558 the town‘s fortification could no longer be upheld.
In November 1570 Chaul was attacked by Nizam Shah. The siege lasted for months. The town was exposed to great distress. But at the end, in July 1571, the siege was raised and a treaty was signed. After the siege the town was rebuilt and town walls with several bastions were built around it.
In April 1592 the Moors began a new siege of Chaul, but after a hard battle the Portuguese succeeded in repelling the assault. In 1594 the Portuguese conquered the adjoining fortress of the “Morro de Chaul”. Owing to the repeated attacks by the Moors against Chaul, new works of defense were carried out in 1613.
The Portuguese power declined and Chaul slowly lost its importance. In March 1739 Chaul and the fortress of “Morro de Chaul” were besieged by the Angria, but after some months, in October, the Angria raised the siege. On 18 September 1740 Chaul was finally ceded by treaty to the Mahrattas.
The ruins of Chaul are near the town of Revdanda south of Bombay (Mumbai). There are still visible of Portuguese Chaul today: the ruins of the town walls with its powerful ramparts, the ruins of the Igreja Matriz, the church and the convent of the Augustinians, the Franciscans’ church, the Misericórdia, the “Porta do Mar”. Of the adjoining fortress of the Morro de Chaul the remains of its walls are still to be seen. In Korlai, a few kilometers from Chaul, there is a community of people (900), who still speaks a Creole form of Portuguese down to the present day. They are monolingual.
[divider]
[divider]
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
– Cunha, G. da “Notes on the history and antiquities of Chaul and Bassein” 278 pp. Map & ills. 1993 (1876), Bombay, India.
– Fernandes, José Manuel “Chaul um percurso urbano e fotográfico ” In: “Oceanos” n°19-20, Sep/Dec. 1994 pp. 268-271
– Gaspar Rodrigues, Vitor Luis “A organização militar da Província do Norte durante o séc. XVI e princípios do séc. XVII” In: Mare Liberum, Revista de História dos Mares N° 9, ” VII Seminário internacional de História Indo-Portuguesa, Goa 1994″, pp. 247-265, 1995, Lisbon, Portugal.
– Goertz, R. O. W. “Attack and defense techniques in the siege of Chaul, 1570-1571” In: Various Authors “II Seminário Internacional de História Indo–Portuguesa” 265-287 pp. IICT & CEHCA 1985 Lisboa, Portugal.
– Jackson, K. D. “Ruínas de Império: a cidade-fortaleza de Chaul” In: “6° Congresso da Associaçao Internacional de Lusitanistas” 8-13 Aug. 1999, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
– Leão, M. C. “A Província do Norte do Estado da Índia” 223 pp. several maps and illustrations, Instituto Cultural de Macau, 1996, Macau.
– Mitterwallner, G. von “Chaul: Eine unerforschte Stadt an der Westküste Indiens (Wehr-, Sakral- und Profanarchitektur).” 238 pp. ills and 2 maps 1964 Berlin, Germany.
– Oliveira e Costa, João Paulo “Simão de Andrade, fidalgo da Índia e capitão de Chaul” In: Mare Liberum, Revista de História dos Mares N° 9, ” VII Seminário internacional de História Indo-Portuguesa, Goa 1994″, pp. 99-111, 1995, Lisbon, Portugal.
– Rossa, W. “Indo-Portuguese cities” 117 pp. illust. Comissão Nacional para as Comemorações dos Descobrimentos Portugueses 1997, Lisbon, Portugal. Very interesting descriptions of the Portuguese towns of Goa, Chaul, Baçaim, Damão, Diu and Cochin.
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster.
Bassein-Vasai (Baçaim) is situated at about 70 kilometers north of Bombay on the Arabian Sea. It lies on an island at the mouth of a river and was thanks to this position easily defensible. The city, which belonged to the Kingdom of Cambay, was a very important one before the Portuguese conquest. The sources of wealth of Bassein (Baçaim) were: the horse trade, fishing, the salt, the timber, the stone quarry (basalt, granite) and the shipyards. In those days the city was situated in the center of a wealthy agricultural district, which yielded rice, betel, cotton, sugar-cane and more.
In 1528 Captain Heytor de Silveira captured and burnt the city of Bassein. After this the Lord of Thana submitted voluntarily as tributary to Portugal. In 1532 the Portuguese newly attacked Bassein and after a weak resistance they entered the fort and destroyed it. The towns of Thana, Bandora, Mahim and Bombaim were put under tribute. On 23 December 1534 the Sultan of Gujarat ceded by treaty Bassein with its dependencies (Salcete, Bombaim, Parel, Vadala, Siao, Vorli, Mazagao, Thana, Bandra, Mahim, Caranja) to Portugal.
Bassein (Vasai), church’s ruins, watercolor by Roberto Ramerini
In 1535 a Feitoria (Agency) and the Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Vida were built. In the same year the Sultan of Gujarat assaulted the city; for this reason in 1536 a fortress was built, around which the Portuguese town flourished. In 1540 the “Confraria da Misericórdia was founded”. In 1547 the Franciscans founded the Convent and the Church of Santo António and the Igreja Matriz de São José.
In 1548 St. Francisco Xavier stayed in Bassein and a portion of the Indian population was converted to Christianity. In 1549 the Jesuits built the Igreja do Sagrado Coração de Jesus. Later in 1561 they began to build their large College. In 1556 the Portuguese occupied the mountain “Serra de Açarim” and the fort of Açarim/Asserim and that of Manora were occupied in the vicinity.
A small fort was built at Caranja. On Salcete (Salsette) island 9 churches were built: Nirmal (1557), Nossa Senhora dos Remédios (1557), Sandor (1566), Agashi (1568), Nandakal (1573), Papdy (1574), Pale (1595), Manickpur (1606), Nossa Senhora das Merces (1606). In 1559 Damão was occupied and in the same year the fort of Bulsar was put under Portuguese control, but was already abandoned in 1560.
Baçaim, the ruins of the cloister and the tower of the Franciscan Church of Santo António, watercolor by Roberto Ramerini
In 1564 the Church of São Gonçalo was built by the Dominicans. In the second half of the 16th century the construction of a new fort had started and the whole town was surrounded by town walls with 10 bastions. The design of the fortress and of the bastions was inspired by the Italian Renaissance fortifications. In 1581 the Jesuits built the Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Graça and finally the Augustinians built the Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Anunciada in 1596.
Baçaim was known during the Portuguese period for the refinement and wealth of its buildings and palaces and for the beauty of its churches. The Northern Province included a territory, which extended as long as 100 kilometers on the coast, between Damão and Bombaim and in some places extended 30-50 kilometers towards the interior. It was the most productive Indian area under Portuguese rule. In defence of the Province were built several forts. The most important ones were in Damão, Damão Pequeno, Sao Gens, Danu, Serra de Asserim, Trapor, Sirgao, Mahim, Agaçaim (Ilhas das Vacas), Manora, Baçaim, Thana (Santa Cruz, Passo Seco, Baluarte do Mar), Bombaim and Caranja. At the end of the 17th century Baçaim reached the peak of its glory days. In 1611 a mint or “Casa da Moeda” was established in Baçaim.
In 1615 a triangular fort was built in Damão Pequeno (near Damão), which was named fort of São Jerónimo. In 1634 Baçaim numbered a population of 400 Portuguese families, 200 Christian Indian families and 1,800 slaves. The town, in case of enemy attack, numbered about 2,400 men as defenders.
On 23 June 1661 a Marriage Treaty between England and Portugal handed over to the British the port and the island of Bombaim (Bombay). The Portuguese governor of Bombaim refused to give up the island. After a long diplomatic skirmish Bombaim was ceded to the English on 18 February 1665, but without any of its dependencies.
In 1674 Baçaim numbered 2 colleges, 4 convents and 6 churches. In 1685 the Church of Nossa Senhora da Saúde was founded by the Knights Hospitallers of St. John. The decline of the Portuguese power in the Orient and the transfer of Bombaim (Bombay) to the British in 1665 weakened Baçaim. The city was attacked many times by the Mahrattas.
Notwithstanding this, in 1719 the province of Baçaim numbered still about 60.000 inhabitants, of these 2,000 were Portuguese and 58.000 were Christian Indians. In 1720 one of the ports of Baçaim, Kalyan, was conquered by the Mahrattas, and in 1737 they also took possession of Thana and of all the forts on Salcete island and the forts of Parsica, Trangipara, Saibana, the Ilha das Vacas, Manora, Sabajo, the hills of Santa Cruz and Santa Maria.
The only places in the Northern Province, which now remained with the Portuguese were Chaul, Caranja, Bandora, Versova, Baçaim, Mahim, Quelme, Seridao (Sirgao), Danu, Asserim, Trapor, and Damão. In November 1738 the Mahrattas captured the fort of Danu and on 20 January 1739 Mahim capitulated. The loss of Mahim was speedily followed by the capture of the forts of Quelme, Seridao, Trapor, and Asserim (13 February 1739). On 28 March 1739 the island and the fortress of Caranja, were also lost. This was the prelude to final loss of the city, indeed, in February 1739 the Mahrattas attacked Baçaim and after a desperate resistance the last Portuguese defenders surrendered on 16 May 1739. The Portuguese left Baçaim on 23 May 1739.
The Portuguese settlements in the Northern Province. Author Marco Ramerini
After 205 years of uninterrupted Portuguese rule Baçaim (now under the Mahrattas) was progressively neglected and the neighbouring English Bombay, took its place. During the war against the Mahrattas (1737-1740) the Portuguese lost, besides Baçaim, eight cities, four main ports, twenty fortresses, two fortified hills, the island of Salcete (Salsette) with the city and the fortress of Thana, the “Ilha das Vacas”, the island of Karanjà (Juem) and 340 villages. The losses amounted to nearly the whole of the Northern Province, only the town of Damão was held.
[divider]
VASAI (BASSEIN): THE REMAINS OF A PORTUGUESE CITY-FORTRESS IN INDIA
Vasai (Bassein) is located in Thane District, 70 km north of Mumbai (Bombay). The city is located on the north bank of the Vasai Creek, being a part of the estuary of the Ulhas River. Taking a passenger train for Surat via Dadar from Bombay Central get down at Vasai Road (Bassein Road) station. The remains of the fort can be reached by bus or taxi from the Vasai railway station (11 km).
Cloister of the Franciscan Igreja de Santo António. Vasai, Bassein, Baçaim. Author and Copyright Sushant Raut
Of all the Portuguese forts still existing in India, Baçaim (today Vasai), is one of the most imposing. Today Baçaim is a tangle of ruins, the city has, still well preserved, his imposing boundary walls with his two access doors (“Porta do Mar” and “Porta da Terra”) and his 10 bastions.
Scattered inside the walls there are the ruins of numerous town-houses and churches, among other things: the church and the convent of the Dominicans, the Franciscan Igreja de Santo António (with numerous Portuguese tombstones, the remains of the cloister and the ruins of the bell-tower), the Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Vida, the church and convents of the Augustinians, the “Camara” palace, the Misericórdia, the Igreja Matriz de São José, the ruins of the Jesuits church and convent. Well preserved are also the remains of the old citadel of São Sebastião.
[divider]
[divider]
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
– Albuquerque, Teresa “Epigraphy of Bassein” In: Mare Liberum, Revista de História dos Mares N° 9, ” VII Seminário internacional de História Indo-Portuguesa, Goa 1994″, pp. 311-320, 1995, Lisbon, Portugal.
– Baptista, Elsie W. “The East Indians: Catholic community of Bombay, Salsette and Bassein” 255 pp. Publications of the Anthropos Institute N° 3, The Bombay East Indian Association, 1967, Bandra, Bombay.
– Barros, Joseph de “A presença portuguesa em Baçaim: sua génese geo-histórica” In: Mare Liberum, Revista de História dos Mares N° 9, ” VII Seminário internacional de História Indo-Portuguesa, Goa 1994″, pp. 41-47, 1995, Lisbon, Portugal.
– Borges, Charles J. “Jesuit economic interests in the Portuguese Province of the North till the mid-18th century” In: Mare Liberum, Revista de História dos Mares N° 9, ” VII Seminário internacional de História Indo-Portuguesa, Goa 1994″, pp. 49-56, 1995, Lisbon, Portugal.
– Bras, A. Fernandes “Armas e inscrições do forte de Baçaim” 282 pp. maps, ill. Academia Portuguesa da História 1957 Lisboa, Portugal. The complete list and also the descriptions of the inscriptions present in Baçaim fort.
– Couto, Dejanirah “Em torno da concessão e da fortaleza de Baçaim 1529-1546″ In: Mare Liberum, Revista de História dos Mares N° 9, ” VII Seminário internacional de História Indo-Portuguesa, Goa 1994″, pp. 117-126, 1995, Lisbon, Portugal.
– Couto, Dejanirah “A fortaleza de Baçaim” In: “Oceanos” n° 28 Oct/Dec. 1996 pp. 105-118 – Couto, Dejanirah “Baçaim a capital do norte” In: “Oceanos” n°19-20, Sep/Dec. 1994 pp. 258-266
– Cunha, J. Gerson da, “The origin of Bombay” 368 pp Asian Educational Services, 1993 (1900), New Delhi, India.
– Cunha, G. da “Notes on the history and antiquities of Chaul and Bassein” 278 pp. Map & ills. 1993 (1876), Bombay, India.
– Gaspar Rodrigues, Vitor Luis “A organização militar da Província do Norte durante o séc. XVI e princípios do séc. XVII” In: Mare Liberum, Revista de História dos Mares N° 9, ” VII Seminário internacional de História Indo-Portuguesa, Goa 1994″, pp. 247-265, 1995, Lisbon, Portugal.
– Hull, Ernest R. “Bombay mission-history, with a special study of the padroado question (1534-1858)” ? vii+493 pp. 7 color maps Bombay Examiner Press, 1927,
– Leão, M. C. “A Província do Norte do Estado da India” 223 pp. several maps and illustrations, Instituto Cultural de Macau, 1996, Macau.
– Martires Lopes, Maria de Jesus dos “Aspectos da política religiosa na província do Norte, em setecentos” In: Mare Liberum, Revista de História dos Mares N° 9, ” VII Seminário internacional de História Indo-Portuguesa, Goa 1994″, pp. 175-179, 1995, Lisbon, Portugal.
– Meersman, A. “The Franciscans in Bombay. History of the Franciscans in the territory comprised within the boundaries of the present archdiocese of Bombay” xvii+279 pp. 1957, Bangalore, India.
– Oliveira e Costa, Joao Paulo “Simão de Andrade fidalgo da Índia e capitão de Chaul” In: Mare Liberum, Revista de História dos Mares N° 9, ” VII Seminário internacional de História Indo-Portuguesa, Goa 1994″, pp. 99-111, 1995, Lisbon, Portugal.
– Pereira, A. B. de Bragança “Os portugueses em Baçaim” ? 220 pp Sep. de: O Oriente Português Tip. Rangel 1935 Bastorá In: Oriente Portugues N° 7/8/9 pp. 97-313
– Rossa, W. “Indo-Portuguese cities” 117 pp. illust. Comissão Nacional para as Comemorações dos Descobrimentos Portugueses 1997 Lisboa Very interesting descriptions of the Portuguese town of Goa, Chaul, Baçaim, Damao, Diu, Cochin.
– Santos, Isau “A cedência de Bombaim aos Ingleses” In: Mare Liberum, Revista de História dos Mares N° 9, ” VII Seminário internacional de História Indo-Portuguesa, Goa 1994″, pp. 267-290, 1995, Lisbon, Portugal.
– Shirodkar, P. P. “Bombay and the Portuguese impact and influences with special reference to etymology” In: Mare Liberum, Revista de História dos Mares N° 9, ” VII Seminário internacional de História Indo-Portuguesa, Goa 1994″, pp. 291-301, 1995, Lisbon, Portugal.
– Soeiro de Brito, Raquel “Goa e as praças do Norte” 196 pp Junta de Investigaçoes do Ultramar, 1966 (CNCDP 1998), Lisbon, Portugal.
– Varela Gomes, Paulo and Rossa, Walter “O primeiro territorio. Bombaim e os Portugueses” In: “Oceanos” n° 41, 2000.
– Velinkar, Joseph “Early Jesuit presence in Bassein” In: Mare Liberum, Revista de História dos Mares N° 9, ” VII Seminário internacional de História Indo-Portuguesa, Goa 1994″, pp. 305-310, 1995, Lisbon, Portugal.
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster.
On the Bay of Bengal there was a rather peculiar form of Portuguese settlements. Indeed this coast was not conquered militarily like the Malabar coast, but was colonized pacifically by groups of “Casados” (married men of the reserve army), beginning in the 1520s.
SÃO TOMÉ DE MELIAPORE (Madras)
The main settlement was the town of São Tomé de Meliapore (near today’s Madras), where there was (and still is) the grave of the apostle Saint Thomas. In 1522-23 the Portuguese built a church there and, around it, a settlement was started. In 1523 a new city was born. In 1537 São Tomé was populated by 50 Casados. By 1544 their number had doubled. Then the Jesuits settled there in 1548/49. In spite of this fast development in the years between the foundation of São Tomé (1522) and in the 1560s the activity of the Portuguese was mainly concentrated on the settlement of Paleacate (Pulicat), founded in 1518, where in 1545 600-700 Portuguese Casados settled. In the relation of Cesare Federici (1560) the town of São Tomé was described as “la più bella di quante ne sono in quelle parti dell’India”.
In 1580 the town of São Tomé had four churches, those of São Tomé, São Francisco, São João Baptista and Misericórdia. Outside the town were the churches of Madre de Deus, São Lazaro, Nossa Senhora da Luz and Nossa Senhora do Monte. At the beginning of 1600 São Tomé had a population of about 600 Casados. On 9 January 1606 the Diocese of São Tomé de Meliapur was erected. In 1607 São Tomé was declared city and a “Câmara Municipal” was created. In 1614 the inhabitants erected fortifications and the whole population, i.e. the Portuguese administration, the “casados”, the soldiers and the native Christian population resided within the walled city. The city had a “capitão-mor” (captain-major) and a Bishop and in 1635 there were as many as 10 churches. In 1646 São Tomé was besieged by Mir Jumla of Qutbshahi.
Portuguese settlements in the bay of Bengal. Author Marco Ramerini
The period between 1656 and 1662 is an obscure period and in 1662 São Tomé was conquered by Qutbshashi of Golconda. From 1662-1672 São Tomè remained in Qutbshahi hands. In 1672 the French under Admiral de la Haye conquered São Tomé, but after two years of occupation on 6 September 1674 the French surrendered the city to the Dutch, who, in turn, handed it over to the Qutbshahi on 10 October 1674. In 1687 a tenuous Portuguese administration was re-established. In January 1697 the fortification was pulled down; the only privilege that remained to the Portuguese residents in 1702 was to display their flag on Sundays and Holidays.
Portuguese influence came to an end on 21 October 1749, when the English (in principle Portugal’s allies) occupied São Tomé. Other Portuguese settlements were at Negapatam, Porto Novo, Masulipatam, Pulicat, Ugolim (near today’s Calcutta), Chittagong, Syriam (near today’s Rangoon), Dianga (in Arakan).
NAGAPATTINAM
The Portuguese colonized Nagapattinam at the same time as São Tomé (1520s-1530s). It was the best port of the entire Coromandel coast, ten villages (Nagappattinam Port, Puthur, Muttam, Poruvalancheri, Anthonippettai, Karureppankadu, Azhinji Mangalam, Sangamangalam, Thiruthina mangalam, Manjakollai, Nariyankudi) were controlled by the Portuguese traders. At the end of the 1540s the Franciscans and later the Jesuits settled in the town. Several churches were built in the city: Madre de Deus, São Jerónimo, Paulistas, São Domingos, Nossa Senhora da Nazaré, Sé. In 1577 there were in Nagapattinam 60 casados, 200 Eurasians, 3,000 Christian Indians. In the years 1642-43 Nagapattinam was fortified and a customs-house was also built. On 23 July 1658 a Dutch fleet under the command of Jan van der Laan conquered the fort. In the 1590s the Portuguese settled north of Nagapattinam in a port, they named Porto Novo (New Harbour), this port was the place, where the Portuguese moved in after the Dutch conquest of Nagapattinam.
NORTHERN PART OF THE BAY OF BENGAL
The first Portuguese expedition in Bengal landed in Chittagong in 1517. This port was the most important of all; the Portuguese called it “Porto Grande” (Large Harbour). After this first visit the Portuguese sent to Bengal a ship with merchandise annually. In 1536-37 the King of Bengal gave the customs-house of Chittagong (Porto Grande) and Satgaon (Porto Pequeno) to the Portuguese and also permitted to build “feitorias” (trading posts) in both towns.
PIPLI (Orissa)
The first settlement in the Gulf of Bengal was established in Orissa, at Pipli, by some Portuguese, who had escaped from São Tomé in 1514. Pipli was an important trading center and the Augustinians had built a church and a residence. At the beginning of the XVIIIth century a large Portuguese and Eurasian community populated Pipli.
UGOLIM, SATGAON, BANDEL
The destiny of the first settlement in Satgaon is obscure. But in 1579-80 António Tavares founded Ugolim (Hooghly) at the mouth of the Ganges near the first settlement of Satgaon. The town grew rapidly. The religious orders erected many churches and in 1603 it had about 5,000 Portuguese inhabitants. Satgaon was again under the authority of the Portuguese from the 1590s, but Ugolim outshined this settlement. A few kilometers further north was the community of Bandel, where the Order of the Augustinians built a friary in 1599, to which the Church of Nossa Senhora do Rosário was attached(this church still exists in Bandel, although it was rebuilt in 1660, after its destruction during the sacking of Hooghly by the Moors in 1632). The Portuguese of Ugolim extended their settlements sixty leagues inland from the banks of the river. Since the beginning of the XVIIth century they had the Bengali trade in their hands. In Ugolim the religious orders erected many churches, a hospital, a Casa da Misericórdia (Institution of charity) and a school. The Portuguese never fortified Ugolim and when the Mughals besieged the city it had only an earthen parapet. The siege began on 24 June 1632 and the Portuguese defenders were only three hundred and about six hundred native Christians. The defenders held out for three months, but on 25 September 1632 the Mughals launched a violent attack and captured the town. The Portuguese lost about 3,000-5,000 men, the civil population included. On the Mughals’ side the losses were enormous. There were only three thousand Portuguese survivors. They escaped to Saugor island, where they built a fortress. By July 1633, only a year after the siege of Ugolim, the Portuguese settled again in Ugolim (The Shah Jahan conceded to them a grant of land there). The motive of their return remains unexplained. Notwithstanding this move, the Portuguese never regained their past power. In 1666 a witness reported that at Ugolim there were about 8,000 to 9,000 Portuguese and Eurasians and the Augustinians and the Jesuits possessed large churches. In 1680 in all Bengal there were not less than 20,000 Portuguese Mestiços (people of mixed blood).
CHITTAGONG (CHATIGAM), DIANGA, SANDWIP
The settlement of Chittagong (Chatigam) grew into a great trading center. The Jesuits erected two churches and a residence. About 1590 the Portuguese also captured the fort of Chittagong and made the island of Sandwip a tributary. In 1598 there were 2,500 Portuguese and Eurasians in Chittagong and Arakan. In 1602 Sandwip was conquered by Domingo Carvalho and Manuel de Mattos. This island was, however, lost a short time later (1605 ?).
Towards the end of the XVIth century, the Portuguese also settled in Dianga (today’s Bunder or Feringhi Bunder), opposite to Chittagong across the southern bank of the Karnaphuli River. In 1607 the King of Arakan massacred about 600 Portuguese inhabitants of Dianga. The Portuguese settled again in Dianga after 1615. Despite the Dianga massacre a small number of Portuguese managed to escape and settled on an island at the mouth of the Ganges.
One of them was Sebastião Gonçalves Tibau, who later in 1607 (?), leading 400 Portuguese, attacked and conquered the island of Sandwip for the second time. He ruled the island like an independent king, having under his command a force of 1,000 Portuguese. Tibau also seized the islands of Dakhin Shahbazpur and Patelbanga. In 1615 Tibau proceeded to conquer Arakan and asked for help from Goa, which promptly came. On October 1615 the Portuguese fleet attacked the Arakanese fleet, which was reinforced by a Dutch fleet. They won the battle and the majority of the Portuguese Navy returned to Goa. Soon after in 1616 Sebastião Gonçalves Tibau was defeated by the King of Arakan, who invaded Sandwip and took possession of the island.
After Tibau’s defeat the Portuguese in Eastern Bengal (out of the control of Goa) devoted themselves to piracy. They allied with the King of Arakan and settled in Dianga and Chittagong. They allied with the King of Arakan and settled in Dianga and Chittagong. When the Mughals took Chittagong in 1665, they moved to Ferenghi Bazar (South of today’s Dacca), where Portuguese descendents still reside to the present day.
MINOR SETTLEMENTS IN BENGAL
Map of the Portuguese settlements in North Bengal Bay. Author Marco Ramerini
The Portuguese settled at Dacca about 1580. The remains of the Portuguese trading factory, close to the church of Our Ladies of Rosary, were still evident in 1919 . Other small Portuguese settlements thrived in Bengal: At the end of the XVIth century in Sripur, Chandecan, Bakla, Catrabo, Loricul (where at the end of the XVIIIth century the ruins of a Portuguese church were still evident) and Bhulua, where at the end of the XVIIth century many people spoke Portuguese. In the 1520s some Portuguese settled in Hijili (Hidgelee or Angelim). Here they possessed a large tract of land. The Augustinians built two churches in Hijili. Hijili was lost in 1636. In 1919 the ruins of the Portuguese settlement were still visible. In 1838 at Merepore (three kms south of Hijili) a community of Christians, who claimed to be descendents of the Portuguese from Goa, was found. At Tamluk (Tambolim) was built a church in 1635 and as late as in 1724 the Portuguese had churches and traded there. At Balasore there were small Portuguese settlements. In 1880 a small chapel was still standing. It has disappeared by now.
SYRIAM (Myanmar-Burma)
In the year 1602 the King of Arakan granted the port of Syriam (today’s Rangoon) in Pegu to Felipe de Brito e Nicote for his services. There the Portuguese built a fort and a customs-house. Syriam remained in the hands of the Portuguese untill 1613 when the King of Ava captured it. The Portuguese settlements on the Bay of Bengal reached their apogee in the first decade of the XVIIth century.
[divider]
Portuguese settlements in the bay of Bengal. Author Marco Ramerini
Map of the Portuguese settlements in North Bengal Bay. Author Marco Ramerini
[divider]
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
– Various Authors “Commerce and Culture in the Bay of Bengal, 1500-1800” 416 p. plates, edited by Om Prakash and Denys Lombard, 1999,
– Arasaratnam, S. and Aniruddha, R. “Masulipatnam and Cambay: a history of two port towns, 1500-1800” xiii, 314pp. maps Munshiram Manoharlal, 1994, New Delhi, India.
– Campos, J. J. A. “History of the Portuguese in Bengal” 283 pp. 3 maps Butterworth & Co. 1919 Calcutta, India. An old, but very interesting, book about the Portuguese history in Bengal, history unknown to many people.
– Cortesão , Armando ” A cidade de Bengala do século XVI e os Portugueses” 35 pp. Tip. da Sociedade Astória, 1944, Lisboa
– Ferroli, D. “The jesuits and Mysore” 238 pp. Xavier Press, 1955, Kozhikode, India.
– Jeyaseela, Stephen S. “Portuguese on the Tamil Coast : Historical Explorations in Commerce and Culture, 1507-1749” xix + 437 pp. Illus., Maps, Navajothi Publishing House, 1998, Pondicherry, India.
– Jeyaseela Stephen S. “Coromandel Coast and its Hinterland: Economy, Society And Political System, 1500-1600” 269 pp. Manohar Publishers & Distributors, 1997, Delhi, India.
– Mordechai, Arbell “The Portuguese Jewish community of Madras, India, in the Seventeenth century” In: “Los Muestros. The Sephardic Voice” n° 41, Dec. 2000
– Subrahmanyam, Sanjay “Comércio e conflito: a presenca portuguesa no Golfo de Bengala” Orig. Tit. “Improvising empire Portuguese trade and settlement in the Bay of Bengal 1500-1700” 293 pp Edições 70 1994 Lisboa. A collection of very interesting articles of Subrahmanyam.
– Subrahmanyam, Sanjay “The South Coromandel Portuguese in the late 17th century: a study of the Porto Novo. Nagapattinam complex” In STUDIA N° 49, pp. 341-363, 1989, Lisbon, Portugal.
– Varadarajan, L. “São Tomé: early European activities and aspirations” In: Various Authors “II Seminário Internacional de História Indo–Portuguesa” 429-441 pp. IICT & CEHCA 1985 Lisbon, Portugal.
Forte de Nossa Senhora de Monte Serrat, Salvador (Bahia). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini.
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster.
Right from the founding of the city the Portuguese started with the construction of a defensive system against foreign invasions, which occurred until the 18th century.
The main works of fortification were executed after the Dutch conquest of the town (1624-1625) and the successive reconquest by the Portuguese. Fearing another Dutch invasion, which materialized in 1638 and 1647, they started with the building of several forts to defend Salvador, the capital of the Brazilian colony.
FORTE DE SANTO ANTÔNIO DA BARRA
The first fortification on this place was built between 1583 and 1587 during the government of D. Manuel Telles Barreto: a poligonal tower of “taipa”.
The entrance gate, Forte de Santo Antônio da Barra, Salvador (Bahia), Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
A better fortification was built during the government of D. Francisco de Souza (1591-1602). This time it was a fort with an octagonal shape and was artilled with 4 cannons. In 1624 the fortification did not resist the Dutch landing in the port.
During the govern of D. João de Lencastre, between 1696 and 1702, the fort got its current shape due to the project of the engineer João Coutinho. Its design, as in other fortifications, is in the Italian style. The access is by a ramp tunnel, ending in a stairway.
[divider]
Forte de Santo Antônio da Barra, Salvador (Bahia). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Forte de Santo Antônio da Barra, Salvador (Bahia). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Forte de Santo Antônio da Barra, Salvador (Bahia). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
The entrance gate, Forte de Santo Antônio da Barra, Salvador (Bahia), Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
[divider]
Forte de Santa Maria, Salvador (Bahia). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini.
FORTE DE SANTA MARIA
This fort was built, “de pedra e cal” during the government of D. Diogo Luís de Oliveira (1627-1635). Itis certain, that during the second Dutch invasion in 1638 the fort was part of the city defences. In 1671 it had 1 bronze cannon and 2 iron cannons, but according to the “Relatório, 1671” it needed three more cannons. It has an Italian-style design and was built in stonemasonry.
[divider]
Forte de Santa Maria, Salvador (Bahia). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini.
Forte de Santa Maria, Salvador (Bahia). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini.
[divider]
Forte de São Diogo, Salvador (Bahia). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
FORTE DE SÃO DIEGO
This fort was built, “de pedra e cal” during the government of D. Diogo Luís de Oliveira (1627-1635). With the forts of Santa Maria and Santo Antônio da Barra it is a part of the defense system of Porto da Barra. It has an irregular shape and it is built at the foot of the hill, where the original Vila Velha de Pereira Coutinho was situated.
[divider]
Forte de Nossa Senhora do Pópulo e São Marcelo (Forte do Mar), Salvador (Bahia). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
FORTE DE NOSSA SENHORA DO PÓPULO E SÃO MARCELO (FORTE DO MAR)
This is a circular fort. Its construction during the government of Francisco Barreto (1657-1663), far from the shore is due to the fear of a new invasion. Its objective was to avoid any invasion of the port. In the 1670s it had 9 cannons. Its slightly circular project is formed by a central turret, surrounded by a ring of equal height, constituting the perimeter and the quarters. It was built in sandstone up to the waterline and the remaining in stonemasonry.
[divider]
Forte de São Diogo, Salvador (Bahia). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Forte de Nossa Senhora do Pópulo e São Marcelo (Forte do Mar), Salvador (Bahia). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
[divider]
Forte de Nossa Senhora de Monte Serrat, Salvador (Bahia). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
FORTE DE NOSSA SENHORA DE MONTSERRAT
Montserrat Fort is located in the western part of the Itapagipana Peninsula. Probably it was built in 1586 during the government of D. Manuel Telles Barreto (1583-1587). Its construction was continued during the government of D. Francisco de Souza (1591-1602), when it was known as Castelo de São Felipe. Perhaps it was designed by Baccio da Filicaia 1565 Firenze – 1628 Salvador/Bahia), who worked under this governor.
Its design is inspired by the Italian fortification style and it is one of the best examples of early military architecture in Brazil. Its shape is an irregular polygon with circular turrets. It had 3 cannons and from the fort, the entire Port of Salvador could be protected. In 1616 its garrison was composed by 16 men: a captain, a head, a gunner, a tamburine and 12 musketeers. On 9 May 1624 this fort, which had 4 cannons, was attacked by the Dutch army. After a furious resistence the garrison was forced to surrender.
During the Dutch occupation the Portugueses built in the vicinities of the fort a trench, where they placed 2 bronze cannons. Captain Manuel Gonçalves succeeded during one of the numerous attacks the Portuguese directed towards the garrison of the fort in capturing the commander of the fort. On 17 July 1624 general Johan Van, the Dutch commander of the troops of the garrison of Salvador was attacked and killed in the locality Água de Meninos, while he was returning with 200 men from an inspection of the Montserrat Fort. In 1625 the Hispano-Portuguese under D. Fradique de Toledo retook the fort and on 1 May 1625 the entire Dutch garrison of Salvador capitulated.
In 1638 a Dutch army under Johann Moritz von Nassau-Siegen put under siege Salvador and on 21 April 1638 a platoon under Major van den Brand attacked the fort of Montserrat, which soon capitulated, the captain of the fort at that time being Pedro Aires de Aguirre. This time the Dutch were forced to abandon the siege of the city after a month (16 April 1638-26 May 1638).
In October 1655 the Conde de Ataugia ordered to rebuild the fortress and later in 1693 D. João de Lencastre ordered the same. During these reconstruction works the fort reached the actual hexagonal shape with a tower at each angle. In 1717 it had 12 cannons.
[divider]
Forte de Nossa Senhora de Monte Serrat, Salvador (Bahia). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini.
Forte de Nossa Senhora de Monte Serrat, Salvador (Bahia). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
[divider]
Forte de Saõ Pedro, Salvador (Bahia). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
FORTE DE SÃO PEDRO
The first fortification in the area dates from 1624 and construction work started by the Dutch during their brief occupation of Salvador (1624-1625). In 1648 the old trench was replaced by a fort. Located on a strategic place, Fort São Pedro, along with Fort São Paulo da Gamboa, played a main role in the defense of the south portion of the city. In 1671 it had only 2 cannons. During the government of Roque da Costa Barreto (1678-1682) the fort was repaired. During the 1710s the fort was improved and the works were terminatad on 12 August 1723. In 1759 it had 5 bronze “colubrinas”, 1 bronze “morteiro” and 37 iron cannons. It is a stonemasonry construction. The fort has a quadrangular polygonal shape, possessing bastions on each side with turret-shaped watch posts.
[divider]
[divider]
Forte de São Diogo, Salvador (Bahia). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Forte de Nossa Senhora de Monte Serrat, Salvador (Bahia). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini.
Forte de Nossa Senhora do Pópulo e São Marcelo (Forte do Mar), Salvador (Bahia). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Forte de Santa Maria, Salvador (Bahia). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini.
Forte de Santo Antônio da Barra, Salvador (Bahia). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Forte de Saõ Pedro, Salvador (Bahia). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Convent and Igreja de São Francisco, Salvador de Bahía, Bahía, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini.
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster.
The Florentine Amerigo Vespucci, on 1 January 1502, came to a gulf at 13° latitude south, to which he gave the name Bahia de Todos Santos, on the shores of which the city of Bahia now stands. Salvador was founded in 1549 by Tomé de Souza, the first governor-general of Colonial Brazil, and remained the capital of Portuguese Brazil until 1763.
During colonial times the city was invaded by the Dutch, who occupied Salvador for about a year in 1624/1625. Later they made several other attempts to take the city in 1638 and 1647. The growth of the capital city of Salvador came with the sugar plantations at the end of the 16th century and continued throughout the 17th century. Bahia became the most prosperous and important slave trade center not only in Brazil but in all of the Americas.
Cloister of the Convento (Convent) de São Francisco, Igreja de São Francisco, Salvador (Bahia), Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Today Salvador preserves in his historic centre, the “pelourinho”, his historical colonial architectural monuments, magnificent mansions, baroque churches and forts. Restoration projects have recuperated the glory of many of the oldest buildings. Among the finest worth to be be mentioned are the Convent and Igreja de São Francisco, a baroque church with a beautiful azulejos cloister. Forced to build their masters’ church and yet prohibited from practising their own religion (Candomblé), the African slave artisans responded through their work: the faces of the cherubs are distorted, some angels are endowed with huge sex organs, some appear to be pregnant. Another beautiful church is the Igreja da Ordem Terceira de São Francisco, Salvador (Bahia). This church is adjacent to Igreja de São Francisco and it was constructed in 1702. It has a gorgeous sandstone facade, which is unique in Brazil. The facade remained hidden until it was accidentally discovered in the 1930s.
Igreja da Ordem Terceira de São Francisco, Salvador (Bahia). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
The Basílica do Senhor Bom Jesus do Bomfim, Salvador (Bahia) is a 18th-century church that houses a curious room called Sala dos Milagres (Room of Miracles), where people leave votive offerings in thanks for cures. The votives forming a rather bizarre collection of hanging plastic replicas of multitudinous problematic body parts. The Mercado Modelo is the major craftsmanship pole in Salvador, built in 1861 to be a Customs House, nowadays it has 259 stalls, which offer every kind of popular production in leather, straw, tissue, wood, laces, semiprecious stones and silver, besides candies, fruits in syrup and craft drinks.
This is the text design of the inscription of the Historic Centre of Salvador da Bahia in the UNESCO list of the World Heritage Monuments: “As the first capital of Brazil, from 1549 to 1763, Salvador da Bahia witnessed the blending of European, African and Amerindian cultures. It was also, from 1558, the first slave market in the New World, with slaves arriving to work on the sugar plantations. The city has managed to preserve many outstanding Renaissance buildings. A special feature of the old town are the brightly coloured houses, often decorated with fine stucco-work.”
[divider]
[divider]
Convent and Igreja de São Francisco, Salvador de Bahía, Bahía, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini.
Pelourinho, Salvador de Bahía, Bahía, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini….
A beach, Salvador de Bahía, Bahía, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini..
Pelourinho, Salvador de Bahía, Bahía, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Cloister of the Convento (Convent) de São Francisco, Igreja de São Francisco, Salvador (Bahia), Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Igreja da Ordem Terceira de São Domingos (1731-1737), Terreiro de Jesus and Praça da Sé, Salvador (Bahia), Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Igreja da Ordem Terceira de São Francisco, Salvador (Bahia). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Pelourinho, Salvador (Bahia), Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Basílica do Senhor Bom Jesus do Bomfim, Salvador (Bahia), Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Cloister of the Convento (Convent) de São Francisco, Igreja de São Francisco, Salvador (Bahia), Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini.
The entrance gate of Forte do Brum, Recife. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini.
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster.
FORTE DO BRUM
One of the most important remains of the Dutch rule in northeast Brazil is the Forte do Brum (Fort de Bruyne), on the northern end of Recife island. The fort was originally started to built in 1629 by the Portuguese, when the Dutch took control of Pernambuco they rebuilt the fort, which was named after Johan de Bruyne. He was the president of the political council of Olinda and called it Fort de Bruyne. When the Portuguese retook control of Recife, the fort was renamed Forte de São João Batista do Brum. The Museu Militar is housed in this fort.
[divider]
The entrance gate of Forte do Brum, Recife. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini.
Bastions, Forte do Brum, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Forte do Brum, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Interior of Forte do Brum, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
[divider]
The Forte das Cinco Pontas (Five Bastions Fort), which today has only four bastions, houses the Museu da Cidade (Municipal Museum). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
FORTE DAS CINCO PONTAS
Forte das Cinco Pontas, built in 1630 by the Dutch, it was called by them Fort Frederik Hedrik, the fort was the last place they surrendered when they were expelled in 1654. A tabled at the entrance of the fort describe the Dutch surrender: “Próximo a este forte das Cinco Pontas, um dos últimos baluartes flamengos, na chamada campina do Taborda, existiu a porta sul de Mauricéia, onde o mestre de campo general Francisco Barreto, chefe militar da campanha de libertação e restauração de Pernambuco, recebeu a 28-1-1654, na qualidade de vencedor, as chaves da cidade, que lhe foram entregues pelo general Segismundo van Schoppe, comandante das forças holandesas que, na ante-véspera se haviam rendido. Esta memória foi mandada colocar pelo Exército, no ensejo das comemorações do tricentenário da Restauração. 1654 – 1954.” Inside the fort is the Museu da Cidade, which is entirely dedicated to the history of the city, containing old engravings and photographs.
[divider]
Bastions of the Forte das Cinco Pontas, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
The Forte das Cinco Pontas (Five Bastions Fort), which today has only four bastions, houses the Museu da Cidade (Municipal Museum). Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster.
Recife is now the capital of the Brazilian state of Pernambuco. Until the 17th century the city was a small village near the capital of the Capitania of Pernambuco, Olinda.
In 1630 with the Dutch conquest of northeastern Brazil, Olinda was burned by the Dutch, just because it was considered not defensible. Preference was given to the port of Recife, better positioned to defend the new colony.
Recife experienced a great development, especially during the years of the rule of Johan Maurits von Nassau-Siegen (1637-1644). He founded, with the assistance of the famous architect, Pieter Post of Haarlem, a new town called Mauricia (Mauritsstad). During those years he transformed Recife by building splendid public edifices and gardens, built the first synagogue in the Americas and for the defense of the capital of Dutch Brazil were also built substantial defensive works with forts and fortifications.
Catedral de São Pedro dos Clérigos, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
In 1654 the Dutch were besieged in Recife and were forced to capitulate. The Portuguese moved the capital of Pernambuco again to Olinda, but the port of Recife remained the most important commercial port in the Capitania. In 1823 Recife supplanted Olinda as capital of Pernambuco.
Recife has a modern physical appearance, but in the old town has many interesting buildings dating from the 17th-19th centuries, including the churches Matriz de Santo Antônio, the Basílica de Nossa Senhora do Carmo (this church was constructed, where the old Palace of Boa Vista was built under the Dutch governor Maurício de Nassau), the Capela Dourada, and Nossa Senhora do Rosário dos Pretos.
In the Rua do Bom Jesus is the oldest synagogue in the Americas, Kahal Zur Israel (Congregação Rochedo de Israel), which was erected in the 17th century and which still keeps some original walls and houses a small museum. The synagogue functioned between 1636 and 1654. At that time the synagogue served a community of approximately 1,450 Jews.
Two forts are still visible in the city: the Dutch built Forte do Brum and the Forte das Cinco Pontas, which now houses the state museum.
[divider]
[divider]
Palace of the Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Carmo, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Catedral de São Pedro dos Clérigos, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Rua do Bom Jesus (Rua dos Judeus during Dutch rule),Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Marco Zero, Recife Antigo. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Capela Dourada da Ordem Terceira de São Francisco, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Market, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
The first synagogue of the Americas (Kahal Zur Israel), Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini
Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini.
[divider]
BIBLIOGRAPHY
– Nederveen Meerkerk, H. van, “Recife. The rise of a 17th-century trade city from a cultural-historical perspective”, 459 pp., illustrations, van Gorcum, 1989, Assen-Maastricht, The Netherlands. The history of architecture in Recife of the years of Dutch occupation.
