[Essay] The Portuguese in India

[rock-onn]

The Portuguese in India


In the writings of Marco Polo, 13th century traveler, described India as land of gold and spices. Ever since that the Europe had desired to explore a sea route to India. Many explorers had tried to find it and had failed.One explorer sailed west hoping to reach East since the Earth is round but he had discovered America and he assumed he had discovered India and called them Indians. Ever since that the American Aborigines call themselves Indians. The white people call them Red Indians.


Surprisingly, Vasco Da Gama, a Portuguese explorer, anchored off the coast of Calicut, present Kerala, in late 15th century. Zamorin, king of Calicut, welcomed him and gave him lot of gifts. King Zamorin lived in a place called Ponani which is my home town. As a successful explorer Vasco Da Gama returned to Portugal. After few years, Cabral, another Portuguese explorer, probably a viceroy, came to Calicut and estabilished a factory there. I guess that they had some hidden agenda to conquer India step by step. Cabral fought with Arab traders and I guess it was to establish their supremacy in sea route. Arabs were major traders for Zamorin and they were good friends. The local people took Portuguese as evil people since they killed Arabs and they plotted against them.They put fire in factory during night and killed 50 Portuguese. In retaliation, Cabral killed many Arabs and bombarded with canon from sea the coasts of Calicut and he killed around 600 men. After this,Zamorin and Portuguese became rivals. The Cabral went to Cochin,present kerala, and had meeting with king of Cochin. Cochin is south to Calicut and their kings were rivals and Cabral took advantage of this rivalry. The king of Cochin gave them some land to Portuguese and that place is called Fort Cochin today. People called it Fort Cochin because Portuguese had built a fort there. It was typical of Portuguese to built Fort where ever they went.


Later, Vasco da Gama returned to Kerala with 15 ships and 800 men. He made a treaty with king of Kannur for favoring trade. Kannur, present kerala, is another kingdom north of Calicut. Vasco Da Gama could speak malayalm, my mother tongue. He demanded Zamorin to expel all muslims from Calicut but our king refused it. So, he bombarded the coasts of Calicut city. He captured many Arabs and local people in their ship and tortured them in brutual manner. He is known for his brutality. Vasco Da Gama died here and buried in Fort Cochin and later his body was taken to Portugal.


Eventually, the Portuguese were successful in ruling the sea route to India. Any foreign ship should buy permit from Portuguese to trade in Kerala. Arabs, Egypts traders paid gold to buy this permit. I guess, this is their first step towards conquering the land. The permit was piece of paper quoting the name of ship and its maximum capacity. The rivalry of Zamorin and Portuguese grew as they had many naval battles. The naval battles were led by naval commander, Kungali Marrakar. He is considered as a hero in our place. The Portuguese explored further north to Kerala and occupied Goa and other small kingdoms there. The Goa became their head quarters as they had no peace in South India because of Zamorin king. In one battle , Kungali Marrakar was caught and they took him to Goa and they might have tortured in ship. He was executed as a criminal there after trial in court. In my opinion, he didn't do any crime because he was just fighting for his king. There is a famous story in our place about how the son of Kungali Marrakar avenged his father. According to story, his son killed the viceroy who killed his father, Kungali Marakkar in a battle but he himself was killed in same battle by gun shot. However, Zamorin king couldn't defeat Portuguese as they had guns and canons. Our people called gun as a device that spits fire.

The Dutch also came to Kerala for trade. The Dutch made treaty with king Zamorin and traded their guns. Zamorin acquired new weapons and went for a naval battle with Portuguese. The People here say that the battle was very furious one as both party had guns and canon. The Portuguese were defeated. Ever since that Portuguese had not come near south India and they eventually pulled off from entire India. The Dutch didn't conquer any kingdom of India and they also slowly pulled off. The people here say that Portuguese came here with swords and cross. The sword refer to soldiers and cross refer to Catholic saints.

The Catholic saints converted many Keralites and Goa people to Catholicism. Today, 15%population of Kerala are Catholic and other states consider our state as a Christian state. Few were married to Portuguese thus giving birth to half Portuguese tribe. Unfortunately, this half breed looks very similar to us but they are taller, stronger, more intelligent,more brutal. These Half Portuguese later were in high demand as assassins since they were too strong to fight with. Today these people are known as Anglo Indians. Portuguese brought many fruits and vegetables to our land. For instance, we call cashew nut as 'Parangi Manga' in our tongue. 'Parangi' means Portuguese in our tongue.'Manga' means fruit. Some even claim that the word mango originated from our word 'manga'. Portuguese architecture was highly influenced in Kerala later.


The Portuguese had impacted India a lot by building many churches, forts, buildings, introducing new fruits and vegetables. Later, British established East India Company in Calcutta and occupied the entire India. However, they didn't conquer Portuguese occupied India like Goa. The Portuguese kingdoms were later occupied by French. Even today, Fort Cochin, Goa is main tourist spot for the white people. The church I attend is in Fort Cochin and I always see some white people roaming around.

 

[teechar]

The Portuguese in India

[STRIKE]In[/STRIKE] The writings of Marco Polo, 13[SUP]th[/SUP]-century traveler, described India as a/the land of gold and spices. [STRIKE]Ever since that the[/STRIKE] Europeans had long desired to explore a sea route to India. Many explorers had tried to find it and had failed. One explorer sailed west, hoping to reach the East since the Earth is round, but he [STRIKE]had[/STRIKE] discovered America and he assumed he had discovered India. [STRIKE]and[/STRIKE] He called [STRIKE]them[/STRIKE] the people there "Indians." [STRIKE]Ever since that[/STRIKE] The term stuck, and the American aborigines still call themselves Indians. The white people call them "Red Indians." [I'm not sure how relevant or factual that is!]


Surprisingly [Why is it surprising?], Vasco Da Gama, a Portuguese explorer, anchored off the coast of Calicut, in present-day Kerala, in the late 15[SUP]th[/SUP] century. Zamorin, king of Calicut, welcomed him and gave him a lot of gifts. King Zamorin lived in a place called Ponani which is in my home town. As a successful explorer, Vasco Da Gama returned to Portugal [His mere return to his country doesn't mean he was a successful explorer.]. After few years, Cabral, another Portuguese explorer and probably a viceroy, came to Calicut and established a factory there. I guess that they had some hidden agenda to conquer India step by step. Cabral fought with Arab traders, and I guess it was to establish [STRIKE]their[/STRIKE] supremacy in the sea. [STRIKE]route.[/STRIKE] Arabs were major traders for Zamorin and they were good friends. The local people [STRIKE]took[/STRIKE] looked upon the Portuguese as evil people since they killed Arabs and they plotted against them. They [STRIKE]put[/STRIKE] set fire [STRIKE]in[/STRIKE] to the factory during the night and killed 50 Portuguese. In retaliation, Cabral killed many Arabs and bombarded [STRIKE]with canon from sea[/STRIKE] the coasts of Calicut with canon fire from his ships and he killed around 600 men. After this, Zamorin and the Portuguese became rivals. [STRIKE]The[/STRIKE] Cabral went to Cochin, in present-day Kerala, and had a meeting with king of Cochin. Cochin is south [STRIKE]to[/STRIKE] of Calicut and their kings were rivals, [STRIKE]and[/STRIKE] so Cabral took advantage of this rivalry. The king of Cochin gave [STRIKE]them[/STRIKE] some land to the Portuguese, and that place is called Fort Cochin today. People called it Fort Cochin because the Portuguese had built a fort there. It was typical of the Portuguese to [STRIKE]built Fort[/STRIKE] build a fort wherever they went.

Later, Vasco da Gama returned to Kerala with 15 ships and 800 men. He made a trade treaty with the king of Kannur. [STRIKE]for favoring trade.[/STRIKE] Kannur, in present-day Kerala, [STRIKE]is[/STRIKE] was another kingdom north of Calicut. Vasco Da Gama could speak Malayalm, my mother tongue. He demanded that Zamorin [STRIKE]to[/STRIKE] expel all Muslims from Calicut, but our king refused. [STRIKE]it.[/STRIKE] So, he bombarded the coasts of Calicut city. He captured many Arabs and local people, [STRIKE]in their[/STRIKE] took them to his ship and tortured them in a brutual manner. He is known for his brutality. Vasco Da Gama died here and was buried in Fort Cochin, [STRIKE]and[/STRIKE] but later his body was taken to Portugal.

Eventually, the Portuguese were successful in [STRIKE]ruling[/STRIKE] controlling the sea route to India. Any foreign ship [STRIKE]should[/STRIKE] had to buy a permit from the Portuguese to trade in Kerala. Arab and Egyptian traders paid gold to buy this permit. I guess this [STRIKE]is[/STRIKE] was their first step towards conquering the land. The permit was a piece of paper quoting the name of the ship and its maximum capacity. The rivalry [STRIKE]of[/STRIKE] between Zamorin and the Portuguese grew as they [STRIKE]had[/STRIKE] fought many naval battles. [STRIKE]The naval[/STRIKE] Those battles were led by a naval commander, Kungali Marrakar on the Zamorin side. He is considered as a hero in our place. The Portuguese explored further to the north [STRIKE]to[/STRIKE] of Kerala and occupied Goa and other small kingdoms there. [STRIKE]The[/STRIKE] Goa became their headquarters as they had no peace in south India because of King Zamorin. [STRIKE]king.[/STRIKE] In one battle, Kungali Marrakar was caught, [STRIKE]and they took him[/STRIKE] taken to Goa and [STRIKE]they might have[/STRIKE] probably tortured on board [STRIKE]in[/STRIKE] one of their ships. He was executed as a criminal there after trial in court. In my opinion, he didn't [STRIKE]do[/STRIKE] commit any crime, because he was just fighting for his king. There is a famous story in our place about how the son of Kungali Marrakar avenged his father. According to that story, [STRIKE]his[/STRIKE] the son killed the viceroy who killed his father, Kungali Marakkar, in a battle but he himself was killed in same battle by gun shot. However, King Zamorin [STRIKE]king[/STRIKE] couldn't defeat the Portuguese as they had guns and canons. Our people called the gun [STRIKE]as[/STRIKE] "a device that spits fire."

The Dutch also came to Kerala for trade. They [STRIKE]Dutch[/STRIKE] made a treaty with King Zamorin, and traded their guns for locally grown spices. Zamorin acquired new weapons and went for a naval battle with the Portuguese. The People here say that the battle was a ferocious [STRIKE]very furious[/STRIKE] one as both parties had guns and canons. The Portuguese were defeated. Ever since then, [STRIKE]that[/STRIKE] the Portuguese had not come near south India and they eventually pulled [STRIKE]off from entire[/STRIKE] out of India entirely. The Dutch didn't conquer any kingdom of India and they also slowly pulled off. The people here say that the Portuguese came here with swords and crosses. The swords refer to soldiers and the crosses refer to Catholic missionaries. [STRIKE]saints.[/STRIKE]

The Catholic [STRIKE]saints[/STRIKE] missionaries converted many Keralites and Goans [STRIKE]people[/STRIKE] to Catholicism. Today, 15% of the population of Kerala are Catholic, and other states in India consider our state as a Christian state. A few Keralites [STRIKE]were[/STRIKE] got married to Portuguese, thus giving birth to a half-Portuguese tribe. Unfortunately [Why is it unfortunate?] , [STRIKE]this half breed[/STRIKE] ["Half-breed" is considered derogatory by many people including me!] those mixed-background people look very similar to us but they are often taller and stockier. [STRIKE], stronger, more intelligent, more brutal.[/STRIKE] [Again, that's controversial and, in my opinion, totally unnecessary.] Many of these half-Portuguese later were [STRIKE]in high demand[/STRIKE] employed as assassins since they were too strong to fight with. Today these people are known as Anglo-Indians [Hmm, I thought that meant people of mixed British and Indian background!]. The Portuguese brought many fruits and vegetables to our land. For instance, we call cashew nuts [STRIKE]as[/STRIKE] "Parangi manga" in our tongue. "Parangi" means Portuguese, [STRIKE]in our tongue.[/STRIKE] and "manga" means fruit. Some even claim that the word mango originated from our word "manga." In addition, Portuguese architecture [STRIKE]was[/STRIKE] highly influenced the style of several buildings in Kerala. [STRIKE]later.[/STRIKE]

The Portuguese had impacted India a lot by building many churches, forts, buildings, and by introducing new fruits and vegetables. Later, the British established the East India Company in Calcutta and occupied the [STRIKE]entire[/STRIKE] whole of India. However, they didn't conquer Portuguese-occupied [STRIKE]India[/STRIKE] places like Goa. The Portuguese kingdoms were later occupied by the French. Even today, Fort Cochin, Goa is [STRIKE]main[/STRIKE] a major tourist spot for [STRIKE]the white[/STRIKE] Europeans. [STRIKE]people.[/STRIKE] The church I attend is in Fort Cochin, and I [STRIKE]always[/STRIKE] regularly see some white people there. [STRIKE]roaming around.[/STRIKE]

.

 

[Rover_KE]

Let's hear it for teechar — the month's gold medal winner. lympic:

 

[teechar]

Thanks Rover! That's so thoughtful and considerate of you.

:-D :-D :-D :-D :-D

:angel::angel::angel:
:cheers::cheers::cheers:

 

[rock-onn]

The people here say that Anglo Indians are half Portuguese, half Dutch, half British. All of them are called as Anglo Indians. That is what they say but i didn't read it anywhere. I said unfortunate because they look very similar to us. I would say fortunate if they had looked similar to white people. The present Kerala don't discriminate any minor groups.

The word mango is originated from manga, it is written in Wikipedia. The people in past feared half Portuguese as they are stockier than us. We, Dravidians, have weak physique(taking the majority).

It is common knowledge in our place why American aborigines call themselves Indians. I have to inquire it.

 

[rock-onn]

Columbus carried a passport in Latin from the Spanish monarchs that dispatched him ad partes Indie[SUP][3][/SUP] ("toward the regions of India") on their behalf. When he landed in the Antilles, Columbus referred to the resident peoples he encountered there as "Indians" reflecting his purported belief that he had reached the Indian Ocean.[SUP][4][/SUP] Although Columbus soon recognized that he had not reached the Indies, the name stuck; for centuries the native people of the Americas were collectively called "Indians" in various European languages. This misnomer was perpetuated in place naming; the islands of the Caribbean were named, and are still known as, the West Indies.

source

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_American_name_controversy

 

[rock-onn]

Another interesting stuff to read.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luso-Indian

 

[teechar]

The people here [STRIKE]say that[/STRIKE] use the term "Anglo-Indian" to refer to anyone who is [STRIKE]are half[/STRIKE] part Portuguese, [STRIKE]half[/STRIKE] part Dutch, or part [STRIKE]half[/STRIKE] British.

You can't have three halves. ;-)

All of them are called [STRIKE]as[/STRIKE] Anglo-Indians. That is what they say, but I didn't read it anywhere. I said "unfortunate" because they look very similar to us. I would say fortunate if they had looked similar to "white" people.

Hmm, Do I sense an inferiority complex here?! :shock:

The [STRIKE]present[/STRIKE] people of Kerala nowadays don't discriminate against any minority groups.

That's good to hear. :up:

The word "mango" [STRIKE]is[/STRIKE] originates from "manga." It is written in Wikipedia.

Fair enough. ;-)

[STRIKE]The[/STRIKE] People here in the past feared the half-Portuguese as they [STRIKE]are[/STRIKE] were stockier than them. [STRIKE]us.[/STRIKE] We, Dravidians, have a weak physique ([STRIKE]taking[/STRIKE] at least the majority do).

I see.

It is common knowledge in our place [STRIKE]why[/STRIKE] that American aborigines call themselves Indians.

Some may refer to themselves as "American Indians" (not "Indians"). Otherwise, consider using "Native Americans."

I have to [STRIKE]inquire[/STRIKE] find out about it.

Please do.

 

[rock-onn]

I believe my essay didn't offend anybody. I used the terms 'half breed' out of my ignorance. The 'half Portuguese' might be wrong words to use. May be, I should say mixed race people.

I found out that the story about discovering native Americans was taught in my school. I don't know why they taught us such stuff which is not established fact.