GOA

GOA. Goa was the administrative and religious capital of the Portuguese Asian empire. Located on the west coast of India, Goa had been an important center of Indian Ocean trade under the sultan of Bijapur well before the arrival of the Portuguese. After 1510 it became the center of Portuguese activities in Asia and by 1600 its population grew to seventy-five thousand. As in Macau and other cities in Portuguese Asia, the Portuguese always formed a small percentage of the total population. Goa is the name of both the city and the area surrounding it. By the 1630s the region had a population of 250,000. During the sixteenth century and part of the seventeenth century Goa reached its zenith, becoming one of the jewels in the Portuguese crown. Long-distance trade with Lisbon brought New World gold and silver to trade for Asian spices (such as pepper, cloves, and cinnamon) as well as tea and Chinese silks. Trade within the Indian Ocean region was based on exchanging prized Arabian horses in South Asia for Indian cotton and rice.

In Goa's heyday travelers remarked on the many large buildings and the highly evolved urban nature of the city, in which the Portuguese had built a number of large churches and an important convent (Santa Mónica). A slow decline began by 1650, and the city was eventually abandoned because of reoccurring health concerns (malaria and cholera). The urban population moved several miles west to Panaji, the modern capital of the Indian state of Goa.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Pearson, M. N. The Portuguese in India. Cambridge, U.K., 1987. A succinct summary of Portuguese interactions in India, especially Goa.

Souza, Teotonio R de. Medieval Goa. New Delhi, 1979. Pathbreaking study that discusses Goa in the Indian context, focusing on the local Goan population under Portuguese rule.

Souza, Teotonio R. de, ed. Indo-Portuguese History: Old Issues, New Questions. New Delhi, 1985. A collection of essays outlining the newer issues raised in the field.