17th century The
seven islands of Bombay were presented to the
English Crown in 1661, as part of the
dowry of Catherine Braganza to
Charles II of England, who in turn leased the area to the
English East India Company. In 1683, the Maratha Empire
invaded Portuguese settlements in the Konkan region. Following Maratha victories in the
Battle of Vasai and
Siege of Ponda, the Marathas would then besiege Goa. The conflict ended following the 1684 Treaty of Ponda. in the
Quilon area of the
Malabar region. Kollam (
Quilon) was a prominent seaport and became a Portuguese settlement in 1519. They built a cemetery at
Tangasseri in Quilon city. After the
Dutch East India Company invasion, the Dutch also buried their dead there. The pirates of Tangasseri inhabited the cemetery before Europeans arrived. Remnants of this cemetery still exist today, very close to
Tangasseri Lighthouse and
St Thomas Fort, which are listed among the
protected monuments in the
Archaeological Survey of India.
18th century Most of the Northern Province, composed of
Taana,
Bassein (Vasai) and Chaul near
British Bombay was lost following another
Mahratta Invasion of Bassein in 1739.
Goa, Daman and Diu as well as
Anjediva, were retained because a fleet of
Portuguese Armadas arrived from
Lisbon, bearing a newly appointed viceroy. In 1752, Mozambique was detached from the State of India and henceforth ruled by its own governor. In the aftermath of the battles and the losses, the Portuguese expanded the territory of Goa between 1763 and 1788, at the expense of the Dessais of
Kudal, the Sondas, and the
Bhonslas/
Mahrattas of
Silvassa, which became known as the
Novas Conquistas. By order of the
Marquis de Pombal, the
Jesuits were expelled from Portugal's territories in 1759. They were replaced by the
Oratorians, a native
Goan Catholic religious order founded by
Christian Brahmin and
Christian Kshatriya converts; a college dedicated to the
secular education of the native elites was opened; and the
Goan Inquisition was abolished. In 1783, following an attack on the Portuguese ship Santana, the Marathas
handed over control of the territories of Dadrá and Nagar Áveli. The Portuguese then
purchased Dadrá in 1785. By 1818, the Portuguese were the undisputed rulers of Nagar Áveli after the
dissolution of the Maratha Confederacy. The
Conspiracy of the Pintos, also known as the Pinto Revolt, was a rebellion against Portuguese rule in Goa in 1787. The leaders of the plot were three prominent priests from the village of
Candolim in the
concelho of
Bardez. They belonged to the noble
Roman Catholic Brahmin Pinto clan, hence the name of the rebellion. This was the first anti-colonial revolt in India and one of the first by Catholic subjects in all European colonies.
19th century Military intelligence about France's plan to occupy Goa caused the British Governor-general at Calcutta, the
Marquis of Wellesley to send troops. Goa was briefly a
British Protectorate from 1799 to 1813. The Portuguese governor Francisco António da Veiga Cabral managed to retain control of civil institutions by formally appointing the British officer in charge of the occupation, Sir William Clarke, as commander of Portuguese troops in Goa under his authority. In 1843, the capital was moved to
Panjim (
Nova Goa or New Goa), when it officially became the administrative seat of the
Estado, replacing the city of Velha Goa (Old Goa), although the viceroys had taken residence there already since 1 December 1759. In 1844, the Portuguese governor of India stopped administering the territories of Macão, Solór, and Timór. Only then was the territory of the State of India confined to the Indian subcontinent itself.
Second World War Portugal was neutral during the Second World War. As a result, at the outbreak of hostilities, Axis ships sought refuge in Goa rather than be sunk or captured by British forces. Three German merchant ships, the
Ehrenfels, the
Drachenfels and the
Braunfels, as well as an Italian ship, took refuge in the port of
Mormugao. The
Ehrenfels began transmitting Allied ship movements to the
U-boats operating in the Indian Ocean, an action that was extremely damaging to Allied shipping. The
Royal Navy was unable to take any official action against these ships because of Goa's stated neutrality. Instead the Indian mission of
Special Operations Executive backed a covert raid using members from the
Calcutta Light Horse, a part-time unit made up of civilians who were not eligible for normal war service. The Light Horse embarked on an ancient Calcutta riverboat, the
Phoebe, and sailed around India to Goa, where they sank the
Ehrenfels. The British then sent an unencrypted radio message announcing it was going to seize the territory. This bluff made the other Axis crews scuttle their ships fearing they could be seized by British forces. The raid was described in the book
Boarding Party by
James Leasor. Due to the potential political ramifications of the fact that the raiders had violated Portuguese neutrality, the raid remained secret until the book was published in 1978. In 1980 the story was made into the film,
The Sea Wolves, starring
Gregory Peck,
David Niven and
Roger Moore.
1945 to 1961 On 24 July 1954 an organisation called "
The United Front of Goans" took control of the enclave of
Dadra.
Nagar Haveli was seized by
Azad Gomantak Dal on 2 August 1954. The International Court of Justice at The Hague delivered an
impasse verdict, regarding access to Dadra and Nagar Haveli by Portugal. From 1954, the
satyagrahis (
peaceful protesters) against Portuguese rule, outside
Goa were violently suppressed through brute force. Many internal revolts were quelled and leaders extrajudicially murdered or jailed. As a result, India broke off diplomatic relations with Portugal, closed its consulate-general in
Panjim and demanded that Portugal must close its delegation in
New Delhi. India also imposed an economic embargo against the territories of Portuguese Goa. The Indian Government adopted a diplomatic "wait and watch" approach from 1955 to 1961 with numerous representations to the Portuguese
Salazar dictatorship, and made attempts to highlight the issue of
decolonisation before the international community. To facilitate the transport of people and goods to and from the Indian enclaves, the Salazar dictatorship established an airline,
Transportes Aéreos da Índia Portuguesa, and airports at Goa, Daman and Diu. In December 1961,
India invaded the remaining Portuguese possessions. Portuguese forces had been given orders to either defeat the invaders or die. The Governor of Portuguese India signed the Instrument of Surrender on 19 December 1961, thus ending 450 years of Portuguese rule in India. == Post-annexation ==