| Portuguese rule in GoaThe Portuguese ruled Goa from 1510 to 1961, when India took control after a 36-hour battle. The Portuguese conquest of Goa occurred in 1510 when Afonso de Albuquerque captured the city from the Adil Shahis.Goa was the capital of the entire Portuguese Empire east of the Cape of Good Hope for 450 years.On 19 December 1961, the Indian army with Operation Vijay resulted in the annexation of Goa, Daman and Diu into the Indian union. |
Recently, Goans stumbled upon a carved stone slab estimated to date back several hundred years, when Goa was under Portuguese rule.
- Many claim that the stone is that of a ‘Paulist’, who were missionaries from the Society of Jesus working to spread Catholicism in the Portuguese Empire’s Asian colonies.
- These Jesuit missionaries came to Goa in the 16th century and were followers of St Paul, who built the College of St Paul in Old Goa, and hence the term ‘Paulist’s’.
- The missionaries ran schools in Goa and other stations of the province as a means of evangelization. In 1556, the first printing press with movable types of Roman script was set up at St. Paul’s College, and in 1574, a school was established in Margao.
Dig Deeper: Read about Goa’s inclusion in India and India-Portugal relations
