End of the Portuguese

The Portuguese arrived in India first, but the aspirations to control such as large country was something not their cup of tea. They important areas under the Portuguese in India were Goa, Mumbai, Vasai, Virar, Surat, Hugli, Daman and Diu etc.

  • In 1612, they lost Surat to British, thanks to the efforts of William Hawkins and sir Thomas Roe.
  • In 1631, Hugli was lost Mughals.
  • Bombay was given by the Portuguese to Prince Charles II of England in Dowry in 1661.
  • Bassein was captured by the Marathas in 1739.

Finally, Portuguese were confined in the Goa, Daman and Diu only. They retained it till 1961, when the armies of Independent India forced them out.

The age of the heroes for the Portuguese India had passed away with the end of Afonso De Albuquerque who had the same spirit as Dupleix or Lord Clive. But his policy was not continued and the Portuguese empire on Indian soil was abandoned in favor of the other Europeans. The Spanish gave them a death blow in 1580 and the corruption of the nobles led the Portuguese bury themselves in Old Goa. In 1597, the Dutch appeared in the Indies.


1 Comment

  1. aishrastogi

    March 3, 2012 at 2:25 pm

    Hello admin

    how can one access the study material
    e.g if one wants to search for 1st anglo maratha war….it can be googled and read on the site but how does one get to it through the site

    thank you

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