The Casa da Índia was a Portuguese state-run commercial organization during the Age of Discovery. It regulated international trade and the Portuguese Empire's territories, colonies, and factories across Asia and Africa. Central to the Casa da Índia's objectives was the establishment and protection of a Portuguese mare clausum in the Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea, and the Indies.
Ribeira Palace (on the right), where the Casa da Índia was headquartered, and its naval yards (on the left), in 1575.
Elmina Castle, built in 1482 on the Portuguese Gold Coast, is the oldest European building in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Casa da Guiné e Mina was charged with managing and taxing Elmina along with the other Portuguese factories on the Gulf of Guinea.
The 2nd Portuguese India Armada, commanded by Pedro Álvares Cabral, discovered Brazil on its way to India.
King Manuel I of Portugal created the Casa da Índia and oversaw a successful expansionist period of the Portuguese Empire in Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
Factory was the common name during the medieval and early modern eras for an entrepôt – which was essentially an early form of free-trade zone or transshipment point. At a factory, local inhabitants could interact with foreign merchants, often known as factors. First established in Europe, factories eventually spread to many other parts of the world. The origin of the word factory is from Latin factorium 'place of doers, makers'.
Dutch V.O.C. factory in Hugli-Chuchura, Bengal, in 1665.
The Oostershuis, a Kontor in Antwerp
Elmina Castle in modern-day Ghana, viewed from the sea in 1668
Dejima island in Nagasaki Bay, first Portuguese and then Dutch factory
