Portuguese India
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The State of India, also referred as the Portuguese State of India or simply Portuguese India, was a state of the Portuguese Empire founded six years after the discovery of a sea route to the Indian subcontinent by Vasco da Gama, a subject of the Kingdom of Portugal. The capital of Portuguese India served as the governing centre of a string of military forts and trading posts scattered all over the Indian Ocean.
Portuguese Goa in 1600
Portuguese territory of Bassein fortress in Gujarat
In the 16th and 17th centuries, the Portuguese Empire in the East, with its capital in Goa, was then often styled in Europe as the "Rome of the East"; it included possessions (subjected tracts of land with a certain degree of autonomy) in South Asia, Southeast Asia and East Africa.
Portuguese fortress of Bassein, centre of the northern province.
Portuguese conquest of Goa
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The Portuguese conquest of Goa occurred when the governor Afonso de Albuquerque captured the city in 1510 from the Adil Shahis. Old Goa became the capital of the Portuguese India which included territories such as Fort Manuel of Cochin, Bom Bahia, Damaon & Chaul. It was not among the places Albuquerque was supposed to conquer. He did so after he was offered the support and guidance of Timoji and his troops.
Mercenary Turkic horseman, depicted by the Portuguese in the Códice Casanatense
Portuguese carrack
Mandovi river seen from Ribandar