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The Goa Civil Code , also called the Goa Family Law , is the set of civil laws that governs the residents of the Indian state of Goa . The Goan civil code was introduced after Portuguese Goa and Damaon were elevated from being mere Portuguese colonies to the status of a Província Ultramarina ( Overseas possession ). The Goan civil code is a Indianised variant of the Portuguese legal system that draws largely from the Napoleonic Code , a common legal system in a number of Continental European nations. Indian law mostly derives from English common law that was formulated and applied in British India , and remains pegged to developments in the "Charter of the British Commonwealth ". With a number of amendments, following the Partition of India , Indian laws as a whole, have religion-specific civil codes that separately govern adherents of different religions; (like the Muslim and Hindu personal laws ) and also has caste reservations . Goa and Damaon are an exception to that rule, in that a single code governs all the native Goans and the native Damanese of Damaon, Diu & Silvassa , irrespective of affiliation to religion , ethnicity and social strata . The English translation of the civil code is available on the Government of Goa's e-Gazette dated 19/10/2018.

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161-773: The Goa civil code is largely based on the Portuguese Civil Code ( Código Civil Português ) of 1867, which was introduced in Goa in 1870 (by a Decree of 18 November 1869, the Civil Code of 1867 was extended to the Overseas Provinces of Portugal). Later, the code saw some modifications, based on: The civil code was retained in Goa after its merger with the Indian Union in 1961, although in Portugal,

322-547: A European woman, and ordinarily more problematic to imprison, was arrested in 1917. Now, as constitutional reform began to be discussed in earnest, the British began to consider how new moderate Indians could be brought into the fold of constitutional politics and, simultaneously, how the hand of established constitutionalists could be strengthened. However, since the Government of India wanted to ensure against any sabotage of

483-631: A Railway Board; irrigation reform; reduction of peasant debts; lowering the cost of telegrams; archaeological research and the preservation of antiquities; improvements in the universities; police reforms; upgrading the roles of the Native States; a new Commerce and Industry Department; promotion of industry; revised land revenue policies; lowering taxes; setting up agricultural banks; creating an Agricultural Department; sponsoring agricultural research; establishing an Imperial Library; creating an Imperial Cadet Corps; new famine codes; and, indeed, reducing

644-607: A champion of the emancipation of Indian women, took up the cause of widow remarriage, especially of Brahmin widows, later converted to Christianity. By 1900 reform movements had taken root within the Indian National Congress. Congress member Gopal Krishna Gokhale founded the Servants of India Society , which lobbied for legislative reform (for example, for a law to permit the remarriage of Hindu child widows), and whose members took vows of poverty, and worked among

805-470: A committee chaired by a British judge, Sidney Rowlatt , and was tasked with investigating "revolutionary conspiracies", with the unstated goal of extending the government's wartime powers. The Rowlatt Committee comprised four British and two Indian members, including Sir Basil Scott and Diwan Bahadur Sir C. V. Kumaraswami Sastri , the present and future Chief Justices of the High Court of Bombay and

966-564: A demand for Purna Swaraj ( Hindustani language : "complete independence"), or Purna Swarajya. The declaration was drafted by the Congress Working Committee , which included Gandhi, Nehru, Patel, and Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari . Gandhi subsequently led an expanded movement of civil disobedience, culminating in 1930 with the Salt Satyagraha , in which thousands of Indians defied the tax on salt, by marching to

1127-598: A large body of native non-Portuguese inhabitants for the Portuguese crown to rule. To better achieve this, Albuquerque resorted to medieval Iberian procedures: people of different religious communities were allowed to live by their laws under representatives of their respective communities. Exception was made to the practice of sati , which was abolished. Certain taxes due to the Adil Shah of Bijapur were also abolished. Native women were legally allowed property rights for

1288-629: A loyal supporter of Gandhi and go on to play a prominent role in the Indian independence movement. When Gandhi was ordered to leave by the local British authorities, he refused on moral grounds, setting up his refusal as a form of individual Satyagraha . Soon, under pressure from the Viceroy in Delhi who was anxious to maintain domestic peace during wartime, the provincial government rescinded Gandhi's expulsion order, and later agreed to an official enquiry into

1449-536: A more radical resolution which asked for the British to declare that it was their "aim and intention ... to confer self-government on India at an early date". Soon, other such rumblings began to appear in public pronouncements: in 1917, in the Imperial Legislative Council , Madan Mohan Malaviya spoke of the expectations the war had generated in India, "I venture to say that the war has put

1610-516: A new trading post at Kollam . The sixth Portuguese expedition to India was commanded by Lopo Soares de Albergaria , who bombarded Calicut, relieved Duarte Pacheco Pereira and the Portuguese garrison at Cochin defending the territory from a large attack by the Zamorin at the Battle of Cochin , sacked Cranganore , struck an allegiance with the king of Tanur which removed him from the suzerainty of

1771-544: A practical level, it was felt that there needed to be more communication and camaraderie between the British and Indians—not just between British army officers and their Indian staff but in civilian life as well. The Indian army was completely reorganised: units composed of the Muslims and Brahmins of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh , who had formed the core of the rebellion, were disbanded. New regiments, like

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1932-402: A practical strategy adopted by the weak in the face of superior force; Satyagraha , on the other hand, was for him the "last resort of those strong enough in their commitment to truth to undergo suffering in its cause". Ahimsa or "non-violence", which formed the underpinning of Satyagraha , came to represent the twin pillar, with Truth, of Gandhi's unorthodox religious outlook on life. During

2093-572: A result of his civil liberties protests on behalf of the Indians in South Africa, Gandhi followed the advice of his mentor Gopal Krishna Gokhale and chose not to make any public pronouncements during the first year of his return, but instead spent the year travelling, observing the country at first hand, and writing. Earlier, during his South Africa sojourn, Gandhi, a lawyer by profession, had represented an Indian community, which, although small,

2254-658: A result of the reunification of Bengal in 1911, a decision that was seen as ill-disposed to Muslims. In the Lucknow Pact , the League joined the Congress in the proposal for greater self-government that was campaigned for by Tilak and his supporters; in return, the Congress accepted separate electorates for Muslims in the provincial legislatures as well as the Imperial Legislative Council. In 1916,

2415-759: A result, at the outbreak of hostilities, Axis ships sought refuge in Goa rather than be sunk or captured by the British Royal Navy. 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

2576-497: A trade treaty and trading post at Cananore , and clashed with a fleet belonging to the Zamorin at the Battle of Calicut of 1503 . He returned to Portugal in September 1503. The expedition of 1503 was the first time Afonso de Albuquerque sailed to India, as its commander. Its activities were limited to erecting a fort on the territory of the allied kingdom of Cochin, signing a peace with Zamorin that would prove brief, and opening

2737-598: A watershed in the imperial relationship between Britain and India. Shortly before the outbreak of war, the Government of India had indicated that they could furnish two divisions plus a cavalry brigade, with a further division in case of emergency. Some 1.4   million Indian and British soldiers of the British Indian Army took part in the war, primarily in Iraq and the Middle East . Their participation had

2898-545: A wider cultural fallout as news spread of how bravely soldiers fought and died alongside British soldiers, as well as soldiers from dominions like Canada and Australia. India's international profile rose during the 1920s, as it became a founding member of the League of Nations in 1920 and participated, under the name "Les Indes Anglaises" (British India), in the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp. Back in India, especially among

3059-691: Is very diverse, containing the Himalayan mountains, fertile floodplains, the Indo-Gangetic Plain , a long coastline, tropical dry forests, arid uplands, and the Thar Desert . In addition, at various times, it included Aden (from 1858 to 1937), Lower Burma (from 1858 to 1937), Upper Burma (from 1886 to 1937), British Somaliland (briefly from 1884 to 1898), and the Straits Settlements (briefly from 1858 to 1867). Burma

3220-545: 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

3381-654: The Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 added to the general jitters; the former among the population already experiencing economic woes, and the latter among government officials, fearing a similar revolution in India. To combat what it saw as a coming crisis, the government now drafted the Rowlatt committee's recommendations into two Rowlatt Bills . Although the bills were authorised for legislative consideration by Edwin Montagu, they were done so unwillingly, with

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3542-580: The Canara , Cambay and Konkan regions along the west coast of India . At the time of the dissolution of the British Raj in 1947, Portuguese India comprised three administrative divisions , sometimes referred to collectively as Goa : Goa which included Anjediva and Damaon , which included the exclaves of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Dio districts . The Salazar regime of Portugal lost de facto control of Dadra and Nagar Haveli in 1954. Finally,

3703-584: The Census of British India in 1871, which had for the first time estimated the populations in regions of the Muslim majority (for his part, Curzon's desire to court the Muslims of East Bengal had arisen from British anxieties ever since the 1871 census—and in light of the history of Muslims fighting them in the 1857 Mutiny and the Second Anglo-Afghan War —about Indian Muslims rebelling against

3864-725: 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 . Most of the Northern Province, composed of Taana , Bassein (Vasai) and Chaul near British Bombay

4025-734: 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 Marathas attempted a siege against Portuguese settlements in the Konkan region, but with no success. Kollam ( Quilon ) was a prominent seaport and became a Portuguese settlement in 1519. They built a cemetery at Tangasseri in Quilon city. After

4186-634: The Government of India Act 1935 , which authorised the establishment of independent legislative assemblies in all provinces of British India, the creation of a central government incorporating both the British provinces and the princely states, and the protection of Muslim minorities. The future Constitution of independent India was based on this act. However, it divided the electorate into 19 religious and social categories, e.g., Muslims, Sikhs, Indian Christians, Depressed Classes, Landholders, Commerce and Industry, Europeans, Anglo-Indians, etc., each of which

4347-679: The High Court of Madras . It presented its report in July 1918 and identified three regions of conspiratorial insurgency: Bengal , the Bombay presidency , and the Punjab . To combat subversive acts in these regions, the committee unanimously recommended that the government use emergency powers akin to its wartime authority, which included the ability to try cases of sedition by a panel of three judges and without juries, exaction of securities from suspects, governmental overseeing of residences of suspects, and

4508-576: The Indian peninsula , the most important of which were the eastern metropole of Goa and the largest province in Bombay-Bassein. Órfãs do Rei (literally "Orphans of the King") were orphaned Portuguese girls patronised by the King, and sent to overseas colonies to form marital alliances with either Portuguese settlers or natives of high status. In 1520, the Portuguese extended their dominion over

4669-688: The Indian subcontinent , such as Portuguese Ceylon and Portuguese Chittagong . The Ottoman Empire carried out the Siege of Diu in 1538, with a strong fleet under the command of the Ottoman governor of Egypt Sulaiman Pasha for four months, with the aid of a large army provided by the Sultan of Guzerat; however they were ultimately forced to retreat with considerable losses. The successful defence of Dio by captain António da Silveira against overwhelming odds

4830-721: The Malabar region , after the Kingdom of Cochin negotiated to become a protectorate of Portugal in 1505. With the Portuguese conquest of Goa from the Bijapur Sultanate in 1510, Goa became the major anchorage for the Armadas arriving in India. The capital of the viceroyalty was transferred from Cochin to Goa in 1530. From 1535, Mumbai (Bombay) was a harbour of Portuguese India, known as Bom Bahia , until it

4991-514: 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

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5152-557: The Minto–Morley Reforms , and more recently of the Congress-Muslim League Lucknow Pact, was reaffirmed, with seats being reserved for Muslims, Sikhs , Indian Christians , Anglo-Indians , and domiciled Europeans, in both provincial and Imperial legislative councils. The Montagu–Chelmsford reforms offered Indians the most significant opportunity yet for exercising legislative power, especially at

5313-575: The Partition of Bengal , which was a strategy set out by Lord Curzon to weaken the nationalist movement, Tilak encouraged the Swadeshi movement and the Boycott movement. The movement consisted of the boycott of foreign goods and also the social boycott of any Indian who used foreign goods. The Swadeshi movement consisted of the usage of natively produced goods. Once foreign goods were boycotted, there

5474-456: 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

5635-688: The Second Anglo-Afghan War ) and the attempts to control the vernacular press (e.g. in the Vernacular Press Act of 1878 ). It was, however, Viceroy Lord Ripon 's partial reversal of the Ilbert Bill (1883), a legislative measure that had proposed putting Indian judges in the Bengal Presidency on equal footing with British ones, that transformed the discontent into political action. On 28 December 1885, professionals and intellectuals from this middle-class — many educated at

5796-547: The Viceroy and the central government in New Delhi, other departments like public health, education, land-revenue, local self-government were transferred to the provinces. The provinces themselves were now to be administered under a new diarchical system, whereby some areas like education, agriculture, infrastructure development, and local self-government became the preserve of Indian ministers and legislatures, and ultimately

5957-650: The princely states . The region was sometimes called the Indian Empire , though not officially. The area of British India contained much of the present-day states of Pakistan , India , Bangladesh , and Myanmar (Burma) . This system of governance was instituted on 28 June 1858, when, after the Indian Rebellion of 1857 , the rule of the East India Company was transferred to the Crown in

6118-503: The second time with 15 ships and 800 men, arriving at Calicut on 30 October 1502. Gama this time made a call to expel all Muslims from Calicut which was turned down. The ruler showed willingness to sign a treaty, but Gama bombarded the city and captured several rice vessels after he was informed that the Zamorin was messaging neighbouring rulers to join him in resisting the Portuguese at the same time. While in India, Gama also attacked Onor, reduced Baticala to tributary status, established

6279-568: The secular education of the native elites was opened; and the Goan Inquisition was abolished. Under the influence of Pombal, King José declared that native Christians were equal in standing with Europeans, while the Viceroy Count of Ega declared religious freedom and prohibited racial slander. For these reasons, "Pombal and his collaborators remain, to this day, much respected figures in Goa" In 1783, following an attack on

6440-447: The untouchable community . By 1905, a deep gulf opened between the moderates, led by Gokhale, who downplayed public agitation, and the new "extremists" who not only advocated agitation, but also regarded the pursuit of social reform as a distraction from nationalism. Prominent among the extremists was Bal Gangadhar Tilak , who attempted to mobilise Indians by appealing to an explicitly Hindu political identity, displayed, for example, in

6601-431: The British enterprise in India, it had not derailed it. Until 1857, the British, especially under Lord Dalhousie , had been hurriedly building an India which they envisaged to be on par with Britain itself in the quality and strength of its economic and social institutions. After the rebellion, they became more circumspect. Much thought was devoted to the causes of the rebellion and three main lessons were drawn. First, at

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6762-422: The British felt disenchanted with Indian reaction to social change. Until the rebellion, they had enthusiastically pushed through social reform, like the ban on sati by Lord William Bentinck . It was now felt that traditions and customs in India were too strong and too rigid to be changed easily; consequently, no more British social interventions were made, especially in matters dealing with religion, even when

6923-430: The British felt very strongly about the issue (as in the instance of the remarriage of Hindu child widows). This was exemplified further in Queen Victoria's Proclamation released immediately after the rebellion. The proclamation stated that 'We disclaim alike our Right and Desire to impose Our Convictions on any of Our Subjects'; demonstrating official British commitment to abstaining from social intervention in India. In

7084-408: The British subsequently widened participation in legislative councils with the Indian Councils Act of 1892 . Municipal Corporations and District Boards were created for local administration; they included elected Indian members. The Indian Councils Act 1909 , known as the Morley-Minto Reforms ( John Morley was the secretary of state for India, and Minto was viceroy)—gave Indians limited roles in

7245-424: The British, subsequently signed treaties with them and were recognised by the British as independent states. The Kingdom of Sikkim was established as a princely state after the Anglo-Sikkimese Treaty of 1861; however, the issue of sovereignty was left undefined. The Maldive Islands were a British protectorate from 1887 to 1965, but not part of British India. Although the Indian Rebellion of 1857 had shaken

7406-497: The Congress primarily debated British policy toward India. Its debates created a new Indian outlook that held Great Britain responsible for draining India of its wealth. Britain did this, the nationalists claimed, by unfair trade, by the restraint on indigenous Indian industry, and by the use of Indian taxes to pay the high salaries of the British civil servants in India. Thomas Baring served as Viceroy of India 1872–1876. Baring's major accomplishments came as an energetic reformer who

7567-415: The Crown). In the three decades since, Muslim leaders across northern India had intermittently experienced public animosity from some of the new Hindu political and social groups. The Arya Samaj , for example, had not only supported Cow Protection Societies in their agitation, but also—distraught at the 1871 Census's Muslim numbers—organized "reconversion" events for the purpose of welcoming Muslims back to

7728-466: The Goa Civil Code is different from other Indian laws include: The Goa Civil Code is not strictly a uniform civil code , as it has specific provisions for certain communities. For example: Portuguese India The State of India (Portuguese: Estado da Índia [ɨʃˈtaðu ðɐ ˈĩdiɐ] ), also known as the Portuguese State of India (Portuguese: Estado Português da Índia , EPI ) or Portuguese India (Portuguese: Índia Portuguesa ),

7889-545: The Government of India reporting 379   dead, with 1,100   wounded. The Indian National Congress estimated three times the number of dead. Dyer was removed from duty but he became a celebrated hero in Britain among people with connections to the Raj. Historians consider the episode was a decisive step towards the end of British rule in India. In 1920, after the British government refused to back down, Gandhi began his campaign of non-cooperation , prompting many Indians to return British awards and honours, to resign from

8050-470: The Hindu fold. In 1905, when Tilak and Lajpat Rai attempted to rise to leadership positions in the Congress, and the Congress itself rallied around the symbolism of Kali, Muslim fears increased. It was not lost on many Muslims, for example, that the rallying cry, "Bande Mataram", had first appeared in the novel Anand Math in which Hindus had battled their Muslim oppressors. Lastly, the Muslim elite, and among it Dacca Nawab , Khwaja Salimullah , who hosted

8211-408: The Indian National Congress surprised Raj officials, who previously had seen the Congress as a small elitist body. The British separated Burma Province from British India in 1937 and granted the colony a new constitution calling for a fully elected assembly, with many powers given to the Burmese, but this proved to be a divisive issue as a ploy to exclude Burmese from any further Indian reforms. With

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8372-422: The Indian electorates, while others like irrigation, land-revenue, police, prisons, and control of media remained within the purview of the British governor and his executive council. The new Act also made it easier for Indians to be admitted into the civil services and the army officer corps. A greater number of Indians were now enfranchised, although, for voting at the national level, they constituted only 10% of

8533-402: The League's first meeting in his mansion in Shahbag , was aware that a new province with a Muslim majority would directly benefit Muslims aspiring to political power. The first steps were taken toward self-government in British India in the late 19th century with the appointment of Indian counsellors to advise the British viceroy and the establishment of provincial councils with Indian members;

8694-401: The Muslim League had anywhere between 500 and 800   members and did not yet have the wider following among Indian Muslims that it enjoyed in later years; in the League itself, the pact did not have unanimous backing, having largely been negotiated by a group of "Young Party" Muslims from the United Provinces (UP), most prominently, two brothers Mohammad and Shaukat Ali , who had embraced

8855-516: The Mutiny. Since Dalhousie had embraced the technological change then rampant in Great Britain, India too saw the rapid development of all those technologies. Railways, roads, canals, and bridges were rapidly built in India, and telegraph links were equally rapidly established so that raw materials, such as cotton, from India's hinterland, could be transported more efficiently to ports, such as Bombay , for subsequent export to England. Likewise, finished goods from England, were transported back for sale in

9016-413: The Northern Province of Portuguese India. It extended almost 100 km (62 mi) along the west coast from Daman to Chaul and in some places30–50 km (19–31 mi) inland. The territory ( province ) of Portuguese Bombay had its city centre in and around the Bassein Fort ; subject to the viceroy in the capital ( metropole ) of Velha Goa in south Konkan country, along with other colonies in

9177-429: The Pan-Islamic cause; however, it did have the support of a young lawyer from Bombay, Muhammad Ali Jinnah , who was later to rise to leadership roles in both the League and the Indian independence movement. In later years, as the full ramifications of the pact unfolded, it was seen as benefiting the Muslim minority élites of provinces like UP and Bihar more than the Muslim majorities of Punjab and Bengal; nonetheless, at

9338-529: The Portuguese could field perhaps 2,000 to 3,000 European and mestiço troops supported by a similar amount of local auxiliaries, while the larger Indian states could field tens of thousands each. Portuguese superiority in military technology (especially in ships and artillery), training (especially in the skill of their gunners), and tactics, combined with the disunity of the Indian states opposing them, allowed them to keep their position and consistently win their wars. The seven islands of Bombay were presented to

9499-452: The Portuguese fortress of Diu was sieged a second time by a Gujarati army led by the lord of Surat Khoja Zufar . In 1556, the printing press in Goa was the first installed in India at Saint Paul's College, Goa . Through publications made on the press, he opened a window on the knowledge and customs of Europe. The Jesuits brought this European-style, metal movable type technology to Macao in China in 1588 and to Japan in 1590. By

9660-411: 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

9821-403: The Sikhs and Baluchis, composed of Indians who, in British estimation, had demonstrated steadfastness, were formed. From then on, the Indian army was to remain unchanged in its organisation until 1947. The 1861 Census had revealed that the English population in India was 125,945. Of these only about 41,862 were civilians as compared with about 84,083 European officers and men of the Army. In 1880,

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9982-403: The United Nations and the Food and Agricultural Organisation well into the 1970s. By 1880, a new middle class had arisen in India and spread thinly across the country. Moreover, there was a growing solidarity among its members, created by the "joint stimuli of encouragement and irritation". The encouragement felt by this class came from its success in education and its ability to avail itself of

10143-461: The Zamorin, and finally captured a large Egyptian trade fleet at the Battle of Pandarane . On 25 March 1505, Francisco de Almeida was appointed Viceroy of India , on the condition that he would set up four forts on the southwestern Indian coast: Anjediva , Cannanore , Cochin and Quilon . Francisco de Almeida left Portugal with a fleet of 22 vessels with 1,500 men. On 13 September, Francisco de Almeida reached Anjadip Island, where he started

10304-422: The Zamorin, but the Portuguese were unable to pay the prescribed customs duties and price of his goods in gold. Later Calicut officials temporarily detained Gama's Portuguese agents as security for payment. This annoyed Gama, who carried off a few natives and sixteen fishermen with him by force. Nevertheless, Gama's expedition was successful beyond all reasonable expectations, bringing in cargo worth sixty times

10465-411: The accompanying declaration, "I loathe the suggestion at first sight of preserving the Defence of India Act in peacetime to such an extent as Rowlatt and his friends think necessary." In the ensuing discussion and vote in the Imperial Legislative Council, all Indian members voiced opposition to the bills. The Government of India was, nevertheless, able to use of its "official majority" to ensure passage of

10626-420: 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. Portugal was neutral during the Second World War. As

10787-405: The annual public Ganapati festivals that he inaugurated in western India. The viceroy, Lord Curzon (1899–1905), was unusually energetic in pursuit of efficiency and reform. His agenda included the creation of the North-West Frontier Province ; small changes in the civil services; speeding up the operations of the secretariat; setting up a gold standard to ensure a stable currency; creation of

10948-451: The benefits of that education such as employment in the Indian Civil Service . It came too from Queen Victoria's proclamation of 1858 in which she had declared, "We hold ourselves bound to the natives of our Indian territories by the same obligation of duty which bind us to all our other subjects." Indians were especially encouraged when Canada was granted dominion status in 1867 and established an autonomous democratic constitution. Lastly,

11109-490: The bills early in 1919. However, what it passed, in deference to the Indian opposition, was a lesser version of the first bill, which now allowed extrajudicial powers, but for a period of exactly three years and for the prosecution solely of "anarchical and revolutionary movements", dropping entirely the second bill involving modification the Indian Penal Code . Even so, when it was passed, the new Rowlatt Act aroused widespread indignation throughout India, and brought Gandhi to

11270-410: The burgeoning Indian markets. Unlike Britain, where the market risks for the infrastructure development were borne by private investors, in India, it was the taxpayers—primarily farmers and farm-labourers—who endured the risks, which, in the end, amounted to £50 million. Despite these costs, very little skilled employment was created for Indians. By 1920, with the fourth largest railway network in

11431-525: The case. Although the British planters eventually gave in, they were not won over to the farmers' cause, and thereby did not produce the optimal outcome of a Satyagraha that Gandhi had hoped for; similarly, the farmers themselves, although pleased at the resolution, responded less than enthusiastically to the concurrent projects of rural empowerment and education that Gandhi had inaugurated in keeping with his ideal of swaraj . The following year Gandhi launched two more Satyagrahas—both in his native Gujarat —one in

11592-462: The central and provincial legislatures. Upper-class Indians, rich landowners and businessmen were favoured. The Muslim community was made a separate electorate and granted double representation. The goals were quite conservative but they did advance the elective principle. The partition of Bengal was rescinded in 1911 and announced at the Delhi Durbar at which King George V came in person and

11753-546: The city was set on fire. Zamorin's forces rallied, killing Coutinho and wounding Albuquerque. Albuquerque withdrew with his forces, and after Zamorin was assassinated in 1513, he entered into agreement with his successor to protect Portuguese interests in Malabar, and a fort was built on Calicut. In 1510, Afonso de Albuquerque captured Goa from the Bijapur Sultanate sultan with the aid of the Hindu privateer Timoja , leading to

11914-581: The civil services, and to again boycott British goods. In addition, Gandhi reorganised the Congress, transforming it into a mass movement and opening its membership to even the poorest Indians. Although Gandhi halted the non-cooperation movement in 1922 after the violent incident at Chauri Chaura , the movement revived again, in the mid-1920s. The visit, in 1928, of the British Simon Commission , charged with instituting constitutional reform in India, resulted in widespread protests throughout

12075-475: The clock ... fifty years forward ... (The) reforms after the war will have to be such, ... as will satisfy the aspirations of her (India's) people to take their legitimate part in the administration of their own country." The 1916 Lucknow Session of the Congress was also the venue of an unanticipated mutual effort by the Congress and the Muslim League, the occasion for which was provided by

12236-470: The coast of Calicut, the Portuguese invited native fishermen on board and bought some Indian items. One Portuguese accompanied the fishermen to the port and met with a Tunisian Muslim. On the advice of this man, Gama sent a couple of his men to Ponnani to meet with the ruler of Calicut, the Zamorin . Over the objections of Arab merchants, Gama managed to secure a letter of concession for trading rights from

12397-402: The coastal waters southwards to Colombo , in what is now Sri Lanka . In Cannanore, a new ruler, hostile to the Portuguese and friendly with the Zamorin, attacked the Portuguese garrison, leading to the Siege of Cannanore . In 1507 Almeida's mission was strengthened by the arrival of Tristão da Cunha 's squadron. Afonso de Albuquerque's squadron had split from that of Cunha off East Africa and

12558-484: The construction of Fort Anjediva . On 23 October, with the permission of the friendly ruler of Kōlattir, he started building Fort St Angelo of Cannanore , leaving Lourenço de Brito in charge with 150 men and two ships. On 31 October 1505, Francisco de Almeida reached Cochin with only 8 vessels left. There, he learned that the Portuguese traders at Quilon had been killed. He decided to send his son Lourenço de Almeida with 6 ships, who destroyed 27 Calicut vessels in

12719-628: The continuing distrust of Indians resulted in a declining base in terms of quality and quantity. By 1945 Indians were numerically dominant in the ICS and at issue was divided loyalty between the Empire and independence. The finances of the Raj depended on land taxes, and these became problematic in the 1930s. Epstein argues that after 1919 it became harder and harder to collect the land revenue. The Raj's suppression of civil disobedience after 1934 temporarily increased

12880-415: The cost of the expedition. Pedro Álvares Cabral sailed to India, marking the arrival of Europeans to Brazil on the way, to trade for black pepper and other spices, negotiating and establishing a factory at Kozhikode , where he arrived on 13 September 1500. Matters worsened when the Portuguese factory at Kozhikode was ambushed by the locals, resulting in the deaths of more than fifty Portuguese. Cabral

13041-729: The country, but especially in the Madras Presidency and in regions like Sind and Gujarat that had hitherto been considered politically dormant by the Congress. Both leagues rapidly acquired new members—approximately thirty   thousand each in a little over a year—and began to publish inexpensive newspapers. Their propaganda also turned to posters, pamphlets, and political-religious songs, and later to mass meetings, which not only attracted greater numbers than in earlier Congress sessions, but also entirely new social groups such as non- Brahmins , traders, farmers, students, and lower-level government workers. Although they did not achieve

13202-593: The country. Earlier, in 1925, non-violent protests of the Congress had resumed too, this time in Gujarat, and led by Patel, who organised farmers to refuse payment of increased land taxes; the success of this protest, the Bardoli Satyagraha , brought Gandhi back into the fold of active politics. At its annual session in Lahore , the Indian National Congress, under the presidency of Jawaharlal Nehru , issued

13363-523: The effect of approximately doubling the index of overall prices in India between 1914 and 1920. Returning war veterans, especially in the Punjab, created a growing unemployment crisis, and post-war inflation led to food riots in Bombay, Madras, and Bengal provinces, a situation that was made only worse by the failure of the 1918–19 monsoon and by profiteering and speculation. The global influenza epidemic and

13524-418: The encouragement came from the work of contemporaneous Oriental scholars like Monier Monier-Williams and Max Müller , who in their works had been presenting ancient India as a great civilisation. Irritation, on the other hand, came not just from incidents of racial discrimination at the hands of the British in India, but also from governmental actions like the use of Indian troops in imperial campaigns (e.g. in

13685-610: The establishment of a permanent settlement in the city of Velha Goa (Old Goa in English). Goa (island) bore the seat of the viceroy , who governed all the possessions in Asia. Albuquerque added to the State of India the cities of Malacca in 1511 and Ormus in 1515. He encouraged the settlement of his soldiers and their marriage to native women. In the mid-16th century, there were about 2000 casados ("married men") in Goa. Goa included

13846-758: 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 Cxatria converts; a college dedicated to

14007-544: The face of new strength demonstrated by the nationalists with the signing of the Lucknow Pact and the founding of the Home Rule leagues , and the realisation, after the disaster in the Mesopotamian campaign , that the war would likely last longer, the new viceroy, Lord Chelmsford , cautioned that the Government of India needed to be more responsive to Indian opinion. Towards the end of the year, after discussions with

14168-572: The fact that Britain 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 . 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,

14329-780: The first structures at the Basilica of Our Lady of the Mount, Bandra , the Our Lady of Velankanni shrine and the Cathedral of Our Lady of Miracles , which are among the important Christian pilgrimage sites of South Asia. Several colonies were also acquired from the Sultan of Guzerat in the north Konkan region : Daman was sacked in 1531 and ceded in 1539; Salsette , the seven islands of Bombay , Chaul and Bassein (Vasai) in 1534; and Diu , in 1535. These would jointly come to be known as

14490-580: The first time. At Goa, Albuquerque instituted an orphan's fund and opened a hospital, the Hospital Real de Goa , modelled after the grand Hospital Real de Todos os Santos in Lisbon. Also at Goa were built smaller hospitals run by the city's charity, the Misericórdia , dedicated to serving the poor and the natives. Albuquerque's policies proved immensely popular amongst his soldiers as well as

14651-597: The fleet discovered the islands of Ascension and Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, and despite it having been planned as a purely commercial expedition, the fleet clashed with vessels of the Zamorin of Calicut off the Malabar Coast at the First Battle of Cannanore , the first significant naval battle of Portuguese India. The fleet may also have called at Ceylon. Vasco da Gama sailed to India for

14812-572: The forefront of the nationalist movement. The Jallianwala Bagh massacre or "Amritsar massacre", took place in the Jallianwala Bagh public garden in the predominantly Sikh northern city of Amritsar . After days of unrest Brigadier-General Reginald E.H. Dyer forbade public meetings and on Sunday 13 April 1919 fifty British Indian Army soldiers commanded by Dyer began shooting at an unarmed gathering of thousands of men, women, and children without warning. Casualty estimates vary widely, with

14973-511: The form predominantly of the Swadeshi ("buy Indian") campaign led by two-time Congress president, Surendranath Banerjee , and involved boycott of British goods. The rallying cry for both types of protest was the slogan Bande Mataram ("Hail to the Mother"), which invoked a mother goddess, who stood variously for Bengal, India, and the Hindu goddess Kali . Sri Aurobindo never went beyond

15134-533: The founding of the All-India Muslim League in Dacca . Although Curzon, by now, had resigned his position over a dispute with his military chief Lord Kitchener and returned to England, the League was in favour of his partition plan. The Muslim elite's position, which was reflected in the League's position, had crystallized gradually over the previous three decades, beginning with the revelations of

15295-401: The full control of their hereditary rulers, with no popular government. To prepare for elections Congress built up its grass roots membership from 473,000 in 1935 to 4.5   million in 1939. In the 1937 elections Congress won victories in seven of the eleven provinces of British India. Congress governments, with wide powers, were formed in these provinces. The widespread voter support for

15456-565: The government in London, he suggested that the British demonstrate their good faith—in light of the Indian war role—through a number of public actions, including awards of titles and honours to princes, granting of commissions in the army to Indians, and removal of the much-reviled cotton excise duty, but, most importantly, an announcement of Britain's future plans for India and an indication of some concrete steps. After more discussion, in August 1917,

15617-506: The harbour of Quilon. Almeida took up residence in Cochin and strengthened Fort Manuel . The Zamorin prepared a fleet of 200 ships to oppose the Portuguese, but in March 1506, Lourenço de Almeida (son of Francisco) was victorious in a sea battle at the entrance to the harbour, in the Battle of Cannanore (1506) , an important setback for the fleet of the Zamorin. Lourenço de Almeida explored

15778-545: The law when he edited the Bande Mataram magazine; it preached independence but within the bounds of peace as far as possible. Its goal was Passive Resistance. The unrest spread from Calcutta to the surrounding regions of Bengal when students returned home to their villages and towns. Some joined local political youth clubs emerging in Bengal at the time, some engaged in robberies to fund arms, and even attempted to take

15939-611: The leaders of the Indian National Congress , the war led to calls for greater self-government for Indians. At the onset of World War I, the reassignment of most of the British army in India to Europe and Mesopotamia , had led the previous viceroy, Lord Harding , to worry about the "risks involved in denuding India of troops". Revolutionary violence had already been a concern in British India; consequently, in 1915, to strengthen its powers during what it saw

16100-412: The lives of Raj officials. However, the conspiracies generally failed in the face of intense police work. The Swadeshi boycott movement cut imports of British textiles by 25%. The swadeshi cloth, although more expensive and somewhat less comfortable than its Lancashire competitor, was worn as a mark of national pride by people all over India. The overwhelming, but predominantly Hindu, protest against

16261-607: The local population, especially his characteristically strict observance of justice. When Albuquerque died in sight of Goa in 1515, even the Hindu natives of Goa mourned his passing alongside the Portuguese. His tomb at the Nossa Senhora da Serra hermitage was converted to a shrine by the local Hindus, who would leave flowers there in his dedication and direct prayers to him, seeking aid in matters of justice, until his remains were returned to Portugal in 1566. The Portuguese had also shipped Órfãs do Rei to their colonies in

16422-561: The magnitude or character of a nationwide mass movement, the Home Rule leagues both deepened and widened organised political agitation for self-rule in India. The British authorities reacted by imposing restrictions on the Leagues, including shutting out students from meetings and banning the two leaders from travelling to certain provinces. The year 1915 also saw the return of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi to India. Already known in India as

16583-429: The new British-founded universities in Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras, and familiar with the ideas of British political philosophers, especially the utilitarians assembled in Bombay — founded the Indian National Congress . The 70 men elected Womesh Chunder Bonerjee as the first president. The membership consisted of a westernised elite, and no effort was made at this time to broaden the base. During its first 20 years,

16744-482: The new Liberal secretary of state for India, Edwin Montagu , announced the British aim of "increasing association of Indians in every branch of the administration, and the gradual development of self-governing institutions, with a view to the progressive realisation of responsible government in India as an integral part of the British Empire". Although the plan envisioned limited self-government at first only in

16905-629: The newly canalled Punjab, led to increased food production for internal consumption. The railway network provided critical famine relief, notably reduced the cost of moving goods, and helped nascent Indian-owned industry. After, the Great Famine of 1876–1878 , The Indian Famine Commission report was issued in 1880, and the Indian Famine Codes , the earliest famine scales and programmes for famine prevention, were instituted. In one form or other, they would be implemented worldwide by

17066-624: The original Code was replaced by the new Portuguese Civil Code of 1966. In 1981, the Government of India appointed a Personal Law Committee to determine if the non-uniform laws of the Union could be extended to Goa. The Goa Muslim Shariah Organization supported the move, but it was met with stiff resistance from the Muslim Youth Welfare Association and the Goa Muslim Women's Associations. Some ways in which

17227-474: The partition of Bengal and the fear in its wake of reforms favouring the Hindu majority, led the Muslim elite in India to meet with the new viceroy, Lord Minto in 1906 and to ask for separate electorates for Muslims. In conjunction, they demanded proportional legislative representation reflecting both their status as former rulers and their record of cooperating with the British. This led, in December 1906, to

17388-707: The person of Queen Victoria (who, in 1876, was proclaimed Empress of India ). It lasted until 1947, when the British Raj was partitioned into two sovereign dominion states: the Union of India (later the Republic of India ) and Pakistan (later the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ). Later, the People's Republic of Bangladesh gained independence from Pakistan. At the inception of the Raj in 1858, Lower Burma

17549-553: 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. Military intelligence about France's plan to occupy Goa caused the British Governor-general at Calcutta,

17710-483: The power for provincial governments to arrest and detain suspects in short-term detention facilities and without trial. With the end of World War I, there was also a change in the economic climate. By the end of 1919, 1.5   million Indians had served in the armed services in either combatant or non-combatant roles, and India had provided £146   million in revenue for the war. The increased taxes coupled with disruptions in both domestic and international trade had

17871-577: The power of the revenue agents but after 1937 they were forced by the new Congress-controlled provincial governments to hand back confiscated land. Again the outbreak of war strengthened them, in the face of the Quit India movement the revenue collectors had to rely on military force and by 1946–47 direct British control was rapidly disappearing in much of the countryside. In 1935, after the Round Table Conferences, Parliament passed

18032-599: The provinces—with India emphatically within the British Empire—it represented the first British proposal for any form of representative government in a non-white colony. Montagu and Chelmsford presented their report in July 1918 after a long fact-finding trip through India the previous winter. After more discussion by the government and parliament in Britain, and another tour by the Franchise and Functions Committee for

18193-515: The provincial level; however, that opportunity was also restricted by the still limited number of eligible voters, by the small budgets available to provincial legislatures, and by the presence of rural and special interest seats that were seen as instruments of British control. Its scope was unsatisfactory to the Indian political leadership, famously expressed by Annie Besant as something "unworthy of England to offer and India to accept". In 1917, as Montagu and Chelmsford were compiling their report,

18354-562: The purpose of identifying who among the Indian population could vote in future elections, the Government of India Act 1919 (also known as the Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms ) was passed in December 1919. The new Act enlarged both the provincial and Imperial legislative councils and repealed the Government of India's recourse to the "official majority" in unfavourable votes. Although departments like defence, foreign affairs, criminal law, communications, and income-tax were retained by

18515-464: The reform process by extremists, and since its reform plan was devised during a time when extremist violence had ebbed as a result of increased governmental control, it also began to consider how some of its wartime powers could be extended into peacetime. After the 1906 split between the moderates and the extremists in the Indian National Congress , organised political activity by the Congress had remained fragmented until 1914, when Bal Gangadhar Tilak

18676-414: The removal of untouchability from Indian society; and the exercise of swadeshi —the boycott of manufactured foreign goods and the revival of Indian cottage industry . The first two, he felt, were essential for India to be an egalitarian and tolerant society, one befitting the principles of Truth and Ahimsa , while the last, by making Indians more self-reliant, would break the cycle of dependence that

18837-680: The rest of the overseas territory was lost in December 1961 with the Indian Annexation of Goa under PM Nehru . Portugal only recognised Indian control after the Carnation Revolution and the fall of the Estado Novo regime in a treaty signed on 31 December 1974. The first Portuguese encounter with the subcontinent was on 20 May 1498, when Vasco da Gama reached Calicut on the Malabar Coast . Anchored off

18998-499: The return voyage on 16 January 1501 and arrived in Portugal with only 4 of the 13 ships on 23 June 1501. In 1502, the Portuguese built a trading post in Pulicat because its location at the mouth of a lagoon made it a great natural harbor. The third Portuguese expedition to reach India sailed under the command of João da Nova and was composed of four ships, tasked mainly with acquiring spices and returning to Europe. While en route,

19159-507: The rural Kaira district where land-owning farmers were protesting increased land-revenue and the other in the city of Ahmedabad , where workers in an Indian-owned textile mill were distressed about their low wages. The satyagraha in Ahmedabad took the form of Gandhi fasting and supporting the workers in a strike, which eventually led to a settlement. In Kaira, in contrast, although the farmers' cause received publicity from Gandhi's presence,

19320-488: The same time, it was felt that the peasants, for whose benefit the large land reforms of the United Provinces had been undertaken, had shown disloyalty, by, in many cases, fighting for their former landlords against the British. Consequently, no more land reforms were implemented for the next 90 years: Bengal and Bihar were to remain the realms of large land holdings (unlike the Punjab and Uttar Pradesh ). Third,

19481-537: The satyagraha itself, which consisted of the farmers' collective decision to withhold payment, was not immediately successful, as the British authorities refused to back down. The agitation in Kaira gained for Gandhi another lifelong lieutenant in Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel , who had organised the farmers, and who too would go on to play a leadership role in the Indian independence movement. In 1916, in

19642-576: The sea and making their own salt by evaporating seawater. Although, many, including Gandhi, were arrested, the British government eventually gave in, and in 1931 Gandhi travelled to London to negotiate new reform at the Round Table Conferences . In local terms, British control rested on the Indian Civil Service (ICS), but it faced growing difficulties. Fewer and fewer young men in Britain were interested in joining, and

19803-455: The second half of the 19th century, both the direct administration of India by the British crown and the technological change ushered in by the industrial revolution, had the effect of closely intertwining the economies of India and Great Britain. In fact many of the major changes in transport and communications (that are typically associated with Crown Rule of India) had already begun before

19964-691: The smoke nuisance in Calcutta. Trouble emerged for Curzon when he divided the largest administrative subdivision in British India, the Bengal Province , into the Muslim-majority province of Eastern Bengal and Assam and the Hindu-majority province of West Bengal (present-day Indian states of West Bengal , Bihar , and Odisha ). Curzon's act, the Partition of Bengal , had been contemplated by various colonial administrations since

20125-579: The standing Indian Army consisted of 66,000 British soldiers, 130,000 Natives, and 350,000 soldiers in the princely armies. Second, it was also felt that both the princes and the large land-holders, by not joining the rebellion, had proved to be, in Lord Canning's words, "breakwaters in a storm". They too were rewarded in the new British Raj by being integrated into the British-Indian political system and having their territories guaranteed. At

20286-496: The start of the 17th century, the population of Goa and the surrounding areas was about 250,000. Holding this strategic land against repeated attacks by the Indian states required constant infusions of men and material. Portugal's important victories, such as the battle of Cochin in 1504, the defence of Diu in 1509 , the conquest of Goa in 1510, the defences of Diu in 1538 and 1546, and the defence of Goa in 1571 were accomplished with limited manpower . In their largest deployments,

20447-450: The superiority of this new form of organised agitation, which had achieved some success in the Irish home rule movement , over the political violence that had intermittently plagued the subcontinent during the years 1907–1914. The two Leagues focused their attention on complementary geographical regions: Tilak's in western India, in the southern Bombay presidency , and Besant's in the rest of

20608-504: 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. British Raj The British Raj ( / r ɑː dʒ / RAHJ ; from Hindustani rāj , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government')

20769-465: The time of Lord William Bentinck, but was never acted upon. Though some considered it administratively felicitous, it was communally charged. It sowed the seeds of division among Indians in Bengal, transforming nationalist politics as nothing else before it. The Hindu elite of Bengal, among them many who owned land in East Bengal that was leased out to Muslim peasants, protested fervidly. Following

20930-609: The time the native laws of Goa were still not written, instead being handled by councils of elders or religious judges and passed down orally. There were Portuguese settlements in and around the Coromandel region . The Luz Church in the Mylapore neighbourhood of Madras (Chennai) was the first church that the Portuguese built in the area in 1516; the São Tomé or San Thome shrine was rebuilt by them in 1522. They also built

21091-417: The time, the "Lucknow Pact" was an important milestone in nationalistic agitation and was seen as such by the British. During 1916, two Home Rule Leagues were founded within the Indian National Congress by Tilak and Annie Besant , respectively, to promote Home Rule among Indians, and also to elevate the stature of the founders within the Congress itself. Besant, for her part, was also keen to demonstrate

21252-541: The total adult male population, many of whom were still illiterate. In the provincial legislatures, the British continued to exercise some control by setting aside seats for special interests they considered cooperative or useful. In particular, rural candidates, generally sympathetic to British rule and less confrontational, were assigned more seats than their urban counterparts. Seats were also reserved for non-Brahmins, landowners, businessmen, and college graduates. The principal of "communal representation", an integral part of

21413-575: The town of Rachol , when Krishnadevaraya captured the Rachol Fort and delivered it to the Portuguese, in exchange for a mutual defence pact against the Deccan Sultanates . In 1526, John III of Portugal granted the city of Goa and its town hall the same legal status as Lisbon , in a foral in which the general laws and privileges of the city, its town hall, and the local Hindu community were detailed – especially important since at

21574-419: The viceroy at Goa only controlled limited portions of the Portuguese settlements in the east ; some settlements remained informal private affairs, without a captain or câmara (municipal council). By the end of the 18th century, most of these unofficial colonies were abandoned by Portugal, due to heavy competition from European and Indian rivals. In later years, Portugal's authority was confined to holdings in

21735-529: The wartime partnership between Germany and Turkey. Since the Turkish Sultan , or Khalifah , had also sporadically claimed guardianship of the Islamic holy sites of Mecca , Medina , and Jerusalem , and since the British and their allies were now in conflict with Turkey, doubts began to increase among some Indian Muslims about the "religious neutrality" of the British, doubts that had already surfaced as

21896-494: The whims of those markets, lost land, animals, and equipment to money-lenders. The latter half of the 19th century also saw an increase in the number of large-scale famines in India . Although famines were not new to the subcontinent, these were particularly severe, with tens of millions dying, and with many critics, both British and Indian, laying the blame at the doorsteps of the lumbering colonial administrations. There were also salutary effects: commercial cropping, especially in

22057-418: The world and a history of 60 years of its construction, only ten per cent of the "superior posts" in the Indian Railways were held by Indians. The rush of technology was also changing the agricultural economy in India: by the last decade of the 19th century, a large fraction of some raw materials—not only cotton, but also some food-grains—were being exported to faraway markets. Many small farmers, dependent on

22218-444: The years 1907–1914, Gandhi tested the technique of Satyagraha in a number of protests on behalf of the Indian community in South Africa against the unjust racial laws. Also, during his time in South Africa, in his essay, Hind Swaraj , (1909), Gandhi formulated his vision of Swaraj , or "self-rule" for India based on three vital ingredients: solidarity between Indians of different faiths, but most of all between Hindus and Muslims;

22379-411: Was a battle of annihilation , is one of the most celebrated exploits in Portuguese history, and frequently compared to the Great Siege of Malta . On the occasion, the Portuguese captured the Tiro de Diu , a massive Guzerati bombard. According to Portuguese records, there was a cholera epidemic in 1543, "It is said that deaths from the disposal of the disease were so numerous that the disposal of bodies

22540-450: Was a state of the Portuguese Empire founded six years after the discovery of the 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 maritime ports scattered along the coasts of the Indian Ocean . The first viceroy Francisco de Almeida established his base of operations at Fort Manuel in

22701-422: Was a formidable task" On 16 May 1546, the Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier requested the institution of the Goa Inquisition for the " Old Christians " and " New Christians " in a letter to John III of Portugal . Non-Christians were officially oppressed, even before the Inquisition was set up. Francis Xavier was instrumental in a mass conversion of 30,000 Paravar fishermen at Cape Comorin . In this year,

22862-422: Was a founding member of the League of Nations , and a founding member of the United Nations in San Francisco in 1945 . India was a participating state in the Summer Olympics in 1900 , 1920 , 1928 , 1932 , and 1936 . The British Raj extended over almost all present-day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar, except for small holdings by other European nations such as Goa and Pondicherry . This area

23023-466: Was a gap which had to be filled by the production of those goods in India itself. Bal Gangadhar Tilak said that the Swadeshi and Boycott movements are two sides of the same coin. The large Bengali Hindu middle-class (the Bhadralok ), upset at the prospect of Bengalis being outnumbered in the new Bengal province by Biharis and Oriyas, felt that Curzon's act was punishment for their political assertiveness. The pervasive protests against Curzon's decision took

23184-427: Was a time of increased vulnerability, the Government of India passed the Defence of India Act 1915 , which allowed it to intern politically dangerous dissidents without due process, and added to the power it already had under the Indian Press Act of 1910 to imprison journalists without trial and to censor the press. It was under the Defence of India act that the Ali brothers were imprisoned in 1916, and Annie Besant ,

23345-472: Was already a part of British India; Upper Burma was added in 1886, and the resulting union, Burma , was administered as an autonomous province until 1937, when it became a separate British colony, gaining its own independence in 1948. It was renamed Myanmar in 1989. The Chief Commissioner's Province of Aden was also part of British India at the inception of the British Raj, and became a separate colony known as Aden Colony in 1937 as well. As India , it

23506-455: Was crowned Emperor of India . He announced the capital would be moved from Calcutta to Delhi. This period saw an increase in the activities of revolutionary groups , which included Bengal's Anushilan Samiti and the Punjab's Ghadar Party . However, the British authorities were able to crush violent rebels swiftly, partly because the mainstream of educated Indian politicians opposed violent revolution. The First World War would prove to be

23667-404: Was decisively defeated at the Battle of Diu in 1509. In 1509, Afonso de Albuquerque was appointed the second governor of Portuguese possessions in the East. After acquiring their first protectorate in Portuguese Cochin , a new fleet under Marshal Fernão Coutinho arrived with specific instructions to destroy the power of Zamorin of Calicut . Zamorin's palace was captured and destroyed, and

23828-461: Was dedicated to upgrading the quality of government in the British Raj. He began large scale famine relief, reduced taxes, and overcame bureaucratic obstacles in an effort to reduce both starvation and widespread social unrest. Although appointed by a Liberal government, his policies were much the same as viceroys appointed by Conservative governments. Social reform was in the air by the 1880s. For example, Pandita Ramabai , poet, Sanskrit scholar, and

23989-436: Was extremely damaging to Allied shipping. The British 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,

24150-474: Was given separate representation in the Provincial Legislative Assemblies. A voter could cast a vote only for candidates in his own category. The 1935 Act provided for more autonomy for Indian provinces, with the goal of cooling off nationalist sentiment. The act provided for a national parliament and an executive branch under the purview of the British government, but the rulers of the princely states managed to block its implementation. These states remained under

24311-516: Was handed over, through the dowry of Catherine de Braganza to Charles II of England in 1661. The expression "State of India" began regularly appearing in documents in the mid-16th century. Until the 18th century, the viceroy in Goa had authority over all Portuguese possessions in and around the Indian Ocean, from Southern Africa to Southeast Asia . In 1752, Mozambique got its own separate government; from 1844 on, Portuguese Goa stopped administering Macao , Solor and Timor . Despite this,

24472-421: Was independently conquering territories in the Persian Gulf to the west. In March 1508, a Portuguese squadron under the command of Lourenço de Almeida was attacked by a combined Mameluk Egyptian and Gujarat Sultanate fleet at Chaul and Dabul respectively, led by admirals Mirocem and Meliqueaz in the Battle of Chaul . Lourenço de Almeida died after a fierce fight in this battle. Mamluk-Indian resistance

24633-403: Was invited by a group of disgruntled tenant farmers who, for many years, had been forced into planting indigo (for dyes) on a portion of their land and then selling it at below-market prices to the British planters who had leased them the land. Upon his arrival in the district, Gandhi was joined by other agitators, including a young Congress leader, Rajendra Prasad , from Bihar, who would become

24794-444: 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

24955-441: Was outraged by the attack on the factory and seized ten Arab merchant ships anchored in the harbor, killing about six hundred of their crew, confiscating their cargo and promptly burning the ships. Cabral also ordered his ships to bombard Calicut for an entire day in retaliation for the violation of the agreement. Additionally, Cabral succeeded in making advantageous treaties with local rulers in Cochin and Cannanore . Cabral started

25116-420: Was perpetuating not only the direction and tenor of the British rule in India, but also the British commitment to it. At least until 1920, the British presence itself was not a stumbling block in Gandhi's conception of swaraj ; rather, it was the inability of Indians to create a modern society. Gandhi made his political debut in India in 1917 in Champaran district in Bihar , near the Nepal border, where he

25277-413: Was referred to coastal regions and northern part of the island at that time (now Sri Lanka ) was ceded to Britain in 1802 under the Treaty of Amiens . These coastal regions were temporarily administered under Madras Presidency between 1793 and 1798, but for later periods the British governors reported to London, and it was not part of the Raj. The kingdoms of Nepal and Bhutan , having fought wars with

25438-420: Was released from prison and began to sound out other Congress leaders about possible reunification. That, however, had to wait until the demise of Tilak's principal moderate opponents, Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Pherozeshah Mehta , in 1915, whereupon an agreement was reached for Tilak's ousted group to re-enter the Congress. In the 1916 Lucknow session of the Congress, Tilak's supporters were able to push through

25599-419: Was separated from India and directly administered by the British Crown from 1937 until its independence in 1948. The Trucial States of the Persian Gulf and the other states under the Persian Gulf Residency were theoretically princely states as well as presidencies and provinces of British India until 1947 and used the rupee as their unit of currency. Among other countries in the region, Ceylon , which

25760-425: Was sufficiently diverse to be a microcosm of India itself. In tackling the challenge of holding this community together and simultaneously confronting the colonial authority, he had created a technique of non-violent resistance, which he labelled Satyagraha (or Striving for Truth). For Gandhi, Satyagraha was different from " passive resistance ", by then a familiar technique of social protest, which he regarded as

25921-503: Was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent , lasting from 1858 to 1947. It is also called Crown rule in India or, in contexts referencing the British government’s authority, direct rule in India . The region under British control was commonly called India in contemporaneous usage and included areas directly administered by the United Kingdom , which were collectively called British India , and areas ruled by indigenous rulers, but under British paramountcy , called

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