The Portuguese conquest of Goa: Here are 3 key parts of that story

Portugal's first direct contact with India was when the explorer Vasco da Gama reached Calicut, today's Kozhikode in Kerala, in May 1498. da Gama had traversed a long and arduous way — setting sail from Portugal, he had circled Africa through the Cape of Good Hope to finally reach the Malabar coast. It was this journey, and the full discovery of the prosperous trade flourishing along the entire route, that fuelled the Portuguese determination to dot the Indian Ocean with military posts. The desire for riches, as well as rivalry with the Muslims, who were in power along this route, were the reasons for this.

A mere six years after da Gama, the Portuguese State of India had been established. The first viceroy, Francisco de Almeida, was based in Fort Manuel, in today's Kochi.

Among the Portuguese possessions in India was the island of Bom Bahia — later Bombay and today's Mumbai — until it was given as Catherine de Braganza's dowry to Charles II of England in 1661.

Albuquerque, who had come to succeed Almeida, had been asked to conquer the ports of Hormuz, Aden, and Malacca by his King. However, he realised that a permanent base in Goa, then under the Sultan of Bijapur, would be very helpful to the Portuguese ambition of controlling maritime trade routes of the East.

Albuquerque's decision of conquering Goa also came on the advice of one Timoji or Timmayya, on whose motivations as well as identity some debate exists. What is known, however, is that Timmayya and his men fought alongside Albuquerque.

Albuquerque's first conquest of Goa in February-March of 1510 was almost a walkover. The Sultan's rule was unpopular among the Hindus of Goa, who were happy to back the Portuguese against him. However, the Sultan's forces soon drove Albuquerque and his men out. After enduring a tough monsoon stranded in the river Mandovi, the Portuguese forces, replenished by more men and ships from the homeland, launched a fresh assault in November, and retook the city.

In many accounts, Timmayya is described as a Malabari pirate. However, others say he was of aristocratic descent.

According to an article by BS Shastri in Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, Vol. 39, Volume I (1978), “The Portuguese regarded him a corsair and man of low sort. In reality, however, he was a man of high status and birth. He was the admiral of the Vijayanagara fleet... a princess of Gersoppa [in today's Karnataka] was his wife. He appeared a pirate to the Portuguese because he used to attack and loot those merchantmen who insisted on sailing to Goa and other enemy ports. This he did on the orders of the emperor of Vijayanagara.”

While some historians say that Albuquerque attacked Goa mainly because Timmayya advised him to, others believe that the Portuguese commander may already have been planning the attack, and Timmayya's inputs just helped him decide the timing.

And why did Timmayya want Goa attacked? Shastri writies, “Emperors of Vijayanagara had an eye on the territory ever since they had lost it to the Bahmanis in 1472... As a matter of fact, Timmayya had imperial instructions to weaken Goa by depriving it of its commerce.”

It is also believed that Hindus from Goa had written to Timmayya to liberate Goa from the Muslims, and realising he would be unable to do so alone, he decided to take the help of the Portuguese. However, if Timmayya had hoped that the island would be handed over to him after conquest, he was wrong. Albuquerque appointed him to a relatively small position, and set about “settling” Goa, by asking Portuguese men to marry local women and start lives here.