Ancient Portuguese Map showing Portuguese settlements (1724-1726) of the southern
part of East Bengal (now known as Bangladesh).
Chittagong was Xetigram, Dhaka was Decca, Diang was Dianga etc.
Very few of
us can trace our ancestry back far enough to identify a forebear who crossed
the oceans from an ancient Portuguese province of Lusitania and settled in the
Indian Sub-Continent and so, I decided to record the history of the Gonsalves (my
grandfather) and the Rozario (my grandmother) family beginning with the history
of the early Portuguese settlers to illustrate to my siblings and all my
cousins and their children, their Portuguese roots.
I have to
make this very clear that I am not a historian but my burning desire to know my
maternal origin I had to take a deep dive into history which ultimately created
this unquenchable thirst toward history and historical facts.
Prior to
embarking on my genealogically journey to record the Gonsalves / Rozario
ancestry, I had to go back in time to
where they originated from and how my ancestors ended up in East Bengal and in
order to do that I went back in time to a province in Portugal that was known as
Lusitania. In this endeavour, I will
also attempt to briefly describe how the Portuguese colonized Goa and then moved further East and
landed in Chittagong moving north to
Dhaka and Noakhali.
Lusitania (Portuguese: Lusitânia,
Spanish: Lusitania) or Hispania Lusitana was an ancient Iberian Roman province
including approximately all of modern Portugal south of the Douro river and
part of modern Spain (the present autonomous community of Extremadura and a
small part of the province of Salamanca). It was named after the Lusitani or
Lusitanian people (an Indo-European people). Its capital was Emerita Augusta
(currently Mérida, Spain), and it was initially part of the Roman Republic
province of Hispania Ulterior, before becoming a province of its own in the
Roman Empire. Romans first came to the territory around the mid 2nd century BC.
A war with Lusitanian tribes followed, from 155 to 139 BC. In 27 BC, the
province was created.
As with the
Roman names of many European countries, Lusitania was and is often used as an
alternative name for Portugal, especially in formal and literary or poetic
contexts. The 16th century colony that would develop into Brazil was named Nova
Lusitânia ("New Lusitania") [after being named Vera Cruz] In common
use are such terms as Lusophone, meaning Portuguese-speaking, and Lusitanic,
referring to the Community of Portuguese Language Countries—once Portugal's
colonies and presently independent countries still sharing some common
heritage.
To get a somewhat clear understanding of my maternal genealogy, I had to look
even deeper into my maternal ancestry and my research took me on a journey to
the ancient Lusitanian World where I
found that the Lusitani, who were Indo-European and may have come from the
Alps, established themselves in the region in the 6th century BC, but
historians and archeologists are still undecided about their origins. Some
modern authors consider them to be an indigenous people who were initially
dominated by the Celts, before gaining full independence from them. This hypothesis
is also backed by Avienus, who wrote Ora Maritima, inspired by documents from
6th century BC, and describes the coastal Iberians. The investigator Lambrino
defended the position that the Lusitanians were a tribal group of Celtic origin
related to the Lusones (a tribe that inhabited the east of Iberia). Possibly,
both tribes came from the Swiss mountains. But some prefer to see the
Lusitanians as a native Iberian tribe, resulting from intermarriage between
different tribes. The first area colonized by the Lusitani was probably the
Douro valley and the region of Beira Alta; in Beira they stayed until they
defeated the Celts and other tribes, then they expanded to cover a territory
that reached Estremadura before the arrival of the Romans.
The
connection between Lusitania (or Portugal) and the India began with the first
Portuguese encounter with the subcontinent on 20 May 1498 when Vasco da Gama
reached Calicut on Malabar Coast. Anchored off the coast of Calicut, the
Portuguese invited native fishermen on board and immediately brought some
Indian items. Gama's expedition was successful beyond all reasonable
expectation, bringing in cargo that was worth sixty times the cost of the
expedition.
Another
Portuguese named Pedro Álvares Cabral sailed to India, marking the arrival of
Europeans to Brazil on the way, to trade for pepper and other spices,
negotiating and establishing a factory at Calicut, where he arrived on 13
September 1500. However, the locals and Arab merchants were not too happy with
the presence of foreigners and matters worsened when the Portuguese factory at
Calicut was attacked by surprise by the locals, resulting in the death of more
than fifty Portuguese. Cabral was outraged by the attack on the factory and
seized ten Arab merchant ships anchored in the harbour, killing about six
hundred of their crew and confiscating their cargo before burning the ships.
Cabral also ordered his ships to bombard Calicut for an entire day in
retaliation for the violation of the agreement. In Cochin and Cannanore Cabral
succeeded in making advantageous treaties with the local rulers. Cabral started
the return voyage on 16 January 1501 and arrived in Portugal with only 4 of 13
ships on 23 June 1501. In 1502, the
Portuguese built the Pulicat fort with the help of a local ruler.
Vasco da Gama
once again sailed to India for a second time with 15 ships and 800 men,
arriving at Calicut on 30 October 1502, where the local ruler was willing to
sign a treaty. Gama this time made a call to expel all Muslims (Arabs) from
Calicut which was vehemently turned down. He bombarded the city and captured
several rice vessels. He returned to Portugal in September 1503.
In 1509,
Alfonso de Albuquerque, who was serving the Portuguese government in India as a
naval commander, was appointed viceroy (governor) of the Portuguese possessions
in India. A year later in 1510, he defeated
the Sultan of Bijapur with the help of the Hindu Vijayanagara Empire, leading
to the establishment of a permanent settlement in Velha Goa (or Old Goa).
The Southern Province, also known simply as Goa, was the headquarters of Portuguese India, and seat of the
Portuguese viceroy who governed the Portuguese possessions in Asia. Alfonso de Albuquerque strengthened
Hindu-Portuguese relations by permitting the Portuguese to take Indian wives –
hence, the origin of today’s Goan
Christians. However, his attitude towards the Muslims was one of bitter
hostility. He died five years later in 1515.
Now to make a
connection with the Portuguese colonization of the Southern Indian Province of
Goa and East Bengal, I will move to Chittagong (Xatigan in Portuguese), which
today is the second largest city and main port of Bangladesh, was home to a
thriving trading post of the Portuguese Empire in the 16th and 17th centuries.
During the
twilight years of the sultanate, the first Portuguese expedition in Bengal
landed in Chittagong on 9 May 1518.
Providing access to the rest of Bengal through the Meghna-Padma-Jamuna river
links and to the rest of the world via the Bay of Bengal, the Chittagong port
became the most important for the Portuguese. They called it "Porto
Grande" (Large Harbour). In 1536-37 the Portuguese established trading
stations or "feitorias" in both Chittagong and Satgaon (referred to
as "Porto Pequeno", Small Harbour) after receiving permission from
Sultan Ghiyasuddin Mahmud Shah who also gave them custom house in both these
towns. Hence, Chittagong was the first
European colonial enclave in the historic region of Bengal.
In the last
two decades of the sixteenth century, during the Mughal push into the heart of
the delta, the Portuguese established the major port of Hooghly (downstream
from Satgaon), built up their community in Chittagong, and established
mercantile colonies in and around Dhaka.
The Portuguese settled at Dacca about 1580. The remains of the Portuguese
trading factory, close to the church of Our Lady of Rosary, were still evident
in 1919 . Although the Portuguese never
replaced Asian merchants in Bengal’s maritime trade, as is often supposed, the
appearance of European merchants in the sixteenth century certainly stimulated
demand for Bengali manufactures, which served to accelerate local production of
those goods.
The
settlement of Chittagong (or Chotogam in the local dialect) grew into a great
trading center. The Jesuits erected two churches and a residence. About 1590
the Portuguese also captured the fort of Chittagong and made the island of
Sandwip a tributary. In 1598 there were 2,500 Portuguese and Eurasians in
Chittagong and Arakan. In 1602 Sandwip was conquered by Domingo Carvalho and
Manuel de Mattos. This island was, however, lost a short time later (1605 ?).
Towards the
end of the 16th century, the
Portuguese also settled in Dianga (today’s Bunder or Feringhi Bunder), opposite
to Chittagong across the southern bank of the Karnaphuli River. In 1607 the
King of Arakan massacred about 600 Portuguese inhabitants of Dianga. The
Portuguese settled again in Dianga after 1615. Despite the Dianga massacre a
small number of Portuguese managed to escape and settled on an island at the
mouth of the Ganges.
Portuguese
pirates, named Sebastião Gonçalves Tibau and Carvalho, leading 400 Portuguese,
attacked and conquered the island of Sandwip and ruled the island for several
years having under his command a force of 1,000 Portuguese. Each year about 300
salt loaded ships sailed for Liverpool from Sandwip. Sandwip was very famous
for its ship-building and salt industries at that time. In 1616, after the
arrival of Delwar Khan, a high-ranking Mughal naval officer, the Portuguese
pirates were driven away from Sandwip and Delwar Khan ruled the island
independently for about 50 years.
After Tibau’s
defeat the Portuguese in Eastern Bengal (out of the control of Goa) devoted
themselves to piracy. They allied with the King of Arakan and settled in Dianga
and Chittagong. They allied with the King of Arakan and settled in Dianga and
Chittagong. When the Mughals took Chittagong in 1665, they moved to Ferenghi
Bazar** (South of today’s Dacca), where Portuguese descendents still reside to
the present day.
The harbor of
Chittagong became the most important port to the Portuguese because of its
location, navigational facilities and safe anchorage. The port is very close to
the mouth of the Meghna which was the principal route to the Royal capital of
Gouda.
Evidently the
Portuguese found Chittagong a congenial place to live. By the end of the
sixteenth century. The Chittagong port had emerged as a thriving port, which
attracted both unofficial Portuguese trade and settlement. According to a 1567
note of Caesar Federeci, every year thirty or thirty five ships, great and
small, anchored in Chittagong port. In 1598 there lived about 2,500 Portuguese
and Eurasians in Chittagong and Arakan.
The increased
commercial presence included bureaucrats, merchants, missionaries, soldiers,
adventurers, sailors and pirates. The enclave had a highly laissez-faire
administration led by traders. Slave trade and piracy flourished. Major traded
products included fine silk, cotton muslin textiles, bullion, spices, rice,
timber, salt and gunpowder
** There are two Ferenghi Bazars – one in Dacca and one in
Chittagong
A painting indicating the battle between
the Portuguese and the Mughals in Karnaphuli River in 1666.
Painting of ships moored off Chittagong
in the late 1820s.
Christianity
spread across Bengal by the Portuguese traders along with the Christian
missionaries. Although Christianity had already reached Bengal with St. Thomas
the Apostle in 52 CE, the Portuguese set up the first Christian churches in
Chittagong. The Portuguese merchants, most of whom were Christian, called
Chittagong as Porto Grande de Bengala. In 1498, Christian explorer Vasco de
Gama traveled Bengal.
The Roman Catholic
Church was established in Bengal during Portuguese rule in Chittagong. The port
city was the seat of the first Vicar Apostolic of Bengal. The Portuguese also
encouraged intermarriage with the local population.
The ancient
name of NOAKHALI, or NOACOLLY, is actually Bhulua. In the
1660s (it was renamed to Noakhali in 1868), the agricultural activities of the
north-eastern region of Bhulua were seriously affected by floodwater of the
Dakatia River following from the Tripura hills. To salvage the situation, a
canal was dug in 1660 that ran from the Dakatia through Ramganj, Sonaimuri and
Chaumuhani to divert water flow to the junction of the river Meghna and Feni.
After excavating this long canal, Bhulua began to be known as
"Noakhali". The name "Noakhali" was originated from the
term Noa (New) and Khal (Canal). The
Christian population in Noakhali are mostly direct descendants of Portuguese
colonials and they still carry Portuguese family names. Under a truce with East
India Company, Portuguese colonials were forced to leave Noakhali and Barisal
coast and resettled in Goa, Domon and Dew of India. But they left behind the
non-combatant Portuguese civilians. Most of the Portuguese Forts and Churches
in the district were destroyed when Noakhali city submerged in the Meghna
River.
Father
Francesco Fernandes and Father Domingo da Sousa -- two Portuguese Jesuit
missionaries from Hooghly -- with the permission of Raja Pratapadittya
(1561-1611), built the first church of Bangladesh at Chandecan (also called
Chandika, Iswaripur or Old Jessore) in the Sunderbans forest area of the
present district of Satkhira. They dedicated their church on January 1, 1600.
Later, Father Francesco Fernandes and Father Andre Boves built a small chapel
in Chittagong. This is the second church in East Bengal. The first Mass was
offered there on June 24, 1601. Later Portuguese Jesuits had to discontinue
their work in East Bengal, but they were replaced by Portuguese Augustinian
priests.
Christianity
also spread to Bhulua (old name of Noakhali District), Bacola (or Bakla or
Chandradwip or Bakerganj), Chandipur (Chandpur), Padrishibpur of Barisal
District, Tejgaon of present Dhaka city, Dhaka, Nagori (of Gazipur District),
Sripur (of Munshiganj District, but eroded into the Padma River), Loricul (or
Norikul of Dhaka District), Katrabo (or Katarab of Dhaka District), and
Hosenpur (of Netrakona District), and so on.
According to
the Analecta Augustiniana (Augustinian Analects or selected reports) of 1682,
the whole of Bengal had 27,000 Catholics. Among them, the West Bengal had
12,880 Catholics and East Bengal (known today as Bangladesh) had 14,120
Catholics: Dhaka - 2,000, Chandipur (Chandpur) - 2,000, Loricul (Noricul) -
2,000, Tejgaon - 700, Iswaripur or Old Jessore - 400, Bhusana (in present
Gopalganj District) - 20, and Dianga (Diang) and Chittagong - 7,000.
The
Portuguese, who married local Bengali women, naturally converted them to
Christianity. In some other cases, no doubt, there were forced conversions,
but, in most cases, missionaries converted low-caste Hindus, who were victims
of discrimination and ill treatment from fellow high-caste Hindus. In order to
improve their status, they accepted Christianity. It is to be noted that
conversions to Christianity from Muslim community were very few.
Muslims and
Hindus in the Indian subcontinent (present-day India, Pakistan and Bangladesh)
used to call the Portuguese and other Europeans, who were whites, Firingi (or
Feringhi), and local converted Christians, who were dark in colour, Kala
Firingi -- kala means 'dark.' The Arabic/Persian word of Farang means
'foreigner.' From farang evolved the word Firingi (or Feringhi).
From Chittagong, the Portuguese
proceeded to establish settlements in other Bengali ports and cities, notably
Satgaon, Bandel and Dhaka. Satgaon became known as Porto Pequeno (Little
Haven). Portogola in Old Dhaka hosted the city's Portuguese community.
Like
Portuguese-converted Catholics elsewhere in the world, Roman Catholic
Christians in the greater Dhaka District, and the districts of Chittagong,
Noakhali and Barisal still to this day carry Portuguese names, especially
surnames (last names) instead of their paternal names they had at the time of
their conversions. When the Portuguese first converted them, they gave them the
first names after Catholic saints and changed their Bengali surnames to
Portuguese ones.
This change
of names had dual purpose: First, the Portuguese wanted that local converts
take the changed names so that they could be identified instantly as
Christians. Second, they wanted to uproot the new Christians from the influence
of their former Hindu society. They knew that if names were changed, these
people could not revert to their former religion, nor could they be accepted
easily by their Hindu relatives.
Some of the
first names that the Portuguese gave to the new Christians were thus: Antonio
(Anthony), Augustinho (Augustine), Domingo (Dominic), Pedro (Peter), Rosa
(Rose), Maria (Mary) and so on. These first names continued for a long time,
but, later, with the arrival of non-Portuguese missionaries, the first names
began to be given in English.
The
Portuguese surnames, though, are still continuing today in Bangladesh. Some of
these are: Ascensao (Ascension of Jesus), Costa (coast), Corraya or Correia
(belt; strap), Cruz (the cross of Christ), da Costa or D'Costa (of or from the
coast), da Cruz or D'Cruz (of or from the cross), da Rosario (da Rozario) or
D'Rosario or D'Rozario (of or from the rosary -- of the Virgin Mary), da Sa or
D'Sa (of or from the manor house; this particular Portuguese surname is wrongly
written as Dessai in Bangladesh -- actually, Dessai or Desai is an Indian
Gujrati word meaning 'landlord'), da Silva or D'Silva (of or from the forest),
da Sousa (da Souza) or D'Sousa (D'Souza) (of or from the salt-marsh), Dias
(days), Dores (sorrows), Gomes (a man; a male), Gonsalves (battle; one who
fought without weapons), Mendes (son or descendant of Mendel or Mendo), Palma
(palm tree), Pereira (pear tree), Pinheiro or Penheiro (pine tree), Peres (or
Pires or Piris) (rock), Purificasao (purification), Rego (ditch; furrow),
Ribeiro or Rebeiro (river), Rodrigues (famous power), Rosario or Rozario (the
rosary of the Virgin Mary), Serrao (of or from the mountain), Silva (of or from
the forest), Sousa or Souza (salt-marsh), and Toscano (a man from Tuscany -- of
Italy).
This legacy
of these Portuguese names is still alive. Now with increasing migration of
Bangladeshi Catholic Christians, these names are also visible among them in
different part of the world.
However,
besides the conversion, there were Portuguese who enjoyed the lavish lifestyle
in the Indian sub-Continent. Many of
them had families back in Portugal and so these men went back and returned to
the Indian sub-Continent with their families and settled there.
Hence now you
had two classes of people of Portuguese descent .. one local with Portuguese
ancestry and the other Portuguese who left their homeland to settle in the
Indian sub-Continent.
The
descendants of the Portuguese traders in Chittagong are known as Firingis. They
live in the areas of Patherghata and Firingi Bazaar in Old Chittagong. There
are numerous Portuguese loanwords in the Bengali language, including many
common household terms, particularly in Chittagonian Bengali.
Can you
imagine Bengali cuisine without roshmolai or chillies? Or the Bengali language without pao-ruti or
janala?
These words
were not originally in the Bengali vocabulary. They are the centuries-old
remnants of a complicated history with the Portuguese, which seeped into the
Bengali language and food, and whose flavour still lingers on the tips of our
tongues.
According to
some accounts, it was the Portuguese who introduced the process of making
ricotta cheese (chhana), which lead to a variety of mouth-watering Bengali
sweets such as roshmolai and shondesh. Moreover, the Portuguese were already
renowned confectioners and bakers. It is through them we have our pao-ruti (the
Portuguese word for bread is pão) and steamed egg tarts. The Portuguese brought
many exotic fruits, flowers and plants, especially from their South American
Brazilian colony. They introduced chillies, delonix regia (or Krishnachura in
Bangla)), potatoes, tomatoes, cashews, guavas, pineapples, papayas and Alfonso
mangoes to Bengal.
Household
words such as janala, almari, verandah are also of Portuguese origin.
Peculiarly, the Portuguese meddled with the most intimate of Bangali attire:
the sari. Chittagonian women still refer to them as saya and kamis, Portuguese
words meaning skirt and shirt respectively. They also introduced non-Portuguese
words from their other colonies, for example kerani (clerk) from Malay, and
ananás (pineapple) from Guarani, an indigenous Brazilian language.
A Portuguese
missionary in British Calcutta published the first book on Bengali grammar. The
oldest churches in Bangladesh and West Bengal trace their origins to Portuguese
missionary missions which arrived in Chittagong in the 16th century. Most
Bangladeshi Christians have Portuguese surnames.
After the
independence of Bangladesh, Portugal recognized it on 20 December 1974
following the Carnation Revolution, when it established relations with many decolonized
nations. The Portuguese have had a great influence on trade, culture, character
and language of the people of Chittagong.
Very few
physical vestiges of the Portuguese presence are found at present in Chittagong
and Bengal, generally. Darul Adalat, the first court building of Chittagong is
located in the Government Hazi Mohammad Mohsin College campus, is a structure
built by the Portuguese. The structure is locally known as Portuguese Fort. According
to college documents, the Mohsin College authorities bought the building along
with the hill from government in 1879 at the price of 30 thousand taka. From
then on, they used it for various purposes and abandoned it in 2002, terming it
'risky'. Later, they planned to demolish the building in 2009 to replace it
with a new one. But the government halted the plan considering its
historic importance. Initiative has been taken by the Department of Archaeology
of Bangladesh to preserve the vestige.
Darul Adalat
building is located inside the Mohsin College compound, on top of the Madrasa
hill. It is commonly known as the Portuguese building or fort to the locals.
There are few
churches and ruins. Some geographical place names remain, like Dom Manik
Islands, Point Palmyras on the Orissa coast, Firingi Bazaar in Dhaka and
Chittagong.
By the early
eighteenth century, the Potuguese settlements on the southeastern coast were
located at Dianga, Feringhee Bazar in Chittagong district and in the municipal
ward of Jamal Khan in Chittagong.
In closing, I
would have to say that while conducting my genealogical research on my maternal
family I learned that the Portuguese had a tremendous influence in Bangladesh. What I also learned is that my grandmother’s
ancestors - the Rozario family were very influential in East Bengal especially
in Noakhali. DNA results of my cousins
from my mom's side have also confirmed that the Gomes family (which is also one
of our ancestors) had the biggest Portuguese trading fleet that used to
travel on the Hooghly. The Gomes family owned land in Bandel and in
Calcutta. There are two roads in Calcutta i.e. Dixon & Gomes Lanes,
one is still remaining. Unfortunately, the vast lands that was once owned by
the family, the deeds were held by the Monsignor at the Bandel Church and was
destroyed after his death. The Bishop who took over after the first
Bishop's death made a deal with the Bengal Government whereby the Government
took possession of the Calcutta properties and the Bandel Church was given
ownership of the Bandel properties that the family owned. The family lost
most of its wealth almost overnight.
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