User:Walrasiad/Goa

Paesi
Paesi novamente retrovati et novo mondo da Alberico vesputio florentio intitulato, with the colophon "Stampato in Vicentia cu la impensa de Mgro Henrico Vicentino: & diligente cura & industria de Zamaria suo fiol nel M.cccccvii a di iii. de Novembre cum gratia & privilegio." (Harisse, 1866: p.96). It has 120 unnumbered leaves.

(BNF edition: has "Coll. S. Alessandri in Zebedia" under front page. This edition contains preface (p.14 of PDF) from "Montalboddo Fracan. al suo amicistimo Ioanimaria Anzolello Vicentino S.")

The name of the editor is missing in 1507. It has been given as either "Montalboddo Fracanzano" or "Francazio da Montalboddo" or even "Alessandro Zorzi" (Humboldt).

Libro Primo: ''In comenza el libro de la prima Navigatione per loceano a le terre de Nigri de la Bassa Ethiopia per comandamento del Illust. Signor Infante Don Hurich fratello de Don Dourth Re de Portogallo''.


 * First part of the 1455 & 1456 voyages of Alvise Cadamosto (chapters 1 through 47). (p.15 of PDF)

Libro Secundo: De la Navigatione de Lisbona a Callichut de lengua Portogallese intaliana. This compiles three diferent accounts:


 * Chs. 48 to 50 are the voyages of Pedro de Sintra, as written by Cadamosto. (p.96 of PDF)
 * Chapters 51 to 62 is the relation of an anonymous Portuguese pilot on Vasco da Gama and Cabral. (p.104 of PDF)


 * chapters 51 to 62 is the letter of Girolamo Sernigi (p.104 of PDF)
 * chapters 63 to 84 (break at 71) are the "Relação do Pilôto Anônimo" (p.117 of PDF)

Libro Tertio: De la navigatione de Lisbona a Calichut, de lengua Portogallese in taliana. (p.129 of PDF)
 * Chapter 71 to 81 is the continuation of the Relação do Pilôto Anônimo, the pilot's account of Cabral's voyage. (p.129 of PDF)
 * Chapter 82 to 83 is a list of goods, seems like part of Relação in Marcondes de Sousa, but is not included in Ramusio. (p.153 of PDF)

Libro Quarto: In comenza la navigatione del Re de Castiglia dele Isole & Paese novamente retrovate. (p.157 of PDF)


 * Chapters 84 to 108 are the first three voyages of Christopher Columbus (Cap. 157 of PDF)
 * Chapters 109 to 111 are the voyage of Alonso Negro (sic) "Como Alonso Negro copagno delo Admirante trovo Isole inaudite cum diversi constumi i paesi" (Ch. 109, p.193 of PDF)
 * Chapter 112 to 114 are the voyage of the Pinzon brothers. "Navigatione de Pinzone Compagno de lo Admirante cum iuo invento" (Chap.112, p.198 of PDF)

Libro Quinto: El Novo Mondo de Lengue Spagnole interpretato in Idioma Ro. (p.203 of PDF)


 * Chapters 114 to 125 is a reprint of Mundus Novus, Vespuccius's third voyage. (p.203 of PDF)

Libro Sexto: ''De la cose da Calichut coforme ala Naviatioe de Pedro Aliares nel. ii & iii libro leq'le se bano verisseme Perle Copie de alcune Lr'e secundo lordene de li Millessimi in questo ultime racolte.''

(Cap. 125, p.216 of pdf)
 * Ch. 125 - a letter from Giovanni Matteo Cretico (correspondent to Venice) with a letter referring to the voyage of Cabral. "Copia de uno Capitulo d lre de D. Cretico nontio d la illustrissima Signoria de Venetia in Portogallo, Data adi xxvii Zugno M.cccci." (27 June 1501).
 * Ch. 128 (yes, mislabelled) a letter concerning a peace treaty between kings of Portugal and Calicut. "Copie de una Lra receuta da il Mercantati de Spagna ali soi corespondenti in Fiorenza & in Venetia: del tratato de la pace in fra el Re de portogallo: & el Re de Calichut" (Cap. 128, p.220)
 * Ch. 126 - Letter of the Venetian oratore (ambassador) Peter Pasquaglio, concerning Gaspar Corte-Real's first voyage (1500-01) "Copia de una Lra de Dno Pietro Pasqualigo oratore della Illustrissima Signoria in Portogallo scripta a soi fratelli in Lisbona adi xix Octobrio del M.ccccc.i." (October 19, 1501) (cap. 126, p.226 of PDF)
 * Ch. 127 - Letter of Francis de la Sait to Pasquaglio concerning the Third India Armada of Joao da Nova, "Copia de una Lra de Francescho de la Saita Cremone se data in Lisbona adi svi Septembrio M.cccccii & deriata in Spagna a Domino Piero Pasqualigo Oratore de la Illustrissima Signoria apresto quelli Serenissimi Re de Castiglia" (Cap. 127, p.229 of PDF)


 * Ch. 129 & 130 - Account of how Joseph the Indian (Joseph of Cranganore) arrived. "Como Ioseph Indiano asceso le nostre Caravelle vene in Portogallo & lo Re lofece acopagnare a Roma & a Venetia" (Cap. 129, p.233 of PDF)
 * Ch. 130-142 - Account of Joseph the Indian about Cranganore and Calicut (Cap. 130, p.235)
 * Ch. 143 - Letter from King of Portugal to Pope Julius II concerning Portuguese navigations in Asia. (not in this edition! Last chapter seems to be 142)

Final stamp page: "Stampato in Vicentia cu la imprensa de Mgro Henrico Vicentino: & diligente cura & industria de Zamaria suo fiol nel M.cccccvii, a d.iii de Novembre. Cum gratia & privilegio p. ani.x. como nella sua Bolla apparetche p soa del Dominio Veneto no ardisca i primerlo." (p.251 of PDF)

The BNF Gallica also has a downloadable copy of a 1512 Italian reprint of the Paesi (published in Milan) at. The Paesi were translated into Latin in 1508 by Archangelo Madrigini, Abbot of Casalo, as Itinerarium Portugallensium e Lusitania in Indiam et Inde in Occidentem et Demum ad Aquilonem published in Milan, 1508. in William Reese catalogue 250.. A copy of the 1508 Milan edition can be found at BNF Gallica [ http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k588035]. If the entire Itinerarium is downloaded in PDF form, then Cadamosto's accounts of his own journey ranges pp.23-80 (in the PDF), and Cadamosto's acount of Pedro de Sintra is pp.80-84 of the PDF. The Latin version was (partially?) reprinted in Simon Grynaeus, Novus orbis regnorum et insularum veteribus incognitorum, 1532.

French translation (1515): ''Sensuyt le Nouveau monde & navigations faictes par Emeric Vespuce Florentin. Des pays & isles nouvellement trouvez auparavant a nous inconnuez tant en l'Ethiope que Arrabie, Calichut et aultres plusiers regions estranges. Translate de italien en langue francoise par Mathurin du Redouer licencie es loix.'' (fascimile, 1916 Princeton University Press.)

BNF copy (1507 in "Zebedi" Gallica)

Copy can also be found at the Universty of Coimbra:


 * Marcondes de Sousa, T. O. (1945/1950) "Relação do Pilôto Anônimo" Revista do Instituto Histórico e Geográfico de São Paulo, vol. 45, p.82-108.

Marcondes de Sousa says its Venetian nuncio in Lisbon, named Giovanni Matteo Cretico. 1812 edition based on Ramusio (1550), Marcondes de Sousa's version based on Montalboddo's 1508 edition. Ramusio himself relied on the 1508 Milanese edition, Itinerarium Portugalense or the Gryneus's Novus Orbis (1532). Chapters 63 through 83.

Carta de D. Manuel a el-rey catholico by Prospero Peragallo online, also relato de Leonardo de Ca Masser (cont)

Ramusio

 * Grande, S. (1905) "Le Relazione Geografiche fra P. Bembo, G. Fracastoro, G.B. Ramusio, G. Gastaldi", Memorie della Società geografica italiana, vol. 12, p.93-198

Francisco Mendo Trigozo

editions: (p.110)


 * vol. 1 - 1550, 1554, 1563, 1588, 1606, etc.
 * vol. 2 - 1559, 1564, 1574, 1583, 1606, etc.
 * vol. 3 - 1553, 1556, 1565, 1606, etc.

Notice that the first and third volumes were published first, and within Ramusio's lifetime. They originally came out anonymously. After Ramusio's death, Tomasio Giunti the task of putting out the second volume, which finally revealed Ramusio's name and editorship in its dedication. Each of the volumes contain a preface by Ramusio, written as a letter to Girolamo Francastro, explaining the contents. Ramusio also frequently inserted brief dialogues of his own, with editorial commentaries and reflections, on many of pieces.

English summary of Ramusio

Portuguese summary of Ramusio

Dunno what this is: Summary of Vespucci? 

First volume
Giovanni Battista Ramusio (1550) Primo volume delle navigationi et viaggi nel qua si contine la descrittione dell'Africa, et del paese del Prete Ianni, on varii viaggi, dal mar Rosso a Calicut,& infin all'isole Molucche, dove nascono le Spetierie et la navigatione attorno il mondo., published in Venice.

Four of the pieces of the first volume are of Classical origin.

The first volume is primarily dedicated to Africa and the Indian Ocean. Ramusio's first discourse (on Cadamosto) relates to the population of the equatorial zones, which he says contradicts the ancients who believed it uninhabited and too hot to support life. His second discourse (on Hanno, apparently sourced from an anonymous Portuguese pilot), criticizing classical writers for exaggerating and adding fantastical additions to Hanno's account, trying to reconcile the geographic points mentioned on Hano's voyage with the new discoveries, hints at the possible existence of Antartica. His third discourse (on the Portuguese voyages to Asia) and his fourth (on Varthema) are merely commentaries on the texts. His fifth discourse (on Iambolus) tries to settle on the location of the island, which he decides is Ceylon (Taprobana) which he confusingly seems to identify also with Sumatra. His sixth discourse tries to set Andrea Corsali's journey in the context of Portuguese-Ethiopian relations. His seventh, on the writings of Francesco Alvrez, notes the necessity of exploring the interior of Africa, which believes is a worthwhile as the West Indies.

This pair of articles is a dialogue between Ramusio and Fracastoro (begun in 1539) on the source and cause of the rise of the waters of the Nile River, in particular its relation to astral phenomena, particularly the varying heat of the sun, which morphs into a wider meteorological dissertation.

His discourse on Arrian's journey to the Red Sea comments that Ptolemy was more wrong than Arrian and others. Also tries to reconcile Arrian's locations with modern geography, and to talk a bit about the Red Sea trade routes connecting the west and east.

His 11th discourse on Duarte Barbosa and his 12th Discourse on Nicolo Conti, refers to their illustrations.

His 13th Dialogue refers to the voyages of Magellan and expresses tremendous admiration for this great feat, apparently superior to all other great navigators. He spends some time mulling over the reported loss of a day by sailing west over the dateline, justifying it cosmographic terms, and saying it was already predictable from ancient sources. He hails Pigafetta for his skill.

His 14th dialogue is on the spice trade, reviewing not only current routes, but digging through Classical sources to reconstruct the ancient routes. He goes on to talk about a voyage described by Pliny, which he conjectured sailed as far as Malacca, and then goes on to give a historical review of other explorers. He rounds off with a paen to the kings of Portugal for the effort they put in the past century, but also adverts that a lot remains to discover.

Grinaeus
Simon Grinaeus

Novus Orbis: regionum ac insularum veteribus incognitarum, 1537, Basel. 


 * 1. Preface by Simon Grineus ("Simonis Grynaei")
 * 2. cosmographic table by Sebastian Munster
 * 3. Cadamosto's navigatio
 * 4. Christopher Columbus's navigatio
 * 5. Petri Alonso codem
 * 6. Pinoni codem
 * 7. Mundus Novus of Alberici Vesputius
 * 8. Petri Aliaris navigations
 * 9. Joseph the Indian's navigations
 * 10. Four letters of Vespucci (Soderini)
 * 11. Letter from Manuel to Pope Leo X
 * 12 Lodovico de Varthema
 * 13. monk F. Brocado
 * 14. Paul Vineti
 * 15. Amernian?
 * 16. Matthew to Michou of Sarmatia
 * 17. Pauli of Moscow
 * 18. Peter the Martyr
 * 19 Erasmus of Borussia

Casa Avis
Category:Exclude in print

Aviz pt:Predefinição:Casa de Avis - Descendência

Goa
At the time of Union of India's independence from the British Empire in 1947, Portugal held a handful of enclaves on the Indian subcontinent - the districts of Goa, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli - collectively known as the Estado da Índia. In the 1950s, Goa, Damman and Diu covered an area of around 1,540 square miles and held a population of 637,591. The Goese diaspora was estimated at 175,000 (about 100,000 within the Indian Union).. Religious distribution was 61% Hindu, 36.7% Christian (mostly Catholic), 2.2% Muslim. Economy was primarily based on agriculture, although the 1940s and 1950s saw a boom in mining - principally iron ore and some manganese.

The Portuguese empire had acquired most of Goa, Damman and Diu in the 16th C., the remainder in the late 18th C. . As such, it had been kept largely apart from developments in the British Raj, including the increasing nationalist sentiment and independence mass movements that emerged there in the 1920s-1930s. Nonetheless, the movements did not fail to impress the Goan diaspora, particularly in British-ruled Bombay. In 1928, Tristão de Bragança Cunha founded the Goan Congress Commitee, with a mission to popularize the Goan case in the context of Indian nationalism. Cunha denounced Portuguese rule and urged Goans to identify with the wider liberation movement in greater India. Cunha's organization became affiliated with the Indian National Congress in 1938.

The efforts of the diaspora notwithstanding, the Portuguese territories remained relatively insulated. The notable exception was the famous 'assembly at Margão' in May 1946, an open-air meeting organized by the Indian National Congress activist Ram Manohar Lohia, who had travelled to Goa purposefully to organize a defiance of the recent Portuguese ban on political assemblies. Although Lohia and other nationalist leaders were arrested and deported by the Portuguese authorities, the assembly nonetheless went on, with intermittent mass demonstrations from June to November. It was arguably the first time inhabitants of Portuguese India were really put in touch with the concurrent mass movement in British India. However, despite Lohia's efforts, there was little or no follow-up. The political fervors stoked by the 1946 assembly soon died down.

Relations between Portugal and the Indian Union were quite cordial in 1947, particularly in light of Portuguese willingness to terminate the old Padroado treaty with the Holy See, which had traditionally given the Archbishop of Goa 'patriarchal' authority over other parts of India. In the accord finalized in July 1950, Portugal agreed to limit the jurisdiction of Goese Patriarch to the Portuguese territories, clearing the way for the appointment of native Indian bishops and archbishops in the new republic.

In the course of the Padroado negotiations, on 27 February, 1950, the Indian foreign ministry, delivered an aide-mémoire inviting the Portuguese to open talks on the continued Portuguese presence on the subcontinent and the future of Goa, Damman, Diu, etc. Although in the flurry after independence from Britain, there had been open speculation about the French and Portuguese leaving too, this was the first time the topic was formally broached.

The reply of the Portuguese prime minister, António de Oliveira Salazar to the Indian memorandum on 15 July 1950 was terse and unequivocal. Portugal was willing to discuss anything and everything with India, except the question of sovereignty. The Portuguese territories of Goa, Damman and Diu were not colonies but integral parts of Portugal itself, its inhabitants were full Portuguese citizens and had popular sentiment exhibited no desire to be united with Indian Union. Portugal was ready to discuss and compromise over any complications that might arise over her continued presence on the subcontinent, but Portuguese sovereignty was non-negotiable.

The Indian government was a little surprised at Salazar's emphatic reply, possibly allowing itself to optimistically miscalculate the Portuguese attitude towards Goa in light of recent French amenability to similar overtures over Pondicherry et al.. Follow-up inquiries got no further.

Nonetheless, the Portuguese government was sufficiently disturbed by the Indian request to amend the Portuguese constitution on June 12, 1951 to explicitly designate its colonies as 'overseas provinces' of Portugal. Although juridically they had been designated and treated as overseas provinces since 1518, reiterated in all Portuguese constitutions since 1822. , the term 'colonies' had come into legal use with the racially-charged Colonial Act (Acto Colonial) of 1930 (which also happens to be the first act legally differentiating regular and 'indigenous' citizens). The Colonial Act was revoked in the constitutional revision of 1951, equal status restored and the exclusive usage of 'overseas provinces' resumed. The Portuguese government claimed the 1951 revision merely sought to restore prior practice, to clarify and avoid ambiguity. Nonetheless, it was hard to dissuade the general impression abroad that it was an opportunistic semantic change to duck the growing clamor for decolonization.

Indian nationalists's relative neglect of Portuguese India in the run-up to independence left them with little preparation on the ground. Indian government missives about the desires of the Goese population seemed speculative, and fell flat for lack of documented evidence. At this stage, India's prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru seemed inclined to set Goa aside, leaving it a matter for Goans themselves to resolve in their own good time. But activists in India, many of them Goanese diaspora, were less inclined to adopt a 'wait and see' attitude.

1954-5 Crisis
For the next few years, Nehru's passive approach prevailed. But in 1954, unexpected complications in the transfer of French Pondicherry changed the mood. Some last minute attempts by certain sections of the French government to belatedly try to hold on to the enclaves, hardened the nationalist position in India and put pressure on the Indian government for more active measures. In early 1954, the Indian government responded to French foot-dragging with economic blockades and satyagrahas on the French enclaves to bring the earlier agreement to fulfilment. Indian activists were quick to ask why couldn't similar pressure be placed on the Portuguese?

In the course of 1954, organizations were set up to organize and bring pressure to bear on the Portuguese. The oldest, the National Congress (Goa), founded in 1946 and operating out of Bombay, was from 1954 led by prominent trade union leader Peter Alvares (a Praja Socialist, the NCG disaffiliated from the INC), who immediately set it on a more active (but non-violent) course. Younger activists founded the United Front of Goans in July 1954. There was also the Goa Liberation Council, founded by Aloysius Soares in August 1954, a largely Catholic and well-funded organization of Goan diaspora, which involved the Archbishop Valerian Gracias of Bombay, the more radical Goan People's Party, led by Divakar Kakodhar and George Vaz and linked to the Communist Party of India, the Goan Action Committee, led by venerable old hand Tristão de Bragança Cunha after his return in 1954, and the Azad Gomantak Dal, a new armed militant group. There were still other groups within Goa and among the diaspora that promoted different agendas, ranging from mere improved civil rights to autonomy within some sort of Portuguese confederation to complete independence from both Portugal and India.

In response to the increased presence of nationalist agitators, the Portuguese placed restrictions on the entry of Indians into Goa. On 26 March 1954, the Indian government announced visa restrictions on the travel of Goese into India. In June, Nehru delivered a formal protest against the Portuguese harassment of Indian citizens visiting Goa, and general concerns about the deterioriating state of civil rights of Goans themselves, including a surge in censorship, arrests, deportations and imprisonements. The Portuguese counter-accused India of harassing, arresting and deporting Goese community in India.

[NOTE: mission in Lisbon was closed a year earlier, June 11, 1953; Salazar made a speech in April 1954 reiterating the Portuguese position in light of the NCG call, and there was an official Indian government protest in May and June. Have to get finer details.]

July 1954 brought the crisis to a new height. Activists of the United Front of Goans occupied the village of Dadra on July 21, while ten days later, militants of the Azad Gomantak Dal occupied Nagar Aveli, with the participation of Jana Sangh and the Goa People's Party. In anticipation of this operation, India had sealed the border on June 28, 1954 and prevented the Portuguese from dispatching armed forces from coastal Damman to the inland enclaves. 155 Portuguese were captured by the irregular forces in the territories, and an additional 55 were taken prisoner by the Indian army after they fled across the border into Indian territory.

Finally, on 15 August 1954 (the seventh anniversary of India's independence), a satyagraha was organized by Goese activists in India to march on Goa itself. Announcing the expectations of thousands and inviting the international press, the turnout was poor - a mere forty-nine volunteers. Nonetheless, entering from three points, one small group of about a dozen volunteers managed to occupy Fort Tiracol and raise the national flag of India on the ramparts, before the fort was retaken by the Portuguese police.

This turn of events coincided with a diplomatic resolution with France that same month, led to a shift in Indian strategy, away from direct actions urged by nationalist activists, and back to the more measured diplomatic approach originally favored by Nehru.

In mid-August, Nehru and Salazar exchanged diplomatic notes. An Indian proposal to allow neutral observers to assess the situation in Portuguese India was welcomed by Salazar, on the condition that they dedicate themselves to ascertaining the events of Dadra and Nagar Aveli, and a guarantee that the question of sovereignty would not be on the agenda of any official meetings. The proposal got bogged down in negotiations over the details, and went nowhere.

On August 25, 1954, Nehru addressed the Lok Sabha, asserting that recent events had proved the anti-colonial movement in Goa was "an entirely Goan movement, popular and indigenous". But Nehru also insisted that India "may not adopt, advocate or bring about situations of violence", being incompatible with the non-violent principles "on which our very nationhood rests". Nehru's speech went on to assure the Portuguese that the "special circumstances" of culture, language, society and historical grouping in Goa would be respected in the Indian Union, "Laws and customs which are part of the social patterns of these areas ... will be respected and modifications will be sought only by negotiation and consent."

Nonetheless, the Portuguese stance remain unchanged. On 30 November, 1954, Salazar delivered an extended address to the Portuguese parliament, laying out the Portuguese position on Goa. Salazar dismissed India's claims to the territories as a 'fantasy', and lauded Goans for their steadfast patriotism in the face of 'Indian provocations'. He accused India's actions viz. Dadra and Nagar-Havelli as proof that her non-violence pledge was hollow and deceitful. Finally, probably with the Archbishop of Bombay in mind, Salazar also subtly accused the Holy See of complicity, of trying to destroy the Portuguese state in Goa in an effort to strengthen the church in India itself.

In India, pressure for active measures continued. The Indian union of dockers had, in 1954, instituted a boycott on shipping to the Portuguese ports and pressure continued to mount. But in June 1955, Nehru addressed the activists, "If you are under the impression that the Government will take police action or use force to liberate Goa .... you are entirely mistaken' . Nehru refused to endorse marches on Goa planned for that summer. Nonetheless, on July 25, Nehru ordered the Portuguese mission in New Delhi to leave.

[NOTE: NY Times suggests dockers blockade began in early August 1955, "Dockers in India to Blockade Goa; Refuse to Handle Any Ship That Will Put In at the Portuguese Colony", August 10, 1955, New York Times. But this may be an expansion of an earlier 1954 blockade on Portuguese ships alone, now extended to all ships with Goa as destination? Portuguese shipping via Bombay was re-routed primarily through Karachi thereafter.]

On August 15 1955, on the anniversary of the previous year's march, Indian activists organized a substantial march on Goa, some 3,000-5,000 volunteers (primarily Indians this time, organized by Praja Socialists, the Communist Party and Jana Sangh, under an umbrella organization All-Party Goa Liberation Committee in May 1955). Portuguese police held the border, not intending to allow the Indians to cross. It ended bloodily - there were mass arrests, deportations and at one point Portuguese opened fire on the marchers, some 21 were killed and scores injured. The march was called off immediately, but violent riots in Bombay the next day in reaction to the outrage only added to the toll. .

In the aftermath, Nehru accused the Portuguese of deliberately trying to induce an armed confrontation and promptly severed all remaining relations. The Indian consulates in Goa were shut down on September 1, and the Portuguese ordered to shut their consulates in Bombay, Madras and Calcutta. Nehru proceeded to institute a total economic blockade of Goa, Damman and Diu. . In an address to the Lok Sabha on September 6, 1955, Nehru controversially declared "we are not prepared to tolerate the presence of the Portuguese in Goa, even if the Goans want them to be there." However, he also held back from taking any more forceful steps. He banned further satyagrahis on Portuguese territories, declaring that the liberation of Goa is a matter for the government of India, not freelancers or independent political organizations. He refused to countenance nationalist proposals to endorse a Goan government-in-exile. In his address of 17 September 1955, Nehru stated in Indian Parliament that reliance on peaceful methods to bring Goa into India "is not only a sound policy, but the only possible policy."

Foreign opinion had begun to weigh in by this time. In the course of 1954, the Portuguese had appealed to Great Britain. Foreign secretary Alec Douglas-Home made it absolutely clear that the NATO alliance did not extend to Portuguese entanglements overseas, and that they should not expect anything more than a mediating role. He also warned that if Portugal invoked the old Anglo-Portuguese Alliance, Britain's response would be constrained, as she had no intention of engaging in hostilities with a member of the  Commonwealth. The British Commonwealth Office did exert diplomatic pressure on Nehru to avoid force, reminding him of India's obligations by the United Nations Charter, but at the same time urged Portugal to basically start thinking of giving up Goa - after all, the British didn't get to stay on the subcontinent, why should the Portuguese?

The United States of America stayed aloof from the affair, leaving it to Britain to articulate the NATO position and mediate the crisis. Nonetheless, the Indian government took umbrage when US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles allowed the phrase "Portuguese provinces in the Far East", rather than 'colonies', to be used in a joint press statement after a meeting with the Portuguese foreign minister Cunha on 2 December, 1955. Dulles reiterated the statement on December 11, prompting a demonstration before the American Embassy in Delhi (a few months later, on a visit to Delhi in March, 1956, Dulles admitted he did not expect Goa to remain Portuguese in perpetuity).

In April 1955, at the Bandung Conference, where Nehru was feted among the leaders of the Afro-Asian bloc, there was a joint declaration calling for the end of colonial empires. For Nehru, this was a mixed blessing, coming at a time when Nehru was trying to de-escalate the situation and reign in Indian activists, there was now foreign pressure on him to take more forceful action. The visits to the Soviet Union in July 1955 and the return visit by Nikita Khruschev to Delhi later that year, culminating in a public speech by Nikolai Bulganin in Madras on October 28, 1955, assuring Sovie support for the Indian liberation of Goa. But perhaps more immediately valuable was his side-visit to Rome in July, 1955 where Nehru obtained a public statement from Pope Pius XII that there was no religious issue involved in the Goa question, clearing at least one obstacle to a possible diplomatic resolution with Portugal. .)

On 22 December 1955, the Soviet Union withdrew its long-standing veto, and Portugal finally joined the United Nations. That very same day, Portugal lodged a suit against the Indian Union before the International Court of Justice in the Hague, accusing India of violating international law in preventing the Portuguese passage during the Dadra & Nagar-Haveli crisis. The government was now faced with a tricky lawsuit at the ICJ that might unravel the legal basis of the Indian position.

Post-1955 Interlude
The heady events of 1954-55, set in motion by independent activist groups, had run their course. By the end of 1955, Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru had regained control over Goa policy. Although the economic blockade remained in place and militant groups, like Azad Gomantak Dal, continued sporadic underground attacks on Portuguese police stations and installations (some from camps in Belgaum and Nashik ), Nehru seemed determined to defuse the situation. The Goa matter was once more shelved away and tensions between India and Portugal climbed down. There were no significant new moves or claims by the Indian government for the next five years.

In April 1960, the verdict of the ICJ was finally announced - and it was decidedly irresolute. It upheld the Portuguese sovereign claim to Dadra and Nagar-Havelli, and confirmed the Portuguese accusation that India had acted unlawfully in blockading Portuguese passage to Dadra & Nagar-Aveli. On the other hand, it allowed passage to remain suspended insofar as the passage of Portuguese armed forces over Indian territory might cause 'disorder' within India itself. Although a legal victory for Portugal, it was a practical victory for India.

In mid-December, 1960, a series of rapid steps in the United Nations General Assembly suddenly chipped away at Portugal's legal position. First, on December 14, was the UN General Assembly Resolution 1514 (XV), the declaration of principle urging all countries to take steps to place their colonies and non-self-governing territories on the road to self-determination in accordance with Article 73 of the UN Charter. As expected, Portugal immediately claimed this resolution did not apply to them, as she had no colonies, just overseas provinces, constitutionally integral to the nation, and thus exempt. So, this was followed up on December 15 by resolution 1541 laying out the 12 conditions allowing the UNGA to determine the definition of a non-self-governing territory. This was immediately followed by resolution 1542 declaring that nine Portuguese overseas provinces (incl. Goa, Daman and Diu) met these conditions and ought to be considered "non-self-governing" territories for the purposes of resolution 1514, even if the Portuguese constitution does not recognize them as such.

(Note: While these resolutions were not India's creation, she took a leading role in pushing them through, and they were critical in the run up to the Goa crisis, for it legally imposed the responsibility on Portugal to address the self-determination aspirations of the Goese people (a legal lever India did not have in 1954-55).)

The Portuguese delegation put up a strong fight against these resolutions. In a set of famous speeches at the UN in Decemeber, the Portuguese diplomat Franco Nogueira accused the General Assembly of systematically undermining the UN Charter by irregular means. Nogueira famously denounced the 12 conditions (especially condition 5) as implicitly racist, that they essentially assumed that people of different ethnicities could not live peacefully within the same country, that they seemed to regard the concept of a multi-cultural, multi-racial country as an impossibility. In Nogueira's words, "This philosophy seems to my delegation as being rather outmoded, and it represents a flagrant denial of the reality we find in the great and progressive nations of the world, where a combination of many races and cultures has made posible their outstanding contributions to civilization. On the other hand, we find a group or society which has only one race, one culture, one language, on religion, may seem to be fairly happy, but it is certainly stagnant and dormant and does not contribute anything to mankind." (Nogeira, 1963: p.158).

1961 Crisis
The Portuguese line about Portugal being a peaceful, harmonious multi-cultural, multi-racial state quickly unravelled in February 1961 with the uprising in Angola. That is when things began moving quickly again. Nehru was increasingly placed under pressure by African leaders, outraged by the events in Angola, to abandon the passive stance he had taken since 1955, and resume action on Goa.

The Angola crisis had also soured Portugal's relations with her NATO allies. The aloof stance of the United States of America towards European colonial empires had shifted abruptly after President John F. Kennedy took office in early 1961. In March, both the USA and the Soviet Union supported a Security Council resolution proposed by Liberia chastising Portugal for failing to take steps to fulfill Resolution 1514 and demanding a UN inquiry into the Angola situation. Although the resolution failed in the Security Council, it passed a month later in the General Asssembly (as UNGA resolution 1603 (XV), on April 20, 1961. )

The United Kingdom had already signalled its change of stance towards colonialism with the famous 'Winds of Change' speech in early 1960 by Conservative prime minister Harold Macmillan. Although still embroiled in the Algerian War, France had dissolved the remainder of its colonial empire in 1960. As the Angolan war advanced in 1961, Portugal found itself isolated.

Although during this time, the People's Republic of China was making increasingly belligerent noises over the Sino-Indian border, the Angolan events put immense foreign pressure on Indian prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to take more active steps over Goa.

Nehru's first mention of a possible invasion came in August 1961, then he backtracked at the Belgrade conference in September, then resumed it again at the Delhi conference in October.

Port Sources

 * H. Kay (1970) Salazar and Modern Portugal, New York: Hawthorn


 * Ministerio dos Negocios Estrangeiros (1967) Vinte anos de defesa de Estado Português da India, 1947-1967, vol. 1-4. Lisbon.


 * Leo Lawrence ((1962) Nehru Seizes Goa, New York: Pageant.