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Stories from the high-seas: Goa, Britain links go back longer than thought By Frederick Noronha PANJIM, Jan 28: Goan migration to Britain could well go back centuries earlier than previously thought, and a number of British ships called on Goa from around 1635 and earlier, says a London-based history resarcher who's digging deep across oceans of records to navigate to the truth. Cliff Pereira (42) from Welling in London has been working on meticulously maintained British maritime records, and has netted many surprises about ships, sailors and visitors between these two seemingly remotely-related parts of the globe. Unlike the rest of 'British' India, Goa was a Portuguese colony. But Pereira says his trawling for maritime and related information shows the connections go back further and deeper than earlier thought. >From 1635 to 1639, Pereira found eight British ships visited Goa. Between 1700 and 1784, around 61 East India Company ships are known to have called at Goa, he says. Later on, after Bombay was handed over to the British by Portugal in 1661 as part of the dowry of Catherine of Braganza, Goa's importance grew. Says he: "As one of the best natural harbours located halfway between the pepper ports of southwest India and Bombay or Surat, Goa became a frequent port of call for East India ships". By the 1730s, some British captains were acquiring an "attachment to their Indo-Portuguese cooks", many of whom being Christian had no taboo associeted with cooking meats. In 1756, the British used Indo-Portuguese men in a military situation, to attach the capital of Maratha navigator Tulagee Angria who had been "attacking Portuguese and English shipping". Earlier, it was widely thought that Britain's connections with colonial Goa grew mainly during the brief British presence, when they occupied parts of Goa between 1797 and 1799 -- on the guise of offering protection to the Portuguese from invasion -- during the Napoleonic Wars. But these links stretch far back, which is not surprising, belives Pereira, given that Lisbon and London have the longest surviving alliance among themselves. Later, the British also had another brief presence in Goa, as visible from the remains of their cemetery at Dona Paula. Goan emigrants have reached elsewhere too. Goa was one of the earliest European colonies in Asia, with the Portuguese coming here in 1510. This built links between the place and the outside world, even if colonial. "Long before Stanley and (Dr) Livingstone reached Africa, there were Goans there. Not just along the coast, but right up to areas we today call the Congo," he says. But, chroniclers like Stanley, he says, did not find it apt to call these Goans, and prefered to use other unflattering terms. "It was not convenient for them to acknowledge that brown persons had reached there before them, specially since this was the period when the belief in colonialism (and its value system) was on the ascendence." TRADING LINKS: Pereira cites 'present archaeological research' to suggest that inhabitants of Goa "had trading connections with the ancient culutures of Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley". "They were certainly trading with East Africa by the tenth century, and had acquired the use of the Polynesian Outrigger by the twelfth century. In the early fifteenth century, the Goans were voyaging to the Spice Islands of Indonesia," he argues. His work brings together a number of sometimes know, but little stressed, facts from history. This perhaps helps to understand the significance of this small region in global history better. For instance, one of the first Englishmen to take up residence in Goa was the Jesuit priest Thomas Stephens (1549-1619). Stephens left Europe in 1579 and "spent the rest of his life in Goa". In Goa, eh produced Goa's first Konkani grammar in the Latin script, and it is believed to be through his inspiration that the first printing press in Asia get set up in Goa. "Thomas Stephens' letters to his family in England were one of the inspirations for the formation of the English East India Company in 1600," believes Pereira. EAST AFRICA LINKS: Today, Goan demography in London is quite unlike that back home. London Goans are 98% Catholic, English speaking, and over 90% have "historical links with East Africa", he says. Pereira estimates that the number of Goans -- including those of part-Goan ancestry -- could be as high as 7000+ in London itself today. In wa an estimated 4000 in 1977. Surprisingly, even in 1881, there were around 160 Goans -- mostly seamen -- reported to be around at the time of the Census.There were three P&O vesels with Goan crews in the Port of London. Links with this firm of ocean liners go back to that period. Pereira says the British Indian Steam Navigation Company (BISNC) was employing Goan crew in the Indian Ocean since 1874. BISNC owner Sir William Mackinnon set up the Imperial British East African Company (IBEAC) for administration of the Uganda Protectorate and British East Africa in 1881. "This company was so pleased with the loyalty of Goans in the BISNC that it began to rely on Goan staff to manage its administrative offices in East Africa," he comments. Given Goa's long maritime and migration traditions, Pereira puts across interesting theses. He estimates that over 30% of the London Goans "have at least one ancestor who had come to London as a crewman on a merchant ship in the preceeding two centuries". Today's Goan community, being predominantly middle class, has tended to move away from the inner city areas, which were the primary places of settlement. Currently in Goa at the beach-village of Candolim, in part to dig-up his own family roots and find out more about local history, the 42-year-old history researcher has come up with other interesting findings on Goan history. ENDS FOOTNOTE: Pereira can be contacted in Goa till this weekend c/o mobile 9822 587038 or via email [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Frederick Noronha : http://www.bytesforall.org : When we speak of free Freelance Journalist : Goa India 403511 : software we refer to Ph 0091.832.409490 : Cell 0 9822 122436 : freedom, not price.
