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Estado da Índia (Portuguese India)

Type Object Region Asia Time 1505–1961

The Estado da Índia was the colonial governing system established by the Portuguese crown in the Indian Ocean in the sixteenth century, headquartered…

Timeline

  1. 1505–1510Cochin to Goa · Indian west coastPortugal appointed a Viceroy of India, controlling the spice routes through armed trading posts and forts, integrating scattered bases into an Estado administrative-military system directed remotely from Lisbon.
  2. 1571–1575Indian Ocean–Malacca route · Southeast AsiaIn the early 1570s the Estado maintained a long-range supply chain from Mozambique and Goa to Malacca and Macao, with the viceroyalty managing pepper, spice, and re-export trade through a division of labor among local captaincies.
  3. 1580–1583Lisbon · PortugalAfter the Portuguese crown was absorbed into the Spanish Habsburgs in 1580, the Estado nominally continued, but fiscal and military-reinforcement priorities changed, and the Asian viceroyalties faced intensified supply difficulties and competition in the 1580s.
  4. 1510–1570Goa · GoaGoa became a Christian-commercial hub in Asia; through the cartaz pass system, garrisoned forts, and the Church, the Estado integrated the Indian west coast and East African bases, forming the peak of Portuguese power in Asia during the sixteenth century.

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