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A Glimpse of the Goa Archives1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 December 2009

C. R. Boxer
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Extract

This article is primarily intended as a “follow-up” of two previous ones on the historical records of Portuguese India, thus serving to remind historians of the importance of these documents. The articles to which I refer are “A preliminary report on the historical records at Goa”, by Surendra Nath Sen (88 pp., Calcutta, 1925, reprinted in his Studies in Indian History (1930)), and “Portuguese India and its historical records”, by the late J. LeRoy Christian (Hispanic-American Historical Review, vol. xxv, pp. 140–151, February, 1945). These two articles are all that I have been able to find in English about the Goa archives, and they are complemented by the recently published “Roteiro do Cartório Geral do Estado da India”, by Panduranga Pissurlencar, reprinted from No. 309 of the Boletim Geral das Colónias (Lisboa, 1951). This fourteen-page summary catalogue of the Goa archives by their scholarly director advantageously replaces the ostensibly fuller “Index alfabetico, chronologico e remissive”, published serially by Tovar de Albuquerque in the Oriente Portuguez (first series, 1910–1918), which is so riddled with mistakes, and compiled with such lack of system, as to be worse than useless as a guide to the material in the archives. In so far as possible, I have avoided repeating what is already recorded in the previous articles of Nath Sen and LeRoy Christian, confining myself to amplifying or correcting their statements where necessary. I have also limited myself to describing the codices which I studied during my stay at Goa in September–October, 1951. As will be seen from a comparison of the codices described hereunder with those listed in Dr. Pissurlencar's Roteiro, I was only able to study a relatively small proportion of the whole; nor was a thorough examination of all of those which I did see possible in the month at my disposal. Since virtually everything dated prior to 1600 which still exists in the archives has already been published by Cunha Rivara and others, I confined my own investigations to the period 1600–1740, the later date being taken as marking the end of effective Portuguese power in India with the loss of the “provincia do Norte” to the Marāthās after the disastrous if hard-fought Bassein campaign of 1737–1739. My own interests being chiefly concerned with the Far East, I naturally concentrated on Macao and Timor; but I trust that I have noted sufficient material dealing with East Africa, the Persian Gulf, India, Ceylon, and Malacca, to show the variety and richness of this little-used archive. It may be added that much of the material relating to India proper has been printed in the two series of the Archivo Portuguez Oriental, in the two series of O Oriente Portuguez, and in the Boletim do Institute Vasco da Gama, as explained in the final note to this article.

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Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 14 , Issue 2 , June 1952 , pp. 299 - 324
Copyright
Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies 1952

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References

page 299 note 2 Rivara, S. H. Cunha, Archivo Portuguez Oriental (8 volumes, Nova Goa, 1857–1876)Google Scholar. The Arc. Port. Or. edited by Rivara, Cunha should not be confused with the second series of the same title edited by A. B. de Bragança Pereira (11 volumes, Bastorá, 1936–1940)Google Scholar. This latter makes extensive use of the records in the archives at Goa, particularly the series Livros das Monções, Reis Vizinhos, and Regimentos e instrucções; but the work has been compiled, edited, and printed so carelessly that its numerous omissions, misreadings, and misprints render it in many ways more of a hindrance than a help. Cf. note 1, p. 324.

page 299 note 1 A very inadequate summary of this list is printed by Rivara, Cunha, Chronista de Tissuary, 1 (Nova Goa, 1866), 156–8.Google Scholar

page 302 note 2 Cf. the version printed in the very rare Avizos del feliz sucesso de los casos espirituales y temporales en diversas provincias de la India, conquistas, y navegaciones de los Portugueses par los años 1628 y 1629 (Lisboa, 1630)Google Scholar, which is likewise based on this letter.

page 303 note 1 These and other Dutch (and English) documents in the Goa archives are accompanied by translations in Latin or in Portuguese.

page 304 note 1 Cf. my article “Francisco Vieira de Figueiredo e os Portugueses em Macassar e Timor na época da Restauração (1640–1668)”, in the Boletim Eclesiastico da diocese de Macau, Ano 36, num. 434, pp. 727–741 (05, 1940)Google Scholar, and the sources there quoted, the chief of which is the Dagh-Register gehouden int Casteel Batavia, Anno 1664, Batavia, 1893.Google Scholar

page 306 note 1 One of the unexpected lacunæ in the archives is the absence of the devaças or proceedings of the courts of inquiry which were held to determine the responsibility for the loss of Malacca (1641), Muscat (1650), Cochin (1663), and Mombassa (1729). There are references and allusions to them but the devaças themselves are missing. The originals were presumably sent to Portugal, but it is odd that no copies should have been preserved at Goa.

page 307 note 1 For attempts to transplant spices from India to Brazil, cf. Sergio, A. [ed.] Antologia dos Economistas Portugueses, Século XVII (Lisboa, 1924), pp. 379–382Google Scholar; Documentos Historicos. Provisões, patentes, alvar–1711, vol. xxxiii (Rio de Janeiro, 1936), pp. 387–390Google Scholar; Ibidem.Registo de Cartas Régias, 1683–1697, vol. lxxxiii (1949), 103–109Google Scholar; Ibidem.Consultas do Conselho Ultramarino, 1673–1683, vol. lxxxviii (1950), 235–237, 273–5.Google Scholar

page 307 note 2 Most (if not all) of the papers relating to this proposal are printed in Cunha Rivara's well-documented series of articles, “Tentativa de mudança da Cidade de Goa para Mormugão,” published serially in O Chronista de Tissuary, i–ii (1866–1867).Google Scholar

page 308 note 1 These papers and others on Siam, listed in Vol. 55B below, give additional details and another viewpoint when compared with the French and English versions utilized by Hutchinson, E. W., Adventurers in Siam in the seventeenth century (London, 1940)Google Scholar, and Drans, J. & Bernard, H. S.J., Mémoire du Père de B'eze sur la vie de Constance Phaulkon, premier ministre du Roi de Siam, Phra Narai, et sa triste fin suivi de lettres et de documents d'archives de Constance Phaulkon (Tokyo, 1947).Google Scholar

page 310 note 1 The Crown's forebodings were correct and this is exactly what did happen. Cf. van den Wyngaert, A., O.F.M., “Le Patronat Portugais et Mgr. Bernardin Delia Chiesa,” in Archivum Franciscanum Historicum, xxxv (1942), fasc. i–ii.Google Scholar

page 311 note 1 His request was granted, as can be seen from the alvará appointing Domingos de Castilho which is transcribed with Couto's petition. Cf. also the letter of the Viceroy, D. Jeronimo de Azevedo, to the Crown, Goa, 30th December, 1616, printed in Nazareth, J. M. Carmo's article, “A Torre do Tombo da India e seus guardas-móres” (O Orients Portuguez, v, 127–133, Nova Goa, 1908).Google Scholar

page 313 note 1 From these papers it is clear that my suggestion that Antonio Coelho Guerreiro went from Batavia to Goa as a passenger (incognito) in Hamilton, Alexander's ship (Fidalgos in the Far East, 1550–1770, Hague, 1948, pp. 187–8Google Scholar) is unfounded. He went in a Dutch ship from Batavia to Cochin, where he trans-shipped in a smaller vessel for Goa (fl. 109 of this MS.).

page 314 note 1 The Province of the North was the name given by the Portuguese to their possessions along the west coast of India from Diu to Eassein.

page 315 note 1 LeRoy Christian's description of these two codices as “a record in two volumes of Portugal's secret negotiations with the Kings of Ceylon during the period 1635–1715”, is most misleading.

page 315 note 2 For proposals to avoid the Dutch blockade of the straits of Singapore by using the Bali straits and alternative passages, cf. Bourdon, L., “António Fialho Ferreira et le projet de liaison Macao-Lisbonne en droiture (1640–1645),”Google Scholar an article reprinted from some unspecified Portuguese magazine (Lisboa, 1951).

page 316 note 1 I may add that in the Arquivo Histórico Ultramarine at Lisbon (codex no. 445, fl. 116) is a petition by Bocarro's widow, Isabel Vieira, dated 17th September, 1649, which proves that he was dead before that date.

page 317 note 1 Christian, LeRoy's account of Chaul (HAHR, xxv, 146)Google Scholar, which is evidently taken from Murray, 's Handbook for Travellers in India., Burma, and Ceylon (ed. 1938)Google Scholar, confuses Upper with Lower Chaul. Far from “not a trace remains of the once famous city” there are substantial ruins to be seen of “Chaul de baixo”. “Chaul de cima” was a purely Indian city never possessed by the Portuguese.

page 320 note 1 For the embassy of Manuel de Saldanha, cf. Boxer, C. R. and Braga, J. [eds.], Breve Relação da Jornada que fez a Corte de Pekim o senhor Manuel de Saldanha, embaixador extraordinario del Rey de Portugal ao Emperador da China e Tartaria (1667–1670), escrita pelo Padre Francisco Pimentel e documentos contemporaneos (Macao, 1942)Google Scholar; de Lima, D. R. Pires, A Embaixada de Manuel de Saldanha ao imperador K'hanghi em 1667–1670 (Lisboa, 1930)Google Scholar; Boxer, C. R. [ed.], Azia Sinica e Japonica. Obra póstuma e inédita do frade Arrábido José de Jesus Maria, ii (Macao, 1950), 76–86.Google Scholar

page 321 note 1 These documents complement those printed in my As viagens de Japão e os sens capitāesmores (1550–1640) (Macao, 1941).Google Scholar

page 322 note 1 The Resident at Tranquebar was Barend Pessaert (Barent Pelser), a renegade Dutchman, who having quarrelled with his superiors had left their service and become head of the Danish factory at Tranquebar in 1636. He boasted to the Portuguese that he had been on friendly terms with several of the leading daimyō in the days when he had been in Japan in the Dutch company's service. He sailed for Japan in 1644 but his ship was seized by the Dutch and taken to Batavia. In May, 1645, he was allowed to go to Manila and spy for the Dutch, but was murdered there shortly afterwards.

page 323 note 1 “Semelhante gente não serve para atacar hũa Fortaleza de tanta supozição como Cullabo, e os nossos Canarins de Goa são da mesme categoria, ou peores,” as one of the councillors wrote of the Indian auxiliaries.

page 323 note 2 As, for instance, in the following, among many others: The attitude of the Portuguese towards Shivājī during the campaigns of Shaista Khan and Jai Singh (Calcutta, 1927)Google Scholar; Prince Akbar and the Portuguese (Calcutta, 1928)Google Scholar; Portuguese records on Rustamji Manockji (Goa, 1933)Google Scholar; Agentes Hindus da diplomacia Portuguesa, I, Cotthari (Goa, 1933)Google Scholar; A campanha Luso-Marata de Baçaim (Bastorá, 1942).Google Scholar

page 324 note 1 It may be convenient to resume here the principal Goanese serial publications in which documents from the local archives are printed. As is only natural, the bulk of the documents published therein refer to India proper, but Zambesia, Mozambique, and Mombassa are likewise well represented for certain periods. Only the Boletim do Institute Vasco da Gama is still in course of publication, the other reviews having run their course or been abandoned. O Gabinete Litterario das Fontainhas. Publicaçāo Mensal (4 volumes, Nova Goa, 1846–1848)Google Scholar. O Chronista de Tissuary. Periodico Mensal (4 volumes, Nova Goa, 1866–1869)Google Scholar. Archivo Portuguez Oriental [ed. Rivara, Cunha] (8 volumes, Nova Goa, 1857–1876)Google Scholar. Arquivo Português Oriental (Nova Edição) [ed. Pereira, Bragança] (11 volumes, Bastorá, 1936–1940)Google Scholar. O Orients Portuguez (17 volumes, Nova Goa, 1904–1920)Google Scholar. O Oriente Português [new series] (uos. 1–28, Nova Goa and Bastorá, 1931–1941). Boletim do Institute Vasco da Gama (nos. 1–66, Nova Goa and Bastorá, 1926–1950)Google Scholar. Apart from these magazines a large number of documents from the Goa archives were published in the local government gazette, Boletim do governo do Estado da India, by Rivara, Cunha in 1857–1874.Google Scholar