India before the British colonization

Portuguese India

Vasco da Gama (1498)
Vasco de Gama was the first to discover a sea road in 1498. He landed in Calicut in the present-day Indian state of Kerala. At that time there were already Arab merchants and they disagreed to let “Vasco da Gama” stay there.

Francisco de Almeida (1505-1509)
On March 1505, Francisco de Almeida was appointed “Viceroy of India”. There were only one condition for him, he would set up four forts in south India coast: at “Anjediva Island, Cannanore, Cochin and Quilon.

Afonso de Albuquerque(1509-1515)
In the year 1509, “Afonso de Albuquerque” was appointed the second Viceroy of the Portuguese possessions in the east. In 1510, he established a permanent settlement in Goa. Goa was the headquarters of Portuguese in India and seat of the Portuguese viceroy who governed the Portuguese possessions in Asia. The Portuguese acquired several territories from the Sultans of “Gujarat”: “Salsette, Bombay, Baçaim and Diu”. Mombay was given to Britain in 1661(part of Portuguese Princess’s dowry to “Charles 2 of England”.

Portuguese in Kerala/Region of England) (1498 to 1660)
Though the Portuguese were in Goa from 1530 till 1960, the Portuguese under “Vasco da Gama” first came to Calicut in 1498 and then shifted their base to Kochi and Kollam, where they ruled (or influenced the rule) and had their major presence for nearly 160 years changing the course of history in regard to politics, religion and trade in Kerala. Until the liberation of India in 1961 Goa was the capital of Portuguese in India.

Dutch India
The Dutch East India Company or VOC in Dutch was a chartered company established in 1602. It was the first multinational corporation in the world and the first company to issue stock. It was also the first company who had possessed the quasi-governmental powers.
Between 1602 and 1796 the VOC sent more than 2.5 million tons of Asian goods. The capital was Cochin, on the Malabar Coast.