Total population | |
---|---|
64 (Portuguese nationals) + several thousand descendants. | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Karachi, Islamabad, Hyderabad and Lahore. | |
Languages | |
Urdu, Punjabi, and other Languages of Pakistan, minority still speak Portuguese, Indo-Portuguese. | |
Religion | |
Mostly Roman Catholicism, minority of Islam and Irreligion. | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Portuguese people, Luso-Indian, Burgher people. |
Portuguese in Pakistan are citizens or residents of Pakistan who are of Portuguese background. As of 2021 there are only 64 Portuguese citizens registered as living in Pakistan. [1]
The presence of a small Portuguese community in what is modern-day Pakistan is historically known. [2] Most people of Portuguese extract can be found among the country's Goan community, concentrated in Karachi much before the independence of Pakistan. These settlers hailed from Goa in Western India and in order to avail economic opportunities, migrated to major commercial centres during the British Raj, Karachi being among them. [3] In 1510, Goa was annexed by the Portuguese as one of its overseas colonies in India, and remained under Portuguese rule until the Indian annexation of Goa in 1961. During that period, the Goans remained Portuguese subjects and many who had settled in Karachi carried Portuguese passports, which they later relinquished for Pakistani citizenship. [3] Portuguese rule in Goa established the presence of a Goan Catholic community, and exhibited Portuguese influences in Goan culture, language and cuisine, which the migrants brought along with them to Karachi. [3] At the time of the partition in 1947, it is estimated that the Goan community in Karachi numbered up to 15,000. [3]
The Portuguese community assumed an active role in the founding of missionary schools throughout Pakistan. [2] Portuguese musicians and bands were also active in the country's music scene and high social circles during the late twentieth century, performing in some of Karachi's most prominent hotels and nightclubs for several decades. Most of this generation of musicians later died or emigrated. [2]
Name | Birth and Death | Occupation | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Max Rodrigues | 1938 - | Bishop | Portuguese Descent |
Mervyn Middlecoat | 1940 - 1971 | Pakistani fighter pilot | Portuguese Descent |
Bernadette Louise Dean | ? | Academic | Portuguese Descent |
Dilshad Vadsaria | 1985 | Actress | Portuguese Descent |
Konkani is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Konkani people, primarily in the Konkan region, along the western coast of India. It is one of the 22 scheduled languages mentioned in the Indian Constitution, and the official language of the Indian state of Goa. It is also spoken in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala, Gujarat as well as Damaon, Diu & Silvassa.
Music of Goa refers to music from the state of Goa, on the west coast of India. A wide variety of music genres are used in Goa ranging from Western art music to Indian classical music. Konkani music is also popular across this tiny state. Being a former territory of Portugal, Goa has a dominant western musical scene with the use of instrument such as the violin, drums, guitar, trumpet and piano. It has also produced a number of prominent musicians and singers for the world of Indian music. Portuguese Fado also has significance in Goa.
Christianity is the third largest religion in Pakistan and the second largest Abrahamic religion there, making up about 1.37% of the population according to the 2023 Census. Of these, approximately half are Catholic and half Protestant. A small number of Eastern Orthodox Christians, and Oriental Orthodox Christians also live in Pakistan.
Norteiros were a historical people who lived in the former Portuguese exclaves of the western littoral parts of the northern Konkan region, in the present-day Greater Bombay Metropolitan Area and the Damaon territory.
Goan Catholics are an ethno-religious community of Indian Christians adhering to the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church from the Goa state, in the southern part of the Konkan region along the west coast of India. They are Konkani people and speak the Konkani language.
Goans is the demonym used to describe the people native to Goa, India, who form an ethno-linguistic group resulting from the assimilation of Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, Indo-Portuguese, Austro-Asiatic ethnic and/or linguistic ancestries. They speak different dialects of the Konkani language, collectively known as Goan Konkani. "Goanese", although sometimes used, is an incorrect term for Goans.
The Annexation of Goa was the process in which the Republic of India annexed the Portuguese State of India, the then Portuguese Indian territories of Goa, Daman and Diu, starting with the armed action carried out by the Indian Armed Forces in December 1961. In India, this action is referred to as the "Liberation of Goa". In Portugal, it is referred to as the "Invasion of Goa". Jawaharlal Nehru had hoped that the popular movement in Goa and the pressure of world public opinion would force the Portuguese Goan authorities to grant it independence, but without success; consequently, Krishna Menon suggested taking Goa by force.
History of Goan Catholics recounts the history of the Goan Catholic community of the Indian state of Goa from their conversion to Christianity to date.
The Goa liberation movement was a movement which fought to end Portuguese colonial rule in Goa, Portuguese India. The movement built on the small scale revolts and uprisings of the 19th century, and grew powerful during the period 1940–1961. The movement was conducted both inside and outside Goa, and was characterised by a range of tactics including nonviolent demonstrations, revolutionary methods and diplomatic efforts. However, Portuguese control of its Indian colonies ended only when India invaded and annexed Goa in 1961, causing a mixture of worldwide acclaim and condemnation, and incorporated the territories into India.
Goan Catholics are Indian Christians from Goa, Daman and Diu on the western coast of India. They are Konkani people and speak the Konkani language. This indigenous population of the erstwhile Portuguese colony of Goa, Daman and Diu underwent Christianisation following the Portuguese conquest of Goa in 1510. The converts in the Velhas Conquistas to Roman Catholicism were then granted full Portuguese citizenship.
The indigenous population of the erstwhile Portuguese colony of Goa, Daman and Diu was christianised following the Portuguese conquest of Goa in 1510 and the subsequent establishment of the Goan Inquisition. The converts in the Velhas Conquistas to Roman Catholicism were then granted full Portuguese citizenship. Almost all the present-day Goan Christians are descendants of these native converts; they constitute the largest Indian Christian community of Goa state and account for 25 percent of the population, as of 2011 Census of India.
Roman Catholic Kshatriyas or Christian Kshatriyas are a modern Christianised caste among Goan, Bombay East Indian, Mangalorean, Kudali & Karwari Catholics. They are patrilineal descendants of Kshatriya and Vaishya Vani converts to the Latin Church, in parts of the Konkan region that were under Portuguese Goan rule. They are known as Chardo in Goan Konkani, Charodi in Canarese Konkani & as Sandori or Vadval in Damanese-Maharashtrian Konkani; while others identify as Khatri, Panchkalshi & Pathare in their Bombay East Indian dialects. Some Chardos have maintained endogamy, while others have intermarried with Bamonns.
Luso-Indians, or Portuguese-Indian, is a subgroup of the larger Eurasian multiracial ethnic creole people of Luso-Asians. Luso-Indians are people who have mixed Indian and Portuguese ancestry or people of Portuguese descent born or living or originating in former Portuguese Indian colonies, the most important of which were Goa and Damaon of the Konkan region in the present-day Republic of India, and their diaspora around the world, the Anglosphere, Lusosphere, the Portuguese East Indies such as Macao, etc.
Special Status for Goa is a proposal to make the Goa state as an entity with additional powers within the Indian Union. Proponents of the idea have argued that Government of Goa should be given certain powers by the Indian Government by amending Article 371I of the Constitution of India, to preserve the unique culture and history of this subregion of Konkan. These powers would allow the Government of Goa to enact legislation to protect the private property rights of the Goans and put restrictions on the sale of land by Goans.
Goa is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the east and south, with the Arabian Sea in the west. It is India's smallest state by area and fourth-smallest by population. Goa has the highest GDP per capita among all Indian states, two and a half times as high as the GDP per capita of the country as a whole. The Eleventh Finance Commission of India named Goa the best-placed state because of its infrastructure, and India's National Commission on Population rated it as having the best quality of life in India. It is the second-highest ranking among Indian states in the human development index.
Luso-Asians are Eurasian people whose ethnicity is partially or wholly Portuguese and ancestrally are based in or hail primarily from Portugal, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia. They historically came under the cultural and multi-ethnic sway of the Portuguese Empire in the East and retain certain aspects of the Portuguese language, Roman Catholic faith, and Latin cultural practices, including internal and external architecture, art, and cuisine that reflect this contact. The term Luso comes from the Roman empire's province of Lusitania, which roughly corresponds to modern Portugal.
The Portuguese controlled Goa until 1961, when India took over. Only a very small fraction of Goans speak Portuguese nowadays. Although an essential religious language, there were 1,500 students learning Portuguese in Goa in 2015; totaling a number of 10,000 – 12,000 Portuguese speakers in the state.
Bernardo Francisco Cabral, known professionally as B. F. Cabral, was a Goan writer, playwright, and politician who served as the mayor of Karachi during British India. In the Konkani literary scene in Bombay, British India, as an emigrant, he served as the editor-in-chief of Sanjechem Noketr (1907), the first Konkani newspaper. He then went on to found his own publication, Catholic Sovostcai (1908), which had its short-term success before eventually turning to writing tiatrs staged during British India.
Sammy Caraciolo Tavares is an Indian playwright, theatre director, singer, and former police officer of the Goa Police Service (GPS), who served as the Superintendent of Police at the Konkan Railway Police Station in Margao. He is known for his work in tiatr productions.