This article appears to endorse the idea that the Órfãs del Rei were sent to Goa to prevent Portuguese (European) men from marrying native Goan women and thereby perpetuate “Portuguese colonialism”. The English historian Frederick Denvers proposed this interpretation in 1894. But is this true? Most Órfãs went to Brazil, not to Goa. It is known that on one occasion on their way to Goa their Portugueses ship was attached by the Dutch who kidnapped some of them, forced them to convert to their (Protestant) faith, and married them. Some of the Órfãs married local (Non-European) rulers after those rulers converted to Catholicism. The Portuguese intermingled with the Goans and were very open to marrying them. A far more likely reason is that the Goan parents did not want their daughters to marry Europeans. In the 16th and 17th centuries it was taboo among both Goan Christians and Goan Hindus to marry outside religion, race, and caste. John M. de Figueiredo Sent from my iPhone
> On Apr 27, 2024, at 3:29 PM, Neil van der Linden <n...@xs4all.nl> wrote: > > Four hundred years ago, orphan girls were used to facilitate the > colonisation of Goa and to populate it with Portuguese people – i.e., white > European settlers. Orphan girls whose parents died fighting in the war, > considered ‘orphans Õrfāse king,’ were sent to Goa and married off to > Portuguese men. It was promoted as a 'trade policy,' called Õrfās del Rei, > meaning 'Orphans of the King.' > > Today's story brings a fascinating tale of how the Portuguese crown used > Õrfās del Rei as a strategy to colonise Goa. > https://madrascourier.com/insight/how-the-portuguese-crown-introduced-orfas-del-rei-as-a-colonisation-strategy-in-goa/ > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Goa-Research-Net" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to goa-research-net+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To view this discussion on the web, visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/goa-research-net/E22C05C5-9C6C-49F7-AE26-A714B7C93FE2%40xs4all.nl. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Goa-Research-Net" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to goa-research-net+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/goa-research-net/D6900935-C717-488B-8AED-C155559382D0%40sbcglobal.net.
