goa was conquered by the portuguese in 1510 and the then goa comprised of 4 talukas of bardez,ilhas, mormugao and salcete. i would rather prefer to call this part of goa as old goa which was under colonial rule for 450 years.
in 1760s seven more talukas were added i.e. pernem, bicholim, satara, ponda, sanguem, quepem and canacona and this part of goa could be conveniently called new goa and was under colonial rule only for 200 years.
the portuguese who came for spices soon added souls. and capture they did by force in the 16th and the 17th centuries or by rather contemporary violent methods. even centuries earlies, the buddhist of india had met with the same fate.
during the first 250 years of portuguese rule of old goa, many migrations from the surrounding territories took place . people came to old goa because it offered many economic facilities and they could not care less whether it meant the change of religion or not. what all they wanted were some paddyfields as a means of livelihood not unlike the craze of modern educated hindus for greener pastures whether in north america or in the u.k.
the conversion to christianity by force or otherwise took place only in the 16 and 17 centuries and that too in the old goa only. by the time new goa was added to old goa, there was hardly any talk of conversions which is obviously reflected in the composition of the population of new goa i.e. religionwise.
if there were excesses committed in the name of religion, it is the people of old goa who bore the brunt whereas the people of new goa had a comparatively easy time with the colonialists.
antonio
_________________________________________________________________
Try the all-new MSN Search! Find exactly what you want. http://search.msn.co.in Get more value for your time.
