dear gilbert lawrence let me begin by saying that i do believe that there were forcible conversions in the 16th century and that only the original inhabitants of velhas conquistas were subjected to the fiery ordeal.
the descendants of those 16 th century goan catholics are still there today but they are in minority as compared to the descendants of catholics whose ancestors migrated to velhas conquistas in the 17th century very much out of their own free will. it is believable that the late entrants in velthas conquistas had changed their caste and who wouldn't ) and was not velhas conquistas a genuine melting pot ? after all, what is history ? it is an account of what happened in the past mostly seen from the view point of the influential, the powerful and the rich. in our own case, could we say that our history is well documented by facts and figures, and even if they were they could easily be manipulated in favour of the so called higher echelons of the society. a historian, not only believes in the past records, but also tries to find out from the gut feelings of those who have been largely ignored in the past so as to arrive at a sensible conclusion. could there be anything wrong in that ? antonio
