the end of world war ii started what
would be the mass independence
of european colonies all around the
world
while some were released peacefully many
attempts at independence
were met with bloodshed and war
the last of these bloody colonization
conflicts sort of
was the portuguese wars in present-day
angola guinea-basso
and mozambique yet at the same time
portugal also fought against another
nation for the colonial holdings
a war that would see the end of over 400
years
of portuguese rule in the region and
finally removed the last vestiges of
european colonial ties
in today's video we'll be looking at the
indian invasion
of gao
[Music]
portuguese influence in india can be
dated
all the way back to 1500. pedro alvarez
calra
sailed to india and established a free
trade port
known as a factory at the time in
present-day calicut
fighting erupted shortly after between
the portuguese and the local indian
state
with calra and his men killing over 600
individuals and they established assault
control
over the immediate area from 1505
onward the portuguese gradually expanded
holdings all across
india to include over two dozen ports
and towns
at its height in the sub-continent
after heavy fighting in december of 1510
gao would come under portuguese control
and the city would serve
as the portuguese colonial capital for
all territory in the indian ocean
as the capital of portugal's eastern
empire gao was granted the same
privileges as
lisbon its senate maintained direct
communication with the king
and they paid a special representative
to express its interest
at the royal court in 1563
the governor even proposed to make gao
the seat of a parliament
in which all parts of the portuguese
east were to be represented
the 16th century served as what many
call the gown golden
era as vast trade fleets would center
themselves out of
gao and the wealth that the colony had
was extremely vast
however the golden era wouldn't last for
long
the dutch blockade of the territory in
1603
and 1635 as well as major disease
epidemics
destroyed the perceived protection that
the colony had
the trade was gradually monopolized by
jesuits in the colony
and fighting against both the mughal and
marthan empires
saw a majority of hell land being lost
the capital was shifted from the old
city of gao in 1843
after the vast majority of its citizens
had left
and it was relocated to bonjim which
then acted as the colonial capital
after world war one the instability in
the portuguese government
led to some leaders in the colonies to
try and vie for changes within the state
unrest against portuguese role within
the territory
would be pioneered by tristo di pranca
conia
who founded the gowin congress committee
in 1928
and he also worked with various indian
independence movements
at the time the congress largely called
for non-violent protests and
demonstrations
and worked to expand similar movements
within the remaining french territory in
india as well
in reaction to the groin descent the
portuguese government in gao
implemented policies which curtailed
civil liberties
including censorship of the press strict
censorship policies required any
material containing printed words
including invitation cards to be
submitted to a censorship
committee for screening by the 1940s
the gowan independence movement had
gained momentum
inspired by the indian independence
movement which had entered its critical
phase when the british announced that
india was to be independent in 1946
indian leaders focused their attention
of movements in the portuguese india
and french india to get those colonies
to join the newly independent
indian state massive protests and
demonstrations
occurred within gao during 1946
with the leaders and over 2 000 people
arrested
with the vast amount of the leadership
arrested a lot of the momentum for
independence faded away
in july of 1954 pro-indian forces
managed to invade
and occupy the portuguese exclaves of
dadra anadrihaveli
headed by the united front of gowans due
to the landlocked nature of this
territory
portugal was unable to defend the land
and
following this the portuguese aimed to
keep control
of the remainder of their territory in
the subcontinent
but action wouldn't occur for another
seven years
on november the 24th of 1961
a passenger boat passing between the
portuguese-held island of anjadaiva
and the indian port of koshei was fired
upon by portuguese ground troops
resulting in the death of a passenger
and injuries to the chief engineer
the action was perpetrated by portuguese
fears
that the boat carried a military landing
party intent on storming the island
the incidents lent themselves to
fostering widespread public support in
india for military action
in gao on december the 18th of 1961
indian forces invaded the remaining
territories of gao daemon
andui facing them was a combined army of
around 5 000 portuguese
with the majority of them being
stationed in gal
a quarter of these men were barely
trained and even more were security and
police forces
raised to aid in the defense to assist
them
the portuguese had one naval ship of the
line the sloop
nrp alphonso de alvake which boasted
four
120 millimeter guns and four machine
guns
they also had three light patrol boats
each with a 20 millimeter gun
with one of them stationed in each
territory the message from mainland
portugal
was to hold out for as long as possible
eight days being ordered
and the commander on the ground governor
general manuel antonio vasa is silva
was told that his men were either to be
victorious or dead
silva of course disagreed and didn't
follow this
order as he would be facing upwards of
45 000
indian troops fighting began on the
morning of the 18th
and by the end of the day the vast
majority of portuguese territory was
occupied with the bulk of the portuguese
forces
now holed up within the military base at
alpacarius
situated at the entrance of the port
town of vasco de
gama in gao itself general silva's
orders from the mainland
were that he used to have committed a
scorched earth policy
burning the whole of gow to the ground
and to wait for naval reinforcements
however silva saw the situation on the
ground
and knew that it would simply be a use
of sacrifice
and by the following day he and over 4
500 men
surrendered upon the surrender of the
portuguese governor general
gao daemon and were declared a federal
administered union territory
a major general k.p kandith was
appointed as its military governor
the war had lasted two days and it
caused 22
indian and 30 portuguese lives
when they received news of the fall of
gao the portuguese government formally
severed
all diplomatic ties with india and they
refused to recognize the incorporation
of deceased territory
into the indian republic salazar himself
decried the failure of the united
nations in his address
to the national assembly on january the
3rd
his government even offered a reward of
10 000 us dollars
for the capture of brigadier sagat sin
the commander
of the parachute regiment who were the
first troops to enter panjim
the gowan capital also his government
worked to establish resistance movements
within
gao a plan was even drawn up to paralyze
port
operations by planting explosives within
some of the ships within the harbor
and detonating them but it never went
into effect
only one such terror attack occurred
from these movements
when in 1964 casmira montero
a portuguese national police officer
carried out a series of bombing raids
within gao itself
relations between india and portugal
thought only in 1974
when following an anti-colonial military
kunata
and the fall of the authoritarian role
in lisbon
gao was finally recognized as part of
india
and steps were taken to re-establish
diplomatic relations with
india on december the 31st
of 1974 a treaty was signed between
india and portugal with the portuguese
recognizing full
sovereignty of india over gao
daedra and nizer haveli thus
putting another page of history finally
to rest
i hope you enjoyed the brief look into
one of the forgotten
chapters of the colonial history if
there's a topic that you would like me
to cover in the future
say so down in the comments below don't
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and i'll catch you all next time