Philomena Siqueira Antony, *The goa-bahia intra-colonial relations,
1675-1825*, Tellichery, Institute for Research in Social Sciences and
Humanities, 2004, pp. 445. Price: Rs. 550/-
We have seen in the last decade fresh research that has drawn our attention
to a relatively successful performance of the Portuguese and their
indigenous trade partners in the Indian Ocean during a period that had been
classified under contrary stereotypes. Philomena Siqueira Antony, reader
and Head of the Department of History at the Chowgule College (Margão, Goa),
complements these recent findings in general and deepens them specifically
vis-a-vis the Brazillian mainstay of the declining Portuguese colonial
economy. Her published doctoral thesis throws up a wealth of archival
material, both from Goa and Lisbon. This will certainly help to enrich the
perception and conceptualization of a period that marked the transition to
England's domination of the world economy in the wake of its Industrial
Revolution. Portugal continued as a commercial redistributor. Its promotion
of the Brazilian snuff and tobacco leaf in India presents us with an
interesting parallel to the English promotion of Indian tea, though without
any visible repercussions of the kind of Boston Tea Party. Or did the Bahian
tobacco trade have any direct impact upon Brazilian march towards its own
declaration of independence? The near contemporary English promotion of
Indian opium to break open Chinese market is another parallel with very
different consequences from those in America. However, just like the
tobacco trade in Portuguese India, it permitted a spurt of native
participation at various levels for wuite a while.
In eight chapters of the book Philomena Siqueira Antony has tried to
contextualize her findings in the intra-colonial and intra-peripheral
frameworks of the Portuguese imperial economy in the prevailing world
economic situation. Bahian tobacco played a pivotal rule in sustaining the
Portuguese metropolitan interests by linking the capitals of its first and
second empires. It meant a new lease of life to the Portuguese Indian
economy. It also meant corresponding impact upon the Goan social habits.
Many Hindu merchants made hay while the tobacco snuff brought them hefty
income and granted them extraordinary powers to enforce their monopoly. The
enhanced intra-peripheral linkages of the two capitals had also their impact
upon the food habits and indo-Portuguese cuisine. And more: Some turns and
twists of the liberal politics in Goa and many socio-political distrubances
need to be understood also as Brazil-influenced.
While Philomena Siqueira Antony has brought a plethora of archival data to
buttress the economic interchange between the two capitals of the distant
regions of the Portuguese colonial empire, she has not ignored the
socio-political aspects, including the ostensibly discriminating treatment
by the metropolitan colonial authorities of their Brazilian and their Indian
subjects. It brings to mind the parallel of the Azoreans. Another community
made up of white settlers and with no other language than Portuguese, were
utilized frequently as Bishops for pastoring the souls in Portuguese
colonial "padroado" Church sytem in Asia. Equally or more competent Indian /
Asian natives, too much rooted in their cultures, were not regarded as
compatible or reliable for defending and promoting the white colonial
interests.
Our congratulations to the author. We hope her study will enhance the
Goan-Brazillian relations, linking their common past with new joint-ventures
in the present and future. We also look forward to more contribuition from
Philomena Siqueira Antony to the history of Goa.
Teotonio R. de Souza
http://campussocial.ulusofona.pt/
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