The State of India, formally, Estado da ?ndia Portuguesa,and commonly Portuguese India, was a colonial state of the Portuguese Empire, six years after the discovery of a sea route between Portugal and India, to serve as the plenipotentiary governing body of a string of Portuguese fortresses and colonies overseas. The first viceroy was Francisco de Almeida, who established his headquarters in Cochin (Cochim, Kochi). Subsequent Portuguese governors were not always of vice-roy rank. After 1510, the capital of the Portuguese viceroyalty was transferred to Goa. Until the 18th Century, the Portuguese governor in Goa had authority over all Portuguese possessions in the Indian Ocean, from southern Africa to southeast Asia. In 1752 Mozambique got its own separate government and in 1844 the Portuguese Government of India stopped administering the territory of Macau, Solor and Timor, and its authority was confined to the colonial holdings on the Malabar coast of India.At the time of British India's independence in 1947, Portuguese India was subdivided into three districts located on India's western coast: Goa; Daman (Portuguese: Dam?o) which included the inland enclaves of Dadra and Nagar Haveli; and Diu. The territories of Portuguese India were sometimes referred to collectively as Goa. Portugal lost effective control of the enclaves of Dadra and Nagar Haveli in 1954, and finally the rest of the overseas territory in December 1961, when it was taken by India after military action (although Portugal recognised Indian control only in 1975, after the Carnation Revolution and the fall of the Estado Novo regime).
Dissolution date
1961-12-19
Dissolution year
1961
Founding date
1505-08-15
Founding year
1505
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