Indians in Portugal
Total population
85,000 - 120,000
Regions with significant populations
Lisbon · Porto · Algarve · São Teotónio · Pegões (Montijo) · Santarém, Benavente
Languages
Portuguese · Konkani · Tamil · Malayalam · Gujarati · English · language · Hindi
Religion
Christianity (Roman Catholicism) · Hinduism · Sikhism · Islam
Related ethnic groups
Konkani people, Non-resident Indian and Person of Indian Origin, Desi, Nepali, Indian immigration to Brazil, Indians in Spain

Indians in Portugal, including recent immigrants and people who trace their ancestry back to India, together number around 80,000 (2018 data)[1] -120,000 (2021 data).[2] Between 2018 and 2022 around 32,000 Indians entered the country, settling mostly in Lisbon and Porto.[3][4][5][6][7] They thus constitute 0.76% - 1.15% of the total population of Portugal.

Indians are also found in the Algarve, Coimbra, Guarda, Leiria, Odemira[8] and Rio Maior.[9]

The majority of Indians in Portugal consist of Goans, Gujaratis, Tamilians, Malayali people from Daman and Diu and Tamil Nadu.

The 2010s, particularly the second half of the decade, saw the start of a new immigration wave of Indians to Portugal, as well as of citizens of other South Asian nationals - namely Nepalis, Bengalis and Pakistanis - propelled mainly by the need of unskilled agricultural workers.

History

See also: Chinese people in Portugal and Slavery in Portugal

In sixteenth century southern Portugal, there were Chinese slaves but the number of them was described as "negligible", being outnumbered by East Indian, Mourisco, and African slaves.[10] Amerindians, Chinese, Malays, and Indians were slaves in Portugal but in far fewer number than Turks, Berbers and Arabs.[11] China and Malacca were origins of slaves delivered to Portugal by Portuguese viceroys.[12]

A Portuguese woman, Dona Ana de Ataíde owned an Indian man named António as a slave in Évora.[13] He served as a cook for her.[14] Ana de Ataíde's Indian slave escaped from her in 1587.[15] A large number of slaves were forcibly brought there since the commercial, artisanal, and service sectors all flourished in a regional capital like Évora.[16] Rigorous and demanding tasks were assigned to Mourisco, Chinese, and Indian slaves.[17] Chinese, Mouriscos, and Indians were among the ethnicities of prized slaves and were much more expensive compared to blacks, so high class individuals owned these ethnicities.[18]

A fugitive Indian slave from Evora named António went to Badajoz after leaving his master in 1545.[19] António was among the three most common male names given to male slaves in Evora.[20]

Antão Azedo took an Indian slave named Heitor to Evora, who along with another slave was from Bengal were among the 34 Indian slaves in total who were owned by Tristão Homem, a nobleman in 1544 in Evora. Manuel Gomes previously owned a slave who escaped in 1558 at age 18 and he was said to be from the "land of Prester John of the Indias" named Diogo.[21]

In Evora, men were owned and used as slaves by female establishments like convents for nuns. A capelão do rei, father João Pinto left an Indian man in Porto where he was picked up in 1546 by the Evora-based Santa Marta convent's nuns to serve as their slave. However, female slaves did not serve in male establishments, unlike vice versa.[22]

Japanese Christian Daimyos mainly responsible for selling to the Portuguese their fellow Japanese. Japanese women and Japanese men, Javanese, Chinese, and Indians were all sold as slaves in Portugal.[23]

Traits such as high intelligence were ascribed to Indians, Chinese, and Japanese slaves.[24][25][26]

Notable people with Indian ancestry

See also

References

  1. ^ Population of Overseas Indians (PDF).
  2. ^ "Uma comunidade indiana em Portugal diversa e dialogante na fé". SIC Notícias (in Portuguese). 2021-05-05. Retrieved 2023-09-04.
  3. ^ "Sefstat 2018" (PDF).
  4. ^ "Sefstat 2019" (PDF).
  5. ^ "Sefstat 2020" (PDF).
  6. ^ "Sefstat 2021" (PDF).
  7. ^ "Sefstat 2022" (PDF).
  8. ^ https://www.publico.pt/2021/04/30/local/noticia/infectados-trancas-porta-insalubres-alojamentos-imigrantes-1960691 (in Portuguese)
  9. ^ https://www.cm-riomaior.pt/municipio/documentacao/atas-e-deliberacoes/atas/camara/2019-3/1564-ata-n-08-de-29-04-2019/file (in Portuguese)
  10. ^ Peter C. Mancall, ed. (2007). The Atlantic World and Virginia, 1550–1624 (illustrated ed.). UNC Press Books. p. 228. ISBN 978-0-8078-3159-5. Retrieved 2014-02-02.
  11. ^ Alberto da Costa e Silva (2014). "25 Escravo ugual a negro". A manilha e o libambo: A África e a escravidão, de 1500 a 1700 (2 ed.). Nova Fronteira. ISBN 978-8520939499. Retrieved 2014-02-02.
  12. ^ Hugh Thomas (1997). The Slave Trade: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade: 1440 - 1870 (illustrated, reprint ed.). Simon and Schuster. p. 119. ISBN 0684835657. Retrieved 2014-02-02.
  13. ^ Jorge Fonseca (1997). Os escravos em Évora no século XVI (in Portuguese). Vol. 2 of Colecção "Novos estudos eborenses" Volume 2 of Novos Estudos e Eborenses. Câmara Municipal de Évora. p. 21. ISBN 9729696535. Retrieved 2014-02-02.
  14. ^ Maria Antónia Pires de Almeida (2002). Andrade Martins Conceição; Nuno Gonçalo Monteiro (eds.). A Agricultura: Dicionário das Ocupações, Nuno Luís Madureira (coord.), História do Trabalho e das Ocupações (PDF) (in Portuguese). Vol. III. Oeiras: Celta Editora. p. 162. ISBN 972-774-133-9. Retrieved 2014-02-02.
  15. ^ Jorge Fonseca (1997). Os escravos em Évora no século XVI (in Portuguese). Vol. 2 of Colecção "Novos estudos eborenses" Volume 2 of Novos Estudos e Eborenses. Câmara Municipal de Évora. p. 31. ISBN 9729696535. Retrieved 2014-02-02.
  16. ^ Jorge Fonseca (1997). Os escravos em Évora no século XVI (in Portuguese). Vol. 2 of Colecção "Novos estudos eborenses" Volume 2 of Novos Estudos e Eborenses. Câmara Municipal de Évora. p. 31. ISBN 9729696535. Retrieved 2014-02-02.
  17. ^ Jorge Fonseca (1997). Os escravos em Évora no século XVI (in Portuguese). Vol. 2 of Colecção "Novos estudos eborenses" Volume 2 of Novos Estudos e Eborenses. Câmara Municipal de Évora. p. 21. ISBN 972-96965-3-5. Retrieved 2014-02-02.
  18. ^ Jorge Fonseca (1997). Os escravos em Évora no século XVI (in Portuguese). Vol. 2 of Colecção "Novos estudos eborenses" Volume 2 of Novos Estudos e Eborenses. Câmara Municipal de Évora. p. 21. ISBN 972-96965-3-5. Retrieved 2014-02-02.
  19. ^ Jorge Fonseca (1997). Os escravos em Évora no século XVI (in Portuguese). Vol. 2 of Colecção "Novos estudos eborenses" Volume 2 of Novos Estudos e Eborenses. Câmara Municipal de Évora. p. 103. ISBN 9729696535. Retrieved 2014-02-02.
  20. ^ Jorge Fonseca (1997). Os escravos em Évora no século XVI (in Portuguese). Vol. 2 of Colecção "Novos estudos eborenses" Volume 2 of Novos Estudos e Eborenses. Câmara Municipal de Évora. p. 24. ISBN 9729696535. Retrieved 2014-02-02.
  21. ^ Jorge Fonseca (1997). Os escravos em Évora no século XVI (in Portuguese). Vol. 2 of Colecção "Novos estudos eborenses" Volume 2 of Novos Estudos e Eborenses. Câmara Municipal de Évora. p. 21. ISBN 9729696535. Retrieved 2014-02-02.
  22. ^ Jorge Fonseca (1997). Os escravos em Évora no século XVI (in Portuguese). Vol. 2 of Colecção "Novos estudos eborenses" Volume 2 of Novos Estudos e Eborenses. Câmara Municipal de Évora. p. 45. ISBN 9729696535. Retrieved 2014-02-02.
  23. ^ José Yamashiro (1989). Chòque luso no Japão dos séculos XVI e XVII. IBRASA. p. 103. ISBN 85-348-1068-0. Retrieved 14 July 2010.
  24. ^ A. C. de C. M. Saunders (1982). A Social History of Black Slaves and Freedmen in Portugal, 1441–1555. Vol. 25 of 3: Works, Hakluyt Society Hakluyt Society (illustrated ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 168. ISBN 0-521-23150-7. Retrieved 2014-02-02.
  25. ^ Jeanette Pinto (1992). Slavery in Portuguese India, 1510–1842. Himalaya Pub. House. p. 18. Retrieved 2014-02-02.
  26. ^ Charles Ralph Boxer (1968). Fidalgos in the Far East 1550–1770 (2, illustrated, reprint ed.). Oxford U.P. p. 225. ISBN 9780196380742. Retrieved 2014-02-02.
  27. ^ "Catarina Furtado tem ascendência indiana! Apresentadora descobre casa do trisavô". Maria.pt (in European Portuguese). 2019-04-24. Retrieved 2023-09-04.

External links

Indian diaspora
Immigration to Portugal
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