Norteiro people
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Norteiro people are people who live in the former Portuguese exclaves in the western littoral of South Asia; they included islands such as Bom Bahia (modern Mumbai), the Salsette, Dharavi Island, New Bombay, Chaul-Revdanda, Baçaim, and Daman and Diu as their homes across the Gulf of Cambay.
The word Norteiro, meaning "Northerner," comes from the Portuguese. The term refers to the city of Baçaim, which was styled the "Court of the North" and stood second only to the city of Goa (modern Old Goa) among Portuguese possessions in South Asia. The term has since fallen into obscurity, since the people now call themselves either East Indian, Koli or Damanese.
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[edit] Culture
Except for Diu, which lies in the historical "Sorath" or Saurashtra, the remaining settlements we're all within the North Konkan region of Maharashtra. They we're populated predominantly by native Marathi people. This was forcefully converted to Christianity. The Marathi spoke Marathi language, but with a lot of loan words from Portuguese, Arabic and other languages.
Although they adopted Christianity, they were never assimilated into mainstream Portuguese culture. They also retained most of their pre-Christian practises to a large extent. They didn't intermarry with the white Portuguese, largely due to the prevalent caste system. They instead intermarried with the Marathi people, who (either way) belonged to the same caste.
[edit] History
[edit] Conquest
When the Maratha Empire invaded the Konkan, they seized most of these settlements, including the capital, Bacaim, however, the Marathas didn't discriminate among the two religious groups and many Norteiros switched loyalties to the Marathas. When the English later took over these lands from the Portuguese (Bombay) and the Marathas, they called the Norteiros "Bombay Portuguese".
[edit] Occupation
After the involvement of England in Goan affairs as a result of the French Revolutionary Wars & the Napoleonic Wars, England occupied Goa for several years, ostensibly to protect it from a French takeover. The Goans were encouraged to migrate to Bombay and find employment. Because of the influx of Goans, called "Goan Portuguese" by the English, the "Bombay Portuguese" decided to rename themselves with a name emphasizing their status as subjects of their English rulers, to distinguish them from the Goans, who were Portuguese citizens (since Pombal enfranchised Goa). These Norteiros called themselves "East Indians" in honor of the East India Company which ruled them until recently on behalf of England.
Other communities, such as that of Chaul, Damao and Dio, continued to identify themselves as Norteiros.
Both the Damanese and the Kristi communities are called Norteiro people by Portuguese, derived from the native Marathi people.
