The Situational Rivalry: The British Colonial Interventions in the Indo-Portuguese Heritage in the North Konkan (1774-1947)

The Portuguese Estado da India and the English East India Company were engaged in a series of confrontations from the beginning of the 17th century in India till an alliance treaty between the Portuguese and English monarchies in 1661 made them neighbours in a contested coastal territory in the North Konkan region of Maharashtra. Situational conflicts over territorial, religious, taxation matters continued between them until the extinction of the Portuguese Province of the North (Província do Norte) in the hands of Marathas in 1739. Before the Portuguese could realise their plan to reconquer their lost territory, the English East India Company had occupied it by 1774 only to emerge hegemonic after subduing the Maratha Confederacy in 1818. How the Portuguese structures and monuments were treated – first in the Maratha and the subsequent British period –, how the English perceived the Portuguese colonial remains and heritage in the North Konkan from the latter half of the 18th century to the first half of the 20th century, and what was their response to the demand and need for heritage preservation of the monuments of Indo-Portuguese origin in the North Konkan are briefly dealt with in this article. A methodology of conducting detailed archaeological fieldwork and consulting primary and secondary Portuguese, Maratha and British period documents and reports is adopted for this purpose.