Historical-cultural context of the India missions: 16th-17th centuries
Abstract
The aim of this study is to analyze the political, geographical, cultural, and religious areas of the Portuguese Empire in India during the 16th and the 17th centuries. Particular emphasis will be placed on the overall heterogeneity that characterized the Portuguese Empire in the East, mainly the Indian subcontinent. More specifically, I shall take a closer look at these societies, the way in which the Portuguese settled and interacted with the autochthonous populations, as well as the many and at times subtle ways in which the latter, either willingly or reluctantly, were being westernized. I shall then conclude with an analysis of the Jesuit Missions in India, particularly in the Malabar region, since it was the stronghold of the Society of Jesus on the Indian subcontinent, the irradiating point from which European presence made itself known, religiously as well as socioeconomically, throughout the area and beyond.
Key words: India, Empire Portuguese, Christianity, mission.
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