Souls, Spices And Sex : The Struggle For European Ascendancy In Portuguese India 1510 – 1961

This book is about Afonso de Albuquerque’s grand dream of creating in Asia a community of people who would be loyal to the Portuguese crown not just politically, but emotionally as well. Albuquerque had conceived a three pronged attack on Goanidentity : conversion to Christianity, annihilation of the native language and the mixing of the blood. Once these three roots of identity - religion, language and race - were severed, Albuquerque expected Goans to be a lost people, naturally gravitating towards a Portuguese identity.