( European Settlement in India, 1501-1739) The Portuguese sailor Vasco da Gama was the first European to reach India in May 1498 with his fleet of ships. Having arrived in Calicut he obtained permission from
Saamoothiri rajah ( Zamorin) to trade in the city.
Pedro Alvares Cabral was commissioned in 1500 by the king Manuel I of Portugal as ambassador to Indian and on the way to India he discovered
Brazil.
The colonial era in Inida began in 1502, when Portuguese established the first European trading center at Kollam, Kerala. In 1505 the king of Portugal appointed Don Francisco de Almeida as the first Viceroy of India followed in 1509 by Dom Afanso de Albuquerque . In 1510, Afanso de Albuquerque established an important trading presence in Goa, by conquering the city , until then dominated by Muslims. Albuquerque inaugurated the policy of marrying Portuguese soldiers and sailors with local India girls, which had as consequence a great miscegenation in Goa and other Portuguese territories in Asia, reason why still nowadays Portuguese family names such as Silva Sousa, Pereira, etc are so common in India.
