Norteiros (literally "Northerners") were a historical people who lived in the former Portuguese of the western littoral parts of the northern Konkan region, in the present-day Greater Bombay Metropolitan Area and the Damaon territory.
Norteiro means "northerner" in the European Portuguese language and its Indo-Portuguese creoles; the term referred to the people inhabiting the territory of the Northern Province ( Província do Norte), centred in and around the present-day Bassein (Vasai), headquartered at Fort San Sebastian of Bassein which was styled "the Court of the North" ( A Corte do Norte). It included the Bombay harbour and stood second only to the capital (metropole) of Velha Goa in south Konkan, among Portuguese East Indies colonies in Portuguese India.
Norteiro has largely fallen into disuse, the descendants are the as in the case of the Damanese of Damaon territory and the Korlaite Christians of Chaul, the natives identify as the Bombay East Indians, that is those Christians who inhabit Bassein (Vasai), Old Bombay, New Bombay and other locales in Greater Bombay. The latter are still known as Nodtheir (male), Nodtheirni (female) and Nodtheira (plural) in the Konkani language.
Culture
Except for
Dio district, which lies in the historical "Sorath" or Saurashtra (region), the remaining settlements were all within the north
Konkan region, partitioned between the union territory of Damaon, Diu & Silvassa and Maharashtra state. They were populated predominantly by native
Konkani people.
spoke a distinct Norteiro Creole language of Indo-Portuguese, it was described in detail and compared with other varieties by Rodolf Dalgado.
History
Capture of Bassein
During the period of
Peshva Brahminical rule of the Mahratta confederacy, territory of Portuguese Bombay was sacked repeatedly whenever the Portuguese refused to pay the "protection tax" to stop Mahratta raids. Under the Peshva, Mahrattas seized and occupied most of the settlements, including the territorial administrative centre headquartered at
Fort Bassein. A brother to the Peshva Brahmins,
Chimaji Appa ordered the destruction and
vandalism of nearly all Christian places in the area including Basilica of Mount Bandra (Bombay), the St. Michael's Church (Bombay) was one of the few structures spared. and many Norteiros switched loyalties, they also switched to speaking Marathi in place of
Konkani language in the
Konkan region. When the English East India Company later took over the seven islands of Bombay from the Portuguese at Goa and Anjediva, and Bassein (Vasai) and Taana (Trombay) from the Mahrattas, they called the Norteiros "Bombay Portuguese".
British era
After the involvement of England in Goan affairs as a result of the French Revolutionary Wars and the
Napoleonic Wars, England occupied
Portuguese 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 emphasising their status as subjects of the
English Crown, to distinguish them from the Goans, who were Portuguese citizens (since Pombal enfranchised Goa). These
Norteiros began calling themselves "Bombay East Indians", to identify with the English East India Company which ruled them on behalf of England.
Other communities, such as that of Kristi language creole people of Chaul, Damaon and Dio, continued to identify .
Both the Damanese and the Kristi communities are often wrongly called Norteiro people, derived from the native Marathi people. However, the Dioese, Damaonese and Kristi Norteiros share a single trait, as compared to the Bombay East Indians who are culturally different from them.
See also
