Portuguese Jewish Genealogy in India

Introduction to Portuguese Jews in India

Portuguese Jews played a significant role in trade and diplomacy in early modern India. They spanned various administrations including British, Dutch, Danish, Portuguese, French and Indian,

An Incomplete Timeline of Portuguese Jews and New Christians in India, 1498-1786

  • 1498: Vasco da Gama arrives in India, opening the sea route from Europe to Asia
  • 1500: First Portuguese settlement established in Cochin, where they encounter an existing Jewish community.
  • 1505: Estado Português da Índia (Portuguese State of India) established with headquarters in Cochin.
  • 1510: Portuguese establish a colony in Goa.
  • 1532: Garcia de Orta, a New Christian physician, settles in Goa.
  • 1543: Jerónimo Dias executed as a Jew in Goa.
  • 1565: Portuguese Inquisition introduced in Goa.
  • 1568-1569: Several New Christians, including Catarina da Horta and Gonçalo Rodrigues, accused of judaizing in Goa.
  • 1598-1602: João Nunes Baião accused of judaizing in Goa.
  • 1620-1621: Danish Fort Dansborg established at Tranquebar, potentially offering a new trading opportunity for Portuguese Jews.
  • 1662: Catherine of Braganza’s dowry includes Bombay, transferring it to English control.
  • 1663: Dutch capture Cochin from the Portuguese
  • 1673-1739: French establish colonies in India (Chandernagore, Pondicherry, Yanam, Mahe, Karikal)
  • 1682: Abraham Navarro, a Sephardic Jew, begins working as a translator for the English East India Company.
  • 1685: Moses Pereyra de Paiva visits Cochin and wrote “Notisias dos Judeos de Cochim” See also.
  • 1689: Abraham Navarro helps save the English colony of Bombay from Mughal emperor Aurangzeb through diplomacy.
  • 1692: Death of Abraham Navarro in Asia.
  • Early 18th century: Sephardic Jewish diamond merchants establish themselves in Madras to trade diamonds from Golconda.
  • 1709: Tombstone of Isaac Abendana Sardo in Madras, indicating an established Jewish presence.
  • 1763: Tombstone of Solomon Franco in Madras.
  • 1786: Moses de Castro, the last Jewish merchant, leaves Madras after the Golconda diamond vein is exhausted.

Portuguese Jews in early British India

Origins of British India

The English – later British Empire – in Asia and Africa began with the dowry of the Portuguese Catherine of Braganza in 1662, when she married Charles II. Her dowry included the Seven Islands of Bombay in India, Tangier in Morocco and trading rights in Brazil and the East Indies.

Bombay (Mumbai) and Abraham Navarro

The English colony of Bombay was threatened with destruction by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in 1689, but was saved through the diplomacy of Abraham Navarro, a Sephardic Jew working for the East India Company. Had the colony been destroyed it seems unlikely that the English would have been able to re-establish themselves in India, and the whole history of the world might have been different.

Fort St. George / Madras (Chennai)

The city of Madras (Chennai) was later built around Fort St. George. This settlement, run by the East India Company, was a base for Sephardic merchants trading coral from Tunisia, normally processed in Livorno, with diamonds from Golconda. A single trade took three years!

Diamond Trade and Sephardic Merchants

Sephardic Jewish diamond merchants established themselves in Madras to trade diamonds from Golconda. According to S. Muthiah in Madras Miscellany, they exported diamonds to England, and imported silver, rough and polished coral and pearls. The Madras council consisted of three English, three Jews and three Hindus.

Key Resources and Archives for British India

Synagogues and Cemeteries

A synagogue was reported to be in Coral Merchant Street. Coral from Tunis and pearls from the Arabian Sea were imported, and Golconda diamonds exported.

There was a synagogue and cemetery near the northern end of Mint Street in Madras. Surviving tombstones were removed to a ‘Jewish corner’ in the Lloyd’s Road cemetery in 1983 to make way for a school. Old surviving tombstones belonged to:

  • Jaques (James) de Paivia (which disappeared)
  • Isaac Sardo (1709). This is Isaac Sardo Abendana
  • Abraham Salomons (1745) Ashkenazi
  • Solomon Franco (1763).

International Jewish Cemetery Project (Chennai, formerly Madras)

Below I have transcribed the full text of these individuals from: List of Inscriptions on Tombs Or Monuments in Madras Possessing Historical Or Archaeological Interest, published in 1905 by Julian James Cotton. The Elihu Yale listed below gave his name to Yale University.

Cotton writes:

The cemetery is at the Memorial Hall end of Mint Street. Urquhart calls it the Hebrew burying ground at Hoghill. This curious name has not survived but there is a Hogtown in the Eurasian quarter of Vellore. A large spreading tree in this cemetery has caught hold of what is an apparent gravestone and lifted it bodily in the air. At Agra is a similar phenomenon of a “skyed tombstone.”

JAQUES DE PAIVA

661. 17th Sept 1687. JAQUES DE PAIVA. A.S. Do Beinventurado Baraon JAQUES DE PAIVA faleseo em 10 de Tisri 5548, ano a crisaõ do mundo, correspondeo a 17 Setembro 1687.

James Paiva or Pavia is mentioned as “married” in a list of freemen living in Fort St. George in 1686. His widow kept house for Elihu Yale during the latter years of his Governorship [1687 to 1692]. Madam Heironima Pavia is always called a Portuguese Jewess. She lies buried at the Cape of Good Hope, beside her child Charles Yale, styled son of the former Governor of Madras, and it is recorded on her tombstone that the mother came from India to be buried by her little one’s side, anno 1712. (Pennat’s Tour in Wales 1. 401. The reference is confusing) Elihu Yale occupied with this lady and Mrs Nicks one of the old houses which may still be seen on the bank of the Cooum between Government House and the General Hospital. The houses stand back from the little frequented road which runs through Napier Park and along the side of the river at Chintadripet Bridge. There are the remains of stone and brick work which show that the gardens were once very extensive (see Nos. 15 and 614). Jaques de Paiva, I. Domingo and De Porte, “Hebrew merchants,” were among the Aldermen of Madras in 1688.

ISAAC ABENDANA SARDO

662. 18th May 1709. ISAAC ABENDANA SARDO. Here lies the body of ISAAC ABENDANA SARDO of Madras, Hebrew merchant, who died the 10th of May anno 1709, in the 47th year of his age. (Coat of Arms.)

Mr. Abendana’s widow is referred to in the following general letter of Governor Harrison and Council  to the Court of Directors. Dated September 16th, 1713: “The design of creating a charity school or schools at this place is a very noble one, and worthy of the Honourable Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. We will not only be ready to adjust them with the power you have given us, but also with our purses; and do not doubt but many of our inhabitants will do the same, if the persons they send out are of tempers and qualifications fit for the undertaking. But we hope they will be English and not foreigners. The Danish missionaries have not wanted for our assistance on all occasions, though we must still continue of opinion that they spend a great deat of the Society’s money to little or no purpose; and though there be some good men among them there is one very turbulent person, of whose principles you may please to judge by his contriving the escape of Mr. Abendana’s widow from her creditors here to Tranquebar and marrying her though a Jew to a Christian by the way.” The turbulent missionary was probably J. G Bövingh, whose acts and whose books troubled Fenger a great deal in writing his history of the Tranquebar Mission.

ABRAHAM SALOMONS

663. 5th June 1745. ABRAHAM SALOMONS. Here lieth the body of ABRAHAM SALOMONS. His diligence, industry, honesty and punctuality in all his dealings justly gained him the reputation of a good merchant; his courtesy and benevolence to all degrees of mankind made him to be both belover and respected. After a course of XIX years residence in this place, he departed this life on the v June of the year MDCCXLV of the Christian Æra. David and Solomon Salomons in public testimony and regard to the memory of their deceased brother caused this monument to be erected.

The name of the Salomons’ firm crops up in the correspondence of the Nabob of Arcot.

SOLOMON FRANCO

664. 11th May 1763. SOLOMON FRANCO. The body of Mr. SOLOMON FRANCO, a native of Leghorn, and eminent Hebrew merchant of Madras, lies under this stone. He died on the 18th of the month of Yiar, A.M. 5523 (or the 11th May 1763).

Several lines in Hebrew precede.

Recommended Books

  • Francesca Trivellato, The Familiarity of Strangers: The Sephardic Diaspora, Livorno, and Cross-cultural Trade in the Early Modern Period
  • Gedalia Yogev, Diamonds and Coral: Anglo-Dutch Jews and Eighteenth-Century Trade
  • The Worlds of the East India Company edited by H. V. Bowen et al

India Office Archives

The India Office archives in the British Library are a vast resource. Key collections include:
· Court Minutes of the East India Company
· Home Miscellaneous
· General ledgers and cash journals
· Miscellanies
· Fort St George factory records

Portuguese Jews in Dutch India

Dutch colonies in India were not as important to them as the Dutch East Indies, today’s Indonesia. The Netherlands’ territory in India was divided into the governorships of Dutch Ceylon and Dutch Coromandel, the commandership of Dutch Malabar, and the directorates of Dutch Bengal and Dutch Suratte (Surat).

Portuguese Jews in Danish India

Fort Dansborg was established by Danish admiral Ove Gjedde in 1620-1621. The fort played a key role in the development of European trade with the Coromandel Coast, especially the cloth trade, although the settlement was underfunded. Situated at Tharangambadi (formerly Tranquebar) the fort was about 280km south of the English base at Fort St George / Madras.

Portuguese New Christians in Portuguese India

Estado Português da Índia

The Estado Português da Índia was established in 1505 at Cochim (Cochin). The headquarters was later moved to Goa. The Estado covered all of Portugal’s Indian Ocean territories from Mozambique in the west to south-east Asia in the east.

Useful resource: Portuguese Trade in Asia under the Habsburgs, 1580–1640 by James C. Boyajian

Goa: New Christian Physicians and Inquisition Records

The Portuguese established a colony in Goa in 1510. Several New Christian physicians ended up in Goa in the 16th Century. The Inquisition was introduced into Goa in 1565.

Archives from the period of Portuguese rule can be found at the Directorate of Archives & Archaeology Goa (DAA): http://www.daa.goa.gov.in/

Note: There has been criticism of the DAA, including concerns about proper conservation of items and language barriers.

The Xavier Centre of Historical Research is a Jesuit-run institution in Goa interested in historic research: https://www.facebook.com/xchr.goa

The Mhamai archive in the Xavier Center of Historical Research, Goa, is another valuable resource.

List of people connected with Goa who were accused of judaising by the Portuguese Inquisition:

Diogo Soares 03/02/1558 – 21/05/1561
Estevão Lopes 12/08/1560 – 10/06/1561
Isabel Dias 11/02/1561 – 03/03/1561
Catarina da Horta 04/11/1568 – 25/09/1569
Lopo Soares 12/08/1560 – 17/09/1565
Cristóvão de Castro 06/08/1579
Jácome de Olivares 12/12/1559 – 10/07/1561
Ana de Oliveira 26/02/1558 – 28/04/1561
Clara Lopes 12/08/1560 – 16/03/1561
Leonor Fernandes 15/02/1558 – 20/07/1561
João Nunes Baião 3/6/1598-26/7/1602
António Fonseca 13/3/1628-13/3/1628
Guiomar de Oliveira 23/2/1558-21/5/1561
Isaac Almosnino 21/01/1617-17/02/1618
Gonçalo Rodrigues 26/10/1568 – 20/07/1569
Pedro Henriques de Guevara 27/04/1645 – 25/02/1650

Cochin (Kochi)

Cochin was the centre of the Indian spice trade. The first Portuguese settlement in India was established in Cochin in 1500. When the Europeans arrived they found a small but long-established Jewish community, and it appears that European Sephardim established links with them.

List of names of people with connections to Cochin who were arrested by the Portuguese Inquisition:

Simão Nunes 04/11/1558 – 10/07/1561
Luís Rodrigues 12/11/1558-10/7/1561
Jácome de Olivares 12/12/1559 – 10/07/1561
Leonor Caldeira 11/08/1560 – 16/03/1561
Grácia Lopes 12/08/1560 – 07/07/1561
Maria Nunes 12/08/1560 – 10/07/1561
Maria Rodrigues 12/08/1560 – 10/07/1561
Manuel Rodrigues 10/10/1560 – 16/03/1561
Pedro Vaz 25/09/1576 – 19/12/1579

Sephardic Jews in French India

French colonies in India included Chandernagore (1673), Pondicherry (1674), Yanam (1723), Mahe (1725), and Karikal (1739). Presumably there was a Sephardic presence in the French colonies, but living as Catholics rather than Jews.

Key Figures in Portuguese-Jewish History in India

Abraham Navarro

Abraham Navarro was a Jew living in London in 1682, employed by the English East India Company as a translator. He played a crucial role in agreeing a truce with the Mughals in India and in early trade negotiations with the Chinese. He died in Asia in 1692.

His work has been studied by Walter J. Fischel in “Abraham Navarro – Jewish Interpreter and Diplomat in the Service of the English East India Company (1682-1692)”.

It’s unclear what languages he was translating, possibly Portuguese, and maybe an Indian language or Arabic.

Another Abraham Navarro in Amsterdam in 1627:

  • This Abraham Navarro was the alias for Rodrigo Fernandes.
  • He was married to Violante Nunes, sister of Jozef Nahemias (alias Gaspar Nunes Torres).
  • He had a brother called David and an oldest son called Izak.

Garcia de Orta

Garcia de Orta was a doctor who escaped to India in 1532, settling in Goa. He was unhappily married to his relative Brianda de Solis.

Genealogical Resources

Archives and Record Collections

Inquisition Records and Victim Lists

The Torre de Tombo offers a bibliography, including João Delgado Figueira’s illuminated index of victims’ names.

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