In order to favor expansion of Christianity: the conversion of the "minors" in Goa (1540-1606)
Minors; conversion; Jesuits; Goa
Goa, located on the west coast of India, became a Portuguese military conquest in 1510.
Historiography has demonstrated the role of the expansion of the Catholic faith as one of the bases of support of the Portuguese power in Goa, in addition to the military and administrative apparatus. Indeed, the Portuguese intended to establish a "Christian hegemony" in Goa through the action of the religious orders and the construction of a broad parish network. Considering that the "minors" were not forgotten by the Portuguese Christian colonizing project and were subject to attention and discipline by ecclesiastical and royal institutions, we will investigate the strategies adopted to encourage and coerce the "minors" born in the State of India to convert, with emphasis on the action of the Jesuits of St. Paul’s College.