172 
HINTS TO COIN-COLLECTORS 
Of the issues of these mint towns by far the oommonest 
met with are naturally those struck at Goa, which from 
almost the first appearance of the Portuguese in this country 
has been the capital of their possessions (commonly known as 
*' India-Portugueza"). As far back as the commencement of 
the sixteenth century, we find the Portuguese settled in Cochin, 
but with an eye on Groa as the object of their ambition. This 
town was at that time under the suzerainty of the kings of 
Bijapur, but no sooner did the great Alfonso de Albuquerque 
arrive to assume the governorship of the Portuguese Indies 
than he decided to seize it, and on the 10th February 1510, 
entering the harbour with his fleet and surprising the gar- 
rison, he made himself master of the town. Hearing shortly 
afterwards of the temporary absence of the governor, the 
King of Bijapur retook it and garrisoned it with a strong 
force of Mahomedans. These, however, held it but for a 
short time, for on Albuquerque's return in the following 
November he recovered it and it has remained the capital of 
the Portuguese possessions in India ever since. No better 
governor of a newly annexed dependency could probably 
have been found than Albuquerque, for he at once set to 
work to enlarge and fortify the place, " he established laws 
and tribunals, encouraged commerce, favoured marriages 
between the European settlers and the natives, and caused a 
mint to be erected and money to be coined in the name of 
Emmanuel, King of Portugal." From this time for upwards 
of a century the story of the Portuguese in India is one of 
gradually increasing power, while in like ratio tlie capital 
grew in importance, till in 1557 we find it raised to the 
dignity of an archbishopric. At the commencement of the 
seventeenth century the records are said to prove that in the 
city alone there were no less than 150,000 persons professing 
the Christian religion. Meanwhile, however, another power 
had been growing in the East in the Dutch, who in 1603 
blockaded Goa, but failed to take it. At the same time, by 
