Portuguese Maps of Mangalore fort and settlement
- Alan Machado
- Aug 31, 2024
- 5 min read
Updated: Mar 22
The 1635 map of the Portuguese fort settlement in Mangalore appears in Antonio Bocarro’s Livro das plantas de todas as fortalezas, cidades, e povoações do Estado da Índia Oriental (Book of the plans of all the fortresses, cities, and towns of the State of Oriental India). Boccaro was the Chronicler of the Estado da India. Pedro Barreto de Resende, Secretary to the Viceroy, played a central role in the production of the 48 maps contained in the book. These maps supplemented Bocarro’s written description of the Portuguese Estado da India at a critical period of contraction as it reeled under attacks from neighbouring states. Two copies of Boccaro’s book were sent to Lisbon to give the king an up-to-date assessment of the defences of the Estado.
The maps of the Livro das plantas contain navigational directions and a wealth of detailed information of about the fortifications, bridges, wells etc of the fortresses and neighboring towns that would help formulate a military and financial strategy for their defence. The thesis analyses this information by examining minute details that would have been known to strategists in Lisbon. They help in studying Bocarro’s map of the Forteleza de Mangalore, a secondary category fort of importance to the Estado da India.
The settlement occupies the central position in the map with the fortress located at the bottom right corner, on the right bank of the River Netravati where it meets the River Gurpur before both flow through the bar into the Arabian Sea. The bar (banco) lies between two narrow strips of land, Ullal on the south and Bengre on the north, that separate the rivers from the sea. The shallow region, a danger to larger ships navigating the bar, is identified by dots. It is laid out in the form of a square facing the riverfront. The wall encloses it on three sides, the northern end touching the shore of the Gurpur and the southern that of the Netravathi. Four towers with canons guard the wall separating it from the town of Banghar. A small steam, which could be crossed by a small bridge, separates the settlement from the town. The walls on the eastern and southern sides, as explained in the following paragraphs, are identified as being of weaker construction with smaller towers. In earlier maps (1569 and Albernaz), the wall is shown incomplete, only on the side facing Bhangar, and without towers.
The fort itself, built in the shape of a square, represents a transitional period between medieval and early modern fortification. Like the other maps in the book, the colour pink is used for fortifications. The forts site on the right bank of the Netravati allowed it to guard the passage of rice cargo from the rich rice growing areas further upriver around Bantwal. It also directly faced Ullal with which it had a long-standing rivalry.
Between the southern fort wall and the settlement wall, there is a gap which gives access to the Netravati. It is probably a landing spot for small boats.
Two shades of pink are used in the depiction of military architecture: rose and orange pink. The choice of pink may be connected to Goa’s red laterite stone. Rose pink is generally used for the external faces of walls and towers. Individual stones are carefully drawn over this in maroon. Internal walls, in contrast, are covered in dashes. Orange pink walls are left without any overdrawing. The tower tops are also orange pink indicating they were built of timber, not stone. The orange pink walls could therefore represent weaker constructions, perhaps of wood and packed earth, not yet been properly fortified and incapable of withstanding significant battering. It would therefore have conveyed to Lisbon where the fort needed strengthening and give an indication of the funds required to do so.
The northern and eastern walls are broad. Steps from within the fort allow access to the walkway on the north wall on which some rooms have been built. On this side, is a short outer wall which a contemporary map drawn by Teixeira Albernaz shows as a timber palisade. This is possibly due to Albernaz using Manuel Godinho de Erédia map (Lyvro de Plantaforma das Fortalezas da India c. 1620) for reference. Earlier maps (Faria, Atiade) also show a wooden palisade, though in the 1569 map the opening faces the sea, not the settlement. In Bocorro’s map it is shown as double walled structure of weaker construction with a thatched roof. It adjoins the main fort wall on the side facing the sea and ends with a door opening opposite the main entry gate to the fort. It would appear to have housed soldiers guarding the entrance.
Three churches lie within the settlement. Bocarro gives no names, but others do. Both 1569, and Albernaz name them as the Se, Sao Franscico, and Nossas Senora.[2] Bocarro identifies the churches by drawing crosses above their steeples and also on the ground before them. Bocarro depicts them with a single nave topped with a cross, with a steeple and cloister attached. The same iconography is used for the only building within the fort, a two-storeyed one. Perhaps it was used by the factor, and had a private chapel. A well is prominently depicted inside the fort.
The settlement contains many houses with tiled roofs, built in seven clusters. Each cluster is built in the form of a rectangle enclosing numbers of trees within. A single tree stands at the centre of the settlement. Close by stands a pillory.
Parts of Ullal and Bhangar are shown beyond the settlement. Two mosques are indentified, one in Banghar and the other in Ullal by a crescent drawn above the building. They are painted pink, a color typically associated with fortifications, possibly to hint at the military relevance of neighbouring Muslim-identified regions, and populations loyal to a rival sovereign. Banghar is enclosed by a wall, but not of stone construction. Two large tanks, constructed in a square, are depicted beyond either side of the eastern wall.
[1] This article draws on the following thesis for much of its information: Sima Krtalic. 2018. Materials and production methods in 17th-century Portuguese illuminated cartography: a study of the maps in António Bocarro’s “Book of the Plans of all Fortresses, Towns and Villages of the East Indies. Doctoral thesis, Universidade de Evora.
[2] Peitro della Valle names them Rosario, Sao Francisco, and La Misericordia. There were two Franciscan friars at Sao Francisco and a vicar in charge of the other two.
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