This book is about Afonso de Albuquerque’s grand dream of creating in Asia a community of people who would be loyal to the Portuguese crown not just politically, but emotionally as well.
Albuquerque had conceived a three pronged attack on Goan identity: conversion to Christianity, annihilation of the native language and the mixing of the blood.
Once these three roots of identity – religion, language and race – were severed, Albuquerque expected Goans to be a lost people, naturally gravitating towards a Portuguese identity.