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History Optional PYQ Master Pack · Model answer

Highlight the features of the Portuguese colonial enterprise.

  • UPSC 2024
  • Economy and Society in the 16th and 17th Centuries

The Portuguese were the first European power to establish a sustained presence on the Indian coast, and their enterprise was distinctive precisely because it fused commerce, religion and state coercion in a way no earlier or later trading power replicated.

You are reading the opening of the model answer. The full answer is part of the History Optional PYQ Master Pack.

What the full answer covers

  • Armed Trade and the Cartaz System
  • Estado da Índia: A Network of Fortified Ports, not a Territorial Empire
  • The Missionary and Religious Dimension
  • Commercial Character and Economic Impact
  • Contrast with the Later Trading Companies

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