East African Goan History

Zanzibar's Goan Bandsmen

Zanzibar's Goan Bandsmen

By Selma Carvalho

Issue no 25

In 1877, urged by the British, Barghash formed an army and it is customary within British military tradition to have a band attached to battalions, in order to perform marching and ceremonial music. What is extraordinary is that in a time of colonial hierarchies defined by race, the intended band for Barghash’s army would comprise almost entirely of Goans from the west coast of India.

Tina Athaide: Forgotten Histories of Ugandan Goans

Tina Athaide: Forgotten Histories of Ugandan Goans

In conversation with Tina Athaide

Issue no. 14

Our ties to Uganda date back to 1927. My grandfather, Anthonio Athaide, was the first family member to move to Entebbe. He worked as an accountant for the Public Works Department and played cricket for the Uganda team. He married Elvina Fernandes in 1931 in Goa. She stayed back at the Athaide family home for another four years before joining Anthonio, in Entebbe, in 1935.

Bras Sousa: Goan Portuguese Consul in Zanzibar, 1892

Bras Sousa: Goan Portuguese Consul in Zanzibar, 1892

By Selma Carvalho

Issue no. 6

By every definition, elite Goans were what the Portuguese called assimilado. Except for their skin colour, they were bourgeois, metropolitan Portuguese who profoundly believed in the glory of Portugal.