I recently made a few trips to India, and drinking chai (tea) was definitely a highlight. [Here's an interesting post about the...

Today, August 9, is Singapore's National Day. The country is celebrating 59 years of independence a few days before the close of the 2024...

There are many famous naval battles in history: the Battle of Midway in World War II, the Battle of Trafalgar during the Napoleonic Wars,...

In a post a few years ago, I wrote about the fact that when the Portuguese first arrived in India , they were surprised to encounter...

With the G20 wrapping up today in New Delhi, the world's eyes are on India. While the Portuguese history of Goa, India's smallest and...

The Catholic Church's World Youth Day that just ended on August 6 saw thousands of pilgrims from all across Asia travel to Portugal. One...

The mango is considered the 'king of fruits' in India and features prominently in its ancient culture, from religion to art to poetry....

Sri Lanka, formerly called Ceylon, has been known to much of the rest of the Old World for over 2000 years, from the Greeks, Romans,...

My last post on the 15th century Portuguese merchant-spy Pêro da Covilhã prompted quite a bit of debate among some readers around how the...

In the history of the Portuguese Age of Discoveries, the focus has been on the maritime exploits of the day, with Bartolomeu Dias sailing...

Kerala, a state on the southwest coast of India, is perhaps not particularly well-known in the rest of the world. I first heard about it...

The Codex Casanatense, or Códice Casanatense in Portuguese, is a set of 16th century Portuguese illustrations. Likely the work of an...

Vasco da Gama led the first Portuguese expedition to India, setting sail from Lisbon on July 8, 1497 and arriving in Calicut only on May...

Indian cuisine should perhaps be more accurately referred to in the plural: there are so many regional differences, from seafood-heavy...

In their quest for spices, Europeans raced to be the first to reach India. The Portuguese won, but this was merely the start of their...