Bangladeshi-Portuguese relations

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Bangladeshi-Portuguese relations
Location of Bangladesh and Portugal
BangladeshBangladesh PortugalPortugal
Bangladesh Portugal

The Bangladeshi-Portuguese relations describe the intergovernmental relationship between Bangladesh and Portugal . The countries have had direct diplomatic relations since 1974.

The historical presence of the Portuguese in the Bay of Bengal since the 16th and 17th centuries is an essential point of contact in bilateral relations . The hundreds of loan words that found their way into Bengali from the Portuguese language go back to this time . Western terms like Mogul were also coined by the Portuguese. In addition, some architectural legacy has remained from that time.

With the Portuguese presence in the early 16th century, the history of the first Christian communities in the predominantly Muslim Bangladesh began, and accordingly some of the oldest Christian buildings here also go back to originally Portuguese structures. In return, the Oriental-Bengali style influenced Portugal, for example in the numerous chapels on the Portuguese Azores islands in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

In 2015, 2,571 citizens of Bangladesh were registered in Portugal, with 2,107 most of them in the capital Lisbon . There are no relevant groups of Portuguese living in Bangladesh.

history

Attack of the Mughal Empire on the Arakanese-Portuguese fortress in Chittagong in 1666

With the conquest of Malacca by Afonso de Albuquerque in 1515 , the ports of the Bay of Bengal came under the influence of the Portuguese colonial power , which gave them access to the lucrative trade in the region, especially in grain and materials. The first Portuguese to settle here were initially missionaries , especially those of the Augustinian order , and individual traders who acted on their own and not on an official basis. They acted independently of the responsible Portuguese administration in old Goa . The first Portuguese to settle here were João Coelho (1516) and Martim de Lucena (also in the second decade of the 16th century).

The relationship between the independently active Portuguese traders here and the subsequent official advances that were intended to establish Portuguese trade links with the regional powers was characterized by mutual rejection. On one of the few hills around Chittagong , by the Portuguese Porto Grande also or Satigão called it built a fortified in the 16th century trading post . Their remains can still be seen today.

Portuguese relations with the Bay of Bengal underwent a major change after the end of the Arakan empire , which was linked to Portugal, in 1666. The victorious Mughal empire took control and the up to 2,500 Portuguese in Chittagong largely left the city.

Europeans at the court of the Great Mogul Akbar I.

A Portuguese agreement with Shaista Khan , the regional governor of the Mughal empire , then assigned the Portuguese an area in the capital of the Sultanate and gave them trade privileges, provided that they did not take part in any actions against the interests of the Mughal rulers.

With the increasing influence of the British and the slow decline of the Portuguese empire, the Portuguese presence in today's Bangladesh decreased significantly, especially since the 18th century. However, individual missions survived until the beginning of the 20th century.

Bangladesh, which finally became independent at the end of 1971, was recognized by Portugal on December 16, 1974, which in turn only overcame its colonial-authoritarian Estado Novo dictatorship with the Carnation Revolution on April 25, 1974 . In 1978 the first Portuguese ambassador to Bangladesh was accredited , with his official seat in the Indian capital New Delhi.

diplomacy

Luis Gaspar da Silva , Portuguese ambassador to India, was the first Portuguese ambassador to Bangladesh to be accredited in Dhaka on May 3, 1978 . Portugal still does not have its own embassy in Bangladesh, but is double accredited there with its representative in India . There is a Portuguese honorary consulate in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka .

Bangladesh's embassy in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon is located at 30 Rua António Saldanha in the Belém district . In addition, Bangladesh does not maintain consulates in Portugal.

economy

Garment factory in Bangladesh

In 2015, Portugal exported goods worth 8.46 million euros to Bangladesh (2014: 6.27 million; 2013: 9.70 million; 2012: 6.99 million; 2011: 5.22 million) , thereof 43.8% chemical-pharmaceutical products, 36.9% machines and devices, 11.0% textiles and 3.4% fuels.

In the same period, Bangladesh delivered goods worth 36.21 million euros to Portugal (2014: 35.2 million; 2013: 32.98 million; 2012: 25.68 million; 2011: 27.64 million) , of which 79.4% clothing, 10.5% agricultural products, 3.6% optical and precision instruments and 3.4% textiles.

This made Bangladesh the 105th buyer and 69th supplier for Portuguese foreign trade in goods. In the Bangladeshi foreign trade in goods, Portugal was 46th among buyers and 63rd among suppliers.

Culture

Furniture and works of art from Bengal can be found in various Portuguese museums. a. in the Museu Municipal Santos Rocha in Figueira da Foz .

The 2006 novel Alentejo Blue by the Bengali-British author Monica Ali is set in the Alentejo region of southern Portugal .

In the ruins of the Portuguese fort at Chittagong

architecture

On a hill in Chittagong, the ruins of a Portuguese fortress can be seen, which also served as a trading post.

In the area around the capital Dhaka there are some churches and cemeteries that go back to Portuguese buildings, for example in the villages of Nagori and Toomilia, or the church in Panjora, 50 km from Dhaka, which is tended by nuns in the nearby monastery and shows various Portuguese insignia, including the inscription "Portuguese Mission from Bengal 1906" ( Missão Portuguesa de Bengala ).

The Tejgaon community in central Dhaka is home to a cemetery that has a number of Portuguese references such as names and statues of saints. The associated church of Santo Rosário , probably first built in 1677, was restored in 2000 with the help of the Portuguese Gulbenkian Foundation . It may have been part of a Portuguese garrison from the last decade of the 16th century.

Web links

Commons : Bangladeshi-Portuguese Relations  - Collection of pictures, videos, and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Overview of diplomatic relations with Portugal , diplomatic institute of the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs , accessed on May 4, 2019
  2. ↑ a b c d e Fernando Cristóvão (Ed.): Dicionário Temático da Lusofonia. Texto Editores, Lisbon / Luanda / Praia / Maputo 2006 ( ISBN 972-47-2935-4 ), p. 792
  3. ↑ a b c d Fernando Cristóvão (Ed.): Dicionário Temático da Lusofonia. Texto Editores, Lisbon / Luanda / Praia / Maputo 2006 ( ISBN 972-47-2935-4 ), p. 793
  4. ↑ Sums of the number of citizens of Bangladesh in the official immigration statistics by district , Portuguese Immigration and Border Agency SEF, accessed on March 14, 2017
  5. ↑ Website on Bangladeshi-Portuguese migration at the Portuguese Scientific Observatório da Emigração, accessed on March 14, 2017
  6. ↑ List of Portuguese representations abroad , Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, accessed on March 14, 2017
  7. ↑ Entry on Lisbon in the list of the embassies of Bangladesh ( Memento of the original from March 15, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh website, accessed March 14, 2017 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.mofa.gov.bd
  8. ^ Entry by the Embassy of Bangladesh in the Portuguese address and business directory www.empresite.pt, accessed on March 14, 2017
  9. ↑ Bilateral economic relations between Portugal and Bangladesh , Excel file retrieval from the Portuguese Chamber of Commerce AICEP , accessed on March 14, 2017