Count Ericeira's Letter of 1741 : A Recently Discovered Document on the History of Portuguese India in the Moravian Regional Archives in Brno
2016
Abstract
The present text discusses the broad context surrounding an excerpt from a letter from the fourth Count of Ericeira to the Portuguese ambassador in France, Luís da Cunha, dated 1741. Found in the Moravian Regional Archives in Brno, in the Czech Republic, this letter is an important contribution to the study of the Portuguese-Maratha wars, which began in the 1660s and lasted until the 1740s.
The significance of the document lies in its description of not very widely documented events occurring toward the end of the Portuguese-Maratha wars. Most studies end with the events of 1739, i.e., with the occupation by the Marathas of the Portuguese Northern Province (Província do Norte).