One of the most rewarding things about research is the investigative paths we find ourselves on and where they lead. On a holiday in Bangladesh earlier this year (that pre-pandemic world!) I decided to seek out some of the traces of early Western European travel to those parts. My explorations led me to track down this beautiful ruin:

Portugal Bhobon, Chittagong

Bangladesh, and Bengal more broadly, is perhaps better known for its encounters with the English. It would be at the 1757 Battle of Plassey, where the army of the East India Company fought with that of the Nawab, or ruler, of Bengal, Siraj al-Daula. The defeat of the Nawab would come to be seen as marking the beginning of the British Empire in India. 

Yet the English were not the first Western Europeans to reach the region. It was the Portuguese explorer, Vasco Da Gama, who was the first to reach India by sea around the Cape of Good Hope, landing in Calicut on the south Indian coast in 1498. Meanwhile, the first Western European to reach Bengal was Italian traveller Ludovico de Varthema, who reached the town of Satgaon on the banks of the Hooghly river in 1505. Varthema’s travelogue of his experiences would be translated into English and numerous other European languages through the 16^th century.

The first Europeans to seek to settle as a group in Bengal were the Portuguese, who formed a settlement in the key port city of Chittagong, the second largest city of present-day Bangladesh. Here they carved both a mercantile and religious presence, the signs of which can be found to this day. These include the area of Old Chittagong known as Firingi Bazaar (Firingi means foreigner, the term locals used for the Portuguese) and the Portuguese surnames of local Bangladeshi Catholics. 

Portugal Bhobon, Chittagong 

My visit through Firingi Bazaar and inquiries among locals did not lead me to any physical remnants of the early modern settlers. Indeed, the ruin in this picture is perhaps the only surviving Portuguese building from that early period in the city. Set on the leafy grounds of a government college, the state of its ruin was somewhat saddening for the literary historian in me. There are no signs to mark its historical significance; the only signs state that the building is unsafe and out of bounds. However, locals refer to the building as Portugal Bhobon, or Portugal Building.

In its decaying skeletal form the building is something of a palimpsest of its pasts. The doorways, windows and distinctly European battlements recall its Portuguese architectural origins, the pipework on its façade and balconies to its rear the additions of later years. The tangled undergrowth and moss serve as a mark of the progression of time and tradition while the memories of past settlers fade.

Despite the tangible markers of history, the absence of any sign did make me wonder whether this ruin was indeed a monument of an early Portuguese presence in Bangladesh. Had the clues I had followed led me to the right place? Was this an authentic early modern Portuguese ruin, or was this simply another aged building in disrepair? Portugal Bhobon was the first of several threads I followed on my investigations. The subsequent trails would help weave my queries into a more coherent tapestry of this fascinating history. But you will have to wait for my next blog to find out more…