Divinity Atlas

Sacred Correspondences
Sources

Goa Inquisition (Wikipedia)

Wikipedia, accessed 2026

Citation Formats

General Reference

APA Style

BibTeX

A reference encyclopedia article on the Portuguese Inquisition's tribunal at Goa, established 1560 and opening in 1561 under King John III of Portugal and Cardinal Henrique, with Aleixo Dias Falcao as its first inquisitor, targeting New Christians suspected of Judaizing, Goan Catholics suspected of crypto-Hindu practice, and Hindus, Muslims and non-Portuguese Catholic missionaries. Reports roughly 16,000 to 16,202 persons brought to trial between 1561 and 1774, historians' execution counts converging near 57 people burned at the stake in person and 64 more condemned in effigy after dying in custody, 71 recorded public autos-da-fe with the last held in February 1773, and 4,046 further sentences short of execution. Notes that most tribunal records were destroyed by Portuguese officials at the 1812 final abolition, and that scholarly assessment is contested between Black Legend-influenced popular accounts and historians arguing for more measured figures.

Facts
Assessment
Reliability Tier
1
Reference-encyclopedia tier 3, drawing on named historians (Machado, Saraiva, Priolkar) for its trial and execution counts, and its own text names the Black Legend versus revisionist dispute over those counts rather than concealing it, which is why the entity's death-toll facts below are recorded as debated rather than attested.
Citation
Publisher
Wikipedia 1
URL
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goa_Inquisition 1
Source Type
reference 1
Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Portugal, Countries

This source names Portugal directly: "opening in 1561 under King John III of Portugal and Cardinal Henrique, with Aleixo Dias Falcao as its first inquisitor, targeting New Christians suspected of Judaizing, Goan Catholics suspected of..."

Portuguese, Languages

This source names Portuguese directly: "A reference encyclopedia article on the Portuguese Inquisition's tribunal at Goa, established 1560 and opening in 1561 under King John III of Portugal and Cardinal Henrique, with Aleixo Dias Falcao..."

Sources
Claims Backed By This Source (62 claims)

This source backs 62 claims across the atlas. As facts: 51 well-attested, 2 scholarly debate. As cited relationships: 3 holds, 4 connected. Plus 2 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.

Disposition By Topic

  • Religious Events, 35 claims: 28 well-attested, 2 scholarly debate, 4 connected, 1 general references.
  • Spread Events, 25 claims: 21 well-attested, 3 holds, 1 general references.
  • Articles, 2 claims: 2 well-attested.
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.

View At A Past Year

The atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.