INDIA, July 19, 2015 (The News Minute): Conventional wisdom has it that lowly-ranked sepoy Mangal Pandey became the catalyst for India’s first uprising against Western rule in 1857 after he revolted against the alleged use of cattle and pig lard smeared on bullet cartridges used in Enfield rifles issued by the East India Company. Now a sustained campaign is on to haul back the date of India’s first rebellion against Western colonialism by a good 274 years – from Barrackpore in eastern India to what is now Goa.
The campaign, which is endorsed by historians, freedom fighters, elected representatives and local residents, wants the central government to officially endorse as the first real rebellion the prolonged, defiant struggle of five south Goa villages — Cuncolim, Ambelim, Assolna, Veroda and Velim — against the Portuguese colonists which saw bloodshed and non-payment of taxes.
“The residents of the five villages, led by Cuncolim, had, beginning from 1583, defied Portuguese taxes after Christian missionaries destroyed five temples in the area to bring the villagers into submission and also killed over a dozen of our chieftains,” Oscar Martins, who traces his lineage to one of the slain chieftains, told IANS.
Much more at source.