dbo:abstract
- Norteiros were a historical people who lived in the former Portuguese exclaves in the western littoral parts of the northern Konkan region, in the present-day Greater Bombay Metropolitan Area and the union territory of Damaon, Diu& Silvassa. Norteiro means "northerner" in the European Portuguese language and its Indo-Portuguese creoles; the term referred to the people inhabiting the territory of the Northern Province (Província do Norte), centred in and around the present-day Bassein (Vasai), headquartered at Fort San Sebastian of Bassein which was styled "the Court of the North" (A Corte do Norte). It included the Bombay harbour and stood second only to the capital (metropole) of Velha Goa in south Konkan, among Portuguese East Indies colonies in Portuguese India. Norteiro has largely fallen into disuse, the descendants are the Luso-Indians as in the case of the Damanese of Damaon territory and the Korlaite Christians of Chaul, the natives identify as the Bombay East Indians, i.e. those Christians who inhabit Bassein (Vasai), Old Bombay, New Bombay& other locales in Greater Bombay. The latter are still known as Nodtheir (male), Nodtheirni (female)& Nodtheira (plural) in the Konkani language. (en)