Until 1752, the name India included all Portuguese possessions in the Indian Ocean, from Southern Africa to Southeast Asia, governed – either by a viceroy or governor – from its headquarters, established in Old Goa since 1510.

It may be noted that during the term of the monarchy, the title of the head of the Portuguese government in India ranged from "governor" to "viceroy".

The title of viceroy would only be assigned to members of the nobility; it was formally terminated in 1774, although it has later been given sporadically to be decisively ended after 1835, as shown below.

[3] (*) – In 1508, King Manuel I of Portugal devised a plan to partition the Portuguese empire in Asia into three separate governments or "high captaincies" – (1) Captain-Major of the seas of Ethiopia, Arabia and Persia, centered at Socotra, was to cover the East African and Arabian-Persian coasts, from Sofala to Diu; (2) Captain-Major of the seas of India, centered at Cochin, was to cover the Indian coast from Diu down to Cape Comorin.

The triarchy experiment failed – Aguiar drowned en route, while Sequeira quit the region in 1509, after his debacle at Malacca, leaving Albuquerque sole governor of the whole unpartitioned complex.