Pockets of Luso-Asians of the Indian subcontinent existed in Anjediva, Velha Goa, Damaon, Dio district, St Mary's islands of Mangalore, Bombay (Mumbai), Korlai Fort (Chaul), Vasai (Bassein), Silvassa, Cape Comorin, and Fort Cochin.

They were named as such in the process of their religious conversion to Western Christianity by Portuguese missionaries in the sixteenth century; this prevented discrimination among the converts.

[4] In the 16th century, a thousand years after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, the Portuguese became the first European power to begin trading in the Indian Ocean.

In the early 16th century, they set up their trading posts (factories) throughout the coastal areas of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, with their capital in Goa in South West India on the Malabar Coast.

Korlai is central to a small thriving community of Indo-Portuguese Christians, settled for nearly 500 years on the western coast of India at Chaul near Mumbai.

The small surviving community of a 1,600 strong population is an excellent example of the cultural diversity, integrity and the extensive trade links of historical India.

The place also boasts to be an area where Christian, Hindus, Muslims & Jews have been living together in harmony since centuries within the same region & yet proudly relate themselves as Indians today.

Many signs in Portuguese are still visible over shops and administrative buildings in Goan cities like Panjim, Margão and Vasco da Gama.

Those Luso-Goans of noble descent have a well-documented family history and heritage recorded and maintained in various archives in Portugal and Goa.

During the absolute monarchy, Luso-Goan nobles enjoyed the most privileged status in Goa and held the most important offices.

[citation needed] With the introduction of the Pombaline reforms in the 1750s and then the constitutional monarchy in 1834, the influence of the nobles decreased substantially.

The Portuguese mestiços were allowed to remain under Dutch rule and even thrived during the subsequent British occupation and later independence.

Records from the Travancore era mention a place called Sandandare located west of Kazhakoottam and Chempazhanthy.

There are also Catholic families with Portuguese surnames in Kochi, Kannur, Tellicherry, Kollam and Calicut (no longer in Mahé).

Bondashil, located in the Badarpur district of South Assam, had a Portuguese settlement of about 40 families back in the 17th century.

In the decades following the formation of Pakistan many Goan left for better economic opportunities in the West or the Persian Gulf countries.

Alfredo Nobre da Costa, who was briefly Prime Minister of Portugal in 1978, was of partial Goan descent on his father's side.