page_title: Casa da Índia
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Casa da Índia / History
caption_attribution_description: English: 16th-century Engraving of Lisbon, Portugal. Português: Gravura da cidade de Lisboa cerca de 1572.
context_page_description: The Casa da Índia was a Portuguese state-run commercial organization founded during the Age of Discovery, charged with the regulation of international trade and the administration of the Portuguese Empire's territories, colonies, and factories across India, Africa, and the rest of Asia. Central to the Casa da Índia's objectives was the establishment and protection of a Portuguese mare clausum in the Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, Arabian sea, and the Indies. It was founded by King Manuel I of Portugal in 1500 to direct Portugal's monopoly of the spice trade and to manage royal policy for Portuguese India. Following 1503, it absorbed the Casa da Guiné e Mina, an organization founded by Prince Henry the Navigator in 1443, which operated under a similar mandate for Portuguese Africa, thus making the Casa da Índia responsible for the regulation of all Portuguese imperial trade, the administration of Portuguese trade posts and military bases in Asia and Africa, and protection of the Portuguese Crown's commercial interests.
caption: Ribeira Palace (on the right), where the Casa da Índia was headquartered, and its naval yards (on the left), in 1575.
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