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Two Indian women are using the heat and sunshine to dry chillies in front of their house. The photograph was taken near the town of Margao on the south-west coast of India, in what was formerly Goa. This region was colonised in 1510 by the Portuguese navigator Alfonso de Albuquerque, at a time when Portugal was building its global empire. Goa subsequently became the capital of Portugal’s Asian colonies. Saint Francis Xavier converted the local population in 1542, during a journey that took him as far as Japan. In 1962, Goa was occupied and annexed by India, after the government had long demanded its return from Portugal in vain. Today, Goa, together with Daman and Diu, forms the territory of Panjim, covering approximately 4,000 square kilometres. Alongside iron and manganese ore mining, the region’s vibrant economic activity includes the textile industry, fishing and spice cultivation. Although pepper was absent here during the era of the Spice Route – as it originates from the New World – it is now cultivated here, as in most tropical countries. - 1990