In 1510, the Portuguese wrested Goa from the Sultan of Bijapur ande finally established themselves in Goa. By 1544, they conquered the districts of Bardez and Salcette in Goa. In 1534, the Archdiocese of Goa was established. Soon missionaries of the newly founded Society of Jesus were sent to Goa, which lead to conversion of many locals to Christianity. In 1542, Francis Xavier, co-founder of the Society of Jesus, arrived in Goa. He observed that the newly converted Christians were practicing their old customs and traditions. He requested John III of Portugal in 1545 to install an Inquisition in Goa. The Inquisition converted a sizeable population of Goa to Christianity.
Many of the Goan ancestors of the present Mangalorean Catholics fled Goa because of the Goa Inquisition introduced by the Portuguese in 1560. King Sebastian of Portugal decreed that every trace of Indian customs be eradicated through the Inquisition. But many Christians of Goa were attached to some of their ancient Indian customs and refused to abandon them. Those who refused to comply with the rules laid down by the Inquisition were forced to leave Goa and to settle outside the Portuguese dominion. About 7,000 of them (mostly Saraswat Brahmins) fled Goa. Most migrated to South Canara in what is called the "First Wave of Migration".
The Christians who left Goa were skilled cultivators who abandoned their irrigated fields in Goa to achieve freedom. At the time of migration, Canara was ruled by the Bednore King Shivappa Naik (1540–60). He evinced great interest in the development of agriculture in his empire and welcomed these farmers to his fertile lands. They were also recruited into the armies of the Bednore dynasty. This was confirmed by Francis Buchanan, a Scottish physician, when he visited Canara in 1801. In his book, A Journey from Madras through the Countries of Mysore, Canara and Malabar (1807), he stated that "80,000 Christians came and settled in South Canara at the invitation of the King of Bednore." Later, this was identified as a probable mistake and should have read "8,000". However even this figure included the second emigration of Christians from Goa. Under the provisional treaties between the Portuguese and the Bednore rulers, the Christians were allowed to build churches and help the growth of Christianity in South Canara. The arrival of the British and the Dutch halted the activity of the Portuguese and gradually the Portuguese were unable to send the required number of missionaries to Mangalore. In 1568, the Church of Nossa Senhora do Rosário de Mangalore (Our Lady of the Rosary of Mangalore) was erected by the Portuguese at Bolar in Mangalore. The Churches of Nossa Senhora de Mercês de Velala (Our Lady of Mercy of Ullal) and São Francisco de Assis (St. Francis of Assisi) at Farangipet were also erected by the Portuguese during the same time in South Canara. These three churches were highlighted by the Italian traveller Pietro Della Valle, who visited Mangalore in 1623.
The Milagres Church, one of the oldest churches in South Canara, was built in 1680
The Sultan of Bijapur attacked Goa in 1571 and ended Portuguese influence in the region. The Bijapur sultans were especially known for their loathing of Christianity. Fearing persecution, many Catholics from Goa migrated to South Canara. This migration is referred as the "Second Wave of Migration". The Milagres Church, one of the oldest churches in South Canara, was built in 1680. The attacks of the Maratha Empire on Goa, during the mid 16th century, was also a cause of migration. In 1664, Shivaji, the founder of the Maratha empire, attacked Kudal, a town north of Goa, and began his campaign for Goa. After Shivaji's death on 3 April 1680, his son Sambhaji ascended to the throne. The onslaught of Sambahji, along the northern territories of Goa drove nearly all the Christians from their homelands, and most of them migrated to South Canara. This migration is referred as the "Third Wave of Migration". From the Bardez district of Goa, Jesuit priests estimated that 12,000 Christians migrated to the South of Goa between 1710-1712. A Goa Government report of 1747 recorded that around 5,000 Christians fled to South Canara from the Bardez and Tiswadi districts of Goa during the invasion of the Marathas. It was estimated that during the Maratha raids on Goa, about 60,000 Christians migrated to South Canara. During the later years, the migration slowed because of the Maratha-Mughal wars, which kept Sambhaji busy, and some 10,000 Christians returned to Goa. According to Historian Alan Machado Prabhu, the author of Sarasvati's Children: A History of the Mangalorean Christians (1999), the Mangalorean Catholics numbered about 58,000 by 1765
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