there were better relations between the two groups. From 1761 onwards, Hyder Ali, a distinguished soldier in the Mysore army, took de facto control of the throne of the Kingdom of Mysore through the Wodeyar dynasty. Hyder occupied Mangalore in 1763. The Mangalorean Catholics numbered 80,000 in 1767. In February 1768 the British captured Mangalore from Hyder. Toward the end of 1768, Hyder and his son Tipu Sultan defeated the British and recaptured Mangalore fort. After the conquest, Hyder was informed that the Mangalorean Catholics had helped the British in their conquest of Mangalore. Hyder believed that this behaviour of the Christians amounted to treachery against the sovereign. The Christians were alleged to have helped General Mathews with a sum of Rs. 3,30,000/-. Hyder summoned a Portuguese officer and several Christian priests from Mangalore to suggest the punishment for the Mangalorean Catholics for treachery. The Portuguese officer suggested the death penalty for those Catholics who helped the British, because it was a fitting punishment for people who betrayed the sovereign. But Hyder exhibited a diplomatic stance and imprisoned the Christians, rather than killing them. Later, he opened negotiations with the Portuguese. As a result of the agreement, the suspicion against the clergy and the Christians was removed. During Hyder's regime, the Mangalorean Catholic community continued to flourish. After Hyder's death in the Second Anglo-Mysore War on 7 December 1782, the British captured the fort again. Hyder was succeeded by his son Tipu Sultan. Tipu laid several assaults on the Mangalore fort until January 1784, all of which resulted in failure. The fort was finally delivered to Tipu when the British capitulated on 30 January 1784. Tipu received highly exaggerated reports about the role of the Mangalorean Catholics and their help to the British in the Second Anglo-Mysore War. To minimise the British threat to his kingdom and in the Sultan-ul-Tawarikh, due to "the rage of Islam that began to boil in his breast", Tipu banished the Mangalorean Catholic community from their lands, and imprisoned them at Seringapatam, the capital of his empire. The captivity of Mangalorean Catholics at Seringapatam, which began on 24 February 1784 and ended on 4 May 1799, remains the most disconsolate memory in their history. Soon after the Treaty of Mangalore in 1784, Tipu gained control of Canara. He issued orders to seize the Christians in Canara, confiscate their estates, and deport them to Seringapatam, through