Gôa

/goh"euh/, n.

a former district in Portuguese India, on the Arabian Sea, ab. 250 mi. (400 km) S of Bombay: annexed by India December 1961; now part of the union territory of Goa, Daman, and Diu.

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State (pop., 2001 prelim.: 1,343,998), southwestern India.

Located on the western coast, it is bordered by Maharashtra and Karnataka states and has a 62-mi (100-km) coastline on the Arabian Sea. It has an area of 1,429 sq mi (3,702 sq km), which includes the offshore island of Goa. The capital is Panaji. Ruled by Hindu dynasties until 1472, it came under the Portuguese in 1510. Their settlement of Old Goa became the capital of Portuguese India. After attaining independence in 1947, India demanded that Portugal cede Goa. Indian troops finally occupied Goa in 1961; it was incorporated into India in 1962, as part of the territory of Goa, Daman, and Diu. It became a state in 1987. It is predominantly agricultural; its distinctive architecture and fine beaches make it a popular tourist resort.

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▪ state, India

Introduction

      state of India. Comprising a mainland district on the country's western coast and an offshore island, it is located 250 miles (400 kilometres) south of Bombay. It is bounded by the states of Mahārāshtra on the north and Karnātaka on the east and south and by the Arabian Sea on the west. The total area is 1,429 square miles (3,702 square kilometres). The capital is Panaji (Panjim). Formerly a Portuguese possession, it was annexed by India in 1962 and attained statehood in 1987.

Physical and human geography

      Goa, with a coastline of 65 miles, is hilly and includes a portion of the Western Ghāts rising to nearly 4,000 feet. The two largest rivers are the Mandāvi and Zuari, between the mouths of which lies the island of Goa (Ilhas). The island is triangular, the apex (called the cape) being a rocky headland separating the harbour of Goa into two anchorages. There are three principal cities in Goa: Marmagao (Mormugão), Madgaon (Margao), and Panaji (Nova Goa). Old Goa is, for the most part, a city of ruins. Panaji, originally a suburb of Old Goa, is built (like the parent city) on the left bank of the Mandāvi estuary. It is a modern port and contains the archbishop's palace and the government house, a teachers' training college, and several secondary and primary schools. Goa University is located at Bambolim, near Panaji. Marmagao, sheltered by a promontory and outfitted with a modern breakwater and quay, is the best port between Bombay and Calicut (Kozhikode). A railway connects it with the main southern line by way of Castle Rock (in Karnātaka) on the Western Ghāts.

      Goa is predominantly agricultural, with rice, fruits, coconuts, pulses (legumes), cashews, and betel (areca) nuts the leading crops. The state exports a number of these commodities, along with spices, manganese and iron ores, bauxite, fish, and salt; its trade is small but its manufacturers produce fertilizers, sugar, textiles, chemicals, iron pellets, and pharmaceuticals. The tourist industry developed rapidly in the late 20th century.

      The Goan population is a mixture of Christian and Hindu. In the past the Christians generally spoke Portuguese but now tend to speak English and Koṅkaṇī. The Hindus speak Koṅkaṇī and Marāṭhī. Economic conditions in Goa have caused emigration on a large scale, mainly to the eastern coast of Africa but also to other parts of India. Large Goanese colonies have consequently been formed in Bombay, Mozambique, Tanzania, South Africa, and elsewhere. Many Goanese bear Portuguese names as a result of intermarriage between early Portuguese settlers and the local inhabitants.

      The governor of Goa, appointed by the president for a five-year term, administers also the union territories of Dādra and Nagar Haveli and Damān and Diu. The Legislative Assembly (Vidhān Sabhā) comprises 40 seats.

History

      The ancient Hindu city of Goa, of which hardly a fragment survives, was built at the southernmost point of the island, and it was famous in early Hindu legend and history. In the Purāṇa (Purana)s and certain inscriptions, its name appears as Gove, Govapuri, and Gomant. The medieval Arabian geographers knew it as Sindabur, or Sandābūr, and the Portuguese as Velha Goa. It was ruled by the Kadamba dynasty from the 2nd century AD to 1312 and by Muslim invaders of the Deccan from 1312 to 1367. It was then annexed by the Hindu kingdom of Vijayanagar and later conquered by the Bahmanī dynasty, which founded Old Goa in 1440.

      With the subdivision of the Bahmanī kingdom after 1482, Goa passed into the power of Yūsuf ʿĀdil Khān, the Muslim king of Bijāpur, who was its ruler when the Portuguese first reached India. The city was attacked in March 1510 by the Portuguese under Afonso de Albuquerque (Albuquerque, Afonso de, the Great). The city surrendered without a struggle, and Albuquerque entered it in triumph.

      Three months later Yusuf ʿĀdil Khān returned with 60,000 troops, forced the passage of the ford, and blockaded the Portuguese in their ships from May to August, when the cessation of the monsoon enabled them to put to sea. In November, Albuquerque returned with a larger force and, after overcoming a desperate resistance, recaptured the city, massacred all the Muslims, and appointed a Hindu, Timoja, governor of Goa.

      Goa was the first territorial possession of the Portuguese in Asia. Albuquerque and his successors left almost untouched the customs and constitutions of the 30 village communities on the island, abolishing only the rite of suttee (sati; the immolation of widows on the funeral pyres of their husbands).

      Goa became the capital of the whole Portuguese empire in the east. It was granted the same civic privileges as Lisbon, reaching the climax of its prosperity between 1575 and 1600. The appearance of the Dutch in Indian waters precipitated the decline of Goa. In 1603 and 1639 the city was blockaded by Dutch fleets, though never captured, and in 1635 it was ravaged by an epidemic. In 1683 a Mughal army saved it from capture by Marāṭhā raiders, and in 1739 the whole territory was attacked by the same enemies and saved only by the unexpected arrival of a new viceroy with a fleet.

      The seat of the government was moved to Mormugão (now Marmagao) and in 1759 to Panjim (now Panaji). Cholera epidemics were one of the chief reasons for the migration of the inhabitants from Old Goa to New Goa. Between 1695 and 1775 the population of Old Goa dwindled from 20,000 to 1,600; and in 1835 the city was inhabited by only a few priests, monks, and nuns.

      During the 19th century, events of importance affecting the settlement were its temporary occupation by the British in 1809 as a result of Napoleon's invasion of Portugal; the governorship (1855–64) of Count de Torres Novas, who inaugurated a great number of improvements; and the military revolts of the second half of the century. The most notable of these was the revolt of Sept. 3, 1895, which necessitated the dispatch of an expeditionary force from Portugal. The infante Affonso Henriques, Duke de Oporto, accompanied this expedition and exercised governor's powers from March to May 1896.

      After Indian claims on Goa in 1948 and 1949, Portugal came under increasing pressure to cede Goa, with its other possessions in the subcontinent, to India. In mid-1954, Goan nationalists seized the Portuguese enclaves of Dādra and Nagar Haveli and established a pro-Indian administration. Another crisis occurred in 1955 when satyāgrahi (satyagraha)s (nonviolent resisters) from India attempted to penetrate the territory of Goa. At first the satyāgrahis were deported; but later, when large numbers attempted to cross the borders, the Portuguese authorities resorted to force, and casualties were inflicted. This led to the severance of diplomatic relations between Portugal and India on Aug. 18, 1955. Tension between India and Portugal came to a head when on Dec. 18, 1961, Indian troops supported by naval and air forces invaded and occupied Goa, Damān, and Diu. Portuguese India was, by constitutional amendment, incorporated into the Indian Union in 1962.

Sudhir Vyankatesh Wanmali

Additional Reading

Works dealing specifically with the west and west-central area prior to its annexation by India are mainly in Portuguese; see Henry Scholberg, Archana Ashok Kakodker, and Carmo Azevedo, Bibliography of Goa and the Portuguese in India (1982). See also M.N. Pearson, Merchants and Rulers in Gujarat: The Response to the Portuguese in the Sixteenth Century (1976); and K.S. Mathew, Portuguese and the Sultanate of Gujarat, 1500–1573 (1986). The territory of Goa as well as that of Damān and Diu are described in V.T. Gune (ed.), Gazetteer of the Union Territory Goa, Daman and Diu, 3 vol. in 2 (1979). S.S. Desai, Goa, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli (1976), is a study of the three union territories.Deryck O. Lodrick Sudhir Vyankatesh Wanmali

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