Goa History

Goa is a small state on the western coast of India. Even though it is the smallest of all Indian states it has played a very noteworthy role in Indian history. Goa is the perfect place to go on a sightseeing tour. Goa was one of the major trade centers in India, thus it had always been attracting the influential dynasties, seafarers, merchants, traders, monks and missionaries since its earliest known history. Through the passage of time, Goa has undergone a constant transition, change and transformation, which has left a remarkable impression on various aspects of cultural and socio-economic development of Goa.

The first written reference to Goa appears to have been in cuneiform, in Sumerian times, when King Gudea of Lagash called it Gubio, this was around 2200 BC. In fact Goa was shaped geographically and ethnically by many cultures that single it out from other parts of India. The Mahabharata also makes reference to the Brahmanic colonization of Goa. The first literary reference to Goa is in the Bhishma Parva of Mahabharata as Gomanta which means the region of cows.

The sheer inaccessibility of Goa by land has always kept it out of the mainstream of Indian History. On the other hand, its control of the seas and above all the lucrative spice trade made it a much-coveted prize for rival colonial powers. Until a century before the arrival of the Portuguese adventurer Vasco Da Gama who landed near Kozhikode in Kerala in 1498, Goa had belonged for over a thousand years to the kingdom of Kadamba. In the interim it had been successfully conquered by the Karnatakan Vijayanagars, the Muslim Bahmanis and Yousuf Adil Shah of Bijapur but the capture of the fort at Panaji by Alfonso De Albuquerque in 1510 signaled the start of a Portuguese occupation that was to last for 450 years.

Meanwhile, conversions to Christianity started by the Franciscans gathered pace when St.Francis Xavier founded the Jesuit Mission in 1542. With the advent of the inquisition soon afterwards laws were introduced censoring literature and banning any faith other than Catholicism even the long established Syrian Christian community were branded heretics. Hindu temples were destroyed and converted Hindus adopted Portuguese names such as DA Silva, Correa and De'Sousa which remain common in the region. The transitional influence of the Jesuits eventually alarmed the Portuguese government. The Jesuits were expelled in 1749 which made it possible for Indian Goans to take up the priesthood. However, standards of education suffered and Goa entered a period of decline. The Portuguese were not prepared to help but neither would they allow native Goans equal rights. An abortive attempt to establish the Goan Republic was overwhelm with the execution of fifteen Goan conspirators.

Since Independence Goa has continued to prosper bolstered by receipts from iron-ore exports and a booming tourist industry, but it is struggling to hold its own against a tidal wave of immigration from other Indian States. Its inhabitants voted overwhelmingly to resist merger with neighbouring Maharashtra in 1980's and successfully lobbied for Konkani to be granted official language status in 1987 when Goa was finally declared a full-fledged state of the Indian Union. As a legacy of its unusual colonial history Goa inherited a mixture of language. Portuguese is still spoken as a second language by a few Goans, although it is gradually dying out. The official language of India is Hindi, which children in Goa are obliged to learn in school. Konkani is now accepted as the official language of the state and Marathi is also taught as a standard subject. We can conclude that Goan history is very deep and out of the ordinary. There are many hotels, resorts and places to see in Goa the most fascinating thing about Goa is the beach, the famous movie “EK DUJE KE LIYE“ was shoot on the DONA PAULA beach of Goa and many other movies are also shoot at Goa. The beauty of Goa has attracted worldwide tourists.

About Goa