As a school kid , I have always wondered, why are Daman & Diu grouped together as a single Union Territory inspite of being so far from each other, especially when Daman & and other Union Territory of Dadra & Nagra Haveli were just 20 kilometres apart. And Dadra & Nagar Haveli had its own one day Prime Minister in 1961.
The invention of the Caravel shipping boat, proved to be an inflection point in seafaring in Europe. Vasco da Gama, the Portugese explorer successfully set sail to East Indies and landed in modern day Kozhikode on 20th May 1498, about 30 years before Babar established the Moghal Sultanate in India and a full 100 years before British set foot in Indian soil. Vasco da Gama himself made 2 more trips after that to India, the last one as the Viceroy of Portugese India. By the time Vasco da Gama made his last trip, the Portugese had moved their capital from modern day Cochin to Goa in the year 1510. In next couple of decades they had fortifications in several Indian cities on the Malabar coast - Cochin, Kannur, Quilon, Goa, Daman, Diu, Mangalore, Surat and the city of Good bay called Bom-bahia or modern day Mumbai. While several of these cities were either lost in wars with Indian kings or gifted to the British, Portugese continued to hold Diu, Daman, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Goa - and maintained suzerainty over these colonies for 450 years! Collectively these enclaves came to be referred as Estado da India or Portugese India.
Fast forward to 15th August 1947. India gained independence from the British and became a free nation. The country had several provinces administered directly by the British and 560+ princely states. By 1950, India became a republic and all princely states completely acceded to the Indian Union. Now it was the turn of the non British run colonies in the Indian sub continent to fall in line.
How did Goa become part of India? To know more, listen to the podcast here or read/listen to the story in a platform of your choice from www.masalahistorybysiva.in
#goa #goahistory #history #indianhistory
#dadra #nagarhaveli #portugal #portugesehistory
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