Mormugao is a sub-district and a municipal council in South Goa district in the Indian state of Goa. It is Goa’s main port. It was featured in the 1980 film The Sea Wolves and the Bollywood film Bhootnath.

Demographics

Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Mormugão has an average literacy rate of 75%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 80%, and female literacy is 70%. In Mormugão, 11% of the population is under 6 years of age.

History

When the Portuguese colonized part of Goa in the sixteenth century, they based their operations in the central district of Tiswadi, notably in the international emporium 'City of Goa', now Old Goa. As threats to their maritime supremacy increased, they built forts on various hillocks, especially along the coast. In 1624, they began to build their fortified town on the headland overlooking Mormugão harbor.

The sultans of Bijapur, who had colonized Goa before the Portuguese, did not give up easily. There were several invasions. From the sea came the Dutch, who eventually took over from the Portuguese most of the coastal settlements: the Moluccas, Batticaloa, Trincomali, Galle, Malacca, Manar, Jaffna, Quilon, Cochin, and Cannanore. From 1640 to 1643, the Dutch tried their best to capture Mormugão but were finally driven away.

In 1683, the Portuguese in Goa were in grave danger from the Marathas. Almost certain defeat was averted when Sambhaji suddenly lifted the siege and rushed to defend his own kingdom from the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. The narrow escape, no less than the decline of the City of Goa, convinced the Portuguese viceroy, Dom Francisco de Távora, that he should shift the capital of the Portuguese holdings in India to Mormugão’s formidable fortress.

In 1685, the new city’s principal edifices were under construction, with the Jesuit priest Father Teotónio Rebelo in charge. The Jesuit architects made a consistent effort to avoid the ornate style of the time. The austere viceregal palace still stands, having been used, after its short stint as a palace, in various capacities, including as the hotel which housed the British agents who in 1943 destroyed German ships anchored in Mormugão’s neutral waters. Viceroys after Távora found Mormugão too secluded for their liking. The administrative headquarters were moved to the new city of Panjim, which is till today Goa’s chief city.

Mormugão Port

Ever since it was accorded the status of a Major Port in 1963, the Mormugão port has contributed immensely to the growth of maritime trade in India. It is the leading iron ore exporting port of India with an annual throughput of around 27.33 million tonnes of iron ore traffic.

Transport links

Epidemics devastated Mormugão during the eighteenth century, but after that, its fortunes turned. As the importance of one of India’s best natural harbors grew more apparent, Mormugão, which the British called Marmagoa, became a key trading point. It was chosen for the terminus of the new meter gauge railway linking the Portuguese colony to British India. For a fabulous price, the Western India Portuguese Guaranteed Railways Company, a British enterprise, modernized the port and built the railway. Both were opened to the public in July 1886.

Mormugão’s city of Vasco da Gama was planned and built in the early years of the twentieth century. A colorful city of officials, traders and migrant laborers, it had its Portuguese academies and British club life for several decades. Now rather scarred, Mormugão district continues to be unique in Goa.

With Goa’s airport at Dabolim, the railway terminus at Vasco da Gama, and the busy port, Mormugão is many visitors’ first experience of Goa.