Mormugao is a coastal town situated in the
eponymous subdistrict of
Southern Goa state, India. It has a deep natural harbour and remains Goa's chief port.
Towards the end of the
Indo-Portuguese era in 1917, thirty-one settlements were carved out of the
Salcette territory, to form Mormugao with Mormugao seaport as its headquarters. The remaining thirty-five settlements were retained in Salcette which encompass the present-day Salcete ''taluka'' with
Margao
Margao (, ) is the commercial capital of the Indian state of Goa. It stands on the banks of the river Sal. It is the district headquarters of South Goa, and administrative headquarters of Salcete sub-district. It is Goa's second largest ci ...
as its headquarters.
[
]
Geography
Mormugao is located at . It has an average elevation of 2 metres (7 feet).
Demographics and Healthcare
India
census
A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
, Mormugao had a population of 97,085. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Mormugao 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. Konkani being the state language, Marathi, Kannada, Hindi and English are also spoken.
The Directorate of health services Goa ( DHS) provides secondary level of healthcare to the people of mormugao and nearby places through the erstwhile
Chicalim Cottage Hospital at Alto
Chicalim now upgraded to the level of Sub District Hospital with 120 beds. The DHS also provides Primary Health Care to the taluka through PHC Casaulim, PHC Cortalim and UHC Vasco. A number of private nursing homes, clinics, panchkarma centers, gyms and physiotherapy centers can also be found in the subdistrict.
History

When the
Portuguese colonised parts 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 Mormugao harbour.
The sultans of
Bijapur, who had ruled 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
The Maluku Islands ( ; , ) or the Moluccas ( ; ) are an archipelago in the eastern part of Indonesia. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located in West Melanesi ...
,
Batticaloa
Batticaloa (, ''Maṭṭakkaḷappu'', ; , ''Maḍakalapuwa'', ) is a major city in the Eastern Province, Sri Lanka, and its former capital. It is the administrative capital of the Batticaloa District. The city is the seat of the Eastern Univers ...
,
Trincomali,
Galle
Galle (, ; , ) (formerly ) is a major city on the southwestern tip of Sri Lanka, south of Colombo. Galle is the provincial capital and largest city of Southern Province, Sri Lanka and is the capital of Galle District.
Galle was known as ''Gi ...
,
Malacca
Malacca (), officially the Historic State of Malacca (), is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state in Malaysia located in the Peninsular Malaysia#Other features, southern region of the Malay Peninsula, facing the Strait of Malacca ...
,
Manar,
Jaffna
Jaffna (, ; , ) is the capital city of the Northern Province, Sri Lanka, Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a Jaffna Peninsula, peninsula of the same name. With a population o ...
,
Quilon,
Cochin
Kochi ( , ), formerly known as Cochin ( ), is a major port city along the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of Kerala. The city is also commonly referred to as Ernaku ...
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
The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern India, early modern polity in the Indian subcontinent. It comprised the realms of the Peshwa and four major independent List of Maratha dynasties and states, Ma ...
. Almost certain defeat was averted when
Sambhaji
Sambhaji (Sambhajiraje Shivajiraje Bhonsle, ; 14 May 1657 – 11 March 1689), also known as Shambhuraje, ruled from 1681 to 1689 as the second king ( Chhatrapati) of the Maratha Empire, a prominent state in early modern India. He was the elde ...
suddenly lifted the siege and rushed to defend his own kingdom from the
Mughal Emperor
Aurangzeb
Alamgir I (Muhi al-Din Muhammad; 3 November 1618 – 3 March 1707), commonly known by the title Aurangzeb, also called Aurangzeb the Conqueror, was the sixth Mughal emperors, Mughal emperor, reigning from 1658 until his death in 1707, becomi ...
. The narrow escape, no less than the decline of the City of Goa, convinced the Portuguese viceroy, Dom
Francisco de Távora
Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name ''Franciscus''.
Meaning of the name Francisco
In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed " Paco". San Francisco de Asís was known as ''Pater Comm ...
, that he should shift the capital of the Portuguese holdings in
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
to Mormugao'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
The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
s 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 a hotel which housed the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.
* British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
agents who in 1943 destroyed
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
ships anchored in Mormugao's neutral waters. Viceroys after Távora found Mormugao too secluded for their liking. The administrative headquarters were moved to the new city of
Panjim
Panaji (; , , )also known as Panjim, is the capital of the Indian state of Goa and the headquarters of North Goa district. Previously, it was the territorial capital of the former Portuguese India. It lies on the banks of the Mandovi river est ...
, which is still Goa's chief city.
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the harbour of Mormugao was the site of
Operation Creek, which resulted in the bombing of a German merchant ship, ''Ehrenfels,'' which had secretly been transmitting information to
U-boat
U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...
s.
Mormugao Port
Ever since it was accorded the status of a Major Port in 1963, the Mormugao port has contributed immensely to 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.
The
INS Mormugao has been named after the port.
Transport links

Epidemics devastated Mormugao during the eighteenth century, but after that its fortunes turned. As the importance of one of India's best natural harbours grew more apparent, Mormugao, which the British called Marmagoa, became a key trading point. It was chosen for the terminus of the new
metre gauge
Metre-gauge railways ( US: meter-gauge railways) are narrow-gauge railways with track gauge of or 1 metre.
Metre gauge is used in around of tracks around the world. It was used by several European colonial powers including France, Britain and ...
railway linking the Portuguese colony to British India. For a fabulous price, the
Western India Portuguese Guaranteed Railways Company, a British enterprise, modernised the port and built the railway. Both were opened to the public in July 1886.
Mormugao's city of
Vasco da Gama
Vasco da Gama ( , ; – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and nobleman who was the Portuguese discovery of the sea route to India, first European to reach India by sea.
Da Gama's first voyage (1497–1499) was the first to link ...
was planned and built in the early years of the twentieth century. A colourful city of officials, traders and migrant labourers, 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, Mormugao is many visitors’ first experience of Goa.
Politics
The area is part of the
South Goa (Lok Sabha constituency) (also known as
Mormugão (Lok Sabha constituency) ). In the 2019 Lok sabha elections, the
South Goa Lok Sabha constituency was again won by
Francisco Sardinha of
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...
defeating
Narendra Keshav Sawaikar of
Bharatiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...
, though
Sawaikar had managed to gain lead in all 4 lok sabha constituencies of Mormugao.
Mormugao taluka also elects 4 MLAs to the
Goa State Assembly. The current MLAs are
Alina Saldanha from
Cortalim (Goa Assembly constituency)
Cortalim Assembly constituency is one of the 40 Goa Legislative Assembly constituencies in Goa, India. Cortalim is also one of the 20 constituencies falling under South Goa Lok Sabha constituency.
Members of Legislative Assembly
Election r ...
,
Carlos Almeida from
Vasco Da Gama (Vidhan Sabha constituency),
Milind Naik from
Mormugao (Goa Assembly constituency) and
Mauvin Godinho from
Dabolim (Goa Assembly constituency) all from the
Bharatiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...
.
Climate
Education
Murgaon Education Society was established in 1971 with the goal of providing educational facilities at Vasco-da-Gama and in other parts of Murgaon Taluka. Mormugao Educational Society's College of Arts and Commerce locally known as
MES College is a famous institution situated in Zuarinagar, which provides higher education in Arts and Commerce along with
Birla Institute of Science and Technology (BITS) that caters to university level of education in the fields of engineering and medicine.
See also
*
Ports in India
*
Mormugao Port Trust
References
{{Authority control
Cities and towns in South Goa district
Port cities in India
Islands of India
Populated places in India