 This spick and span coastal town popularly known as Vasco was originally called Sambhaji. Imposing multi-storeyed buildings and a church dominate the city centre here.
Close to Marmagoa Harbour and three km from Dabolim airport, Vasco-Da-Gama
is the terminus of the railway line into Goa. As the Konkan Railway
becomes fully operational, however, even fewer travellers will need to
venture up to this unexciting town. The port town of Vasco-Da-Gama on the southern bank of river Zuari is connected to Marmagoa
Harbour by an
isthmus. The capital had been shifted in 1703 by the then Viceroy from
Old Goa to Vasco, due to the periodic plague that affected the old city.
However, as the civil works were incomplete and the
administration non functional, they shifted the capital to Panaji. In
1878 when the railway line from Marmagoa to Londa was being planned,
there was another move to capital from Panaji to Marmagoa. The planned
was failed. In 1886 the energetic Governor FJ.Ferreira Do Amaral made a
bid to develop the area on the eastern side of the fort of Marmagoa up
to Vaddem. He named it VASCO DA GAMA, in honour of the great
discover of the sea route to India. On 27 July 1917 the taluka of
Marmagoa was created and Vasco Da Gama was named its capital city. The
city grew around the fort and the port at the Harbour. There was a club
house, tree shaded streets and a Municipal Park which still exist. The
Railway Line which passes from the port to Londa gave great impetus to
development of the city |
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