Goa Travel Guide — History & Tourist Information

Goa's coastline had already passed through Kadamba, Vijayanagara and Bijapur Sultanate rule by the time Portuguese admiral Afonso de Albuquerque captured it in 1510, making it the first major foothold of Portuguese colonial power in Asia. Old Goa quickly grew into a major trading port and the capital of Portuguese India, at times so prosperous it was nicknamed "Golden Goa" and compared favourably to Lisbon itself.

Portuguese rule brought Roman Catholic missionary activity across the territory, including the arrival of Jesuit missionary St. Francis Xavier, whose preserved remains are still venerated at Old Goa's Basilica of Bom Jesus, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Centuries of Portuguese administration left a lasting imprint on Goa's architecture, cuisine, language and religious make-up, distinguishing it culturally from the rest of India even after Old Goa's decline (largely due to disease) shifted the capital to Panaji in the 18th century.

Goa remained under Portuguese control for 451 years after the rest of the subcontinent gained independence in 1947, until the Indian military's Operation Vijay annexed the territory in December 1961. It became a full Indian state in 1987 and, from the 1960s onward, developed a parallel identity as a global beach and counterculture destination, later expanding into the broader beach-tourism and nightlife hub it's known as today.