Tiswadi

Tiswadi or Ilhas de Goa (Islands of Goa) is a sub-district of North Goa district in the state of Goa, India. The word Tiswadi itself means thirty settlements. It refers to the thirty settlements in which the Goud Saraswat Brahmins settled when they migrated to Goa. It is geographically an Island with the Mandovi River forming its northern boundary. The sub-district of Tiswadi includes the smaller islands of Chorão, Divar, St Estevam, Cumbarjua and Vanxim. The present capital of Goa, Panjim, lies on this island. Tiswadi is also where the city of Old Goa (Velha Goa), a World Heritage Site, was established.

Tiswadi Ilhas (Ilhas de Goa)
Taluka (sub-district)
Location of Ilhas in North Goa, Goa
Coordinates: 15.498598°N 73.829341°E
Country	India
State	Goa
District	North Goa
Headquarters	Panaji
Settlements	1 City 9 Towns 22 Villages
Government
• Tehsildar	na
• Lok Sabha constituency	na
• Assembly constituency	na
• MLA	na
Population  (2011)
• Taluka (sub-district)	167,197
• Urban	83%
Demographics
• Literacy rate	na
• Sex ratio	na
Vehicle registration	GA-07
Rain	na

History

Tiswadi along with the rest of Goa regularly exchanged hands between the Muslim Bhahmani Sultanate and the Hindu Vijayanagara Empire of South India prior to the 14th Century. By the 15th century the Bijapur Sultanate under the Adil Shahi dynasty conquered Goa and it came under Muslim rule. The City of Goa was the regional capital of the Sultanates as well as a hub for the Hajj pilgrimage. Numerous temples were demolished under the rule of the sultanates. The Adil Shahi dynasty was defeated by a Portuguese-Vijayanagar alliance, and Ilhas de Goa was conquered under Afonso de Albuquerque in 1510. By the time Tiswadi was relived from Muslim rule, Hindus formed a minority in the region, and the Portuguese started conversion efforts against the Muslim majority. The populace was made to accept Christianity or leave the Islands. There was a mass exodus of natives who left the Islands, for the safer havens of Ponda and the Canara, Malabar Coast, Chandgad and Joida.

The first temple to be built in Panjim was in the mid 1700s, when the Portuguese authorities granted permission to the Hindus to build their place of worship.

The evangelization of Tiswadi was spearheaded by the Dominicans, who were assigned 15 villages, and the Jesuits, who were assigned the remaining part along with the smaller islands of Chorão and Divar, by the Portuguese authorities. In 1552, the island of Chorão had a population of 300 Christians out of 3,000 and, by this time, also had a small church which was visited by a Jesuit from St. Paul's every Sunday. By the end of 1559, over 1,200 had accepted baptism. The following year, the first bishop from the Jesuit order, Dom João Nunes de Barreto, set up residence in Chorão, which eventually became a Noviciate. Most of Chorão's population converted en masse to Roman Catholicism in mid-1560.[1]

By January 1563, the Jesuit provincial claimed that Ilhas de Goa had been completely Christianized, with a population of 70,000, the great majority of which had converted in the last six years, corresponding to the terms of Viceroys Francisco Barreto and Constantino of Braganza, whose ​2 ¹⁄₂-year term saw between 25,000 and 30,000 conversions.[1]

Highlights

Panjim, Velha Goa and its monuments, Divar, Chorão

Settlements

Cities

#	City	State	Population
1	Panjim Municipal Corporation	Goa	40000

Towns

#	Town	State	Population
1	Chimbel Census Town	Goa	15,289
2	Calapor or Santa Cruz, Goa Census Town	Goa	14,077
3	Murda, Census Town	Goa	7,517
4	Bambolim Census Town	Goa	6,885
5	Corlim Census Town	Goa	6,568
6	Mercurim Census Town	Goa	4,970
7	Cumbarjua Census Town	Goa	4,917
8	Goa Velha Census Town	Goa	4,322
9	Jua Census Town	Goa	4,134
10	Old Goa (Velha Goa) Census Town	Goa	2,550
11	Ribandar Census Town	Goa	2,450
12	Tiswadi Census Town	Goa	2,300

Villages

#	Villages	Administrative Division	Population
1	Ambarim	Tiswadi	93
2	Azossim	Tiswadi	1,142
3	Bainguinim	Tiswadi	1,501
4	Batim	Tiswadi	1,489
5	Capão	Tiswadi	135
6	Caraim	Tiswadi	202
7	Carambolim	Tiswadi	5,179
8	Chorão	Tiswadi	5,268
9	Curca	Tiswadi	2,518
10	Ella	Tiswadi	5,372
11	Gancim	Tiswadi	519
12	Gandaulim	Tiswadi	301
13	Goalim Moula	Tiswadi	441
14	Goltim	Tiswadi	1,634
15	Malar	Tiswadi	1,630
16	Mandur	Tiswadi	3,113
17	Naroa	Tiswadi	487
18	Navelim	Tiswadi	1,133
19	Neura-O-Grande	Tiswadi	1,440
20	Neura-O-Pequeno	Tiswadi	563
21	Siridão	Tiswadi	2,417[2]
22	Talaulim	Tiswadi	972

See also

• Konkani people
• History of Goa
• Salcette
• Bardez
• Goan Catholics

References

1. Sarasvati's Children: A History of the Mangalorean Christians, Alan Machado Prabhu, I.J.A. Publications, 1999, pp. 100 – 101
2. "Siridao Village Population - Tiswadi - North Goa, Goa". Census 2011 India. May 29, 1980. Retrieved November 17, 2016.