Introducation of Daman and Diu

Daman and Diu (Portuguese: Damao e Diu) is a union territory in India. For over 450 years these coastal enclaves on the Arabian Sea coast were part of Portuguese India, along with Goa and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. Goa, Daman, and Diu were occupied by the Republic of India on December 19, 1961; Portugal did not recognize Indian rule in these territories until 1974.

Goa, Daman, and Diu were administered as part of a single union territory until 1987, when Goa was granted statehood, leaving Daman and Diu as a separate union territory; each enclave constitutes one of the union territory’s two districts.

Gujarati is the main language; use of Portuguese is declining because it is not official or taught at school (but still spoken by 10% in Daman). There are Portuguese-based creole languages in Daman (known as Lingua da Casa, “Home Language”) and Diu (Lingua dos Velhos, “Elder’s Language”). The Creole of Diu is rapidly becoming extinct by the pressure of Gujarati.

Daman and Diu is the second smallest union territory of India. Lakshadweep being the smallest in terms of area as well as population. Daman and Diu are actually two parts, both on the sea side and both enclosed by Gujarat. Daman is near Surat is the South of Gujarat while Diu is near Junagadh in the Saurashtra Peninsula of Gujarat. Daman is a small part in the Gulf of Khambhat (cambay) while Diu is an island joined to the mainland of Gujarat by a creek.

During the early period, Daman and Diu were part of Goa. It was only in 1987, when Goa become a full fledged state, that Daman and Diu was separated from Goa. These three different land blocks on the west coast of India had come to form one political unit after liberation from the erstwhile Portuguese regime in 1961.