Lat: 15.398133333333000, Long: 73.811155555556000

Vasco da Gama

Goa, India

Historical Background and Urbanism

The Mormugao Peninsula at the Zuari River mouth was fortified in 1624. From early on it had been seen as a place with exceptional natural conditions. For these reasons, for more than three centuries it rivalled Goa Island as the location of choice for the capital. Attempts to move the public administration occurred from 1687 to 1734 and various projects were actually built. The Government Palace, Custom House and Hospital are some of the buildings erected in a dispersed manner along the wall line. But most of these structures were in an advanced state of deterioration when a new attempt to build a city here was undertaken in the 19th century. When work began on building the railroad in 1881 the British company in charge deemed that it was vitally important to build a city in this area. There were many advances and retreats in the respective Portuguese and British positions. In 1885 the British submitted a proposal to assume the costs of building a city, which did not exclude the possibility of following a Portuguese plan. The proposal developed the industrial and commercial city in the lower part by the bay, with urban constructions on the surrounding hills. Besides the residential area, the heights of Mormugao and the Alparqueiros, located respectively west and east of the bay, would be endowed with various health and leisure facilities. The proposal, rejected by the Portuguese government for patriotic reasons, was similar to the one done for Lourenço Marques [now Maputo, Mozambique]. But Portugal made a commitment to proceed with the work. In the same year as the Berlin Conference, in which historic occupation of territories was replaced by effective occupation, the Portuguese decision could be none other. In 1886 the Portuguese government thus began expropriating land. It built a 500-metre long avenue and called the project the “future city of Vasco da Gama”. But the Portuguese government continued to waver. Opinions were divided about whether to move the capital and the city did not develop as expected. The known drawings of the city dated 1888 were produced by the Public Works Department. This plan developed the bay area in blocks delimited by parallel streets perpendicular to the railway and the port. The main avenue, the only one built by then, began at the station. Besides the map, the transversal profiles of various street types were determined. These drawings probably followed the English proposal done by the engineer Ernest Edward Sawyer with the collaboration of the engineer Cândido Xavier Cordeiro, each representing one of the parties on the ground. The bay area would be the city’s commercial zone, while the residential and representative zone would be on the high ground. But no specific measurements were made and it was only due to British pressure that the project progressed. The expropriations were carried out in the following years and incentives given to those who wanted to build. But none of the steps taken at this time or in the two following decades had any effect on the city’s development. In September 1917 the city’s official designation definitively became Vasco da Gama. Changing times were heralded, followed by the creation of the Mormugao Improvements Commission in November 1919. Established by the direct efforts of Luís Maravilhas, who occupied various posts in Goa’s public administration from 1915 to 1921, the commission followed the British model of Improvement Trusts and was meant to disband when the city was created, passing its duties on to the municipal authorities. It did not call for the capital to be immediately transferred to Mormugao, as it understood that this would lead to serious problems in Panaji. The proposal was based on the British strategy, also covering various areas which together comprised the city: the Mormugao plateau, Vasco da Gama (bay area), Alparqueiros heights and Driver’s Hill (area south of the railroad). Even though the city’s design was generally maintained, some changes were presumably introduced at the time, specifically the subdivision of plots close to the railway station. The following year, 1920, saw approval of the territory’s development fund, which showed that Mormugao and Vasco da Gama were not among the priorities. But the work progressed even without money: marshland was filled and streets laid out and paved. In March 1922 the Improvements Commission organised an inauguration festival for the city, in which the governor, engineer Maravilhas and their guests passed along the city streets. Most of the current streets were already opened or begun, though work continued throughout the 1920s. In September of that same year (1922) an expansion plan was designed which envisaged urbanisation of the whole Mormugao plateau, which did not happen. A special system for granting property in the city and suburbs was approved instead. The following years (1926-40) saw construction on most of the city’s public buildings continue, all situated on the avenue linking the station to the bay, the old Avenida Freitas Ribeiro, or along the old Avenida General Craveiro Lopes paralleling the railway. The primary school (1927), municipal and children’s gardens (inaugurated in 1939), market and the city’s most interesting private constructions, most built in the 1920s and 1930s, are found along the latter thoroughfare. As in other cities, the last period of Portuguese rule was marked by concern over infrastructures and preparation of the city’s master plan in 1959, which considered Vasco da Gama to still be in an embryonic stage.

Alice Santiago Faria

Equipment and Infrastructures

Religious Architecture

Saint Andrew’s Church