The present-day state of Goa was established in 1987. Goa is India's smallest state by area. It shares a lot of similarities with Indian history, especially with regard to colonial influences and a multi-cultural aesthetic.
The Usgalimal rock engravings, belonging to the Upper Paleolithic or Mesolithic periods, exhibit some of the earliest traces of human settlement in India. The Mauryan and Satavahana Empires ruled modern-day Goa during the Iron Age. It was ruled by the Kadambha dynasty from the 2nd century CE to 1312 and by the Deccan from 1312 to 1367. The city was then annexed by the Kingdom of Vijayanagara and was later conquered by the Bahmanī sultanate, which founded Old Goa on the island in 1440.
The Portuguese invaded Goa in 1510, defeated the Bijapur Sultanate. The Portuguese rule lasted for about 450 years, and heavily influenced Goan culture, cuisine, and architecture. In 1961, India took control over Goa after a 36-hour battle and integrated it into India. The area of Goa was incorporated into Goa, Daman and Diu, which included the Damaon territory in the north of the Konkan region. In 1987, following the Konkani language agitation Goa was granted statehood. Goa has one of the highest GDP per capita and Human Development Index among Indian states.
Earliest history There is evidence of the tectonic origins of Goa dating back to 10,000 BC. Further, evidence of human occupation of Goa dates back at least to the Lower Paleolithic Age, indicated by the archaeological findings of Acheulean bifaces in the Mandovi-Zuari basin. However, evidence suggesting the region's ancient foundation is obscured by the legend of Goa's creation by the Hindu sage Parashurama.
Geological origins Some parts of present-day Goa appear to have been uplifted from the sea due to geological tectonic plate movement. There is evidence to support this theory as indicated by the presence of marine fossils, buried seashells, and other features of reclaimed topography in the coastal belt. fossilized branches have been found later in many villages on the foothills of the Sahyadri dating back more than 10,000 BC. Thus the geologists concluded that Goa has risen from the seabed as a result of violent tectonic movements. At the decline of the intensity of population in the last Pleistocene age around 10000 BC, the bottom of Deccan Plateau was lifted up and out of sea-waters by the tectonic movements, formed the West-coast of India, Goa being a part thereof.
Prehistory
Paleolithic and Mesolithic era Until 1993 the existence of humans in Goa during the Paleolithic and Mesolithic period was highly debated. The discovery of rock art engravings on lateritic platforms and granite boulders from Usgalimal on the banks of west-flowing river in Kushavati, has shed light on the prehistory of Goa. The rock shelter at Usgalimal has enough space for 25 to 30 people. The perennial stream in the vicinity which might have served Stone Age man for centuries as a source of water. An anthropomorphic figure of Mother goddess and tectiforms resembling tree-like motifs have been found. This site was discovered by Dr P.P.Shirodkar. Exploration of several Mesolithic sites of the Mandovi-Zuari basin, at other sites such as Keri, Thane, Anjuna, Mauxim, Kazur in Quepem, Virdi, has led to the discovery of several scrapers, points, bores, cones, etc. A hand axe has also been found at Usgalimal. Further unifacial choppers were recovered on a flat-based pebble of quartzite from a pebble conglomerate at Shigaon on the Dudhsagar River. Shirodakar made a detailed study of the rock engravings and dated them to Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic phases, or to 20,000–30,000 BC. These discoveries have demonstrated that the region had been supporting a population of hunter-gatherers well before the advent of agriculture. Evidence of Palaeolithic cave existence can be seen at Dabolim, Adkon, Shigaon, Fatorpa, Arli, Maulinguinim, Diwar, Sanguem, Pilerne, Aquem-Margaon et cetera. Difficulty in carbon dating the laterite rock compounds has posed a problem in determining the exact time period. Kushavati Shamanic culture The prehistoric engravings at Usgalimal were discovered by PP Shirodkar in the early 1990s and subsequently studied by the Institute of Oceanography in Goa.Kushavati Shamanic culture in Goa More than 125 forms were found scattered on the banks of river Kushavati in south-eastern Goa. According to Kamat, these are evidence of a prehistoric Goan shamanistic practice. For hundreds of years, the Kushavati rock art of Goa was known locally as goravarakhnyachi chitram, or pictures made by cowherds. But people did not know how ancient the works were, nor could anyone interpret them. After thorough study of these forms, scholars have concluded that these petroglyphs differ from those found elsewhere in Goa. Deeper studies and analysis over a period of ten years showed these petroglyphs were an exquisitely carved ocular labyrinth, one of the best in India and Asia. Its ocular nature added to the evidence of prehistoric shamanism.
The studies have shown that the Kushavati culture was a hunter-gatherer culture with deep knowledge of local natural resources and processes – water, fish, plants, game, animal breeding cycles, seasons and natural calamities. The Kushavati culture was greatly concerned with water security, so they set up camps near the streams. The Kushavati found food security in the jungle near the streams. Like every culture, its members confronted the mysteries of illness, death and birth. Kamat believes that this culture dated to 6,000 to 8,000 years ago. On basis of recent DNA-based work on human migration, Dr. Nandkumar Kamat has ruled out the possibility of Kushavati shamans belonging to the first wave of humans to arrive in Goa. They were not negritoes or austrics. Most probably they were the earliest Mediterraneans who had descended the Western Ghats, probably in their search for sea salt on Goa's coast. As the Kushavati transitioned into a Neolithic society, they began the domestication of animals and were in the last phase of using stone tools. The entire realm of shamanism underwent a radical transition. Today evidence of the metamorphosis in masked dance drama Perni jagor can be seen in the same cultural region.
Neolithic period Archaeological evidence in the form of polished stone axes, suggest the first settlements of Neolithic man in Goa. These axes have been found in Goa Velha. During this period tribes of Austric origin such as the Kols, Mundaris and Kharvis may have settled Goa, living on hunting, fishing and a primitive form of agriculture since 3500 BC. According to Goan historian Anant Ramakrishna Dhume, the Gauda and Kunbi and other such castes are modern descendants of ancient Mundari tribes. Dhume notes several words of Mundari origin in the Konkani language. He describes the deities worshipped by the ancient tribes, their customs, methods of farming, and its overall effect on modern-day Goan culture. The Negroids were in a Neolithic stage of primitive culture and were food-gatherers. Traces of Negroid physical characteristics can be found in parts of Goa, up to at least the middle of the first millennium.
The Proto-Australoid tribe known as the Konkas, from whom is derived the name of the region, Kongvan or Konkan, with the other mentioned tribes, reportedly made up the earliest settlers in the territory. Agriculture had not fully developed at this stage and was being developed. The Kol and Mundari may have been using stone and wood implements, as iron implements were used by the megalithic tribes as late as 1200 BC. The Kol tribe is believed to have migrated from Gujarat.
During this period, the people began worship of a mother goddess in the form of anthill or Santer. The Anthill is called Roen(Konkani:रोयण), which is derived from the Austric word Rono, meaning with holes. The later Indo-Aryan and Dravidian settlers also adopted anthill worship, which was translated into Prakrit Santara. They also worshipped the mother earth by the name of Bhumika in Prakrit. Anthill worship still continues in Goa.
Iron Age (from 16th century BCE)
The Formations of Gaumkaris and the self rule
The theocratic democracy of Sumer was transformed into the oligarchic democracy of village-administration in Goa known as Gaumkari, when it overlapped with the practices of the locals. The agricultural land was jointly owned by the group of villagers, they had right to auction the land, this rent was used for development, and the remainder was distributed amongst the Gaukars. Sumerians view that the village land must belong to the village god or goddess, this was the main feature of the Gaumkari system where the village's preeminent deity's temple was the centre of all the activities. It consisted of definite boundaries of land from village to village with its topographic detail, its management and social, religious and cultural interaction. Gaumkari thus were in existence long before constitution of the state of Goa itself.
Thus even before any king ruled the territory, oligarchic democracy in the form of Gaumkari existed in Goa. This form of village-administration was called as Gaumponn (Konkani:गांवपण), and despite the periodic change of sovereigns, the Gaumponn always remained, hence the attachment and fidelity of the Goans to their village has always surpassed their loyalty to their rulers (most of them were extraterritorial). This system for governance became further systematised and fortified, and it has continued to exist ever since. Even today 223 comunidades are still functioning in Goa, though not in the true sense.
The later migrations The second wave of migrants arrived sometime between 1700 and 1400 BC. This second wave migration was accompanied by southern Indians from the Deccan plateau. A wave of Kusha or Harappan people moved to Lothal probably around 1600 BC to escape submergence of their civilization which thrived on sea-trade. With the admixture of several cultures, customs, religions, dialects and beliefs, led to revolutionary change in early Goan society.
Maurya Empire
Chandragupta Maurya incorporated the west coast of India in his province of Aparanta, and the impact of Magadhan Prakrit, the official language of the Mauryan Empire, on the local dialects resulted in the formation of early Konkani, as was the case with other Aryan vernaculars. During this era Buddhism was introduced to Goa. Similarly a native Goan named Purna, also known as Punna in Pali, who traveled to Sarnath is considered a direct disciple of Buddha, who popularised Buddhism in Goa in the 5th century BC.
The Satavahanas (c. 2nd century BCE to 2nd CE)
The Satavahana dynasty ruled Goa through their coastal vassals, the Chutus of Karwar. This period is estimated to have lasted from around the 2nd century BC to 100 AD. The Satavahanas had established maritime power and their contacts with Roman Empire from the coastal trade from Sindh to Saurashtra, from Bharuch to Sopara to Goa, where Greek and Roman ships would halt during voyages. The Bhojas fortified themselves after the end of Satavahana Empire. With the fall of the Satavahanas, the lucrative seaborne trade declined. Many Greek converts to Buddhism settled in Goa during this period. Buddha statues in Greek styles have been found in Goa.(see Pius Melkandathil,Martitime activities of Goa and the Indian ocean.) It can be seen that they ruled a very small part of Goa. Maharashtri prakrit was their language of administration, which influenced medieval Konkani to a great extent.
Goa under the Western Kshatrapas In the year 150AD, Vashishtiputra Satakarni was defeated by his son-in-law, the Kshatrapa King Rudradaman I who established his rule over Goa. This dynasty ruled the territory until 249AD. Thereafter the dynasty's power seems to have been weakened by their generals, the Abhiras
The Mauryas of Puri