Old Goa

Common card · No. 265570

Old Goa (Originally 'Goa' or 'The city of Goa') was a historic city situated on the southern bank of the River Mandovi, on the island of Tiswadi.The city was established by the Bijapur Sultanate in the 15th century AD. Following its conquest by Afonso de Albuquerque in 1510, the city rapidly grew in importance and became the capital of the Portuguese East Indies, becoming a flourishing metropolitan city of 2,00,000 by the 17th century.Goa tremendiously influenced its surrounding territory and eventually gave the modern state of Goa its name. The city was remarked by numerous travellers as being one of the wealthiest cities in Asia, filled with splendor and pomp. The city reached its zenith during 1580–1630, rivalling the cities of London and Lisbon of that time.The city was struck by numerous plagues and epidemics all through the 17th century, and it rapidly decayed following the decline of Portuguese supremecy in the east. It was already deserted by the 1760's.

Read on Wikipedia · Image Jan Huyghen van Linschoten / Cornelis Claesz, Public domain