Urban Topography and Demography | Goa State PSC (GPSC) Preparation - GPSC (Goa) PDF Download

 Page 1


T
HE CITY OF Goa, which the Portuguese captured from Adil Shah in 1510
and converted into headquarters of their eastern empire in 1530, origi-
nally gained importance as a replenishing and re?tting centre for the Muslim
trading vessels and had developed into an important horse mart supplying
quality steeds from Hurmuz to the rulers of the Deccan and Vijayanagar.
1
The capital of the region was shifted from the northern bank of the river
Zuari to this places on the southern bank of the river Mandovi due to at least
two most probable reasons: Firstly, the Muslim rulers of the Bahamani dy-
nasty must have found the new city founded by the Muslim traders a more
congenial place than the region developed by their Hindu predecessors.
Secondly, the silting of the Zuari river had apparently reduced the strategic
and commercial importance of the capital lying on its bank, thereby making
the transfer unavoidable.
2
Very little is known about the city of Goa and the development of urban
economy before the Portuguese take-over. A short but comprehensive
report by a near-contemporary of Albuquerque has described the city soon
after its conquest by the Portuguese as “very great, with good houses, well
girt around with strong walls, with towers and bastions” . The inhabitants
of the city are described as “Moors of distinction, many of whom were of
divers lands. They were white men, among whom, as well as merchants of
great wealth, there were also many husbandmen.” The nature of the urban
economy is further stressed by saying that “the land, by reason that the
harbor was exceedingly good, had great trade, and many ships of the Moors
came thither from Mecca, the city of Aden, Ormuz, Cambaya and Malabar.”
3
From the rest of the meager information available it is clear that Goa occu-
pied a pivotal place in the Muslim trade in western India. There were even
Page 2


T
HE CITY OF Goa, which the Portuguese captured from Adil Shah in 1510
and converted into headquarters of their eastern empire in 1530, origi-
nally gained importance as a replenishing and re?tting centre for the Muslim
trading vessels and had developed into an important horse mart supplying
quality steeds from Hurmuz to the rulers of the Deccan and Vijayanagar.
1
The capital of the region was shifted from the northern bank of the river
Zuari to this places on the southern bank of the river Mandovi due to at least
two most probable reasons: Firstly, the Muslim rulers of the Bahamani dy-
nasty must have found the new city founded by the Muslim traders a more
congenial place than the region developed by their Hindu predecessors.
Secondly, the silting of the Zuari river had apparently reduced the strategic
and commercial importance of the capital lying on its bank, thereby making
the transfer unavoidable.
2
Very little is known about the city of Goa and the development of urban
economy before the Portuguese take-over. A short but comprehensive
report by a near-contemporary of Albuquerque has described the city soon
after its conquest by the Portuguese as “very great, with good houses, well
girt around with strong walls, with towers and bastions” . The inhabitants
of the city are described as “Moors of distinction, many of whom were of
divers lands. They were white men, among whom, as well as merchants of
great wealth, there were also many husbandmen.” The nature of the urban
economy is further stressed by saying that “the land, by reason that the
harbor was exceedingly good, had great trade, and many ships of the Moors
came thither from Mecca, the city of Aden, Ormuz, Cambaya and Malabar.”
3
From the rest of the meager information available it is clear that Goa occu-
pied a pivotal place in the Muslim trade in western India. There were even
good facilities for ship-building and ship-repairs.
4
It was precisely because
Albuquerque had the right assessment of the situation that he went ahead
with the plans for the conquest of Goa against the strong opposition of his
colleagues.
5
It was again due to the realisation of the strategic importance
of Goa that the Portuguese shifted their headquarters from Cochin to Goa
in 1530.
6
Goa then became the central port of assembly for the Portuguese
Asiatic trade. And as the Portuguese monopolistic pattern of trade was
enforced with gun-boats, the royal shipyard was developed in Goa on a
gigantic scale with facilities for ship-building, ship repairs, gun-casting, and
storage facilities for all the necessary armament and provisions for the ?eets
which cruised the eastern seas. It was in Goa that one could feel the pulse of
the Portuguese commercial life in the East.
7
At the dawn of the seventeenth century the Portuguese fortunes in the East
were already set on their downward march, but the French traveller Pyrard
de Laval, who lived in the city during the closing years of the ?rst decade
of that century, found the Portuguese eastern metropolis still commanding
considerable power, wealth and celebrity. However, hard times followed and
misery loomed large, even though Portuguese married settlers were trying
their utmost to hide their poverty and to extend their show of extravagance
much longer than they could afford it.
8
The decline was obviously due to
dwindling trade prospects, but there were internal causes which hastened
the process. These internal factors were the natural concomitants of urban
development, namely moral degradation and ecological hazards. Hence the
need of some topographic and demographic considerations.
Urban topography
The city lay on the northern coast of the Tisvadi island and on the left bank
of the Mandovi river. It was situated nearly two leagues away from the place
where the Cabo promontory of the island juts into the Indian Ocean. The
city extended along the river side from Panelim to Daugim, a distance of
about two-thirds of a league. Along the river side were located some of the
important State and city establishments: On moving in a West-East direc-
tion one met ?rst the royal shipyard (ribeira grande), followed by the quay of
Saint Catherine, the galley year, the quay of the viceroys, the customs house
and the store-houses for the imported foodstuffs (bangaçal).
9
Immediately
behind this line of establishments but contiguous to it were the royal hospi-
tal and the palace of the viceroys. On the eastern side of this palace was the
chief city market square (terreiro de Mantimentos and bazar grande), and to
its western side was the main entrance gate of the city, known as the arch of
the viceroys because every new viceroy entered by that gate to take of?ce.
10
The heart of the city was somewhat triangular in shape with its base running
parallel to the river bank from the hillock of Our Lady of the Mount on the
Page 3


T
HE CITY OF Goa, which the Portuguese captured from Adil Shah in 1510
and converted into headquarters of their eastern empire in 1530, origi-
nally gained importance as a replenishing and re?tting centre for the Muslim
trading vessels and had developed into an important horse mart supplying
quality steeds from Hurmuz to the rulers of the Deccan and Vijayanagar.
1
The capital of the region was shifted from the northern bank of the river
Zuari to this places on the southern bank of the river Mandovi due to at least
two most probable reasons: Firstly, the Muslim rulers of the Bahamani dy-
nasty must have found the new city founded by the Muslim traders a more
congenial place than the region developed by their Hindu predecessors.
Secondly, the silting of the Zuari river had apparently reduced the strategic
and commercial importance of the capital lying on its bank, thereby making
the transfer unavoidable.
2
Very little is known about the city of Goa and the development of urban
economy before the Portuguese take-over. A short but comprehensive
report by a near-contemporary of Albuquerque has described the city soon
after its conquest by the Portuguese as “very great, with good houses, well
girt around with strong walls, with towers and bastions” . The inhabitants
of the city are described as “Moors of distinction, many of whom were of
divers lands. They were white men, among whom, as well as merchants of
great wealth, there were also many husbandmen.” The nature of the urban
economy is further stressed by saying that “the land, by reason that the
harbor was exceedingly good, had great trade, and many ships of the Moors
came thither from Mecca, the city of Aden, Ormuz, Cambaya and Malabar.”
3
From the rest of the meager information available it is clear that Goa occu-
pied a pivotal place in the Muslim trade in western India. There were even
good facilities for ship-building and ship-repairs.
4
It was precisely because
Albuquerque had the right assessment of the situation that he went ahead
with the plans for the conquest of Goa against the strong opposition of his
colleagues.
5
It was again due to the realisation of the strategic importance
of Goa that the Portuguese shifted their headquarters from Cochin to Goa
in 1530.
6
Goa then became the central port of assembly for the Portuguese
Asiatic trade. And as the Portuguese monopolistic pattern of trade was
enforced with gun-boats, the royal shipyard was developed in Goa on a
gigantic scale with facilities for ship-building, ship repairs, gun-casting, and
storage facilities for all the necessary armament and provisions for the ?eets
which cruised the eastern seas. It was in Goa that one could feel the pulse of
the Portuguese commercial life in the East.
7
At the dawn of the seventeenth century the Portuguese fortunes in the East
were already set on their downward march, but the French traveller Pyrard
de Laval, who lived in the city during the closing years of the ?rst decade
of that century, found the Portuguese eastern metropolis still commanding
considerable power, wealth and celebrity. However, hard times followed and
misery loomed large, even though Portuguese married settlers were trying
their utmost to hide their poverty and to extend their show of extravagance
much longer than they could afford it.
8
The decline was obviously due to
dwindling trade prospects, but there were internal causes which hastened
the process. These internal factors were the natural concomitants of urban
development, namely moral degradation and ecological hazards. Hence the
need of some topographic and demographic considerations.
Urban topography
The city lay on the northern coast of the Tisvadi island and on the left bank
of the Mandovi river. It was situated nearly two leagues away from the place
where the Cabo promontory of the island juts into the Indian Ocean. The
city extended along the river side from Panelim to Daugim, a distance of
about two-thirds of a league. Along the river side were located some of the
important State and city establishments: On moving in a West-East direc-
tion one met ?rst the royal shipyard (ribeira grande), followed by the quay of
Saint Catherine, the galley year, the quay of the viceroys, the customs house
and the store-houses for the imported foodstuffs (bangaçal).
9
Immediately
behind this line of establishments but contiguous to it were the royal hospi-
tal and the palace of the viceroys. On the eastern side of this palace was the
chief city market square (terreiro de Mantimentos and bazar grande), and to
its western side was the main entrance gate of the city, known as the arch of
the viceroys because every new viceroy entered by that gate to take of?ce.
10
The heart of the city was somewhat triangular in shape with its base running
parallel to the river bank from the hillock of Our Lady of the Mount on the
eastern side to the hillock of Our Lady of the Rosary on the western side. Tak-
ing into account the accidents of the terrain it was a distance of nearly 4,500
feet.
11
The centre of the triangle base was the starting point of the Straight
Street (rua direita), also known as Street of Auctionings (rua de leilões), be-
cause it was the busiest marketing centre of the city and there were all kinds
of goods, including slaves, auctioned all throughout the week, with the
exception of Sundays and holidays, from early morning until noon.
12
This
street was ?anked on either side by shops of jewelers, goldsmiths, shroffs,
and many other kinds of merchants and artisans, chie?y from Europe.
13
This main street led to the square of the Church of the Holy House of Mercy,
which lay almost at the centre of the city.
14
Behind the Holy House of Mercy
(Santa Casa de Misericordia) there was another marketing centre, which
was very much frequented, but for non-lasting food commodities like green
vegetables, the city folk had to visit the bazarinho, meaning small market,
which lay between the Convent of Saint Francis and the royal hospital, and
for ?sh supply they had to frequent the quay of Saint Catherine.
15
The square at the terminal of the main street was known as pelourinho velho
or old pillory. There was the court of justice and the city police station. The
law breakers were often whipped there in public.
16
There were six different streets coming to meet at the pillory square, and
among these there was one that descended from the hillock of Our Lady
of Light rising at the southern extreme of the city and marking, so to say,
the vertex of the city triangle. This point was about 2,400 feet away from
the river bank. At the beginning of the seventeenth century the city proper,
excluding the suburbs, had a circuit of about four and half miles. The city
had grown in size by two-thirds of the area it occupied earlier, and the city
population had spilled over into seven to eight suburbs.
17
The city and the suburbs were enclosed within a wall which was of little
resistance on the western side of the city, but along the river that separated
the island from the mainland it was buttressed with forti?ed checkposts,
called passos. There were six such passos, namely at Daugi, Gandauli, Be-
nasteri, Karbelly, Agsy and Narve. Of these, the outposts of Gandaulim,
Benasteri and Narve required greater vigilance, because at Gandauli the
river could be easily crossed during low-tide, while Benasteri and Narve
required greater vigilance, because at Gandauli the river could be easily
crossed during low-tide, while Benasteri was the entry gate for all those
who came from the Ponda region bringing the essential supplies to the city
population, and Narve was a Hindu centre of pilgrimage and large crowds
of Hindus from the mainland ?ocked thither every year for a puri?cation
bath in its sacred tirtha.
18
Each of the above mentioned outposts had a captain, a scrivener and a garri-
son of forty to ?fty men, whose duty was during normal times to keep an eye
on those entering and leaving the island, and chie?y to prevent the escape
Page 4


T
HE CITY OF Goa, which the Portuguese captured from Adil Shah in 1510
and converted into headquarters of their eastern empire in 1530, origi-
nally gained importance as a replenishing and re?tting centre for the Muslim
trading vessels and had developed into an important horse mart supplying
quality steeds from Hurmuz to the rulers of the Deccan and Vijayanagar.
1
The capital of the region was shifted from the northern bank of the river
Zuari to this places on the southern bank of the river Mandovi due to at least
two most probable reasons: Firstly, the Muslim rulers of the Bahamani dy-
nasty must have found the new city founded by the Muslim traders a more
congenial place than the region developed by their Hindu predecessors.
Secondly, the silting of the Zuari river had apparently reduced the strategic
and commercial importance of the capital lying on its bank, thereby making
the transfer unavoidable.
2
Very little is known about the city of Goa and the development of urban
economy before the Portuguese take-over. A short but comprehensive
report by a near-contemporary of Albuquerque has described the city soon
after its conquest by the Portuguese as “very great, with good houses, well
girt around with strong walls, with towers and bastions” . The inhabitants
of the city are described as “Moors of distinction, many of whom were of
divers lands. They were white men, among whom, as well as merchants of
great wealth, there were also many husbandmen.” The nature of the urban
economy is further stressed by saying that “the land, by reason that the
harbor was exceedingly good, had great trade, and many ships of the Moors
came thither from Mecca, the city of Aden, Ormuz, Cambaya and Malabar.”
3
From the rest of the meager information available it is clear that Goa occu-
pied a pivotal place in the Muslim trade in western India. There were even
good facilities for ship-building and ship-repairs.
4
It was precisely because
Albuquerque had the right assessment of the situation that he went ahead
with the plans for the conquest of Goa against the strong opposition of his
colleagues.
5
It was again due to the realisation of the strategic importance
of Goa that the Portuguese shifted their headquarters from Cochin to Goa
in 1530.
6
Goa then became the central port of assembly for the Portuguese
Asiatic trade. And as the Portuguese monopolistic pattern of trade was
enforced with gun-boats, the royal shipyard was developed in Goa on a
gigantic scale with facilities for ship-building, ship repairs, gun-casting, and
storage facilities for all the necessary armament and provisions for the ?eets
which cruised the eastern seas. It was in Goa that one could feel the pulse of
the Portuguese commercial life in the East.
7
At the dawn of the seventeenth century the Portuguese fortunes in the East
were already set on their downward march, but the French traveller Pyrard
de Laval, who lived in the city during the closing years of the ?rst decade
of that century, found the Portuguese eastern metropolis still commanding
considerable power, wealth and celebrity. However, hard times followed and
misery loomed large, even though Portuguese married settlers were trying
their utmost to hide their poverty and to extend their show of extravagance
much longer than they could afford it.
8
The decline was obviously due to
dwindling trade prospects, but there were internal causes which hastened
the process. These internal factors were the natural concomitants of urban
development, namely moral degradation and ecological hazards. Hence the
need of some topographic and demographic considerations.
Urban topography
The city lay on the northern coast of the Tisvadi island and on the left bank
of the Mandovi river. It was situated nearly two leagues away from the place
where the Cabo promontory of the island juts into the Indian Ocean. The
city extended along the river side from Panelim to Daugim, a distance of
about two-thirds of a league. Along the river side were located some of the
important State and city establishments: On moving in a West-East direc-
tion one met ?rst the royal shipyard (ribeira grande), followed by the quay of
Saint Catherine, the galley year, the quay of the viceroys, the customs house
and the store-houses for the imported foodstuffs (bangaçal).
9
Immediately
behind this line of establishments but contiguous to it were the royal hospi-
tal and the palace of the viceroys. On the eastern side of this palace was the
chief city market square (terreiro de Mantimentos and bazar grande), and to
its western side was the main entrance gate of the city, known as the arch of
the viceroys because every new viceroy entered by that gate to take of?ce.
10
The heart of the city was somewhat triangular in shape with its base running
parallel to the river bank from the hillock of Our Lady of the Mount on the
eastern side to the hillock of Our Lady of the Rosary on the western side. Tak-
ing into account the accidents of the terrain it was a distance of nearly 4,500
feet.
11
The centre of the triangle base was the starting point of the Straight
Street (rua direita), also known as Street of Auctionings (rua de leilões), be-
cause it was the busiest marketing centre of the city and there were all kinds
of goods, including slaves, auctioned all throughout the week, with the
exception of Sundays and holidays, from early morning until noon.
12
This
street was ?anked on either side by shops of jewelers, goldsmiths, shroffs,
and many other kinds of merchants and artisans, chie?y from Europe.
13
This main street led to the square of the Church of the Holy House of Mercy,
which lay almost at the centre of the city.
14
Behind the Holy House of Mercy
(Santa Casa de Misericordia) there was another marketing centre, which
was very much frequented, but for non-lasting food commodities like green
vegetables, the city folk had to visit the bazarinho, meaning small market,
which lay between the Convent of Saint Francis and the royal hospital, and
for ?sh supply they had to frequent the quay of Saint Catherine.
15
The square at the terminal of the main street was known as pelourinho velho
or old pillory. There was the court of justice and the city police station. The
law breakers were often whipped there in public.
16
There were six different streets coming to meet at the pillory square, and
among these there was one that descended from the hillock of Our Lady
of Light rising at the southern extreme of the city and marking, so to say,
the vertex of the city triangle. This point was about 2,400 feet away from
the river bank. At the beginning of the seventeenth century the city proper,
excluding the suburbs, had a circuit of about four and half miles. The city
had grown in size by two-thirds of the area it occupied earlier, and the city
population had spilled over into seven to eight suburbs.
17
The city and the suburbs were enclosed within a wall which was of little
resistance on the western side of the city, but along the river that separated
the island from the mainland it was buttressed with forti?ed checkposts,
called passos. There were six such passos, namely at Daugi, Gandauli, Be-
nasteri, Karbelly, Agsy and Narve. Of these, the outposts of Gandaulim,
Benasteri and Narve required greater vigilance, because at Gandauli the
river could be easily crossed during low-tide, while Benasteri and Narve
required greater vigilance, because at Gandauli the river could be easily
crossed during low-tide, while Benasteri was the entry gate for all those
who came from the Ponda region bringing the essential supplies to the city
population, and Narve was a Hindu centre of pilgrimage and large crowds
of Hindus from the mainland ?ocked thither every year for a puri?cation
bath in its sacred tirtha.
18
Each of the above mentioned outposts had a captain, a scrivener and a garri-
son of forty to ?fty men, whose duty was during normal times to keep an eye
on those entering and leaving the island, and chie?y to prevent the escape
of run-away slaves and others sought by justice. All persons and goods cross-
ing these passages were required to pay tolls, which constituted a regular
sources of signi?cant revenue for the State and it more than covered State
expenditure on the maintenance of personnel attached to those outposts.
19
In addition to the six outposts protecting the city and the island against
any mischief from the mainland side, there were another two checkposts
at Ribandar and at Panjim, from where strict watch was kept over vessels
that entered the river Mandovi and moved towards the city. All vessels that
entered from the seaward side had to obtain a clearance certi?cate from
the Panjim checkpost, while the vessels coming through the Mapusa river
were searched at the Ribandar outpost, special attenting being paid to illegal
transactions in slaves and weapons.
20
The interior of the city was a maze of criss-crossing roads and alleys, most of
which were named after the professions of the artisans who had their work-
shops along them. Thus, there were hatters’ street, the street of goldsmiths,
street of book-sellers, street of Gujaratis, and so on.
21
Many of the streets
were paved and there was quite an extensive network of drainage canals,
which were suf?ciently broad and deep, and they conducted the rain waters
either into the lake of Karbelly at the southern end of the city or into the
river.
22
The city had no facilities of running water and the population had to avail
itself of the fresh waters of the springs within the con?nes of the city or utilise
the house wells. There was one good spring near the hillock of Our Lady
of Mount on the north-eastern fringe of the city, but a more appreciated
spring was at Bangany, which was about a quarter mile away in the western
direction. It was from this spring that water was generally supplied to the
city population by the slaves. Apparently the city elders were not eager to
set up aqueducts in the city, because they and the other Portuguese settlers,
who could earn money by employing their slaves in this service to the public,
were not keen to lose such income.
23
However, a limited project was taken
up in 1601 to direct the waters of a water tank to the old pillory square
in order to mitigate the water shortage during the hot summer months.
24
But even then the city continued to depend upon the Bangany water. The
Portuguese and the half-castes did not use any other water for drinking
purposes; however, the natives and the Hindu settlers depended exclusively
upon their house wells.
25
Just as the city lacked good water supply facilities, also the sanitary arrange-
ments for the disposal of the city refuse were most primitive and far less
hygienic than in the neighbouring rural areas which had pigs to do the scav-
enger’s job.
26
The river bank, right in front of the city, was the site assigned
by the municipality for emptying the dirt pans and for the common people
to perform directly their duties of nature.
27
However, it was not uncommon
to ?nd city dwellers following the law of least resistance and messing all over
the place, so much so that the municipal authorities were called upon by
Page 5


T
HE CITY OF Goa, which the Portuguese captured from Adil Shah in 1510
and converted into headquarters of their eastern empire in 1530, origi-
nally gained importance as a replenishing and re?tting centre for the Muslim
trading vessels and had developed into an important horse mart supplying
quality steeds from Hurmuz to the rulers of the Deccan and Vijayanagar.
1
The capital of the region was shifted from the northern bank of the river
Zuari to this places on the southern bank of the river Mandovi due to at least
two most probable reasons: Firstly, the Muslim rulers of the Bahamani dy-
nasty must have found the new city founded by the Muslim traders a more
congenial place than the region developed by their Hindu predecessors.
Secondly, the silting of the Zuari river had apparently reduced the strategic
and commercial importance of the capital lying on its bank, thereby making
the transfer unavoidable.
2
Very little is known about the city of Goa and the development of urban
economy before the Portuguese take-over. A short but comprehensive
report by a near-contemporary of Albuquerque has described the city soon
after its conquest by the Portuguese as “very great, with good houses, well
girt around with strong walls, with towers and bastions” . The inhabitants
of the city are described as “Moors of distinction, many of whom were of
divers lands. They were white men, among whom, as well as merchants of
great wealth, there were also many husbandmen.” The nature of the urban
economy is further stressed by saying that “the land, by reason that the
harbor was exceedingly good, had great trade, and many ships of the Moors
came thither from Mecca, the city of Aden, Ormuz, Cambaya and Malabar.”
3
From the rest of the meager information available it is clear that Goa occu-
pied a pivotal place in the Muslim trade in western India. There were even
good facilities for ship-building and ship-repairs.
4
It was precisely because
Albuquerque had the right assessment of the situation that he went ahead
with the plans for the conquest of Goa against the strong opposition of his
colleagues.
5
It was again due to the realisation of the strategic importance
of Goa that the Portuguese shifted their headquarters from Cochin to Goa
in 1530.
6
Goa then became the central port of assembly for the Portuguese
Asiatic trade. And as the Portuguese monopolistic pattern of trade was
enforced with gun-boats, the royal shipyard was developed in Goa on a
gigantic scale with facilities for ship-building, ship repairs, gun-casting, and
storage facilities for all the necessary armament and provisions for the ?eets
which cruised the eastern seas. It was in Goa that one could feel the pulse of
the Portuguese commercial life in the East.
7
At the dawn of the seventeenth century the Portuguese fortunes in the East
were already set on their downward march, but the French traveller Pyrard
de Laval, who lived in the city during the closing years of the ?rst decade
of that century, found the Portuguese eastern metropolis still commanding
considerable power, wealth and celebrity. However, hard times followed and
misery loomed large, even though Portuguese married settlers were trying
their utmost to hide their poverty and to extend their show of extravagance
much longer than they could afford it.
8
The decline was obviously due to
dwindling trade prospects, but there were internal causes which hastened
the process. These internal factors were the natural concomitants of urban
development, namely moral degradation and ecological hazards. Hence the
need of some topographic and demographic considerations.
Urban topography
The city lay on the northern coast of the Tisvadi island and on the left bank
of the Mandovi river. It was situated nearly two leagues away from the place
where the Cabo promontory of the island juts into the Indian Ocean. The
city extended along the river side from Panelim to Daugim, a distance of
about two-thirds of a league. Along the river side were located some of the
important State and city establishments: On moving in a West-East direc-
tion one met ?rst the royal shipyard (ribeira grande), followed by the quay of
Saint Catherine, the galley year, the quay of the viceroys, the customs house
and the store-houses for the imported foodstuffs (bangaçal).
9
Immediately
behind this line of establishments but contiguous to it were the royal hospi-
tal and the palace of the viceroys. On the eastern side of this palace was the
chief city market square (terreiro de Mantimentos and bazar grande), and to
its western side was the main entrance gate of the city, known as the arch of
the viceroys because every new viceroy entered by that gate to take of?ce.
10
The heart of the city was somewhat triangular in shape with its base running
parallel to the river bank from the hillock of Our Lady of the Mount on the
eastern side to the hillock of Our Lady of the Rosary on the western side. Tak-
ing into account the accidents of the terrain it was a distance of nearly 4,500
feet.
11
The centre of the triangle base was the starting point of the Straight
Street (rua direita), also known as Street of Auctionings (rua de leilões), be-
cause it was the busiest marketing centre of the city and there were all kinds
of goods, including slaves, auctioned all throughout the week, with the
exception of Sundays and holidays, from early morning until noon.
12
This
street was ?anked on either side by shops of jewelers, goldsmiths, shroffs,
and many other kinds of merchants and artisans, chie?y from Europe.
13
This main street led to the square of the Church of the Holy House of Mercy,
which lay almost at the centre of the city.
14
Behind the Holy House of Mercy
(Santa Casa de Misericordia) there was another marketing centre, which
was very much frequented, but for non-lasting food commodities like green
vegetables, the city folk had to visit the bazarinho, meaning small market,
which lay between the Convent of Saint Francis and the royal hospital, and
for ?sh supply they had to frequent the quay of Saint Catherine.
15
The square at the terminal of the main street was known as pelourinho velho
or old pillory. There was the court of justice and the city police station. The
law breakers were often whipped there in public.
16
There were six different streets coming to meet at the pillory square, and
among these there was one that descended from the hillock of Our Lady
of Light rising at the southern extreme of the city and marking, so to say,
the vertex of the city triangle. This point was about 2,400 feet away from
the river bank. At the beginning of the seventeenth century the city proper,
excluding the suburbs, had a circuit of about four and half miles. The city
had grown in size by two-thirds of the area it occupied earlier, and the city
population had spilled over into seven to eight suburbs.
17
The city and the suburbs were enclosed within a wall which was of little
resistance on the western side of the city, but along the river that separated
the island from the mainland it was buttressed with forti?ed checkposts,
called passos. There were six such passos, namely at Daugi, Gandauli, Be-
nasteri, Karbelly, Agsy and Narve. Of these, the outposts of Gandaulim,
Benasteri and Narve required greater vigilance, because at Gandauli the
river could be easily crossed during low-tide, while Benasteri and Narve
required greater vigilance, because at Gandauli the river could be easily
crossed during low-tide, while Benasteri was the entry gate for all those
who came from the Ponda region bringing the essential supplies to the city
population, and Narve was a Hindu centre of pilgrimage and large crowds
of Hindus from the mainland ?ocked thither every year for a puri?cation
bath in its sacred tirtha.
18
Each of the above mentioned outposts had a captain, a scrivener and a garri-
son of forty to ?fty men, whose duty was during normal times to keep an eye
on those entering and leaving the island, and chie?y to prevent the escape
of run-away slaves and others sought by justice. All persons and goods cross-
ing these passages were required to pay tolls, which constituted a regular
sources of signi?cant revenue for the State and it more than covered State
expenditure on the maintenance of personnel attached to those outposts.
19
In addition to the six outposts protecting the city and the island against
any mischief from the mainland side, there were another two checkposts
at Ribandar and at Panjim, from where strict watch was kept over vessels
that entered the river Mandovi and moved towards the city. All vessels that
entered from the seaward side had to obtain a clearance certi?cate from
the Panjim checkpost, while the vessels coming through the Mapusa river
were searched at the Ribandar outpost, special attenting being paid to illegal
transactions in slaves and weapons.
20
The interior of the city was a maze of criss-crossing roads and alleys, most of
which were named after the professions of the artisans who had their work-
shops along them. Thus, there were hatters’ street, the street of goldsmiths,
street of book-sellers, street of Gujaratis, and so on.
21
Many of the streets
were paved and there was quite an extensive network of drainage canals,
which were suf?ciently broad and deep, and they conducted the rain waters
either into the lake of Karbelly at the southern end of the city or into the
river.
22
The city had no facilities of running water and the population had to avail
itself of the fresh waters of the springs within the con?nes of the city or utilise
the house wells. There was one good spring near the hillock of Our Lady
of Mount on the north-eastern fringe of the city, but a more appreciated
spring was at Bangany, which was about a quarter mile away in the western
direction. It was from this spring that water was generally supplied to the
city population by the slaves. Apparently the city elders were not eager to
set up aqueducts in the city, because they and the other Portuguese settlers,
who could earn money by employing their slaves in this service to the public,
were not keen to lose such income.
23
However, a limited project was taken
up in 1601 to direct the waters of a water tank to the old pillory square
in order to mitigate the water shortage during the hot summer months.
24
But even then the city continued to depend upon the Bangany water. The
Portuguese and the half-castes did not use any other water for drinking
purposes; however, the natives and the Hindu settlers depended exclusively
upon their house wells.
25
Just as the city lacked good water supply facilities, also the sanitary arrange-
ments for the disposal of the city refuse were most primitive and far less
hygienic than in the neighbouring rural areas which had pigs to do the scav-
enger’s job.
26
The river bank, right in front of the city, was the site assigned
by the municipality for emptying the dirt pans and for the common people
to perform directly their duties of nature.
27
However, it was not uncommon
to ?nd city dwellers following the law of least resistance and messing all over
the place, so much so that the municipal authorities were called upon by
the viceroy in the beginning of the seventeenth century to take immediate
measures to prevent dirt being thrown on public streets.
28
In spite of these
measures the situation had worsened in the course of years, and we ?nd
that in the late seventeenth century it had become a favourite pastime of
unruly citizens to hurl pots of excrement from the house windows at the
street walkers down below.
29
To conclude the topographic survey of the city,
it can be said that the low-lying situation of the city, which was surrounded
towards the interior by a chain of highlands, and the porous nature of the
soil served to enhance the problems created by the over-crowding of the
city and by the lack of suf?cient sanitary arrangements to meet them. These
factors were responsible for the repeated attacks of cholera and their devas-
tating effect, particularly in those wards of the city which were occupied by
a majority of Hindu and native Christians.
30
Urban demography
The following survey of the city population cannot be but limited in scope
and merely indicative of the general trend, because the data available are
neither complete nor precise to warrant any ?rm conclusions. There are
many stray references to the non-Christian business and merchant commu-
nity of the city in the State records. There are references to the capitation
levies imposed on them at different times, but the nature of the data pro-
vided is such that it is not possible to calculate from them the strength of
the community concerned. The same applies to the revenue records. Since
there was the practice of farming out the right of collecting revenues to
private individuals, the latter alone kept up-to-date lists of the tax payers,
and these lists are either lost or in some private collections. Our only help
outside of?cial records lies in the reports of the religious orders and in the
accounts of the European travelers who visited Goa in the course of the
seventeenth century.
According to the statistics gathered in the very ?rst year of the seventeenth
century in order to tax the Hindu population of the city there were 20,000 of
them.
31
This constituted apparently one-third or so of the total city popula-
tion, because the earliest information that we have for the population of the
city in the seventeenth century places 5,000 households in the city and its
immediate surroundings, which gives us 75,000 as an approximate ?gure for
the total population, considering that each household consisted of ?fteen
persons, including the slaves. Of these city dwellers not more than 1,500
were Portuguese, and the rest were native Christians, Hindus and African
slaves.
32
The information that is available for about twenty years later gives the total
number of households as 3,000 and says clearly that the population was
reduced nearly to a third of the population in the earlier times and that