Daman and Diu

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Location of Daman and Diu in India

Daman and Diu ( Gujarati : દમણ અને દીવ Damaṇ ane Dīv , English : Daman and Diu , Portuguese : Damão e Diu ) was a union territory in India . It consisted of the two unconnected areas of Daman and Diu , both of which are on the west coast of India and border the state of Gujarat . The union territory had around 240,000 inhabitants on an area of ​​approx. 111 km². The capital was Daman .

Daman and Diu were part of Portuguese India from the 16th century until 1961 . Since their annexation to India, they have been administered as a union territory directly by the Indian central government. On January 26, 2020, it was merged with the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli to form the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu . Daman became the capital of the new union territory.

location

Look at Daman
Look at Diu

The Union Territory of Daman and Diu consisted of the two unrelated areas of Daman and Diu . Both are located in western India on the coast of the Arabian Sea, around 200 km as the crow flies. Daman is located at the entrance of the Gulf of Khambhat at the mouth of the Damanganga River , Diu on an island off the Kathiawar peninsula . Both Daman and Diu are surrounded by Gujarat State territory . Diu borders the Junagadh district , Daman borders the Valsad Gujarats district. Only around 20 km inland from Daman, but separated by a strip of land belonging to Gujarat, is the district of Dadra and Nagar Haveli , also a former Portuguese colony, which was an independent union territory before it was merged with Daman and Diu.

Daman and Diu has a total area of ​​approx. 111 km². Of this, about 72 km² are in Daman and just under 39 km² in Diu. The only two cities are the eponymous places Daman and Diu.

population

Demographics

According to the Indian census, the union territory of Daman and Diu had a total of 242,911 inhabitants in 2011. The Union territory is heavily urbanized: 75.2% of the population live in cities. The population density is correspondingly high with 2,169 inhabitants per square kilometer. The population growth of Damans and Dius is significantly higher than in the surrounding areas, which is mainly explained by immigration from other areas of India. Between 2001 and 2011, the population of the Union Territory increased by 53.5%. The immigration of (predominantly male) labor migrants also explains the extremely unbalanced gender ratio: In Daman and Diu there are only 618 women for every 1,000 men. Daman and Diu thus recorded the largest surplus of men of all Indian states and Union territories. The Damans and Dius literacy rate is 87.1%, well above the overall Indian average of 74.0%.

Languages ​​in Daman and Diu
language percent
Gujarati
  
68.8%
Hindi
  
19.8%
Marathi
  
4.4%
Other
  
7.0%
Distribution of languages ​​(2001 census)

languages

As in the surrounding Gujarat, the main language Damans and Dius is Gujarati . It is spoken as a mother tongue by 69 percent of the population of the Union Territory. Among the immigrant population, Hindi (20 percent), Marathi (4 percent), and a number of other languages, which make up 7 percent in total, are spoken. As in all of India, English plays an important role as a lingua franca and educational language. Portuguese , which used to be widespread , has lost its importance since the end of the colonial era. The two Creole languages with Portuguese-based vocabulary, Língua da Casa (Daman) and Língua dos Velhos (Diu), are in extinction . These languages ​​were mainly spoken among the Christian population of the area.

Religions in Daman and Diu
religion percent
Hinduism
  
90.5%
Islam
  
7.9%
Christianity
  
1.2%
Other
  
0.4%
Distribution of religions (2011 census)

Religions

Hindus make up the vast majority of the residents of Daman and Diu with 91 percent (2011 census). The Muslim minority makes up 8 percent of the population. Despite the historically strong Christian character from the Portuguese colonial era, Christians today are only a small minority at just over 1 percent.

economy

Both Daman and Diu live to a large extent from fishing and tourism. In contrast to neighboring Gujarat, there is no alcohol ban in either area . In addition, both territories have beautiful sandy beaches.

Administrative division

The union territory of Daman and Diu consisted of the two districts of Daman and Diu. These have continued to exist since the merger with Dadra and Nagar Haveli.

history

Map of Diu, 1750

Daman and Diu are former Portuguese colonies . Diu came under Portuguese control in 1535 and Daman in 1558.

At the time of Indian independence in 1947, Portuguese India still consisted of Goa , Daman and Diu as well as Dadra and Nagar Haveli , which belonged to Daman as an exclave until the Indian nationalists came to power in 1954 . In 1961, India annexed the remaining Portuguese possessions in a military operation. The following year, the Union Territory of Goa, Daman and Diu was formed from them . Portugal did not recognize the annexation until 1974 after the fall of the dictatorship in the Carnation Revolution . Daman and Diu became union territory in 1987 when Goa was taken out of the federal territories as an independent federal state. In 2020 it was merged with the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli.

Attractions

In both territories, the flair of the colonial era has been preserved, which is particularly reflected in the regular street scene and also in the large church buildings.

Individual evidence

  1. Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli to be one Union Territory from January 26 , The Hindu, December 19, 2019, accessed March 23, 2020
  2. ^ Census of India 2011: Provisional Population Tables and Annexures ( Memento of January 10, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) and Provisional Population Totals - India - Rural-Urban Distribution. (PDF; 8.1 MB)
  3. Indian census 2001
  4. Census of India 2011: Population by religious community.

Web links

Commons : Daman and Diu  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 20 ° 26 '  N , 72 ° 51'  E