Goa
state in western India
Goa ( GOH-ə; Konkani: [ɡɔ̃j]; Portuguese: [ˈɡoɐ] ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region. It is geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bordered by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the east and south, with the Arabian Sea forming its western coastline. It was the capital of the eastern Portuguese empire until 1961. It is India's smallest state by area and fourth-smallest by population. Panaji (Panjim) is the state's capital, while Vasco da Gama is its largest city by population. The state's official language is Konkani, spoken by the majority of its inhabitants.
The Portuguese, who first voyaged to the subcontinent in the early 16th century as merchants, conquered it on request of Timoji shortly thereafter. Goa became an overseas territory of the Portuguese Empire and part of what was then known as Portuguese India, remaining under Portuguese rule for approximately 451 years until its annexation by India in December 1961. The ancient City of Goa (now Old Goa), considered one of the greatest cities of Asia in the 16th century, was abandoned in the 19th century following disease outbreaks, and what remains of it now includes scattered churches and convents amidst ruins.
The public source identifies “Goa” as state in western India. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around state, western and India.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1171. VIAF identifies the subject as 128362614. The Library of Congress control number is n89102022. Authority coordinates are 15.402, 74.043. 3 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1961.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Goa” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.