Daman

Skeleton From a Colonial Closet.

Daman. A former Portuguese outpost on the Indian west coast.

It would’ve been fascinating to watch Israel’s Defence Forces and the settlers with their colonial methods and moral compass if it was in the dustbin of history. Unfortunately, it is happening now, and the world is a mute witness to the brutality of coloniser-settler violence with the fingerprint of a country that was pretty adept at it - the USA.

Daman - A Forgotten Skeleton

Daman became a Portuguese territory in 1559. It was a trading port at the mouth of the Daman River. This occurred when the Portuguese gained control of the sea trade, previously dominated by Arab and Gujarati traders. The Portuguese had a fort further north at Diu. At that time, Gujarat was a major cotton and other trade centre, connecting it to the African and Arab coasts. The Portuguese were powerful enough to become the gatekeepers of this vital route, collecting taxes from all the ships that plied here shortly after establishing their presence.

Daman and Diu remained under Portuguese control for 450 years until 1961. This was long after the British, more successful in colonising India, left these shores in 1947.

Unlike the British, the Portuguese in India seemed to be more comfortable facing the sea than colonising the interiors of India.

There are two forts in Daman. The one seen here is the Moti Daman fort on the southern bank of the mouth of the Daman Ganga River. A smaller fort called St Jerome is on the other bank.

Daman is now part of a small administrative territory governed by New Delhi, the capital of the Indian Union. It is not part of the Indian state of Gujarat that encloses it. Most of the administrative offices and the courts of the Indian Union are inside the Moti Daman Fort.

The destination thrives on tourism, fuelled by lower taxes on alcohol (the state of Gujarat is dry and expensive in other nearby states), and industries that flourish here due to lower taxes.

Here are a few images of the fort of Moti Daman.