Diu district (

Indo-Portuguese Indo-Portuguese creoles are the several Portuguese creoles spoken in the erstwhile Portuguese Indian settlements, Cochin Portuguese Creole, Fort Bassein, Goa and Damaon, Portuguese Ceylon etc, in present-day India and Sri Lanka. These creole ...

; ''Distrito de Dio'') is one of the three

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivision ...

s of the union territory of

Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu is a union territory in India. The territory was constituted through the merger of the former territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. Plans for the proposed merger were announced by t ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. The district is made up of Diu Island and two small enclaves on the Indian mainland. The district headquarters are at Diu Town. It is the ninth least populous district in the country (out of 640).

History

The district was historically part of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat. Mirroring the system of administrative division in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...

, Diu district (''Distrito de Diu'') was established as an administrative division of the

Portuguese State of India The State of India ( pt, Estado da Índia), also referred as the Portuguese State of India (''Estado Português da Índia'', EPI) or simply Portuguese India (), was a state of the Portuguese Empire founded six years after the discovery of a se ...

(''Estado da Índia'') in the first half of the 19th century. It was headed by a district governor, subordinate to the

governor-general Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...

of Portuguese India in Goa. The district included the single municipality of Diu, which was further subdivided into

civil parishes In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority. ...

. It remained an overseas territory of Portugal until it was annexed by Indian forces on 19 December 1961. From 1961 to 1987, it was a part of the union territory of

Goa, Daman and Diu Goa, Daman and Diu (, ) was a union territory of the Republic of India established in 1961 following the annexation of Portuguese India, with Maj Gen K P Candeth as its first Military Governor. The Goa portion of the territory was granted fu ...

. In 1987, it became a part of the newly formed union territory of Daman and Diu. In January 2020, the district became part of the new union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.

Geography

Diu district occupies an area of , It consists of Diu Island and a part on the mainland (the Ghogolá peninsula). 20 km East of Diu Island, is the small territory of

Simbor Simbor is a territory of 0.91 square kilometres located in the estuary of the Sahil River (called Rio Vançoso by the Portuguese) in the cove of Simbor, about 25 km east of Diu, India, Diu. Since its establishment in the early 18th century, ...

Diu Island

Diu Island is the place where the town of Diu is located.

Diu Fortress The Diu Fortress (Portuguese: ''Fortaleza de Diu'' or formally ''Fortaleza de São Tomé'') is a Portuguese-built fortification located on the west coast of India in Diu. The fortress was built as part of Portuguese India's defensive fortifi ...

is also located on Diu Island.

Mainland

The area on the mainland borders

Gir Somnath district Gir Somnath is a district of Gujarat, India. It is located on the southern corner of the Kathiawar peninsula with its headquarters at the City Of Somnath. Gir Somnath was split from Junagadh district in August 2013, when seven new districts ...

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

. It contains the village of Ghogola. The village lies on the mainland opposite the eastern end of the island . The tiny territory of

, located about 25 km east of the town of Diu, is also part of the district.

Sub-Districts

# Diu Island # Gogolá #

Demographics

According to the 2011 census Diu district has a

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction usi ...

of 52,074, roughly equal to the nation of

Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Kitts and Nevis (), officially the Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis, is an island country and microstate consisting of the two islands of Saint Kitts and Nevis, both located in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands chain ...

. This gives it a ranking of 631st in India (out of a total of 640). The district has a population density of . Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 17.73%. Diu has a

sex ratio The sex ratio (or gender ratio) is usually defined as the ratio of males to females in a population. As explained by Fisher's principle, for evolutionary reasons this is typically about 1:1 in species which reproduce sexually. Many species dev ...

of 1030

females Female (symbol: ♀) is the sex of an organism that produces the large non-motile ova (egg cells), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gametes than a male. Females ...

for every 1000 males, and a

literacy rate Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, huma ...

of 83.36%.

Sister cities

Diu Island is twinned with the city of

Loures Loures () is a city and a municipality in Portugal which is part of the District and Metropolitan area of Lisbon. It is the fifth most populous municipality in the country, with a total population of 201,632. History There was early human sett ...

, in Portugal.

Tourism

Diu is home to various buildings and monuments with Portuguese-styled architecture. The nearest railway junction is Veraval, which is 90 km from Diu. Major cities like Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Pune, Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh), Dwarka and Thiruvananthapuram are directly connected to Veraval Railway Station. Delwada is 8 km from Diu. ;Fortresses and churches * Diu Fort * St. Thomas Church, Diu, now a museum. *Nadia Caves *

St. Paul's Church, Diu The St. Paul’s Church ( pt, Igreja de São Paulo), is situated on Diu Island, on the west coast of India, a Union Territory of India. Diu came under the control of Portuguese colonists in early 16th century. The St. Paul’s Church, named ...

* Fortim do Mar, Diu * Fortim do Mar, Simbor ;Beaches * Nagoá Beach, most visited beach in Diu and has a fort ruin. * Ghogolá Beach, largest beach off the island of Diu * Chakratirth Beach * Barra Beach has a fort ruin

Gallery

File:Diu Fort Fixed Cannons.JPG, Diu Fort Fixed Cannons File:Eglise St Thomas.jpg, St. Thomas Church, Diu File:Diu fort, India.JPG, Diu fort File:Nadia Caves of Diu.jpg, Nadia Caves of Diu File:PERSPECTIVE VIEW OF ST.PAUL CHURCH, DIU, INDIA (2012).jpg, St. Paul's Church, Diu File:Church in Nani Daman Fort.jpg, Church in Nani Daman Fort Altar of Se Cathedral.jpg, Se Cathedral File:View of Water Fort Prison from Diu Fort with watch tower of Diu Fort.JPG, View of Water Fort Prison from Diu Fort with watchtower of Diu Fort Wall of the Portuguese Fort of Diu.jpg, Portuguese Fort

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Districts of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu