South Goa district is one of two districts that comprises the state of Goa, India, within the region known as the

Konkan The Konkan ( kok, कोंकण) or Kokan () is a stretch of land by the western coast of India, running from Damaon in the north to Karwar in the south; with the Arabian Sea to the west and the Deccan plateau in the east. The hinterland ...

. It is bounded by

North Goa district North Goa district is one of the two districts that constitutes the state of Goa, India. The district has an area of , and is bounded by Kolhapur and Sindhudurg districts of Maharashtra state to the north and by Belgavi district of Karnata ...

to the north, the

Uttara Kannada Uttara Kannada is a district in the Indian states and territories of India, state of Karnataka. Uttara Kannada District is a major coastal district of Karnataka, and currently holding the title of the largest district in Karnataka. It is borde ...

district of

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO 15919, ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reor ...

state to the east and south, while the

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea ( ar, اَلْبَحرْ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Bahr al-ˁArabī) is a region of the northern Indian Ocean bounded on the north by Pakistan, Iran and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channe ...

forms its western coast.

History

The Portuguese established a colony in Goa in 1510 and expanded the colony to its present boundaries during the 17th and 18th centuries. Goa was annexed by India on 19 December 1961. Goa and two other former Portuguese enclaves became the union territory of Goa, Daman and Diu, and Goa was organised into a single district in 1965. On 30 May 1987 Goa attained

statehood A state is a centralized political organization that imposes and enforces rules over a population within a territory. There is no undisputed definition of a state. One widely used definition comes from the German sociologist Max Weber: a "st ...

(while Daman and Diu became a separate union territory), and Goa was reorganised into two districts, North Goa and South Goa.

Administration

Ruchika Katyal, an officer of the

Indian Administrative Service The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the Public administration, administrative arm of the All India Services of Government of India. Considered the premier civil service of India, the IAS is one of the three arms of the All India Services ...

, is the collector and district magistrate of South Goa. There are deputy collectors and ''mamlatdars'' for each sub Division / taluka. The headquarters of the district is Margao. There are 205 revenue villages in South Goa District under 7 Tehsils (sub districts) headed each by the Mamladar.

Divisions

Margao is the administrative headquarters of the district. The 'Matanhy Saldanha Administrative Complex', the collectorate building, named after former minister and social activist Mr Mathany Saldanha, is located on the outskirts of the city, adjoining the intercity bus stand. The district is divided into five subdivisions— Ponda,

Mormugao Mormugao is a seaport city situated in the eponymous Mormugao taluka ( municipality) of the South district, in the Goa state, India. It has a deep natural harbour and remains Goa's chief port. Towards the end of the Indo-Portuguese era in 1 ...

‑ Vasco, Margao,

Quepem Quepem is a town with a municipal council in South Goa district in the Indian state of Goa. The town is the administrative headquarters of the Quepem taluka (sub-district). History The town was established by a Portuguese noble man Deão ...

, and Dharbandora; and seven '' talukas''— Ponda,

, Salcete (Margao),

, and

Canacona Canacona () is a city and a municipal council in the district of South Goa, Goa state, India. Canacona taluka includes Patnem, Chaudi, Poinguinim, Loliem-Polem, Agonda, and Gaumdongre. Chaudi is the headquarters and the most developed town in t ...

(

Chaudi Chaudi is a town in the South Goa district of the state of Goa, India, located approximately two kilometres from Canacona. History The town used to be a place of public business and housed a village hall, as each comunidade The Comunida ...

Sanguem Sanguem () is a city and a municipal council in South Goa district in the Indian state of Goa. Notable landmarks include the Sagameshwar Temple, Bhagwan Mahaveer Sanctuary and Mollem National Park and the Salaulim Dam. Geography Sanguem is l ...

, and Dharbandora. Ponda taluka was shifted from North Goa district to South Goa district in January 2015.

Politics

Transport

Frequent buses are available between Margao and North Goa.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census South Goa 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 6,40,537 which is roughly equal to the nation of

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = ...

or the US state of

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provin ...

. This gives it a ranking of 515th 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 8.63%. South Goa 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 980 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 85.53%.

Language

Konkani is the first language of a majority of the people living in South Goa district. Portuguese is also spoken and understood by a small number of people. At the time of the

2011 Census of India The 2011 Census of India or the 15th Indian Census was conducted in two phases, house listing and population enumeration. The House listing phase began on 1 April 2010 and involved the collection of information about all buildings. Informatio ...

, 66.44% of the population in the district spoke Konkani, 12.38%

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

, 6.45% Marathi, 5.98%

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

, 3.39%

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry ( Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam wa ...

, 0.86%

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode ...

, 0.55%

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

, 0.49%

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, na ...

, 0.49%

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub- ...

, 0.44%

Odia Odia, also spelled Oriya or Odiya, may refer to: * Odia people in Odisha, India * Odia language, an Indian language, belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family * Odia alphabet, a writing system used for the Odia languag ...

and 0.42%

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

as their first language.

Religion

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...

(53%) is followed by the majority of population of South Goa.

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ� ...

(36%) form significant minority.

Education

There are many educational institutions in South Goa. The prominent colleges include: *

Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani – Goa Campus Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani – Goa Campus (and known in short as BITS Pilani, Goa Campus) is a private deemed university campus located in Goa, India. Established in 2004, it is one of the four campuses of the BITS Pil ...

in Zuarinagar. *

The Parvatibai Chowgule College Parvatibai Chowgule College of Arts & Science is Goa's first and only autonomous college with NAAC A+ Grade college based in the South Goa district Headquarters of Margao, on the west coast of India. History Shri.Vishwasraw.D.Chowgule, an i ...

in Margao. * Govind Ramnath Kare College of Law in Margao. *

Padre Conceicao College of Engineering Padre Conceição College of Engineering (PCCE) is a private engineering college in Verna, Goa, India, established in 1997. The college is affiliated to Goa University, Taleigao, Goa, and the programmes are approved by All India Council for T ...

(PCCE) in Verna. * MES College in Vasco da Gama.

References

External links

South Goa district Website
{{coord, 15.2724, N, 73.9583, E, source:wikidata, display=title Districts of Goa 1987 establishments in Goa