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The Zoroastrian fire temple in theex-Portuguese colony of Diu, India

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 April 2002

Abstract

The ex-Portuguese town of Diu on the island with thesame name off the south coast of Saurashtra,Gujarat, is one of the best-preserved and yetleast-studied Portuguese colonial towns. Diu was thelast of the Portuguese strongholds in India, thecontrol of which was finally achieved in 1539 aftermany years of futile struggle and frustratingnegotiations with the sultanate of Gujarat. Duringthe late sixteenth and seventeenth century Diuremained a main staging post for Portuguese trade inthe Indian Ocean, but with the appearance of theDutch, and later the French and British, on thescene the island gradually lost its strategicimportance. The town was subjected to littlerenovation during the nineteenth century while inthe twentieth century Diu was no more than anisolated Portuguese outpost with meagre trade untilit was taken over by India in 1961. As a result,unlike the other former Portuguese colonies in India– Daman and Goa – Diu has preserved most of itsoriginal characteristics: a Portuguese colonial townplan, a sixteenth-century fort and a number of oldchurches, as well as many of the eighteenth andnineteenth-century houses.

Information

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 2003

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