<!-- See WikiProject Indian cities
for details -->Mormugao
) is a city and a municipal council
in South Goa district
in the Indian state
. It is Goa
’s main port. It was featured in the 1980 film The Sea Wolves
and the Bollywood
Mormugao is located at . It has an average elevation of 2 metres (7 feet).
, Mormugao had a population of 97,085. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Mormugao has an average literacy rate of 75%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 80%, and female literacy is 70%. In Mormugao, 11% of the population is under 6 years of age.
<!---->When the Portuguese colonised
part of Goa in the sixteenth century, they based their operations in the central district of Tiswadi
, notably in the international emporium 'City of Goa', now Old Goa
. As threats to their maritime supremacy increased, they built forts on various hillocks, especially along the coast. In 1624, they began to build their fortified town on the headland overlooking Mormugao harbour.
The sultans of Bijapur
, who had colonised Goa before the Portuguese, did not give up easily. There were several invasions. From the sea came the Dutch
, who eventually took over from the Portuguese most of the coastal settlements: the Moluccas