Gandaulim
History
Gandaulim might have been a spice trading post of the Republic of Ragusa in the early modern period.
In the annals of 1605, Jakov Lukarević noted that Ragusan merchants invested in decorating a local church. Portuguese traveler Gomes Catão documented the town to have a population of 12,000, where wealthy ladies were carried to the churches by slaves in canopies. Catão also remarked the church to be modeled on an eponymous church in Dubrovnik. These claims have since been adopted into the popular memory of the inhabitants of Gandaulim, and Ragusans are now credited for the very construction of the church; however, the factual accuracy of this remains disputed.
Some historians have used these arguments to make assumptions about the existence of a Ragusan colony. Serbian economic historian Nicholas Mirkovich had lamented in 1943 about the lack of contemporary Ragusan sources to draft a history of their exploits in India.
Interest in the connection was revived in 1999, when Croatian Indologist Zdravka Matišić discovered a reference to ties between Ragusa and Goa by chance while studying Sanskrit texts in India. That same year, Croatian author Karmen Bašić noted that while nothing definitive could be said about Ragusan arrival and departure from Goa, there was a "substantial body of evidence and sources vouching for Ragusa’s presence" and its role in the global spice trade, though the notion of a colony linked to the Saint Blaise (São Brás) church at Gandaulim remained "somewhat of a mystery".
Infrastructure
In 2016, a bridge was constructed on the outskirts of the village, over the canal. This bridge now links the islands of Ilhas de Goa to Cumbarjua.
Gallery
Gandaulim was a site of a historical fortress, which was demolished in early 21st century for a road expansion project.
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Gandaulim Fort Entrance Gate -
Gandaulim Fort Entrance Gate after Demolition -
Gandaulim Fort Entrance Gate post Demolition
Notes
- ^ Croatian author Ivo Šišević has claimed an inspiration from St. Saviour Church, Dubrovnik.
- ^ A major proponent of this theory is Croatian diplomat-historian Darko Bekić, who proposed that the Ragusans reached Portuguese Goa sometime between 1530 and 1535 and went on to establish a colony, which declined in late 17th century.
References
- ^ Tomas, Lora (19 May 2014). "Distant liaisons". Himal Southasian. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
- ^ Andrijanić, Ivan (26 February 2018). "Hrvatska i Indija: Kulturno-povijesne i gospodarsko-političke veze". Zbornik sveučilišta Libertas (in Croatian). 3 (3). Zagreb, Croatia: Libertas international university: 351. ISSN 2584-6167.
U Goi, na zapadnoj obali indijskoga potkontinenta, trgovci iz Dubrovnika bogato su uresili crkvu Sv. Vlaha (São Braz). Na temelju toga svjedočanstva, koje navodi Jakov Lukarević (1605),[21] neki su istraživači pretpostavili postojanje dubrovačke kolonije São Braz u blizini Goe, ali za potvrdu te tvrdnje za sad nema dovoljno dokaza (Bašić, 1999: 85–93).
- ^ Mirkovich, Nicholas (1943). "Ragusa and the Portuguese Spice Trade". Slavonic and East European Review. American Series. 2 (1): 174–187. doi:10.2307/3020140. ISSN 1535-0940. JSTOR 3020140.
- ^ "Why this Goan village will root for Croatia". The Times of India. 14 July 2018.
- ^ "The Croats of Goa, India". 27 May 2018.
- ^ "Gaundalim Bridge, Goa | TPF". www.tpf.eu.
- ^ "Gaundalim, Cumbarjua bridges opened for traffic". The Goan EveryDay.