Goans (Konkani: गोंयकार, Romi lipi: Goencar, Portuguese: Goeses) is the demonym used to describe the people native to Goa, India, who form an ethno-linguistic group resulting from the assimilation of Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, Indo-Portuguese and Austro-Asiatic ethnic and/or linguistic ancestries.They speak different dialects of Konkaninatively. Goanese is an incorrect usage for Goans.
Contents
- Epigraphical evidence
- Language
- Religion
- Christianity
- Hinduism
- Islam
- Geographical distribution
- Migrations prior to 1550
- Migrations from 1550-1700s (First Phase)
- Migrations from 1800s-1950s (Second Phase)
- Migration from 1960s-Present (Current Phase)
- Professions
- See also
- References
Epigraphical evidence
A copperplate dating to the early 4th century found in Shiroda, mentions one Devaraja of the Gominas, which is a reference to the Bhoja king ruling from Chandor, who is hailed as the ruler of the Goans or Gominas.
Language
Geographic Distribution of Native Konkani Speakers within India
Goans are multilingual, but mainly speak the Konkani language, a Prakrit-based language belonging to the Southern group of Indo-Aryan Languages. Various dialects of Konkani spoken by the Goans which include Bardezkari, Saxtti, Pednekari and Antruz. The Konkani spoken by the Catholics is notably different from those of the Hindus, since it has a lot of Portuguese influence in its vocabulary. Note that Konkani was never used as an official language during both pre-Portuguese and Portuguese eras. Goans today use Devanagari (official) and Latin script (liturgical and historical) Konkani for education as well as communication (personal, formal and religious). However the entire liturgy of the Catholic church is solely in the Latin script. In the past Goykanadi, Modi, Kannada and Persian scripts were also used which later fell into disuse owing to many social, political and religious reasons.
All Goans were educated in Portuguese in the past when Goa was an overseas province of Portugal. Portuguese is still spoken by a number of Catholic Goans, due to being an optional language course in schools.
The Marathi language has played a significant role for Hindus near the northern borders of Goa close to Maharashtra and parts of Novas Conquistas. This is due to the mass immigration of ethnic Marathi people to those areas since the time of the Maratha Empire.
Religion
Ethnic Goans are predominantly Christians followed by Hindus and a small Muslim community. As per the 1909 statistics, the Catholic population was 293,628 out of a total population 365,291 (80.33%). Within Goa, there has been a steady decline of Christianity due to Goan emigration, and a steady rise of Hinduism and Islam, due to non-Goan immigration. Conversion seems to play little role in the demographic change. As per the 2011 census, Hindus constituted 65%, Christians constituted 27% and Muslims constituted 6% within the state of Goa.
Christianity
The Catholics display Portuguese influence, due to over 451 years of direct rule by, and interaction with, the Portuguese people as an overseas province. Portuguese names are common among the Christians. The Caste system is still followed, but to a lesser degree as compared to other Indians. There are some distinct Bamonn, Chardó, Gauddo and Sudir communities in Goa that are mainly endogamous. Most Catholic families also share Portuguese ancestry, and some openly count themselves as ‘mestiço’ or mixed-race. This has resulted in an ethnicity that is unique and culturally different from the people around them.
Hinduism
Goan Hindus refer to themselves as Konkane (Devanagari Konkani: कोंकणे), meaning the residents of an area broadly identified as Konkan. Hindus in Goa are divided into many different castes and sub-castes, known as Jatis. They use their village names to identify their clans, some of them use titles. Some are known by the occupation their ancestors have been practising; Nayak, Borkar, Raikar, Keni, Prabhu, Kamat, Lotlikar, Chodankar, Mandrekar, Naik, Bhat, Tari, Gaude are examples.
Islam
Only a small number of native Muslims remain and are known as Moir,the word is derived from the Portuguese Mouro, which means Moor. Muçulmano was the word later used in Portuguese to identify them.
Geographical distribution
Goans have been migrating all along the Konkan Coast and across the world for the last six centuries because of socio-religious and economic reasons. The Hindu diaspora have been assimilated with other Konkani people of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala. Many Goans currently work in the Gulf, the U.K. and the Greater Angloshpere as well as the former Portuguese territories, including Portugal itself.
Migrations prior to 1550
There are no definitive records of Goan migration prior to the Portuguese conquests in the region of Goa (although oral histories exist about Hindu migrations to Southern India following the Islamic invasions).
Migrations from 1550-1700s (First Phase)
The first recorded instances of significant emigrations of Goans could be traced back to the arrival of the Portuguese in Goa. Many Hindus in 17th-18th centuries fled to the Novas Conquistas, Mangalore and Canara in order to continue practicing Hinduism. Some Goan Catholics also moved to Mangalore and Kanara to escape the Goa Inquisition, epidemics or poverty. It was also during the latter part this period, when Goan Catholics started traveling overseas to other parts of the global Portuguese Empire, such as Lisbon, Ormuz, Muscat, Timor, Brasil, Malaca, Pegu, and Colombo. Goan Hindus did not travel overseas because of the religious ban imposed by the Dharamasastras, which stated that crossing salt water would cause loss of caste.
Migrations from 1800s-1950s (Second Phase)
During the Napoleonic Wars Goa was occupied by the British Raj, and many of their vessels were anchored in the Morumugão harbour.These ships were serviced by native Goans, some of whom then left on the same ships for British India to work there for higher wages. The Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of 1878 played an important role in speeding the emigration of Goans in the latter half of the 19th Century, since it gave the British the authority to construct the West of India Portuguese Railway, which connected the Velhas Conquistas to the Bombay Presidency. They primarily moved to the cities of Bombay (now Mumbai), Poona (now Pune), Calcutta (now Kolkata) and Karachi. The Goans who moved to mainland India were of both, Christian as well as Hindu, origin.
A small number of Goans moved to Burma, to join the already established community in Pegu (now Bago). Another destination for mainly the Catholic community, was Africa. Most of the emigrants hailed from the Velhas Conquistas, due to its high literacy rate. Immigration into Africa ended after the Decolonisation of Africa, during the 1950-60s.
In 1880, there 29,216 Goans who left Goa. By 1954, this number rose to 180,000.
Migration from 1960s-Present (Current Phase)
After the Invasion of Goa (1961) by the Republic of India, there has been a steep rise in the number of emigrants of Goan origin. Many had applied and were granted Portuguese passports in order to obtain a European residence. The educated class found it difficult to get jobs within Goa due to the discrimination against native Goans by the government and the resulting high influx of non-Goans into Goa, and this encouraged many of them to move to the Gulf states for work.
Until the early 1970s there were substantial populations of Goans in the Middle East, Africa and Europe. There have also, historically, been Goans in former British colonies of Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, and Portuguese colonies of Mozambique and Angola. The end of colonial rule brought a subsequent process of Africanisation and a wave of expulsion of South Asians from Uganda (1972) and Malawi (1974) forced the community to migrate elsewhere.
Currently it is estimated that there are at least 600,000 Goans living outside India.
Professions
Since the Second Phase of migrations, the Goans have had a variety of professions. In British India they were personal butlers, nannies, cooks, bakers or physicians to the English elite in India. On the Ships and Cruise liners they were sailors, stewards, chefs, musicians and dancers. In Africa, they pioneered in medicine. Many have also been engineers and technicians working on oil rigs.