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Mormugao is a coastal town situated in the Mormugao taluka of Southern Goa state, India. It has a deep natural harbour and remains Goa's chief port.
Towards the end of the Indo-Portuguese era in 1917, thirty-one settlements were carved out of the Salcete taluka territory, to form Mormugao with Mormugao seaport as its headquarters. The remaining thirty-five settlements were retained in Salcette which encompass the present-day Salcete taluka with Margao as its headquarters.
India [[census]], 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 Mormugão, 11% of the population is under 6 years of age. Konkani being the state language, Marathi, Kannada, Hindi and English are also spoken.
The Directorate of health services Goa ( DHS) provides secondary level of healthcare to the people of mormugao and nearby places through the erstwhile Chicalim Cottage Hospital at Alto Chicalim now upgraded to the level of Sub District Hospital with 120 beds. The DHS also provides Primary Health Care to the taluka through PHC Casaulim, PHC Cortalim and UHC Vasco. A number of private nursing homes, clinics, panchkarma centers, gyms and physiotherapy centers can also be found in the subdistrict.
The sultans of Bijapur, who had ruled Goa before the Portuguese, did not give up easily. There were several invasions. From the sea came the Netherlands, who eventually took over from the Portuguese most of the coastal settlements: the Moluccas, Batticaloa, Trincomali, Galle, Malacca, Mannar Island, Jaffna, Quilon, Cochin and Kannur. From 1640 to 1643, the Dutch tried their best to capture Mormugão but were finally driven away.
In 1683, the Portuguese in Goa were in grave danger from the Marathas. Almost certain defeat was averted when Sambhaji suddenly lifted the siege and rushed to defend his own kingdom from the Mughal Empire Emperor Aurangzeb. The narrow escape, no less than the decline of the City of Goa, convinced the Portuguese viceroy, Dom Francisco de Távora, that he should shift the capital of the Portuguese holdings in India to Mormugao's formidable fortress.
In 1685, the new city's principal edifices were under construction, with the Jesuit priest Father Teotónio Rebelo in charge. The Jesuit made a consistent effort to avoid the ornate style of the time. The austere viceregal palace still stands, having been used, after its short stint as a palace, in various capacities, including as a hotel which housed the United Kingdom agents who in 1943 destroyed Germany ships anchored in Mormugao's neutral waters. Viceroys after Távora found Mormugao too secluded for their liking. The administrative headquarters were moved to the new city of Panjim, which is still Goa's chief city.
During World War II, the harbour of Mormugao was the site of Operation Creek, which resulted in the bombing of a German merchant ship, Ehrenfels, which had secretly been transmitting information to .
The INS Mormugao has been named after the port.
railway linking the Portuguese colony to British India. For a fabulous price, the Western India Portuguese Guaranteed Railways Company, a British enterprise, modernised the port and built the railway. Both were opened to the public in July 1886.
Mormugao's city of Vasco da Gama was planned and built in the early years of the twentieth century. A colourful city of officials, traders and migrant labourers, it had its Portuguese academies and British club life for several decades. Now rather scarred, Mormugão district continues to be unique in Goa.
With Goa's airport at Dabolim, the railway terminus at Vasco da Gama, and the busy port, Mormugao is many visitors’ first experience of Goa.
Mormugao taluka also elects 4 MLAs to the Goa State Assembly. The current MLAs are Alina Saldanha from Cortalim (Goa Assembly constituency), Carlos Almeida from Vasco Da Gama (Vidhan Sabha constituency), Milind Naik from Mormugao (Goa Assembly constituency) and Mauvin Godinho from Dabolim (Goa Assembly constituency) all from the Bharatiya Janata Party.
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