A Map of Goa: Joao de Doetsch - 1610

This article describes a map dated roughly 1610 of Goa. The map has the following label in Portuguese on the rear that was recently added.

 Joao de Doetch - Século XVI/XVII
 Mapa de Goa - Gravura sobre papel
 publicada na obra de Linschoten
 "Histoire de la navigation de Jean Hughes
 de Linscot Hollandais et de son voyage
 aux Indes Orientales" - Amsterdam 1610
    

In those days Goa, the golden city, was a bustling metropolis. At its peak between 1580 and 1600, it was comparable in size and importance to London and Venice. The part that is shown in the map is what is now called Old Goa and is located east of Panaji (Panjim). The story of the Portuguese reign of Goa starts with the capture of the port by Alfonso de Albuquerque from the Muslims in 1510. Within a few years the clergy were here the most famous of them being Francis Xavier who arrived in 1542. By 1557 it was made an archbishoporic seat. Jan Huygen van Linschoten, a Dutchman, had worked his way up the clerical ranks and became the bookkeeper of the newly named archbishop of Goa, Don Frey Vincente de Fonseca. Van Linschoten accompanied the archbishop to Goa in a perilious journey. The entry of the archbishop into the city in 1583 must have been spectacular. Van Linschoten stayed here for five years collecting a prodiguous amount of information. He returned to Europe when news reached him of the death of the archbishop who was on his way back to Lisboa. In 1596 he published the Itineraro in which Goa played a prominent role. The popularity of that book was overwhelming. The importance of Goa was not lost on the Dutch in their desire to grab a part of the lucrative spice trade. In 1603 they sent a fleet and blockaded the city but failed. The city remained in Portuguese hands until 1962.

The map below is an active one: it has hot-spots that cause annotations to appear in the status bar of your browser when the cursor is moved over them. In the upper right corner of the map there is a box containing legends: 43 numbered locations on the map are explained. Move the mouse over the items in the box. The status bar will show an annotation and the numbered location on the map will be circled. For best results, maximize your browser so that the entire map or as much of it as possible is visible on your screen.

All this magic is accomplished by a Java applet I wrote called Mapprehend. Your browser must have Java enabled for it to work. If you do not see a faded map below please check your browser configuration. If nothing helps, please contact me and I shall attempt to find the cause of your problem.

The index in the top right corner of the map is reproduced below for better readability.