Vasco da Gama is the HQ, city and capital of Mormugão taluka and sits on the furthest point of its peninsula.
Vasco da Gama was a 15-16thC Portuguese explorer and the first European to reach India by sea (1498). He completed two return voyages to India, and on the third he landed at Goa (in 1524), but died in Kochi three months later.
The city was founded in 1543 and has been an important trading port and settlement ever since. A recent renaming was attempted on the grounds that the city had, at some point, been called Sambhaji Nagar (after Sambhaji Bhosale, the second ruler of the Maratha kingdom and eldest son of Shivaji). This was hotly contested and no official records were found. More troubling, however, is the fact that the current name predates the warrior son by more than a century.
For related place names see Indian Place names and Goa place names.
Vasco da Gama Railway Station Deepak Patil
