Editing Old Goa (section)

==History==
The city was founded in the 15th century as a port on the banks of the [[Mandovi]] river by the rulers of the [[Bijapur Sultanate]]. It was built to replace Govapuri, which lay a few kilometres to the south and had been used as a port by the [[Kadamba Dynasty|Kadamba]] and [[Vijayanagara Empire|Vijayanagar]] kings. Old Goa was the second capital after [[Bijapur Sultanate|Bijapur]] of the rule of [[Adil Shahi Dynasty]]. It was surrounded by a moat and contained the [[shah]]'s palace, [[mosques]], and [[temples]]. The city was [[Conquest of Goa (1510)|captured by the Portuguese]] and was under [[Portugal|Portuguese]] rule from 1510 as the administrative seat of [[Portuguese India]].

The viceroy's residence was transferred in 1759 to the future capital, [[Panjim]] (a village about 9 kilometres to its west). Few remnants, if any, of the pre-Portuguese period remain at Old Goa.

During the mid-16th century, the Portuguese colony of Goa, especially Velha Goa, was the center of [[Christianisation]] in the East.<ref>{{harvnb|de Mendonça|2002|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Mh3kKf0VSfQC&pg=PA67 67]}}</ref> The city was evangelized by all religious orders, since all of them had their headquarters there.<ref>{{harvnb|Meersman|1971|p=107}}</ref> The population was roughly 200,000 by 1543. Malaria and cholera epidemics ravaged the city in the 17th century and it was largely abandoned, only having a remaining population of 1,500 in 1775. It was then that the viceroy moved to Panjim. It continued to be the ''de jure'' capital of Goa until 1843, when the capital was shifted to Panjim (Ponnjê in Konkani, Nova Goa in Portuguese and Panaji in Hindi). The abandoned city came to be known as "Velha Goa" (in Portuguese, 'Old Goa'), to distinguish it from the new capital Nova Goa ([[Panaji|Panjim]]) and probably also [[Goa Velha]] (also meaning "Old Goa"), which was the Portuguese name for the town on the old site of Govapuri.

Velha Goa was incorporated into the Republic of India after its [[Annexation of Goa|annexation in 1961]], with the rest of Goa. It retains its religious significance in modern-day Goa, notably in its relations with Roman Catholicism. The Archbishop of Goa and Daman holds title as the [[Patriarch of the East Indies]]. Unlike the [[patriarch]]s and the [[major archbishop]]s of the [[Eastern Catholic Churches]], the Patriarch of the East Indies only enjoys honorary title and is fully subject to the [[Pope]]. He has a place in the [[Latin Church]] similar to the [[Patriarch of Venice|Patriarchs of Venice]] and [[Patriarch of Lisbon|Lisbon]]. This title was conferred upon the Archbishop of Goa as part of a settlement between the [[Holy See]] and the [[Portugal|Portuguese]] government concerning the link between religious and political aspects of its territories.