Daman and Diu
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| Daman Damão | |
|---|---|
| city | |
 
Daman
| |
| Coordinates: 20.42°N 72.85°ECoordinates: 20.42°N 72.85°E | |
| State | Daman and Diu |
| District | Daman |
| Elevation | 5 m (16 ft) |
| Population (2001) | |
| • Total | 35,743 |
| Languages | |
| • Official | Gujarati , English |
| Time zone | IST (UTC+5:30) |
Daman /dəˈmɑːn/ (Damão in Portuguese), is a city and a municipal council in Daman district in the union territory of Daman & Diu, India.
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[hide]Daman city[edit]
Daman is divided by the Daman Ganga River into two parts, namely Nanidaman (Nani meaning "small") and Motidaman (Moti meaning "big"). Ironically, Nanidaman is the larger of the two towns. It is the downtown area that holds most of the important entities like the major hospitals, supermarkets and major residential areas. While Motidaman is mainly the old city inhabited mostly by the fishing communities and government officers (most of the public offices are located there). Both Nanidaman and Motidaman are connected to each other by two bridges (one for light vehicles like two-wheelers and the other for heavy vehicles like trucks, cars etc.). The smaller bridge collapsed in August, 2004 killing 28 school children. The bridge was rebuilt but it collapsed again. No casualties were caused. Later that year, again, the bridge was engineered and now is prohibited for public use. A new bridge, Rajiv Gandhi Sethu, has been constructed that connects two parts of Daman i.e. Nani Daman and Moti Daman.
Located 193 kilometres (120 mi) north of Mumbai, Daman, along with neighbouring Vapi,Bhilad-Sarigam, Bilimora and Silvassa form an important manufacturing hub. A variety of products like pesticides, chemicals, fertilizers, toys, electronics, dyes, printing ink, windmills, plastics, etc. are manufactured here.
Daman is well-connected to other parts of India primarily though NH-8. The neighbouring cityVapi (located 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) & Bhilad - W/Railway located 19 km from MotiDaman) is connected to the Indian rail network.
History[edit]
The Portuguese Diogo de Melo arrived at the spot by chance in 1523, when heading towards Ormuz but caught in a violent storm and having his boat blown towards the coast of Daman.[1] Soon after it was settled as a Portuguese colony and remained so for over 400 years. A larger fort was built in Motidaman in the 16th century to guard against the Mughals who ruled the area until the Portuguese arrived. It still stands today, most of it preserved in its original form. Today the majority of the municipal government offices are situated inside this fort.
Daman was incorporated into the Republic of India in December 1961 after a battle between the Portuguese and the Indians. The battle left 4 Indians dead and 14 wounded,[2] and 10 Portuguese dead and 2 wounded.[3]
Daman villages[edit]
There are many small villages around Daman, such as Bhenslore, Kunta, Bhimpor, Kadya,Devka Mangelad, Varkund and Khariwar. These villages mainly act as residential areas for lower-middle-class families. Here Varkund is the biggest village in Daman,which has a big megastructure that is being built called Thunderbird Resorts Daman is India's ultimate lifestyle and entertainment experience. It provides an exceptional combination of a five-star resort, nightclub, speciality dining, spa, meeting services and member's club along with many more world class features in one trendsetting destination to create extraordinary experiences, it is the fourth (4th) licence for a casino in India
Climate[edit]
Daman has a humid subtropical climate according to the Köppen climate classification. Temperature ranges from 23-42 in summer, 19-36 in monsoon, 15-30 in spring and autumn and 10-24 in winter.It has heavy monsoons with lots of rain. The place is best to visit in winter.
| [hide]Climate data for Daman, India (1961-1990) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | 29.1 (84.4) | 29.9 (85.8) | 32.8 (91) | 34.5 (94.1) | 34.9 (94.8) | 33.2 (91.8) | 30.3 (86.5) | 29.9 (85.8) | 30.7 (87.3) | 33 (91) | 32.6 (90.7) | 30.4 (86.7) | 31.78 (89.16) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 15.7 (60.3) | 16.6 (61.9) | 20.3 (68.5) | 20.7 (69.3) | 26.5 (79.7) | 26.5 (79.7) | 25.3 (77.5) | 24.8 (76.6) | 24.3 (75.7) | 22.6 (72.7) | 19.2 (66.6) | 16.5 (61.7) | 21.58 (70.85) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 1 (0.04) | 0 (0) | 5 (0.2) | 324 (12.76) | 766 (30.16) | 473 (18.62) | 288 (11.34) | 44 (1.73) | 6 (0.24) | 2 (0.08) | 1,909 (75.17) |
| Source: climate-data.org[4] | |||||||||||||
Demographics[edit]
As of 2001 India census,[5] Daman had a population of 35,743. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Daman has an average literacy rate of 76%, higher than the national average of 64.84%: male literacy is 81% and female literacy is 70%. In Daman, 12% of the population is under 6 years of age.
Most of the population in Daman consists of skilled and educated migrant workers (from all over India) who reside in Daman for a period of around 4 to 5 years. The local population consists of mostly fishermen called Tandels in Gujarati. The major part of the population is a mixture of Hindus, Muslims and Christians, with Hindus being dominant in number. There has never been any communal violencereported in this area.
Tourism[edit]
Daman is a popular tourist destination, mainly due to the freedom to drink liquor, which isprohibited in the neighboring state of Gujarat. It mainly attracts tourists from neighboring areas like Vapi, Bhilad, Valsad, Surat and even Baroda. The two well-known beaches of Daman are Devka beach, which is in Nani-Daman and Jampore beach, in Moti-Daman.
Indian Coast Guard[edit]
Indian Coast Guard Air Station, Daman is the premier Air Station of the Coast Guard and with all the airfield facilities, Air Traffic Control and other allied Air Traffic Services. The Air Station is equipped with state of art Airport Surveillance Radar (ASR), Precision Approach Path Indicator (PAPI), Doppler Very High Frequency Omni directional Radio Range (DVOR) – Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) & Non Directional Beacon (NDB), as Navigational Aids. This Air Station provides ATC and parking facilities to Defence as well as civil aircraft.[6]
Pollution[edit]
Daman along with Vapi is one of the world's most polluted areas. As of 2007, the Blacksmith Institute, Germany rated this area as the fifth most polluted place in the world.[citation needed] Major pollutants include heavy metals like lead, cadmium, etc. There are lot of pharmaceutical industries in Vapi that causes major concern for pollution.
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