Advent of Portuguese (1498)

Lured by the thrill of discovery and goaded by the prospect of seeking Christians and spices Portugal embarked on perilous voyages to the Orient which culminated in Bartholomew Dias’ trip around the Cape of Good Hope. This spectacular breakthrough opened new vistas. A decade later Vasco Da Gama set off eastwards and in AD 1498 landed in Calicut and broke the Arab monopoly of trade.

Estado Da India (1510)

Fired with the dream of establishing an Eastern Empire for Portugal, Afonso De Albuquerque, Governor-General of Goa, set to acquire strategic centers also the trade route. At the invitation of the Admiral of the Vijayanagar's fleet, he occupied Goa with little initial opposition. Though temporarily routed, he triumphantly regained possession of the city on 25 November 1510, and kneeling in the public square he dedicated Goa to St. Catherine whose feast was on that day.

In 1530 Goa became the capital of the Portuguese Empire in the East and mistress of the sea from the Cape of Good Hope to the China Sea.

Saint Francis Xavier (1542–1552)

The arrival in AD 1542 of a young Spanish nobleman turned Jesuit, with a brilliant background of academic learning, created an impact that was tremendous. His compassion for the weak and the downtrodden, his dynamic zeal and his innate holiness edified many. Two years after his death in AD 1552, the incorrupt body of the saint was enshrined in Goa. It continued to attract pilgrims from all over the world even to this day.

India's first printing press (1556)

The first printing press of moveable types in the whole of India printed Doutrina Christa written by Francis Xavier & Garcia de Orta called Colloquios Dos Simples Drogos Medicinais and an early work of the poet Luis De Camoes entitled Os Disparates Da India.

Jai Hind Movement (1946)

To intensify the flickering torch of freedom, the Indian Socialist leader, Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia, courted arrest on 18 June 1946 by defiantly addressing a mammoth meeting in Goa.

In August 1946, at Londa on the border, a mass meeting of Goan nationalist workers charted out a plan of non-violent action. To express the peoples's longing for freedom, satyagrahas were launched until the year ended in different parts of the Portuguese enclaves and resulted in 1500 Goans being imprisoned and the ring leaders deported.

Goa Action Committee (1953)

After the French withdrawal from India, a futile attempt was made by the Government of India to negotiate with Portugal for a peaceful transfer of its possession to the Indian Union. Consequently, the Goa Action Committee was formed in Bombay to awaken sympathy for its cause within the country and abroad.

Operation Vijaya (1961)

In 1958 all parties amalgamated under the banner of Goan Political Convention presided over by Professor Aloysius Soares.

Through action by Armed forces, the Government of India entered Goa. Scant resistance was offered and in December 1961 with hardly any bloodshed, Goa was liberated from the Portuguese.