Daman, Daman and Diu

Daman Damão દમણ
City
Gateway of Moti Daman
Daman
Coordinates: 20°25′N 72°51′E / 20.42°N 72.85°E / 20.42; 72.85Coordinates: 20°25′N 72°51′E / 20.42°N 72.85°E / 20.42; 72.85
Country	India
State	Daman and Diu
District	Daman
Government
• Member of Parliament	Lalubhai Patel
• Administrator	Praful patel, Former Home Minister, Gujarat
• District Collector	Gaurav rajawat, IAS
Area
• Total	72 km2 (28 sq mi)
Elevation	5 m (16 ft)
Population (2011 Census)
• Total	191,173
• Density	2,700/km2 (6,900/sq mi)
Languages
• Official	Gujarati , English
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)
Sex ratio	1.69 ♂/♀
Website	www.daman.nic.in

Daman /dəˈmɑːn/ (Damão in Portuguese), is a city and a municipal council in Daman district in the union territory of Daman & Diu, India.

Daman is divided by the Daman Ganga River into two parts, namely Nani-daman (Nani meaning "small") and Moti-daman (Moti meaning "big"). Ironically, Nani-daman 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 Moti-daman is mainly the old city inhabited.

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. 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 four Indians dead and 14 wounded, and ten Portuguese dead and two wounded.

There are many small villages around Daman, such as Bhenslore, Kunta, Bhimpor, Kadaiya, Devka Mangelad, Varkund and Khariwad. These villages mainly act as residential areas for lower-middle-class families.