Croatian sailors and merchants from the Republic of Ragusa in Dalmatia established contact with Goa, India, in the 16th century, then amidst Portuguese colonization.[1][2] Between 1530 and 1535, adventurers from Dubrovnik joined the Portuguese to establish Sao Braz, a small Ragusan colonial settlement in the modern-day village of Gandaulim.[3] The colony was named after Saint Blaise, the patron saint of Dubrovnik.[3][2] In the annals of 1605, Jakov Lukarević noted that Ragusan merchants invested in decorating a local church.[4] Goese historian Gomes Catão documented the town to have a population of 12,000 settlers.[2] The 1667 Dubrovnik earthquake destroyed the city of Dubrovnik which left the Ragusan Republic financially strained.[3] Trading disputes with Portuguese settlers and declining trade with Indians forced the Republic of Ragusa to surrender their colony.[1]
Public interest in the former colony was revived in 1999, when Croatian IndologistZdravka Matišić discovered a reference to ties between Ragusa and Goa while studying Sanskrit texts in India.[2][5] After an official Croatian delegation visited the village that year, benefactors have since donated to and refurbished local buildings.[6][7] The Church of Saint Blaise in the village is a common tourist attraction buoyed by Croatia–India relations.[3][1] Since the 2000s, heritage tourism between Dubrovnik, Croatia and Gandaulim has increased.[6]
Genetic findings in 2012 suggest the Romani people in Croatia originated in northwestern India and migrated to Europe as a group.[8] Romani people were mentioned for the first time in the Republic of Ragusa in 1362 in some commercial records.[9][10][11]Sushma Swaraj, Indian Minister of External Affairs, stated that the people of the Roma community in Croatia were to be recognized a part of the Indian diaspora.[12] By 2025, roughly 250 Goan residents gained Croatian citizenship by proving lineage to the Croatian settlers.[13]
Infrastructure
In 2016, a bridge was constructed on the outskirts of the village, over the canal. This bridge now links the islands of Tiswadi taluka to Cumbarjua.[14][15]
Gandaulim Fort
Gandaulim was a site of the historical Gandaulim Fort, which was demolished in early 21st century for a road expansion project.
↑Andrijanić, Ivan (26 February 2018). "Hrvatska i Indija: Kulturno-povijesne i gospodarsko-političke veze". Zbornik sveučilišta Libertas (in Croatian). 3 (3). Zagreb, Croatia: Libertas international university: 351. ISSN2584-6167. U Goi, na zapadnoj obali indijskoga potkontinenta, trgovci iz Dubrovnika bogato su uresili crkvu Sv. Vlaha (São Braz). Na temelju toga svjedočanstva, koje navodi Jakov Lukarević (1605),[21] neki su istraživači pretpostavili postojanje dubrovačke kolonije São Braz u blizini Goe, ali za potvrdu te tvrdnje za sad nema dovoljno dokaza (Bašić, 1999: 85–93).
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