ABSTRACT
The concept of a Diaspora as a social construction implies the maintenance of ties between migrating populations coming from the same territory and the preservation of an identity and cultural specificity. The development of the Goan Diaspora during the nineteenth century was directly associated with the severe economic crisis prevailing in the territory. Among Goan Catholics, a small educated minority had developed, which had gradually become a class of prosperous, Catholic, mixed-race landowners that came to be referred to as Indo-Portuguese. First-generation Goans belong to the Christian social elite and are the main people responsible for founding some of the associations promoting Goan identity. They are a social group of mainly intellectual and scientific professionals who occupy top positions in Portuguese society. The Damanians are different from the Goans because they enter the Portuguese way of life better. The Damanian community, which is as scattered as the Goan, has an association called the Daman and Diu Fraternity'.
