Dadra and Nagar Haveli (DNH) are in the watershed of the Daman Ganga River, which flows through the territory. The towns of Dadra and Silvassa lie on the north bank of the river. The Western Ghats range rises to the east, and the foothills of the range occupy the eastern portion of the district. The territory is landlocked, although the Arabian Sea coast lies just to the west in Gujarat.
The major spoken languages in the territory are Gujarati, Hindi and Marathi.[1]
To keep the English at bay and to enlist their support against the Moghals, the Marathas made friends with the Portuguese and signed with them a treaty in 1779. According to this historic treaty of friendship, the Maratha-Peshwa agreed that the Portuguese will be allowed to collect revenues from Dadra and Nagar Haveli which consisted of 72 villages (then known as parganas, now referred to as district places). These territories were earlier ruled by the Koli chiefs who were defeated by the Hindu kings of Jawhar and Ramnagar. The Marathas conquered and annexed these territories to their kingdom.
By and large, this treaty was signed only to the extent that the Portuguese will only collect the revenue in compensation for their loss of a warship called Santana which had earlier been captured by the Marathas but not surrendered to the Portuguese in spite of their many entreaties.
The area of Dadra and Nagar Haveli is spread over 491 km2, landlocked between Gujarat to the north and Maharashtra to the south. It was liberated from its Portuguese rulers on 2 August 1954. The people of the territory established free administration of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, which was finally merged into the Union of India in 1961.
Flora and fauna
About 43% of the land is under forest cover. However, the reserved forest cohis territory constitutes about 40% of the total geographical area. The protected forests constitute 2.45% of the total land area.
According to satellite data taken in 2008, UT has roughly about 114 square kilometres (28,000 acres) of moderately dense forest and 94 square kilometres (23,000 acres) open forest. As per Forest Survey of India, DNH has two major forest types: Tropical Moist Deciduous forest and Tropical Dry Deciduous forest. The major produce is Khairwood and timber. Teak, Sandra, Khair, Mahara and Sisam are the major tree species in the region.[7]
Tree cover has been estimated around 27 square kilometres (6,700 acres) from the six-year data (2002–08), which is around 5.5% of the total geographical area of DNH.[8]
The rich biodiversity makes it an ideal habitat for a variety of birds and animals. This makes it a perfect spot for eco-tourism. Silvassa is an incredible eco-tourism spot for wildlife enthusiasts.
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