Canacona is an administrative region in Kushavati district of Goa state, India.
Canacona is one of the four subdivisions (talukas) that constitute the Kushavati district. It is bounded on the north by the taluka of Quepem, on the northeast by Sanguem, on the south by the state of Karnataka, and on the west by the Arabian Sea. The town of Chaudi is the administrative headquarters of the taluka of Canacona.
The name Canacona is a corruption of the name Konkan. The area was one of the districts of the former Kingdom of Soonda, itself a remnant of the former Vijayanagara Empire. When Soonda was invaded and partially occupied by Hyder Ali of Mysore, the heirless Raja ceded the remaining parts to Portugal; and these were incorporated into Goa as the districts of Quepem, Sanguem, and Canacona. In the recent elections, Kishen Naikgaunkar got elected as the President of the Canacona, and Samba Naik Desai got elected as an Attorney.
Canacona was incorporated into Goa in AD 1794. Like most of Goa, the culture of the district reflects an Indo-Portuguese fusion, yet Canacona experienced less Lusitanisation than the central Velhas Conquistas (Old Conquests) of Goa.
Demographics
At the time of the 2011 Census of India, Canacona has a population of 45,172 with sex ratio of 1005 females to 1000 males. Canacona Taluka has an average literacy rate of 84.68%, higher than the national average of 74.04%: male literacy is 90.02% and female literacy is 79.39%. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 0.38% and 30.23% of the population respectively. 27.53% of the population lives in urban areas.