Daman and Diu is the second smallest union territory of
India. Lakshadweep being the
smallest in terms of area as well as population. Daman and Diu are actually two
parts, both on the sea side and both enclosed by Gujarat. Daman is near Surat
in the
South of Gujarat while Diu is near Junagadh in the Saurashtra
Peninsula of Gujarat. Daman is a small part in the Gulf of Khambhat
(Cambay) while Diu is an island joined to the mainland of Gujarat by a
creek. During the early period, Daman and Diu were part of Goa. It was only in 1987,
when Goa become a full fledged state, that Daman and Diu was separated from Goa.
These three different land blocks on the west coast of India had come to form
one political unit after liberation from the erstwhile Portuguese regime in
1961. 
