Following the annexation of Goa and Damaon the place was turned into a military base, after which the civilian population was resettled to India or returned to Portugal.

The island is home to the Portuguese-built Anjediva fortress, which houses the shrines of Our Lady of Brotas and São Francisco de Assis.

The text mentions how the island served as a halt for Roman traders who sailed with the monsoon winds between the Red Sea and the Malabar coast.

[2] Vasco da Gama claimed the island as Portuguese crown territory on September 24, 1498 during his first trip to India.

[3] The Portuguese presence on the island began with the landing of D. Francisco de Almeida on September 13, 1505, who ordered the building of a fortress, which was destroyed seven months later.

The English presence came when Viceroy Antonio de Melo e Castro refused to hand Bombay to the British following the marriage of Charles II to Catherine of Braganza, in which the city formed part of her dowry.

Ships transported the English troops, commanded by the Earl of Marlborough and accompanied by future Governor-general Sir Abraham Shipman, sought shelter from the monsoons.

The work was ordered by viceroy Francisco de Távora, Count of Alvor, as recorded by a plaque placed on the fortress.

The present church of Our Lady of Brotas was built in 1729 at the site where Pedro Alvares Cabral landed on August 22, 1500.

During the Portuguese occupation in the 18th century, the island sheltered Christians and Hindus of the mainland coastal border.

The invasion of the realms of Bednore and Soonda by the Muslim forces of Tipu Sultan created the new potentate of Khodadad by seizing the throne of the Maharajas of Mysore.

In 1856, the island was hit by a major epidemic, attributed to a cemetery near the source of water that supplied the population.

In 1960, at the initiative of governor-general General Vassallo e Silva, the Church of Our Lady of Brotas and the Chapel of St. Francis of Assisi were restored along with the island's barracks.

This reduced the civilian population to four persons: two elderly women, a man and a child along with 30 Goan and Portuguese soldiers.