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Independent Teaching) in the same year.
Opposed to the rigid program of the state
and church-run schools, Giner and his asso-
ciates favored an opening of the students'
mind to free thought and individual real-
ization of the connection between life and
learning. The institute's program encom-
passed training for youth through the ele-
mentary and secondary levels and involved
open-air hiking and sports as well as visits
to significant rural and urban locations. The
fundamental concept was the development
of practical skills and self-motivated aware-
ness rather that rote learning and blind fol-
lowing of traditions. Giner's pedagogical and
methodological principles echoed practices
followed in various European countries,
including Germany and Britain, as well as
the United States. In those countries and
even more so in Spain they met with criti-
cism on theoretical grounds and because of
the challenge they posed to special interests.
These educational reforms were never widely
successful in Spain. They were further ham-
pered by dissension and defections among
the original founders of the institute. Never-
theless, they continued to inspire innovation
and experimentation well into the 20th cen-
tury. Giner, a man of high moral principles
and austere dignity, won respect even among
his opponents, and his wide-ranging knowl-
edge was reflected in his writings on many
subjects, well beyond the conventional
bounds of pedagogy. Spain's leading modern
intellectual, M IGUEL DE U NAMUNO , called
Giner “the Spanish Socrates” and praised
him as the “great agitator of spirits.”
on the west coast of India became the capi-
tal of Portugal's eastern empire. During the
height of the imperial period (1575-1625)
Goa enjoyed an unparalleled prestige as the
symbolic center of trade, missionary activ-
ity, military expeditions, and colonial
expansion. Popularly known as “Golden
Goa,” the city was awarded the same politi-
cal status as L ISBON , and her chief prelate
was granted the ecclesiastical title of patri-
arch. A significant number of conversions to
Christianity were made among the local
inhabitants, and a Goanese population of
mixed Indian-Portuguese descent grew up
in the adjacent region. Repeatedly attacked
by Dutch raiders and Indian rulers during
the 17th century, the original city was
largely abandoned after 1759 due to the
outbreak of cholera. While Velha Goa (Old
Goa) retained a cathedral and other church
buildings dating back to the earliest days,
“New Goa” developed at nearby Panaji.
As British-dominated India gained its
independence in 1947, a separate Portuguese
India, covering some 1,400 square miles with
a population of nearly 500,000, continued to
exist. The new Indian government began
demanding the termination of the Portu-
guese colonial presence as early as 1948
when it actually occupied certain border
areas. It was not until 1962, however, that an
invading army overcame brief Portuguese
resistance and formally annexed Goa and its
subsidiary territories of D AMÃO AND D IU .
Godoy, Manuel de (príncipe de la
Paz, duque de Alcudia)
(1767-1851)
Spanish politician
Born into a minor HIDALGO family in
E XTREMADURA , he was appointed to the
Goa
Captured from her native rulers in 1510 by
A FONSO DE A LBUQUERQUE , this ancient city
 
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