North Goa is also known as the land of golden beaches, palm trees, paddy fields and wooded hills. Its churches, temples, places of worship and forts tell its history. It is also associated with music, the famous Goan cuisine and most of all with a peace loving, smiling people which are the unique characteristics of Goa.

Location:
The North Goa District has the total area of 1736 Sq. Km. Its geographical position is marked by 15o 48` 00" N to 14o 53` 54" N latitudes and 73o E to 75o E longitudes. The boundaries of North Goa can be said as the Sawantwadi & Dodamarg, of Ratnagiri District and Kolhapur District of Maharashtra state while the South Goa District shares the southern boundary.

Geography:
Physical Features:
North Goa is mainly a part of the West Coast region of India. This district has many physical features that are common to neighbouring regions of Maharastra and Karnataka States as well.

The Sahyadris of Goa:
The portion of the Sahyadris lying in Goa has expanded an area about 300 sq. kilometers and an average elevation of 800 metres. If one looks eastwards from the plains of Goa towards the Sahyadris they form on the horizon almost a wall with peaks. This is well connected with saddles below, and dressed in indigo blue, with mists dominating especially during the rainy season. The water-divide acts as a source region for most of the Goan rivers. There are some ungraded streams, many of which are in the steep fall, have waterfalls, which channel the slope face.

Among some of the isolated peaks which are extended the most prominent are: On the North Sonsagar i.e. 3827 feet above sea level; Catlanchimauli is 2633 feet; Vaguerim is 3500 feet; Morlemgad is 3400 feet all in Sattari taluka.

The Plateaus:
The central portion of North Goa consists generally of plateaus at varying levels. The plateaus have typical landforms. This characteristic match very much with Goan scenery, the tops are fairly level, but are in places deeply notched by gullies; on the coastline the lateritic plateaus end in headlands which can be known as the Aguada.

The river basins and the coastal alluvial flats quite in contrast to the lateritic plateaus. These are abundant in their usefulness are the alluvial lowlands of North Goa. These are the in-filled stretches of the rivers that have deposited the tough material from the Sahyadrian elevation along their banks, on losing their gradient. This happened when they emerge from the highlands to meet the sea. The major riverine plains in North Goa are those of mandovi.

The coastline of North Goa is a scenic alteration of bays and headlands. These are significantly broken by large estuaries of Mandovi and placed with minor estuaries. Some of the rivers that drains the land of the district Tiracol, Mandovi & Sal are the most important. These are very attractive because of the extent of their drainage areas and also their features.

Lakes: Lakes constitute a scenic feature in North Goa that is very charming. But most of them have a limited and local use for irrigation. Most of them originate to the bounds across stream valleys, large and small, and also on plateau margins and in alluvial flats.Some of the important lakes of North Goa can be mentioned as Mayem, Chimbel, Carambolim & Calapur.

Vegetation Types:
The evergreen forests that are tropical in nature are basically wet and occur in strands in the deeper valleys of the Ghats. This is a rich vegetation of evergreen type with a variety of species. Tall trees, dense canopy, sparse middle layer, climbing creepers and dense humus matting are characteristics.

The tropical moist shed forests occupy a large area of the Sahyadrian Goa. This includes important strands of teak that are estimated to occupy most of the forest area. Bamboo and cane, pre-monsoon leaf fall of the deciduous species is quite a striking feature in this zone. Bamboo and cane can be found in abundance.

Mineral Deposits:
Some of the major deposits of the district can be mentioned as Iron, Manganese, bauxiteand high magnesia. Lime stones and clay.Presently iron and manganese mining are the major extractive industries of North Goa.

Climate:
The geography of North Goa district can be defined as the district, which is situated well within the tropics. This is laid by the Arabian Sea to the west and the Western Ghats or Sahyadri rising to an average height of 1 km to the east. The district has tropical-maritime and monsoon type of climate, with deep topographic influence. The climate is moist throughout the year. Other features of the climate are the regular and sufficient rainfall 320 cm during the southwest monsoon season, which lasts mainly from June to September. The climate is generally pleasant. Discomfort may be felt in the absence of wind particularly during pre-monsoon and post-monsoon months.

Due to proximity of the seas the territory is generally humid in this zone. The humidity rises during the monsoon weather. Even in summer the relative humidity is above 60 percent.

Temperature variations through the seasons are generally slight. May is the relatively warmest month when the mean daily temperature is around 30 degrees C and January is the coolest with mean daily temperature at about 25 degrees C. Along the coast the maximum temperature recorded is 37 degrees C sometimes it goes even beyond that.

The temperature in the summer season varies from 24°C-32°C while in winter season it varies from 21.3°C-32.2°C. The average rainfall of the district is 320cm that is extended from the month of June to September.

Languages:
There are mainly four languages, which are spoken in this district. These can be mentioned as Konkani, Marathi, Hindi, English and Portuguese.

Clothing:
In this district of North Goa tropical clothing is used throughout the year while in the month of December-January light woolen can be used.