Rachol (also known as Raitura) is a prominent village in the Salcete taluka (subdistrict) of South Goa district, Goa state, peninsular India. It is located on the left bank of the Zuari River and is home to the famous Rachol Seminary. The famous Portuguese colonial Rachol Fort has been completely erased, leaving behind the traces of the moat and the main gate. The village has many heritage structures and is an important site to study the history of Salcete. The Church of Our Lady of Snows (Igreja da Nossa Senhora de Neves) at Rachol is said to be the first church of Salcete and is called the Matriz igreja de Salcette ('Mother church of Salcette'). Ilha de Rachol ('Island of Rachol') is a part of the village.

By the late 1400s, Rachol was part of a Muslim area, ruled primarily by a Muslim kingdom known as Bahmani Sultanate and the Sultan of Bijapur under Ismail Adil Shah. The rulers of Vijayanagar and Bijapur fought long battles to take control of this place. It was only in 1520 that the Hindus under King Krishnadevaraya, also known as Krishnaraya, from the Vijayanagar empire with help of the Portuguese took complete control of Rachol. Due to Jesuits being attacked in the late 1560s, a decree on December 1565, forbidding the erection of new temples and the repairs of the existing ones, was issued by the viceroy António de Noronha (1564–1568). This led to the mass exodus of Hindu Brahmins from the Portuguese-held territories that included Rachol and these Brahmins taking the idols of their deities across the Zuari River from Rachol to the territories of the Hindu Sonde Kings such as Shiroda, Ponda and Sanguem.

Rachol is located 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) north-east of Margão, the headquarters of South Goa district. Opposite Rachol, across the Zuari River, is Shiroda. The closest railway station is in Margão, followed by the town of Vasco da Gama, Goa. The nearest airport is Dabolim Airport. The neighbouring villages are Raia, Loutolim, and Fatorda.

The Saxtti dialect of Konkani, belonging to the Indo-European family of languages, is the local language and spoken widely by all Rachol people. Portuguese is spoken by the elite and older generations, including the ones with Portuguese ancestry. English is spoken by all and is compulsorily taught in schools. Hindi is spoken by migrants after the Invasion of Goa and is spreading in all regions of Goa. Konkani, also spelt 'Concani', is primarily written in the Latin script in Rachol.

The parochial church was dedicated to Nossa Senhora de Neves (Our Lady of Snows). It was built alongside the fortress of Rachol. This church was considered as the first in dignity of Salcete (known as ilha de Salcete do Sul at that time). As this first church at Rachol and hence Salcete was built to completion in the year 1565, on the site of Hindu temples and was built in mud with a thatched roof, it can thus be called the mother church (Matriz) of the whole of South Goa and was named Igreja da Nossa Senhora de Neves. It was the first Archbishop of Goa, Dom Gaspar Jorge de Leão Pereira, who personally visited Margão and the surrounding areas to choose the location. After seeing all other places, he guarded an arrow into this ground at Rachol and ordered to build the church there; the Captain of Rachol Fortress (Capitão desta Fortaleza de Rachol) Diogo Rodrigues was appointed to do the needful.

There have been two historical burials in the church at the altar: the first was the captain of the Fort (Capitão desta Fortaleza) Diogo Rodrigues in 1577; the second in 1583 being the martyrs of Cuncolim which is called the Cuncolim Revolt as there was a massacre on Jesuit priests and civilians in Cuncolim, Goa on Monday, 25 July 1583. The martyrs' bodies remained there until 1597, after which they were shifted to Saint Paul's College, Goa. All the martyrs' bodies were finally shifted and laid to rest in Old Goa at the cathedral in 1862.

Rachol Fort is not far from the Rachol Seminary. About 7 km (4.3 mi) away from the town of Margão, once stood the wonderful Rachol Fort. The place has not much of an architectural delight, but the scenic beauty of the place is very pleasing. The fort was refurbished after the conquest by the Portuguese. The bastion is now a deserted place in ruins, but only one gateway remains even to these days. When the fort was in use by the Portuguese troops, it encircled the hill atop which the church and seminary now stands. Rachol Fort was the center of many conflicts, and the rulers of Vijayanagar and Bijapur fought long and bloody battles to take control of the fort. The dried-up moat can still be seen in places. The Muslim Bahmani kingdom built the fortress at the height of its power. However, the Hindu Vijayanagar kingdom under King Krishnaraya, captured it from the Sultan of Bijapur under Ismail Adil Shah, only to cede it to the Portuguese in 1520 in exchange for all the military help against the Muslims and in gratitude for the former's alliance with him against Adil Shah of Bijapur. By 1521 there was in the fort a chapel dedicated to St. John the Baptist, with a garrison chaplain who was probably a Dominican. A church was built in 1565, and the captain of the Fort was Diogo Rodrigues from 1554 to 1577. It was renovated and rebuilt in 1604, and the fort continued to remain in Portuguese possession over the years, defending the area against Muslim and Hindu attackers, including a siege by the Maratha ruler Sambhaji in 1684, a feat that is marked by the following: Sendo o conde de Alvor vice-rei da India mandou reformar esta fortaleza depois de se defender do cerco de Sambagy, em 22 de abril de 1684 (in English: "Sent from the count of Alvor viceroy of India after reform of this fortress on defending the siege of Sambhaji, on 22 April 1684").

It was renovated again in 1745 and 1756 by the Marquis of Alorna. At the peak of its power, it had as many as 100 guns on its ramparts, helping it to hold the Maratha armies at bay for months. As the Portuguese empire in Goa expanded with the New Conquests, the guns found new areas of deployment, and the fort fell from favour and was finally abandoned. The fort soon fell into a state of disrepair, and nothing remains of it today except the stone archway which spans the road and the old moat around the hill. With Portuguese expansion, concern for territorial security became even more of a concern, and new forts in new strategic locations were built. Deployment of guns elsewhere and reduction of strategic importance of the fort became a cause for its decay. After the Portuguese abandoned the fort, the rate of decay accelerated, and today it is no more than a ruin of the once glorious fort.