The Port City of Chaul

Abstract

This paper focuses on the port of Chaul, on the west coast of India, in the modern-day state of Maharashtra, to study the ways in which the port as urban settlement, and as a town, in both its layout and in its monuments, reflected the orientation towards the twin categories of land and sea, but leaning perhaps more towards the land. It takes as its starting point Michael Pearson’s concept of ports as ‘gateways’ and ‘hubs’ and tries to examine the multiple networks of trade that were centred in this port.