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Why were historical period ports of Goa located away from the coast? The decline of Gopakapatana

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Title Why were historical period ports of Goa located away from the coast? The decline of Gopakapatana
 
Creator Tripati, Sila
Mascarenhas, Antonio
Murali, R. Mani
 
Subject Ports
Maritime trade
Tide
Mud flat
Anchorage
Technology
Goa
 
Description 1357-1363
Most
of the ports of the historical period of the east and west coasts of India were
located away from the seafront. But in later period, new ports were established
mostly along the coastal regions. The reasons attributed to abandoning inland
ports are: (a) bigger ships, which had to carry more cargo, (b) larger vessels
could withstand the flow of current, (c) advancement in shipbuilding and
navigation techniques, and (d) sediment deposition leading to navigational hazards.
In the case of Goa, Chandrapura (Chandor) was the oldest inland port. During
the later epoch, port activity shifted downstream to Gopakapatana, on the
northern bank of the River Zuari. During the 15th century AD, Old Goa, on the
bank of the Mandovi River, served as an important trade centre. Most modern
port in Goa was built at Mormugao in 1885 in the Zuari estuary. This paper
delineates the most likely cause for the decline of Gopakapatana, in
particular, as a trade centre, from a geo-historical and oceanographic
perspective. A detailed look into the evolution of the morphology of this river
bank reveals rapid accretion that led to the formation of a shallow feature. A
comparative study of maps of 1923, 1962-64, 2003 and modern images of 2010
confirm that the area is now occupied by a mud flat that extended by 68% during
the last 40 years.
 
Date 2016-06-27T04:46:38Z
2016-06-27T04:46:38Z
2014-07
 
Type Article
 
Identifier 0975-1033 (Online); 0379-5136 (Print)
http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/34454
 
Language en_US
 
Rights CC Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India
 
Publisher NISCAIR-CSIR, India
 
Source IJMS Vol.43(7) [July 2014]