Medieval Jewish merchants connected Mangalore to Egypt and Spain. Trade in India thrived

In the Konkan region of India's west coast, the Shilahara dynasty also set out to capture trade routes. In Coastal Trade and Voyages in the Konkan: The Early Medieval Scenario , historian Ranabir Chakravarti used the dynasty's inscriptions to argue that they set out to create a unified trading region, with major emporia at Chandrapura (near present-day Old Goa) and Balipattana (present-day Kharepatan). Shilahara kings fought a number of naval campaigns against the Kadambas of Goa, commemorated in impressive hero-stones depicting ship-to-ship engagements. The late 10th century was momentous in Indian Ocean history. In 972 CE, Manyakheta, the great capital…