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

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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...