Dabhol

Dabhol, also known as Dabul (Marathi: दाभोळ), is a small seaport town in the Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra in India. •17°35′12.62″N 73°10′30.76″E / 17.5868389°N 73.1752111°E / 17.5868389; 73.1752111Coordinates: 17°35′12.62″N 73°10′30.76″E / 17.5868389°N 73.1752111°E / 17.5868389; 73.1752111

History

Hardly a trace remains of the once-flourishing port of Dabhol (known as Dabul by the Portuguese and then the English), on the north bank of the mouth of the Vashishti River in the Konkan region of India.

In the 15th and 16th centuries, Dabul was an opulent Muslim trade center, first under the Bahmani, later under the Adilshahi sultans of Bijapur. As the port with most convenient access to the Bahmani sultanate's capital at Bidar, Dabul's fortunes ascended quickly with that dynasty. At its height, it was arguably the most important port between Chaul and Goa.

It was exactly the prominence of Dabul as a Muslim trade center and port that led it to be bombarded, sacked and razed by a Portuguese expeditionary force under Francisco de Almeida in December, 1508, in a prelude to the famous Battle of Diu. Although the city's fort was not taken, it was only the first of several times, in the course of the next few decades, that the Portuguese tried to destroy Dabul. By the time of the last recorded attack, in 1571, there was little left to sack.