Iron anchors of Northern Odisha, east coast India: Maritime contacts with European countries
Abstract
The maritime trade between the ports of northern Odisha namely Balasore, Pipli, Dhamra and Chandbali and the European countries during the 16th to 19th centuries is well documented. Among other European countries, the Portuguese were the first to setup their trade centre at Odisha. Subsequently, the Dutch, French and English came to Odisha for maritime trade. During the end of the 19th century ports of northern Odisha were declined. In order to study the remains of maritime activities of northern Orissa, the Odishan Institute of Maritime and Southeast Asian Studies and Odisha State Museum jointly carried out explorations and recorded the finds. In the course of explorations four iron anchors were found at Balaramgadi and Chandabali and those were brought to the Odisha Museum and displayed. A wooden boat was recorded in the rivulet of the River Burabalanga. In this article, an effort has been made to describe the anchors, their probable dates and in relation to the maritime history of Odisha
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