Posted on 08/17/2023 10:28:43 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
UniSC's Professor Patrick Nunn and Roselyn Kumar didn't set out to rewrite history.
They were simply trying to research how India's coastline had changed over the centuries...
At some point in the 16th century, the depictions and illustrations of Calicut stopped matching up with the old ones.The river was wrong. So were the boats. Where was the promised great maritime city and the trees heaving with fruit?
...It was like Calicut had somehow teleported to a completely different location...
The trouble started in 1498 with a man who was no stranger to trouble—Vasco da Gama. Da Gama had been sent by the King of Portugal to find a sea route to India and establish trade relations in Calicut. But instead of anchoring off in a grand harbor that compelled previous visitors to espouse its magnificence, Professor Nunn and Kumar believe da Gama missed the mark and landed 33km to the north near a significantly less impressive beach town he thought was Calicut.
A simple mistake that rewrote history.
The Portuguese later realized their error, as evidenced by their repeated attacks on the actual Calicut, but never rectified this in their language or writing. Things were complicated further when the centuries-old port of legend appears to have met its demise.
"Decades after that, what I infer is that a massive tsunami swept ashore and destroyed the old Calicut. So, the Zamorin (the local rulers) simply decided to move to what the Portuguese thought of as the new Calicut," Professor Nunn said.
With the old city gone, subsequent travelers to the "new" Calicut believed it to be that same grand harbor of antiquity.
(Excerpt) Read more at phys.org ...
A. India, showing location of the former region of Malabar (yellow) and the border of the modern state of Kerala; B. Kerala, showing the locations of ancient (modern) trading ports; C. The study area, showing the locations of the earlier 'Calicut at Beypore' and the later 'Calicut at Kozhikode'.Credit: International Review of Environmental History (2022). DOI: 10.22459/IREH.08.02.2022.03
Is that anywhere near Calcutta? Must have led to some confusion at the post office.
Why is it only Western accounts have survived? The Portuguese did not destroy Indian libraries, if such existed.
How is it only "oral histories" are assumed to have existed?
It would seem to make sense to build your great trading city on a big natural harbor, rather than on a little beach with a reef right next to it...
Maybe all those scholars were hanging out in Old Calicut when the tsunami hit.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
