Sopara
Also called: Shurparaka · Topic: Economy of Early India: Agriculture, Trade, Guilds, Coinage · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Sopara (also spelled Shurparaka) was an important ancient port on India's western coast. It lay near present-day Mumbai and is now in Palghar district, Maharashtra. Ships from Sopara traded with West Asia and the Mediterranean world. Greek writers knew the port too, and the geographer Ptolemy called it "Souppara". Sopara shows that the Konkan coast was a busy gateway for trade with the west.
Example
Pieces of Ashoka's Major Rock Edicts were found at Sopara. These edicts are royal messages carved on stone in the 3rd century BCE. Ashoka placed edicts at busy, important places where many people would see them. Finding one here shows that Sopara already mattered in Mauryan times.
Don't confuse with
- Socotra: Socotra is an island in the Arabian Sea that traders visited on their voyages. Sopara was a port on the Indian mainland.
Related concepts
- Trade routes
- Uttarapatha
- Dakshinapatha
- Indian Ocean trade
- Hippalus
- Indo-Roman trade
- Periplus of the Erythraean Sea
- Pliny's Natural History
- Ptolemy's Geography
- Muziris