When commercial activities of India shifted to Calcutta by the 1730s, Hoogli-based Portuguese benefited most and actively harnessed the economic opportunity. Among them, Joao de Faria and his son emerged as the leading economic figures of the Portuguese community. They established a company emphasizing opium trade opportunities from Macao to Bengal Calcutta. Later, the company stretched its trade activities to Surat, Bombay, Portugal, Brazil, and Mozambique. One of the significant facts of Bengal's maritime history is that by this time of the trade with the Portuguese, the expansion of Indo-Portuguese trade went beyond the BoB by connecting Bengal with Macao on the one side and Mozambique and Bahia on the other. (See the map above). Like Portuguese and Indian ships, Brazilian ships also sailed along the Bengal, Surat, Goa, and China. Pius Malkendathil provides historical statistics of trade volume conducted across the seas, such as in 1795, triangular commercial trips via Bengal-Lisbon-Bahia carrying 1511 volumes of textiles, and in 1796, another ship from Bengal supplied 1433 volumes of textiles and sold 315 volumes in Bahia. In the early 19th century, the trade volume expanded and connected Bengal with Madeira and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. In that century, the Luso-Brazilian traders frequently navigated to Calcutta, Chittagong, Goa, and Coromandel. Thus, the maritime history of Bengal flourished with the Portuguese from the 17th century onwards.  

The history of the kingdom of Samatata is significant to go back in time and legacy to the history of the Bengal Delta and the nautical inheritance of the people who have lived in this part of the world for generations. Samata?a has been described by historians with similar names, such as Samatat/Saknat/Sankat/Sankanat.In Sanskrit, sama means plain/equal, and ta?a means coast or shore. It was an ancient geographical area of the ancient Bengal. The Greco-Roman description of Sounagoura is believed to be connected to it. The territory of the kingdom of Samatata corresponded to that of present-day Bangladesh, particularly Dhaka, Sylhet, Barisal, Chittagong, Cox’s Bazar, Hatia, Sandwip, Bhola, Kutubdia, Maheshkhali, and St. Martin’s Island including that of the Rakhine state of Myanmar. The area of Samatata was crisscrossed by the mighty river Meghna and its tributaries of the Bengal delta. Based on the evidence provided by inscriptions, Chinese writings, and archaeological evidence, it can be inferred that it was a center of Buddhist civilization before being gradually replaced by Hinduism and finally by Muslim conquest.

Samatata's erstwhile neighbors included the geopolitical areas of Vanga-South-West Bangladesh, Pundra-Northern Bangladesh, and parts of Kamarupa, the modern-day regions of historical Assam. Ptolemy, an Egyptian astronomer, mathematician, and geographer, wrote about a trading post called Souanagoura in the eastern part of the Ganges-Brahmaputra of the Bengal delta. Archaeologist Sufi Mostafizur Rahman posits that the riverside citadel in the Wari-Bateshwar ruins was the city-state of Sounagoura. According to Ptolemy, Sounagoura was located on the bank of the Brahmaputra River and was an emporium, a term used by the Romans referring to a trading colony set up by Roman merchants. The Brahmaputra River flowed downstream from the Himalayas and to the east of Wari-Bateshwar before joining the Meghna River on its way to the BoB.

Ptolemy's account places Sounagoura near the old course of the Brahmaputra River. It is recorded that the river Brahmaputra changed its course following an earthquake in 1783. Excavations in Wari-Bateshwar reveal an urban and commercial civilization since the pre-Mauryan period. Archaeologist and historian Dilip Kumar Chakrabarti also considers Wari-Bateshwar part of the trans-Meghna region. In the book “Between the Empires: Society in India, 300 BCE to 400 CE”, edited by an Indologist as well as a Philologist scholar, Professor Patrick Olivelle, quoted Dilip Kumar Chakrabarti, who states, “It appears that Wari-Bateshwar belongs to the Samatata tract. Until now, this is the only early historic site reported from this tract, but the fact that it existed as early as the mid-fifth century BCE in this part of Bangladesh shows the geography of Samatata. However, the inscriptional document suggests it was in the fourth century CE, with a much earlier antiquity that touches the Mahajanapada-great kingdom period. Professor Patrick Olivelle recommended further readings of two books by Dilip Kumar Chakrabarti, “Colonial Indology: Sociopolitics of the Ancient Indian Past,” and “The Issues in East Indian Archaeology.” However, Professor Patrick Olivelle opines, "Wari-Bateshwar remains to be extensively excavated.”

Based on the fact that Wari-Bateshwar is a fortified settlement, as mentioned above, historians argue that in addition to its character as a manufacturing and trading center, it was also an administrative center and most likely the ancient capital of the Samatata kingdom/region. Soon after the death of Emperor Ashoka, the Mauryan Empire declined, and the eastern part of Bengal became the state of Samatata. As devout Tantric Buddhists, the Devas, and the Chandras established their religious and administrative center in the archaeological site of Mainamati-Comilla. It is interesting to note that the Chandras were also remarkable for seafaring networks. The ports of Samatata were linked to ports in present-day Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Arab accounts also note trade routes with Orissa and Sri Lanka.

A 10th-century shipwreck in Indonesia provides evidence of maritime contact with Bengal. The 7th-century Chinese historian, scholar, pilgrim, and traveler Xuanzang, also known as Hsüan-Tsang, Mokshadeva, traveled across the Silk Road from northern China into the subcontinent through present-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh. He visited Samatata at the end of his journey in ancient India. He called the kingdom San-mo-ta-ch'a. He also provided descriptions of the region's geography, including the harbor of Chittagong and the nearby Burmese kingdoms. Encyclopedia Britannica confirms that with its wealth of detailed and precise data, Mokshadeva’s history accounts have been of inestimable value to historians and archaeologists.

Finally, there is a pressing need to pay closer attention to our country's maritime history and legacies and seriously consider its renewed maritimization with much vigor. In this awareness-triggering essay, the author offers some historical dots at the back and some forward-looking dots to be connected by all stakeholders to weave a marine tapestry on where Bangladeshis had been historically and our aspired national destination to build a maritime future on a firm foundation. This would also explain what kind of navy the nation envisages and how it should be employed to protect national maritime interests beyond the BoB. Besides, history and heritage profoundly impact the national psyche: defining, determining, and devising maritime policy formulation, naval doctrine development, understanding the nuances of maritime diplomacy, and making effective maritime strategy! The nation–maritime Bangladesh and its enthusiastic seafaring citizens must invent and discover, as appropriate, to write its maritime narratives as pointers toward its real maritime destiny where it belongs.


Writer: Commodore Syed Misbah Uddin Ahmad, (C), NUP, ndc, afwc, psc, BN (retd), Director General, Bangladesh Institute of Maritime Research and Development (BIMRAD). Email: misbah28686@gmail.com