Saptagram - The Ancient Port-City of Bengal
⛵ Saptagram was an ancient port of India, located in Hooghly district of West Bengal. By 4th century, the town was a great trading centre. The name 'Saptagram' means seven villages and they are identified as: Kristapur, Basudebpur, Nityanandapur, Sibpur, Sambachora and Baladghati, and Bansberia. The port city was called 'Tcharitrapura' by Fa-Hien, it was called "a royal city of immense size" by Ptolemy in 2nd century. During the Pālā and Sena eras, the city must have had trade relations with SE Asia, China, Japan, Korea. It is also quite possible that the earliest Bengali merchants & missionaries have travelled from this port to as far as Japan to promote their trade & missionary activities. In the contemporary Portuguese chronicles Saptagram is mentioned as "Porto de Pequeno". The way Vasco da Gama reached India, a microroute of the same can be seen how Portuguese settlers came from Goa to Bengal. Especially when they...