Incredible India Travel | Social Impact & Culture Tours

Most lighthouses bring ships in. The one at Pulicat, north of Chennai, was raised to warn them away. This episode tells the story of the lagoon port behind it. It appears in classical sources as Podouke, was known to the Pallavas as Mamalla Pattinam and hosted Arab traders by the 9th century. The Portuguese arrived in 1502, and the Dutch made it their headquarters on the Coromandel coast, building Fort Geldria, striking coins at the first VOC mint in India and running a gunpowder works. Shoals and silt then made the lagoon unusable for large ships, and the world moved on. We look at what survives, the history Pulicat asks visitors to face, and the families who stayed. Part of the Port to Palm day trip from Chennai. 
Book at https://5sensestours.com/tour/port-to-palm/
Key moments:
00:00 A lighthouse built to keep ships away
04:00 The port sailors wrote down
09:30 Pallavas and Arab traders
14:00 Portuguese and Dutch: the headquarters of Coromandel
20:00 Why a great harbour went quiet
25:00 What still stands
30:00 The history Pulicat asks you to face
35:00 The people who stayed

Resources:
Blog: 5sensestours.com/pulicat-history-lighthouse-dutch-cemetery-lost-port-coromandel/
Tour: 5sensestours.com/tour/port-to-palm/