Located about 3 km south of Pondicherry, Arikamedu was an important centre of trade and commerce with the Western world and an Indo-Roman coastal trading station, during the early centuries of the Christian era. After the second century A.D. it ceased to be an active commercial centre. Numerous Italian, Greek pottery pieces and Roman coins have been found from here.
Barbaricum:
Located at the middle mouth of the Indus, Barbaricum has been mentioned by numerous foreign sources and was a great port and a market town. Barbaricum imported a great deal of fine clothing, linen, precious stones, silver, gold plates, and wine from different parts of the world. On the other hand, it exported various commodities, particularly cotton cloth, silk yarn, and indigo, produced in different parts of India.
Bhanikachchha or Broach:
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Located on the banks of the Narmada, Bharukachchha, which is modern Broach in Gujarat, was the most famous port and commercial centre of Gujarat in India. It has been frequently mentioned in several Buddhist and Sanskrit works. From the early furies of the Christian era till the close of thirteenth century, Bharukachchha remain prosperous town and a thriving port under successive dynasties which ruled Gujarat. ‘
Champa:
Situated in Bhagalpur was the capital of ancient Ana the sixth century B.C. It was a great commerce centre, and also a place of pilgrimage for Buddhists and the Jains alike. In the sixth cent] B.C. Champa was one of the six great cities Northern India. From here seafaring merchant went to distant lands.
Chaul:
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Situated on the Arabian coast, about4i km. from Bombay in Thane district Maharashtra, Chaul was a very ancient port has been mentioned by Ptolemy in about 150 A.D, and in the Arab accounts of the tenth to centuries; but the port of Chaul came into prominence in the medieval period.
Kaveripattanam or Puhar:
Situated on the estuary of the river Kaveri in Siyali taluka of Tamil Nadu, Kaveripattanam is also known as Kaveripaddinam and Kaveripumpattinam. It was the capital of the early Chola kings of the Sangam Age, which has been described in numerous Sangam works and also by Ptolemy and the Periplus. I During the first three centuries of the Christian era, Kaveripattanam was a prosperous city inhabited by rich merchants, traders, craftsmen, and sailors, and had a spacious harbour.
Kausambi:
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Situated on the northern bank of Yamuna about 48 km. to the south-west of Allahabad in U.P., Kausambi was the capital of Vatsa kingdom in the sixth century B.C. when Udayan was its ruler.
The Nandas merged the kingdom of Vatsa with the Magadhan empire. From the later Vedic period to about the twelfth century A.D., Kausambi continued to be a prosperous town and was also a great centre of Buddhism.
Madurai :
Situated on the banks of river Vaigai in Tamil NaJu, it was one of the greatest commercial centrcs of peninsular India, which has been mentioned by Ptolemy as Modoura. During the period of the early Pandyas, it was their capital and also the famous centre of the poets of the Sangam Age. In the classical accounts it has been described as “the Mediterranean emporium in the south”. To promote trade with the Roman world, ilie Pandyan king sent an embassy to the Roman king Caesar Augustus. The Roman coins found here point to the close commercial links between Madurai and the Roman world.
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Mouziris or Muziris:
The identification of Mow/iris, which finds frequent references in the Periplus, Ptolemy and other Greek accounts as undent India’s great centre of foreign trade, is a matter of dispute; but most of the scholars have identified it with Moyirikotta on the Malabar coast opposite the site at Cranganorc near Alwayc in Kerala.
Some scholars have identified Mouziris with Cranganorc. In the second ccntury A.D., it was the greatest port on the Malabar Coast, and at this port the Roman and the Arab ships exchanged their commodities for Indian goods. It exported great quantities of spices, precious stones, and pcepal leaves, to the Eastern and Western world alike.
Negapatam:
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Situated about 341 km. from Madras in Tanjavur district of Tamil Nadu, Ncgapatam was a very ancient port on the Coromandel Coast, and of all the ports on the Coromandcl coast, Negapatam has the longest history. From Ptolemy’s references, it appears that it was one of the centres of Roman trade.
Pratishthana or Paithan:
Situated on the northern bank of the Godavari in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra, it was a flourishing centre of trade and commerce during the Satavahana period, which has been corroborated by the author of the Periplus. It lay on the main trade route from the north to the south and was particularly famous for its textiles.
Suparaka or Sopara:
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Situated about 60 km. north of Bombay in Maharashtra, Suparaka was a very famous ancient port. Ptolemy, Megasthenes, Arrian, and other early Greek writers, the early Buddhist texts, the Mahabharata, etc. describe it as a great scacoast emporium. At least from the fourth ccntury B.C. to the tenth ccntury A.D., it was an important centre of trade and commerce where merchants from various parts of India used to flock with their merchandise. Suparaka was also the great centre of Buddhism.
Tamralipti:
Identified with Tamluk in the mid- napur district of West Bengal, Tamralipti was a very ancient port. It was famous as a maritime port and an emporium of commerce from the fourth ccntury B.C. to the twelfth ccntury A.D. At the close of the twelfth ccntury, this port declined and its place was taken by Satgaon.
Vidisha, Bhilsa or Besanagar:
Situated on the western bank of the river Bctwa in Vidisha district of Madhya Pradesh, Vidisha or Besanagar finds frequent mention in ancicnt Indian literature and foreign accounts.
Its economic prosperity was due to its advantageous location on the cross-roads of two important trade routes -one of which ran from Pratishthan to Mahismati, Ujjain and Kosambi, while the other connected Bharukachchha and Suparaka on the Arabian Sea to Mathura via Ujjain.
Substantial merchandise used to be carried over on these routes, which gradually made Vidisha one of the richest cities of ancient India. The economic prosperity of Vidisha was retained till the days of the imperial Guptas, because Kalidasa in his Meghadoot refers to Vidisha as a place where everybody gets wealth to his heart’s content.