Honnavara

Honnavara stands at the mouth of the Sharavati on the Kanara coast. Its river harbour gave access to the forested hinterland of Gersoppa, a region celebrated for its pepper. Travellers and merchants knew the port long before Portuguese ships arrived in 1503. Timber, spices and areca nut were among the products that came down from the hills to the coast.

A treaty made in 1505 brought Portuguese demands for rice and restrictions on the pepper trade, causing hostility with the rulers of Gersoppa. The struggle for commerce led the Portuguese to seize the port and build a substantial fort near the town in the later sixteenth century. Its walls enclosed houses and churches as well as defensive works. In 1654 the Nayakas of Ikkeri captured the Portuguese position after a prolonged siege, assisted by Dutch ships and gunners. Honnavara thus passed from one maritime power to another while remaining an outlet for the produce of the Western Ghats.