Laribandar

Laribandar, also called Lahori Bandar, was a port in the Indus delta serving the city of Thatta. Ships arriving from the Arabian Sea entered a shifting network of channels, bringing merchants and goods to the lower river. The port linked Sindh’s textiles and other products with markets across the Indian Ocean, while Thatta provided a populous commercial centre upstream.

During the Mughal period European companies joined established merchants in the trade of Sindh. The Dutch and English sought access to the products of the Indus valley through its ports. In the seventeenth century the changing course of the river and the silting of channels affected Laribandar’s usefulness, and rulers encouraged other landing places. Its history illustrates how closely the fortunes of a delta port depended on the movement of the river itself.