Masulipatnam

Masulipatnam stands on the Coromandel coast near the mouth of the Krishna. Long a port of the Bay of Bengal, it became the chief maritime outlet of Golconda and sent textiles from the Godavari country to overseas markets. Portuguese, English, Dutch and French merchants established themselves here, joining a trade that brought wealth to the Qutb Shahi kingdom.

The port prospered particularly in the 1620s and 1630s, but declined towards the end of the century as Golconda fell to the Mughals. In the eighteenth century the French received the Northern Circars from Salabat Jang of Hyderabad. British forces captured Masulipatnam in 1759 and retained it for the East India Company, even as other parts of the Circars were returned to the Nizam.