Machilipatnam   బందరు (మచిలీపట్నం)

Machilipatnam was a flourishing seaport on the east coast during the time of the Satavahanas. It was mentioned in Periplus that a great quantity of muslins are made in Masalia. The word ‘muslin’ originated from the name ‘Masalia’. In the 17th century CE, the port was a centre of French, British and Dutch trade. It is one of the earliest known British settlements in the Indian subcontinent, its importance being due to the fact that it was the major port of Golconda kingdom. It was the British East India Company’s first trading post on the Coromandel coast. An agency was established there in 1611 CE. During the wars of the Carnatic, the English were temporarily expelled from the town, which was held by the French for some years. In 1759 CE the town and fort were captured by Colonel Forde, an achievement followed by the acquisition of the Northern Circars (q.v.). In 1864 a great storm-wave swept over the entire town and is said to have destroyed 30,000 lives.A Monument has been erected in memory of their souls by the then Collector of Masulipatam Mr.Thornhill almost 3km away from the unindated town.It was called Robertson square,now a days familiar as Koneru centre in local language.

The port is only a roadstead, where vessels anchor 5 m. out. A branch line from Vijayawada on the Southern Mahratta railway was opened in 1908. The port of Machilipatnam today is in desperate need for modernization. It has not seen any ships in the last decade. In its heyday, the port used to handle export of different items weighing more than 2.7 lakh tonnes and imports of 37,000 tonnes. It used to export Iron Ore to Japan[6]. In January 2006, Government of Andhra Pradesh revealed plans for reviving the Machilipatnam port at a cost of Rs. 1200 crores. It has allocated 6000 acres (24 km²) of land for the project.

‘Masulipatnam and Cambay’, a book by Sinnappah Arasaratnam and Aniruddha Ray, published by Munshiram Manoharlal, talks about the pre-colonial history of the two port towns, Masulipatnam and Cambay. It was published in India in 1994.