Chaul is a historic town located in the Raigad district of Maharashtra, India. The Korlai Fort is located nearby.

History

Many foreign writers have mentioned Chaul. Ptolemy in his Geography of India calls the town Symullla or Timulla. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea mentions that it was a market south of Kalliena (Calliana). The Portuguese arrived at Chaul in 1505 and established a factory in 1516. The city was then looted by the troops of the Bijapur Sultanate in 1521, the Gujarat Sultanate in 1529 and finally passed to the Mughal Empire in 1600. The town was famous for cotton manufactured goods in the 15th and 16th century, According to Varthema, Chaul was producing a lot of cotton stuffs. Even Portuguese explorer and writer Duarte Barbosa conceded the fame of Chaul for cotton materials. The city went into the hands of the Maratha Empire in 1740, being ruled by the Angre family and then was conquered from them by the British EIC.