Konkan: A Geographical Overview (Part 2)
The Konkan is the coastal plain of Maharashtra state, in western India, lying between the Arabian Sea on the west and the Western Ghats on the east. It stretches approximately 330 miles from the Daman Ganga river north of Mumbai (Bombay) to the Terekhol river between Maharashtra and Goa. Between 28 and 47 miles in width, the Konkan today (1999) is divided into the five administrative districts from the north to south of Thane, (Thana), Mumbai (Bombay), Raigadh (formerly Kolaba), Ratnagiri, and Sindhudurg.
1)The topography of the Konkan coast is congenial to settlement. In this area, bays, peninsula, estuaries and capes coexist, and the combination of the influences of the land and the sea is seen. The narrow and broken coastline causes creeks and inlets in the Arabian Sea, whose tides thereby deeply penetrate into the country. This favors the growth of a number of littoral ports which are naturally protected. This is one of the few areas of the sea-boards of India that is sheltered from the sea. The settlement pattern in this region is intimately connected with both littoral and estuary ports. Together with the towns in the estuaries at points where the tides carry in the boats are formed two, sometimes even three lines of settlements corresponding to two or three degrees of marine penetration.
At no other part of the western coast is this parallelism so obvious. Mountain passes through the Sahyadri connect the littoral region with the extensive interior. Moreover, some of the rivers issuing out of the Sahyadri range carry some amount of regional trade towards the Arabian Sea. The area is thus suited to commercial activities, whether inland, coastal or overseas.
