Let’s face it, the city as we see it today owes its origins to colonial history. But there is a longer legacy – that of the sea. Chennai that was Madras owes a lot to its location– an aspect that few of us care to reflect upon. Would we be what we are if we were somewhere else? More than a colonial city, we are a coastal city.
From Sangam literature, we get a picture of coast of busy ports – small settlements, but nevertheless extremely important globally – for we traded with faraway lands such as Greece, Rome and China whose people were collectively referred to as Yavana/Avunar. Later, we hear of the term Sonahar – Arab or Persian traders – who too joined the flourishing trade and eventually came to control the shipping lines from Africa. There is significantly even now a Jonahan Street in the Mylapore area – close to the sea. This is said to have morphed from the original Sonahar.
