Goa

While most of India's renowned Silk Road sites are found along the ancient overland caravan routes, the Indian Ocean coasts along India played equally important roles, thanks in part to the maritime trading networks that crisscrossed the vast seas. Located along the southwestern shores looking out towards the Arabian Sea, Goa is one such port, a tiny Portuguese-infused enclave that lasted from the 15th century all the way to 1961.

For over a thousand years, the harbors saw ships come and go while trading hands between different Indian empires. However, it’s real growth flourished under the Portuguese, where it was known as Velha Goa (Old Goa). At the peak of Portuguese colonization in the 16th century, this narrow stretch of palm-fringed coastline served as the hub of a sprawling transcontinental trading empire extending from Brazil to Indonesia, where Indian goods like spices, cottons and gemstones spread. Numerous churches, Indo-Portuguese mansions, and the atmospheric Latin Quarter of Fontainhas also rose up. Goa is in a sense the cross-cultural amalgam of the Silk Roads -  linking India to rest of the world's great maritime civilizations while harboring two unique cultures spanning continents.