). Cambay was formerly a flourishing city, the seat of an extensive trade, and celebrated for its manufactures of
silk,
chintz and gold stuffs. The Arab traveler
al-Mas'udi visited the city in 915 AD, describing it as a very successful port; it was mentioned in 1293 by
Marco Polo, who, calling it Cambaet, noted it as a busy port. He mentions that the city had its own king.
Indigo and fine
buckram were particular products of the region, but much cotton and leather was exported through Cambay. In the early 1340s, the Moroccan traveller
Ibn Battuta remarked on its impressive architecture and cosmopolitan population. "Cambay is one of the most beautiful cities as regards the artistic architecture of its houses and the construction of its mosques. The reason is that the majority of its inhabitants are foreign merchants, who continually build there beautiful houses and wonderful mosques -- an achievement in which they endeavour to surpass each other."An Italian traveler,
Marino Sanudo, said that Cambeth was one of India's main two ocean ports. Another Italian, visiting in about 1440,
Niccolò de' Conti, mentions that the walls of the city were twelve miles in circumference. The Portuguese explorer
Duarte Barbosa visited the city, which he calls Cambaia, in the early sixteenth century. His description of the city is very full. He states: "Entering by Guindarim [Gandhar port,
Bharuch], which is within on the river, there is a great and fair city called Cambaia in which dwell both 'mouros' [Muslims] and 'gentios' [Hindus]. Therein are many fair houses, very lofty, with windows and roofed with tiles in our manner, well laid out with streets and fine open places, and great buildings of stone and mortar."(translation of Owing principally to the gradually increasing difficulty of access by water by the silting up of the gulf, its commerce has long since fallen away, and the City became poor and dilapidated. The
spring tides rise upwards of 30 ft (10 m) and in a channel usually so shallow that it is a serious danger to shipping. By 1900, the trade was chiefly confined to the export of
cotton. The City was celebrated for its manufacture of
agate and
carnelian ornaments, of reputation, principally in
China.
Cambay cloth Cambay was famous for its cloth manufacturing and trading activities. There were certain coarse cotton cloths which were called Cambay cloth. For instance, the checked cloths. There are records of extensive trading of Gujarati Cambay cloth.
Princely State of Cambay Khambat was the capital of
Cambay State, a
princely state of
British India. It was the only state in the Kaira Agency of the Gujarat division of the
Bombay Presidency. It had an area of . It was founded in 1730, at the time of the dismemberment of the
Mughal Empire. The Nawabs of Cambay were descendants of Mumin Khan, the last of the Mughal governors of
Gujarat, who in 1742 defeated his brother-in-law Nizam Khan, governor of Khambhat, The sport of
cricket in India was first played in
Cambay State in 1721. In 1780 Cambay was taken by the army of general Goddard Richards, but it was restored to the
Marathas in 1783. Finally it was ceded to the British by the
Peshwa under the treaty of 1803. The state was provided with a railway in 1901. ==Geography and Climate==