a grand port, starting with early 300 BCE history till the 15th century, Pulicat figured prominently as Tamil, Telugu and Muslim rulers fought to garner benefits from rich port revenues. Thereafter, some Arabs and Portuguese, followed by the Dutch and the British dominated the port till 1825. In the early 16th century, it had a multi-cultural population exceeding 50,000 and was the most important Indian port on the Bay of Bengal. Later, it was a fishing village and a health resort under British rule.[1]
In the 17th century, Dutch agents in Pulicat operated a large Slave trade along the Coromandel Coast. Between 1621 and 1665 alone, over 38,000 slaves were shipped from central Coromandel ports, including Pulicat, Madras, Nagapatnam and Devanampatnam.
The history of Pulicat is traced to eight periods of Indian kings and foreign colonialists between the 3rd century BCE and the present post independence period.
wiki/History_of_Pulicat
dutch ships 1600