Kattigara

• Kattigara was the Silk Road Port in the South China Sea where Roman Merchants bought Silk from China, according to Ptolemy (2nd century CE).
• It is thought to have been one of two locations, Oc Eo or Jiaozhi in Vietnam, then a Province of China under the Han Dynasty (202 BCE-220 CE).

The Silk Road

• China was the source of Silk, brought to Rome via the Silk Road.
• The Maritime Route from India to China, passed through both the Straits of Malacca as well as over the Isthmus of the Malay Peninsular.
• Two sources, Ptolemy and the Book of Liang, identify the ports from which Silk was shipped.

Possible locations for Kattigara

• Kattigara is thought to have been either:
  • Oc Eo, an archeological site on the Mekong Delta in Vietnam.
  • Jiaozhi, a site on the Red River Delta near Hanoi in Vietnam.

Ptolemy

• The Geographer Ptolemy records that Kattigara was the main port for Roman vessels to China.
• Kattigara or Cattigara, is thought to have been either:
  • The archeological site of Oc Eo on the Mekong Delta in Southern Vietnam.
  • Or Jiaozhi, on the Red River Delta near Hanoi in Northern Vietnam.

Book of Liang

• The ‘Book of Liang’ states that the two main ports of call for the Merchants of ‘Da Qin’ (Roman Empire) were in modern Vietnam, which was absorbed into the Chinese Empire in 111 BCE:
  1. Jiaozhi in the Red River Delta, Northern Vietnam.
     • This was the Land around the Red River Delta, corresponding to the Tonking area of North Vietnam, also known as Annam.
     • The Capital and Port city of Annam (Rinan) or Jiaozhi was ‘Co Loa Citadel’ near Hanoi.
  2. Funan in the Mekong Delta, Southern Vietnam.
     • The Port was at Oc Eo, where Chinese, Roman and Indian Goods have been excavated.

• The ‘Book of Liang’ recorded that in 226 CE a Roman Merchant from ‘Da Quin’ (Roman Empire) was sent by the Prefect of Tonkin to meet the Wu Emperor Sun Quan.

Oc Eo, Vietnam