did you know ?

The biographers of Alexander the Great had written that after the conquest of Punjab, the great conqueror was deterred from advancing further towards the east by accounts which reached him of the military strength of a nation in the lower Gangetic valley. Historians and travellers named this kingdom as Gangaridai. It has also been mentioned as Gandaridai, Gangaritai, Gangarides and Gangaridum
Ptolemy (2nd century AD) also mentioned Gangaridai in his accounts.He wrote: “All the country about the mouths of the Ganges is occupied by the Gangaridai, the city of Gange being the capital of this country. Pliny the Elder (23-79 AD) wrote that the final part of the course of the Ganges flows through this country
In the 1st century AD, an anonymous Greek merchant, author of the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, also mentioned Gange. It was at the mouth of the Ganges, he wrote. It was a port from which fine muslin and other goods were exported. Interestingly, neither Gangaridai nor Gange is mentioned in, or can be identified with any name in Indian literature. Archaeologists and historians believe that this ancient port city was situated at today’s Chandraketugarh, near Barasat-Basirhat Road, in the district of North 24-Parganas