angre2 Courtesy: Columbia/WikimediaCommons
4 September 2012

Kanhoji Angre: India’s first naval commander

In the 1700s, one man antagonized the European powers, and insisted on the Maratha Empire’s rights to taxation and sovereignty over Maharashtra’s coast. He was Kanhoji Angre, the head of the Maratha navy. How did he, 283 years ago, set an important precedent for the Subcontinent’s local powers?