What we know now as Gujarat benefited throughout history from its strategic location on the Indian Ocean. The region's interaction with a multiude of lands and peoples across hundreds - indeed, thousands - of years has, with few aberrations, created a society with a broadervision.

It was against this background that Darshak Itihas Nidhi (DIN), a foundation for studies in history, organised at Mandvi, a small coastal town with a long boat-building tradition, a symposium titled 'Gujarat and the Sea' with an emphasis on people and technology.

The present volume compiles selected papers presented on this occasion and aims to open up new areas of research in the fields of anthropology, archaeology, maritime history, architecture, etc.