Ratnagiri Knowledge Guide

History

Ratnagiri is the birthplace of Indian freedom fighter Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak. He was born on 23 July 1856 after which he moved to Pune with his family when he was 10 years old. At twenty-six years old, King Thibaw was immediately sent into exile from Burma, after it was annexed by the British Empire on 1 January 1886. Along with his pregnant wife, his junior queen, and his two young daughters, he would live out the rest of his life in Ratnagiri, as a prisoner of the British Crown. Ratnagiri was chosen for its remote location, some 3,000 miles from Thibaw's former royal seat of Mandalay, accessible only by sea for parts of the year and far from any territory of any rival European power.