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{{Distinguish|Perim}}
{{Infobox settlement
| name = Piram Island
| settlement_type = island
| image_skyline = Piram Bet now closer.jpg
| image_alt =
| image_caption = Piram island from the sea
| pushpin_map = India Gujarat#India
| pushpin_label_position = right
| pushpin_map_alt =
| pushpin_map_caption = Location in Gujarat, India
| coordinates = {{coord|21|35.9|N|72|21.2|E|display=inline,title}}
| subdivision_type = Country
| subdivision_name = India
| subdivision_type1 = [[States and territories of India|State]]
| subdivision_name1 = [[Gujarat]]
| subdivision_type2 = [[List of districts of India|District]]
| subdivision_name2 = [[Bhavnagar district]]
| established_title = 
| established_date =
| founder =
| named_for =
| government_type =
| governing_body =
| unit_pref = Metric
| area_footnotes =
| area_rank =
| area_total_km2 = 0.753
| elevation_footnotes =
| elevation_m =
| population_total =
| population_as_of = 2001
| population_rank =
| population_density_km2 = auto
| population_demonym =
| population_footnotes =
| demographics_type1 = Languages
| demographics1_title1 = Official
| demographics1_info1 = [[Gujarati language|Gujarati]], [[Hindi language|Hindi]]
| timezone1 = [[Indian Standard Time|IST]]
| utc_offset1 = +5:30
| postal_code_type = [[Postal Index Number|PIN]]
| postal_code =
| website =
| footnotes =
}}

'''Piram Island''' or '''Piram Bet''' is an island in [[Gulf of Cambay]] of [[Arabian Sea]] which falls under [[Bhavnagar district]] of [[Gujarat]] state, [[India]]. Except the campus of lighthouse, the island is privately owned.

==Geography==
The island is situated 7.2 nautical miles from [[Ghogha]], a town and former sea port, in [[Bhavnagar district]]. The island is spread of 186 acres but half of it is wasteland.<ref name="John 2012">{{cite web | last=John | first=Paul | title=Gujarat’s Jurassic Park up for sale | website=The Times of India | date=17 June 2012 | url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Gujarats-Jurassic-Park-up-for-sale/articleshow/14193827.cms | access-date=16 September 2015}}</ref>

==History==
The island is connected with [[Ghogha]] throughout its history. The island was under Muslim soldiers of [[Delhi Sultanate]] in early years of 14th century. In 1325, the island was captured by [[Mokhadaji Gohil]], the Gohil chief of [[Umrala]] and ancestor of [[Bhavnagar State]] family. He made the island his headquarter, built a fort and levied toll from all ships passing up the Gulf of Cambay. He became a noted pirate in Gulf. His exactions came to the knowledge of the emperor [[Muhammad bin Tughluq]] of [[Delhi Sultanate]] who was then quelling a revolt in Gujarat. In 1347, Tughluq attacked Ghogha and killed Mokhadaji. He destroyed the fort of Piram island. He left Ghogha and Piram in the hands of Dungarji, Mokhadaji's son.<ref name=aa>Virbhadra Singhji, ''The Rajputs of Saurashtra,'' Bombay, Popular Prakashan (1994), p. 44. {{ISBN|81-7154-546-7}}</ref><ref name=ggb>{{cite book|title=Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency: Ahmedabad (Public Domain text)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EL4IAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA341|year=1879|publisher=Government Central Press|pages=350–353}}</ref>

The island fell into obscurity after the destruction of the fort. In the middle of the eighteenth century ({{circa|1729}}), a merchant of Surat named Mulla Muhammad Ali, built a fort on Piram with an intention to establish himself as an independent chief. Subsequently it fell under the royal family of [[Bhavnagar State]] who had built a bastion on south west corner of the island to keep watch on the maritime activities. The British built the 24m high circular masonry lighthouse tower on the bastion in 1864-65 from the ruins of Mulla's bastion.<ref name="lh">{{cite book | url=http://www.dgll.nic.in/DgllPublication/318_3_PUBLICATIONS/Publication.aspx?Temp_id=43 | title=Indian Lighthouses - An Overview | publisher=Directorate General of Lighthouse and Lightships, Government of India | last=Bhanti |first=R. K. | author-link=Piram Island Lighthouse | year=2000 | pages=82}}</ref> The lighthouse and quarters are now owned by Directorate General of Lighthouse and Lightships, [[Government of India]] which was the only settlement on the island which was closed down in 2010.<ref name="North Carolina 2009">{{Cite rowlett|indnw|date=16 April 2009|access-date=16 September 2015}}</ref> The island is under ownership of decedent of royals of Bhavnagar, Siddhrajsinh Raol. It is one of the few privately owned virgin islands of India. He intended to sell it in 2012.<ref name="John 2012"/>

==Paleontology and Archaeology==
The island exposes sediments of [[Late Miocene]] age, equivalent to the [[Siwalik Hills]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Nanda|first=A.C.|last2=Sehgal|first2=R.K.|last3=Chauhan|first3=P.R.|date=August 2018|title=Siwalik-age faunas from the Himalayan Foreland Basin of South Asia|url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S136791201730603X|journal=Journal of Asian Earth Sciences|language=en|volume=162|pages=54–68|doi=10.1016/j.jseaes.2017.10.035}}</ref> fossils found include the [[Sivatheriinae|sivatheriine]] giraffes, ''[[Bramatherium]]'' and ''[[Sivatherium]]'' were found. The fossils of the prehistoric [[Equidae|equid]], ''[[Hipparion]]'' were also found on the island. Also known is ''[[Piramys]]'' a [[Pleurodira|side-necked turtle]] belonging to the family [[Podocnemididae]], a group which no longer occurs in India or Asia and today is only found in South America and Madagascar.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ferreira|first=Gabriel S.|last2=Bandyopadhyay|first2=Saswati|last3=Joyce|first3=Walter G.|date=2018-11-15|title=A taxonomic reassessment of Piramys auffenbergi, a neglected turtle from the late Miocene of Piram Island, Gujarat, India|url=https://peerj.com/articles/5938|journal=PeerJ|language=en|volume=6|pages=e5938|doi=10.7717/peerj.5938|issn=2167-8359|pmc=6240434}}</ref> Several shipwrecks found around the island are dated to the fourteenth century.<ref name="John 2012"/>
[[File:Piram Bet.jpg|thumb|Piram Bet]]

==Flora and fauna==
The island has mangrove vegetation and also nesting site for two endangered species of sea turtle; [[Olive ridley sea turtle]] and [[Green sea turtle]], and around fifty species of birds, mostly seabirds. The sea turtles arrives for nesting in August–September.<ref>{{ISSN|2229-5518}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Islands of Gujarat]]
[[Category:Archaeological sites in Gujarat]]
[[Category:Bhavnagar district]]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in Bhavnagar district]]
[[Category:Private islands of India]]

Piram Island - Revision history

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