Gra
Industry & Trade
History
The origins of the town are unclear for much was lost in the tidal wave caused by the Eruption of Naros in 339MD. It is probable that the town had been established some two centuries earlier but as a minor settlement in the shadow of El Arran, in those days the main port and centre of the trade in the resin.
The tidal wave that destroyed El Arran also resulted in its harbour becoming blocked with a maze of sandbars and saw the centre of trade move south to Gra, which being more sheltered from the wave, and situated on rather higher ground suffered less than its neighbour. The term less is relative though and shouldn't be interpreted as "escaped unscathed" - El Arran was flooded and most of its mud brick buildings washed away, along with around a quarter of the population. The remainder of the population made it to higher ground, the tops of surviving buildings, or just got lucky.
The town recovered quickly, rebuilding itself, acquiring many of the survivors of El Arran and the trade in the resin, for though its harbour was far poorer than El Arran's had been, it was still easily accessable to the larger ships and over the following decades improvements were made with dredging, harbour walls and docks which set the scene for its continuing growth.
During the height of the The Churran Empire in the seventh and eigth centuries MD the town became a major centre in the slave trade to the empire - a period which saw much of the town rebuilt in stone and the collapse of this trade in 785 MD, following the abolition of slavery in the empire saw the town enter a 2 decade period of stagnation for it had grown far beyond what the resin trade could support.
Gradually however Gra recovered, diversifying its trading and growing the market for the eponymous resin as techniques for managing the resin trees improved. Thus by the late nineth century MD, Gra had recovered to its full glory and continues to prosper into the present.
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