Alibag
town in Maharashtra, India

Alibag (pronounced [əlibaːɡ]), also known as Alibaug, is a coastal city and a municipal council in the Raigad district of Maharashtra, India. It is the headquarters of the Raigad district, and is south of the city of Mumbai. Alibag is part of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region and is situated at a distance of about 96 kilometres (60 mi) from Mumbai and 143 kilometres (89 mi) from Pune.
Alibag is a holy place for Padmakshi Renuka, who is also known as the goddess of Konkan.
History
Alibag was founded in the 17th century by the Admiral of the Maratha Navy, Kanhoji Angre.
Alibag and its surrounding villages are the historic hinterlands of the Bene Israel Jews. According to Indian Jewish historian Esther David, Jews arrived in the region over 2000 years ago, escaping persecution from the Roman Empire, when their ship wrecked here. As they got into the business of oil-pressing and plantations, continued practising Sabbath, and took holidays on Saturday, they came to be known as Shanivar-Telis ('Saturday–Oilpeople'). There is a synagogue named Magen Aboth Synagogue in the "Israel Alley" area of the town.
Etymology
A Bene Israelite named Eli (Elisha/Elizah) used to live there at that time and owned many plantations of mangoes and coconuts in his gardens.
The public source identifies “Alibag” as town in Maharashtra, India. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Alibag, town and Maharashtra.
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A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Alibag”, the useful work is to connect “town in Maharashtra, India” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q385394. VIAF identifies the subject as 142019535. The Library of Congress control number is n89265169. Authority coordinates are 18.641, 72.879. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2000.
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This entry incorporates text from “Alibag” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.