The princely city was once a busy sea-port during the British era. But with Bombay shooting into limelight, replaced the traditional land routes. And finally the partition of India in 1947 spelled ‘the end’ for this desertland with the closing of all the trade routes on the Indo-Pak border and Jaisalmer turned into a drought-prone forgotten desert backwater on the international border. This continued till the Tourism industry turned their flashlights to its treasure trove of forts and palaces and the rest is history.