Bhatkal is a coastal town in the Uttara Kannada District of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bhatkal lies on National Highway 66, which runs between Mumbai and Kanyakumari, and has Bhatkal railway station which is one of the major railway stations along the Konkan Railway line, which runs between Mumbai and Mangalore.

Bhatkal was named after Jain grammarian, Bhattakalanka, who hailed from Hadwalli village, a town on the state highway toward Jog Falls, Shimoga. It was also known as Susagadi, and Manipura in Sanskrit. Francis Hamilton referred to it as Batuculla, which means 'round town'.

Some have claimed that Marathi influence is responsible for the word's derivation. According to M. Shanker Linge Gowda, when the military leaders of the Patwardhan family under the Peshwas used to periodically invade and pillage the Manipura kingdom, they called it Vatkul, which means 'hills around the town', because the Manipura fort was located in a valley surrounded by hills. In slang, Vatkul has now evolved into Bhatkal.

The Bhatkal term originated and can be found in one of the oldest manuscripts of Nawayathi from 1688 A.D. by Akhun Seedy Mohammed. The author mentions the old name for Bhatkal as Abadaqilla. But the word itself is susceptible of alteration, and it is quite likely that initially it was Abadaqilla, meaning 'inhabited fort,' and subsequently changed into badaqilla, and finally Bhatkal. Such a name can be applied only by Arabs, who have been associated with the place for a very long time.

Name variations include Batigala (by Friar Jordanus, 1328), Batticala (by Barbosa, 1510), Baticala (De Barros), Batticola (Logan, 1887).

Bhatkal witnessed the rise and fall of several dynasties and rulers. Chola empire under Aditya I, his son, Parantaka I, and Sundara Chola, also known as Parantaka Chola II, initially invaded and conquered territories in Kannada country, between Gangavadi on the Mysuru plateau and Bhatkal on the Sahyadri Coast, between 880 CE and 975 CE. They later built the Solesvara Temple to commemorate their victory over the region.

In 1291, it was a part of the Hoysala Empire before passing into Nawayath Sultanate control from the beginning of the 14th century until 1350s. According to Ibn-e-Battuta, it was a vassal state under the rular named "Haryab," which the historian Goarge Moraes identified as Harihara-nripala of the Kingdom of Gersoppa. Later, when it was under the control of the Vijayanagar Empire, spices, sugar, and other masalas were traded with them. According to Ibrahim Khori, powdered sugar, brown sugar, as well as sugar itself, were produced in Bhatkal.

In 1479, Bhatkal and Honnavar got once again attacked by the Vijayanagar Empire over an alleged conspiracy over the trade between the Bahmani Sultanate. Vijayakirthi II constructed a town named 'Bhattakala' for his disciple, the king Devaraya. The rulers of Haduvalli were from the Suluva (Jain) Dynasty, and the Bhattakalanka was the last and well-known grammarian of Haduvalli as per the Biligi Ratnatraya Basadi inscription. At the time of Narasimha Deva Raya, he ended the tyranny of Virupaksha and re-established the friendship between the Nawayath.