Karwar is a small coastal city and the administrative headquarters of Uttara Kannada district, formerly part of the Bombay Presidency, located at the mouth of the Kali river along the Konkan Coast in the present-day state of Karnataka, India.

Karwar, also known locally as "Kādwād", derived its name from the nearby village of "Kade-Wādā". In the local Konkani, Kade means "Last" and Wādā means "Ward". Hence, Kade-Wādā ("the last neighbourhood") referred to the southernmost Konkani-speaking village. During the Crown rule in India, the name "Karwar" was spelt as "Carwar". The ancient name was "Baithkhol"—from an Arabic term Bait-e-kol— meaning the "bay of safety". This is in the Indian history for maritime trade wherein black peppercorns, cardamom, and muslin cloth were exported from this Kādwād port and after the war with Veer Henja Naik (1803), the port activities were shifted to Baithkhol. Thereafter, the port of Kādwād was isolated and Kurmagad Fort was activated by the Portuguese.

Karwar township was built by the British in the year 1857 after the Indian Rebellion. Karwar is popularly known as the "Kashmir of Karnataka". Prior to 1857, Karwar did not exist as a town. Honnavara was the district headquarters of Canara district consisting up to Mangalore to Kodibag Karwar, up till Kali river; and Karwar village (Kādwād) existed as hamlets like Habbuwada, Kajubag, Kodibag, Kone, Baad, Kathinkon, Sunkeri, Shirwad, and Binaga. After that, the river bank towards the north was under the rule of Sadhashiv Nayak and Maratha Confederacy. After the mutiny of 1857, the British made division of Canara District into two parts as South Canara with headquarters at Mangalore attached to Madras Presidency and North Canara with headquarters at the newly built town Karwar, which was attached to Bombay Presidency. It was a planned city like Panaji, Mumbai, Dharwad, and Bengaluru. After the rule of the Indian Government from 1947, Karwar is more or less neglected politically and kept without major developments.

The region of Karwar was historically part of the ancient city of Govapuri, as documented in the Sahyadrikhanda of the Skanda Purana:

गोकर्णादुत्तरे भागे सप्तयोजनविस्तृ॥

तत्र गोवापुरी नाम नगरी पापनाशिनी॥

(Translation: "To the north of Gokarna, extending over seven yojanas, lies the city of Govapuri, the destroyer of sins.")

This revered reference underscores Karwar's deep historical and mythological ties to the Konkan region, intertwining it with Goa’s cultural and spiritual heritage.