Fort Kochi
Encyclopedia
Kochi
-Places:* Kochi, a city in the state of Kerala, India, formerly known as Cochin* Kingdom of Cochin, a former feudal city-state on Malabar Coast, India** Fort Kochi, one of the three main urban components which constitute the present day city of Kochi, Kerala, India...
in the state of Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. This is part of a handful of water-bound regions toward the south-west of the mainland Kochi, and collectively known as Old Kochi or West Kochi. Adjacent to this is Mattancherry
Mattancherry
Mattancherry is the western part of city of Kochi, India. It is said that the name Mattancherry is drawn from "Ancherry Mattam", a Namboodiri illam which then the foreign traders pronounced it as Matt-Ancherry, gradually became Mattancherry. It is about 9 km from Ernakulam town. There are...
. In 1967, these three municipalities, along with a few adjoining areas, were amalgamated to form the Corporation of Cochin.
Origin of the name Kochi
One theory for the origin of the name is that it derives from kochazhi which, in Malayalam, denotes "small estuary".Location
Scientific theory
In the BC period, the region that is today known as Kerala was covered by mangrove woods. Turf and sand banks were created with the rise in sea-level which formed the shape of the coastal area as we see it today. The name Cochin implies "co-chin", meaning "like-China". It looked like ChinaChina
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
when the Chinese
Chinese people
The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....
came to the region during the 14th century and installed Chinese nets. Mattancherry
Mattancherry
Mattancherry is the western part of city of Kochi, India. It is said that the name Mattancherry is drawn from "Ancherry Mattam", a Namboodiri illam which then the foreign traders pronounced it as Matt-Ancherry, gradually became Mattancherry. It is about 9 km from Ernakulam town. There are...
is the nerve town of old historic Cochin. In old Malayalam it is maadan-cherry, cherry meaning town. Maad or cow was the stamp of Old Royal Fort of Rajah of Cochin, who built his palace after the fall of Kodungallur
Kodungallur
Kodungallur is a municipality in Thrissur District, in the state of Kerala, India on the Malabar Coast. Kodungallur is located about 29 km northwest of Kochi city and 38 km Southwest of Thrissur, on National Highway 17 . Muziris the ancient seaport at the mouth of the Periyar River was...
or Mussaris port due to a gigantic tsunami
Tsunami
A tsunami is a series of water waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water, typically an ocean or a large lake...
in 1341 AD. The Perumpadappu Swaroopam or the Forte of Rajah had its palace on the banks of the Calvathy River. Due to frequent wars between King Zamorin of Kozhikode and the western colonial forces, the Rajah left the place for Tripunithura. The king had his vaishnav leanings and cow or maadu was their symbol.
History
Portuguese India
The Portuguese Viceroyalty of India , later the Portuguese State of India , was the aggregate of Portugal's colonial holdings in India.The government started in 1505, six years after the discovery of a sea route to India by Vasco da Gama, with the nomination of the first Viceroy Francisco de...
in 1503 by the Rajah of Kochi, after the forces of Afonso de Albuquerque
Afonso de Albuquerque
Afonso de Albuquerque[p][n] was a Portuguese fidalgo, or nobleman, an admiral whose military and administrative activities as second governor of Portuguese India conquered and established the Portuguese colonial empire in the Indian Ocean...
helped him fighting the forces of Saamoothiri
Saamoothiri
Zamorin is the title used by the Hindu Eradi Samanthan kshatriya rulers of the erstwhile late medieval feudal kingdom of Kozhikode located in the present day state of Kerala, India....
of Kozhikode
Kozhikode
Kozhikode During Classical antiquity and the Middle Ages, Kozhikkode was dubbed the "City of Spices" for its role as the major trading point of eastern spices. Kozhikode was once the capital of an independent kingdom of the same name and later of the erstwhile Malabar District...
. The Rajah also gave them permission to build a fort near the waterfront to protect their commercial interests. The first part of the name Fort Kochi comes from this fort, Fort Emmanuel, which was later destroyed by the Dutch. The Portuguese built their settlement behind the fort. They also built a wooden church, which was rebuilt in 1516 as a permanent structure, today known as the St Francis Church. Fort Kochi remained in Portuguese possession for 160 years. In 1683 the Dutch captured the territory from the Portuguese, destroyed many Portuguese institutions, particularly Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
including convents. The Dutch held Fort Kochi in their possession for 112 years until 1795, when the British took control by defeating the Dutch. Foreign control of Fort Kochi ended in 1947 with the Indian independence.
A mix of old houses built by the Portuguese, Dutch and British in these colonial periods line the streets of Fort Kochi. St Francis Church was built in 1503 by the Portuguese as a Catholic church. Vasco da Gama
Vasco da Gama
Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira was a Portuguese explorer, one of the most successful in the Age of Discovery and the commander of the first ships to sail directly from Europe to India...
was once buried in this church which now falls under the Church of South India
Church of South India
The Church of South India is the successor of the Church of England in India. It came into being in 1947 as a union of Anglican and Protestant churches in South India. With a membership of over 3.8 million, it is India's second largest Christian church after the Roman Catholic Church in India...
and is one of the national monuments. Santa Cruz Basilica, also built by the Portuguese in the 16th century, was later destroyed by the British and rebuilt near the end of 19th century. The landmark that causes more public and visitor interest is a series of pre-colonial Chinese fishing nets on the waterfront, believed to have been introduced by Chinese traders in the early 14th century.
First sources
Since the beginning of Common Era, Arabian and Chinese traders sourced spices, especially pepper, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, sandal wood etc. from the Kochi region. Cultivation and trade of these valuable goods shaped the history of the region. Even today, Kochi is an important centre of spice export. The Arabian traders were the first to know about these spices, and they carried the highly wanted merchandise to Europe. Centuries later, they were followed by the Portuguese, then the Dutch, and afterwards the British.Around 600 AD
Written documents about the Malabar CoastMalabar Coast
The Malabar Coast is a long and narrow coastline on the south-western shore line of the mainland Indian subcontinent. Geographically, it comprises the wettest regions of southern India, as the Western Ghats intercept the moisture-laden monsoon rains, especially on their westward-facing mountain...
show that this region had Hindus, Christians, Muslims and a Jewish minority.
Around 1341
The natural harbour of Kochi was created by a flood which also destroyed the harbour of the town Kodungallur. Thereafter, the town developed into one of the most important harbours on the West Coast of India. It concentrated on the spice trade with China and the Middle East.Around 1500
During this period, Calicut was ruled by king Zamorin and Kochi was ruled by the Maharaja of Cochin. This was the time when the first PortuguesePortugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
ships berthed at the Malabar Coast: Vasco da Gama
Vasco da Gama
Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira was a Portuguese explorer, one of the most successful in the Age of Discovery and the commander of the first ships to sail directly from Europe to India...
in Calicut and Pedro Álvares Cabral
Pedro Álvares Cabral
Pedro Álvares Cabral was a Portuguese noble, military commander, navigator and explorer regarded as the discoverer of Brazil. Cabral conducted the first substantial exploration of the northeast coast of South America and claimed it for Portugal. While details of Cabral's early life are sketchy, it...
in Kochi. The Maharaja of Kochi felt threatened by the Zamorin of Calicut, and he hoped that the Portuguese would help him in his defense from the neighbouring king of Calicut. The Maharaja welcomed the Portuguese, and they founded their first trading center in Kochi. However, the Maharaja of Cochin was largely deprived of his power, and Kochi became the first European colony in India. The Portuguese put pressure upon the small Jewish community, and even the Syrian Christians, who lived there for hundreds of years, had hard times. The Portuguese did not like the idea of a Christian community which did not belong to Rome, and thus they tried to merge the Syrian Christian Church with the Latin Church which consisted of people converted by the Portuguese. This created conflicts with the caste system, because the Syrian Christians had a false belief that they belonged to a higher caste (against the basic principles of Christianity) than the Latin Christians who consisted mainly of poor fishermen from the coast.
Around 1653
Dutch came to Cochin, at the invitation of a deposed prince of Cochin Royal Family and the hereditary Prime Minister of Cochin, namely the Paliath Achan, with the active and open support of the local Syrian Christians and the Dutch conquered Kochi in 1653. The town was now the capital of Dutch MalabarDutch Malabar
Malabar, also known by the name of its main settlement Cochin, was a commandment of the Dutch East India Company on the Malabar Coast between 1661 and 1795, and is part of what is today collectively referred to as Dutch India...
and belonged to the worldwide trading network of the Dutch East India Company
Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...
. The Dutch also destroyed many Catholic institution in Cochin.
Around 1760
There came uneasy times for Kochi because of trouble between the regional powers. Kochi was devastated by Hyder AliHyder Ali
Hyder Ali was the de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore in southern India. Born Hyder Naik, he distinguished himself militarily, eventually drawing the attention of Mysore's rulers...
, then later by his son Tipu Sultan. Tipu Sultan subordinated the town temporarily to the kingdom of Mysore.
Around 1790
Kochi came under the influence of the British around this period. In 1814, Kochi became a part of the Madras Presidency becoming a part of the British colonial empire. The British shaped the country until the 20th century, and Kochi has always been an important harbour and trade center.1956
The Union State of Kerala was with respect to the Malayalam speaking regions with TrivandrumThiruvananthapuram
Thiruvananthapuram , formerly known as Trivandrum, is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala and the headquarters of the Thiruvananthapuram District. It is located on the west coast of India near the extreme south of the mainland...
as the capital. In 1956 the first free elections were held and the Communist Party formed the first government of Kerala, the first freely elected communist government in the world.
Main Tourist Attractions
- Indo portuguese museumIndo portuguese museum-History:The museum was established by the efforts of the late Dr. Joseph Kureethra, Bishop of Kochi, in a bid to protect and showcase the rich cultural heritage and Portuguese influence...
- Chinese Fishing NetsChinese fishing nets (of Kochi)The Chinese fishing nets are fixed land installations for an unusual form of fishing — shore operated lift nets. They are mostly found in the Indian state of Kerala. Huge mechanical contrivances hold out horizontal nets of 20 m or more across...
- Promenade with fresh sea breeze
- Dutch Cemetery
- Southern Naval Command Maritime Museum
- Cochin Thirumala Devaswom Temple
- Sree Gopalakrishna Devaswom Temple (The Only Daivajna Brahmin Temple in Kerala)
- St. Francis ChurchSt. Francis Church, CochinSt. Francis CSI Church, in Kochi , earlier called Cochin, originally built in 1503, is the oldest European church in India and has great historical significance as a mute witness to the European colonial struggle in the subcontinent. The Portuguese explorer, Vasco da Gama, died in Kochi in 1524...
- Santa Cruz Basilica
- Bishop's House
- Jewish SynagogueParadesi SynagogueThe Paradesi Synagogue is the oldest active synagogue in the Commonwealth of Nations, located in Kochi, Kerala, in South India. It was built in 1568 by the Malabar Yehudan people or Cochin Jewish community in the Kingdom of Cochin...
- Mattancherry PalaceMattancherry PalaceThe Mattancherry Palace, also known as the Dutch Palace, in Mattancherry, Kochi, in the Indian state of Kerala features Kerala murals depicting Hindu temple art, portraits and exhibits of the Rajas of Kochi.-History:...